Originally Posted by: maggiorWow, I wish I had the kind of time others have for guitar. :-) No matter how much time you have, I think you should fit in all of the components mentioned here. Given my limited time (I get a half hour, maybe an hour sometimes), I try to follow what matonanjin suggests. It's important to be constantly refining what you've already learned, learning something new and challenging, and "playing" - jamming and having some fun! No matter if you have a half hour or 8 hours a day, if you include all of this, you'll make forward progress.

At least one of my guitars is always sitting on a stand and easily accessable. If I find myself waiting for something and have an idle moment, I'll grab my guitar and play through something I just learned. Other times, a song on TV or on the "radio" may inspire me and I'll pick up my guitar and play along or try to figure out the melody.

So even though it's important to have some structured practice, it also useful to have your guitar easily accessible for those short moments where you can play for 5 minutes or so. *Every* bit counts and is helpful.

I don't let a day go by (unless we are away on a trip) that I don't pick up a guitar for at least 5 minutes.

Good points. I usually have very varied amounts of time per day, but I always spend at least the last hour before going to bed with a guitar in my hands. I generally try to have my three working guitars (two electric and one acoustic) standing ready in different rooms, my main electric being in my sleeping room, where I practice the most, my second electric in the dining/living room near the TV and the acoustic moves around a lot.

So I've got them easily accessible, now I just need to make that schedule and I should be able to see my progress happening a bit faster.