Extremely limited practice time

[jco5055]

Hey guys,


Like the title says, thanks to my current life- work (with public tranportation involved) and also working out, and basics like eating/sleeping etc- I literally have almost no time to practice on weekdays...like maaaybe 30 minutes a day.

Fortunately, I actually consider myself mainly a singer, and I really do stuff like writing off the guitar, so really all I want to practice is just keeping my technique up to par, along with ear training that I do everyday. Stuff like theory I don't need, like I know it but I have no desire to memorize X scale in terms of its guitar positions for improv or whatever.

Currently I was doing a "15 minute guitar workout" found here,
and then I'd also do a sweep picking exercise from a Sweep Picking 101 lesson on guitar world also (as that's my achilles heel), but even then it always ends up longer for me and idk if it's the best routine out there.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Rachmaninoff]

When in bus/train you can watch some instructional guitar material on the smartphone. You won't retain much because you won't have the instrument to practice, but one or two cool things will stick on your mind and you're likely to widen your repertoire when effectively practicing.

 

[redstone]

If you're serious enough to care about your practice and technique, you should be serious enough to find more time to practice. 10 minutes is the time you need to focus and warm up on an average day, what do you expect from the 5 remaining minutes?

 

[Drew]

If you're serious enough to care about your practice and technique, you should be serious enough to find more time to practice. 10 minutes is the time you need to focus and warm up on an average day, what do you expect from the 5 remaining minutes?

The answer here is that sometimes life gives you higher priorities.

I found myself dealing with this while sitting for the CFA exams (for those of you outside the financial industry, they're brutal - self study exams offered once a year, where the curriculum is six textbooks and they recommend an average of 300 hours of study, which given the window means you're doing 10-15 hours a week, on top of all your normal work and life responsibilities).

Perversely, I found I made MORE progress during this time, where I would give myself maybe a half hour a day of guitar time, than I had before I started in on the curriculum. The reason was that, because I knew my time was so limited, it forced me to become much more disciplined when I played; rather than grabbing a guitar and just soloing aimlessly for a while, I'd fire up the metronome and do picking drills for the time I had, or work on very specific things.

So, that's my suggestion - you can actually break a lot of ground in 30 minutes a day (and there's some argument, despite all these mythical 10-12 hour workouts, that practice time is one of those things where you very quickly begin to see diminishing returns). Just make the most of the time you have - it doesn't matter exactly WHAT drills you're practicing - just find or make up drills to improve weaknesses in your playing, and do them religiously with a metronome.

And don't make "I'm super busy" an excuse for not progressing as fast as you would like; take it as a constraint, and try to maximize what you're doing to work around that constraint. You can definitely do a lot with the time you have, you just need to be incredibly focused.

And, don't waste your time worrying about whether or not a particular drill is the "most effective" one you could be working on - just do it, and if you're not seeing progress in a couple weeks, try something different. If you're that busy, you don't have TIME to second guess yourself.

 

[redstone]

The answer here is that sometimes life gives you higher priorities.

Besides exceptional situations, someone who practices 15 minutes a day is not serious enough to care about the quality of his practice. I don't buy the "I"m extremely serious but I have extremely limited practice time" bull..... YOU will spend more time trying to find a solution for that person that they'll spend applying it. It always ends up like that.

 

[Hachetjoel]

Itt: people berate op for trying to practice as much as possible despite obligations.

 

[Drew]

Besides exceptional situations, someone who practices 15 minutes a day is not serious enough to care about the quality of his practice. I don't buy the "I"m extremely serious but I have extremely limited practice time" bull..... YOU will spend more time trying to find a solution for that person that they'll spend applying it. It always ends up like that.

What do you do for a living? How old are you?

 

[Womb raider]

Lol at some of these responses. As stated before, try to use your commute/down time to learn about different techniques and maybe something you would like to practice once you get home. Surf youtube videos since they are a great resource.
Have something very specific to practice when you do get a guitar in your hands. And bust that metronome out.

 

[Rizzo]

24h a day are the same for everyone. If your priorities just let you 10 guitar minutes a day, manage those minutes in the most efficient way.

I would suggest to cycle days (so doing each "10 minutes session") like so:
- metronome drills (pure technique to keep your fingers capable)
- transcribing music you like (so it helps on multiple fronts at the same time)
- theory \ ear training (1 concept per time maybe)
- writing \ improvising (trying to do it consciously, and on paper or a software)

Plus, listen to music and visualize yourself playing whenever you can in the rest of the day.
Also, focus on a purpose to your practice. Do you want to become a better songrwiter? That's a thing. Do you want to become the next "betcha can't play this" guitar hero? Another mindset involved. You get the picture.

 

[Drew]

Yeah, practicing when you're in a situation where you have extremely little time poses many of the same challenges that practicing in general does - you need to find areas where you're weak, and come up with drills that will help you address those deficiencies.

The biggest difference is that with less time to play, you have to become EXTREMELY diciplined about it. Again, while studying for the CFA exams, I was under similar time constraints to you, and I actually felt like my playing improved more during that time than it did before or afterwards, because I knew that I couldn't afford to waste ANY time.

Just be incredibly diciplined. It's not fun to do 30 minutes of drills and then put the guitar down, but you can make a LOT of progress.

 

[Might-is-Right]

As someone who works 2 full time jobs (everyday is 14hr day with the 1/2 day being a 10hr day) I can appreciate both Drew and Redstone's position on this. I'm assuming though that since the OP made a thread on this he does want to find a way.

Drew's suggestion is spot on...if it's only 30min it should be all metronome time, and yes, you can get better this way. Focus practice is always better than just time spent.

Something else I do is I have a guitar at each of my offices. If you can carpool to work have someone else drive and get some practice time in the back seat.

If you get up 15 min earlier you now have increased your practice time by 50%.

If you get up 15 min earlier and stay up 15 min later you have now doubled your practice time. This is essentially what I HAD to do to prepare to record my bands last album.

There is always a way. Efficiency and quality of practice becomes more important as your available time goes down.

 

[Hachetjoel]

maybe we could post some great drills and exercises that could be done in 30 minutes?

 

[watson503]

maybe we could post some great drills and exercises that could be done in 30 minutes?

Here's a few drills/lessons that should help:

Intensive 30-Minute Workout for Guitarists On the Go | Guitar World

Cram Session: Pentatonic Power | Premier Guitar

Spider Walk guitar pro tab by Jeff Waters @ musicnoteslib.com

http://www.online-guitar-lessons.or...ale-Practice-Routine-Major-Harmonic-Minor.pdf

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/soloing/lead_guitar_builder.html

5 Effective Pentatonic Exercises For Building Speed - GUITARHABITS

 

[redstone]

What do you do for a living? How old are you?

Is that even a serious question?

 

[Drew]

Is that even a serious question?

Yeah, it is. I'm curious if you're in a point in your life where you have to balance conflicting priorities. Your answer makes me think maybe you haven't.

Getting better at guitar will always be a, oh, probably top 5 priority of mine... But, there have definitely been times in my life where "want" priorities like becoming a better musician have been almost wholly superseded by "need" priorities like an incredibly demanding period at work or professional advancement or making time for a significant other.

I'm merely curious if you've ever found yourself in that situation, too.

 

[extendedsolo]

I think we really need to know what your current goals are in order to give you advice.

I can sympathize though, since when I was going through professional school I could barely play at all the first 2 years. After that it got a little easier, but then big life changes/getting married/new job it took a back seat for about 6 years.

Now these days I'm fortunate enough to work only about 30 hours a week and have a 5 minute commute so I do make the most of my time when I'm not at the office. Even now it's probably tied for #3 on my priorities list. I mean when you are an adult with a career and/or kids and a spouse those always come first. Then your hobbies come. right now I like running so that gets an hour a day. I'm fortunate enough to be able to play almost every day for at least an hour or two during the week, but on weekends it's tougher sometimes.

Still, I think for the OP we should find out what goals you have so we can push you in a general direction. I would say don't practice sweep picking more than every other day for like 10 minutes.

 

[Drew]

maybe we could post some great drills and exercises that could be done in 30 minutes?

Also, missed this earlier - it's not that easy. Without having a clear idea of the OP's current weaknesses and playing goals, "spend 15 minutes practicing this" is likely going to just waste his time.

Really, getting REALLY good at self-diagnosis is one of the best things you can do for yourself as a player, even when you're not limited in practice time.

 

[MajorTom]

If it's important to you, make the time to practice, I spend an hour in bed minimum doing nothing but practicing scales before I get up every morning, yes it's boring sometimes, but it needs to be done to at the very least maintain my skill level, then there is the practicing I do once I get out of bed, I would say I practice for at least four hours a day minimum nowadays.

And believe it or not, while I was at school and college I was practicing a lot more than I currently do now, perhaps eight to twelve hours a day.

If it is important to you not only will you find the time, but you will make the time and effort to practice.

Lack of time is not an excuse, I'm sorry, but you need to prioritize, and by the sound of it, the guitar and practicing are not a priority in your life by the sounds of it. Try putting down the control pad for an hour or two a day.

 

[Fiction]

I would definitely alternative days with playing what you want to and practice.

I would hate to spend my limited 15 minutes a day, every day practicing scales if not for a few of those days I could sit back and just noodle over an album I'm currently digging.

Maybe like;

M - Metronome Sweeps
T - Metronome Legato/Alt Picking
W - 15 Minute Improv over music
T - Metronome Scales
F - Transcribing songs you're listening too
S - Practicing a song you're currently into
S - Practicing a song you're currently into

The last 3 days are all practicing your ear training & technique, whilst also being a little more enjoyable working on stuff you enjoy as opposed to 15 minutes of F# Minor Arpeggios.

That style of thing, I also have some very limited time to play, I work split shifts doing day and night and have an hour at home in the middle, so by the time I've made lunch, done some chores I have a bit of me time with the guitar.

Lack of time is not an excuse, I'm sorry, but you need to prioritize, and by the sound of it, the guitar and practicing are not a priority in your life by the sounds of it. Try putting down the control pad for an hour or two a day.

No it's not an excuse, but sometimes life is the priority. Sucks it happens, but sometimes life gets in the way, and there are certain responsibilities that come first. Music can be anything from a hobby to professional career, and to most it's just a hobby, enjoy it and fit it in when you can, don't beat yourself up if you can't get to it, your guitars will still be waiting.

 

[MajorTom]

No it's not an excuse, but sometimes life is the priority. Sucks it happens, but sometimes life gets in the way, and there are certain responsibilities that come first. Music can be anything from a hobby to professional career, and to most it's just a hobby, enjoy it and fit it in when you can, don't beat yourself up if you can't get to it, your guitars will still be waiting.

There is always waking up an hour earlier, so you can get some practice time in, I did that pretty much throughout not just my school days, but also high school as well as college, in fact I did that pretty much throughout my education.

If it is important enough to you and you value it enough, you will find, make the time available and put aside time for it. At the end of the day it's all down to prioritizing and deciding how much you value practicing and it measures up to the other things you have in your life