I had my high school phase of extreme practicing hours too.
In year 10 and 11 (10th/11th grade), 3-6 hours a day on school days and 8-12 hours on days I had off.
Unless you're extremely introverted, have practically no social life and have no responsibilities/obligations, it can't last forever really.
I've got shit to do, more of a social life and I wanted to develop in other areas of life too, and all of this eats into my time I could be playing.
But I don't mind, because I enjoy being a more well rounded person.
These days, it's more like 30-90 minutes of playing on most days, and maybe 3-4 hours if I'm lucky on some other more rare days.
I can't say I really do much in the way of technical exercises anymore when I practice/play guitar, but I definitely make an effort to be using the metronome almost daily when just writing some riffs/practicing some riffs.
Even just 15-20 minutes of metronome work a day DOES A LOT for your playing in general.
Everyone should be doing it to get more out of their practice sessions
In year 10 and 11 (10th/11th grade), 3-6 hours a day on school days and 8-12 hours on days I had off.
Unless you're extremely introverted, have practically no social life and have no responsibilities/obligations, it can't last forever really.
I've got shit to do, more of a social life and I wanted to develop in other areas of life too, and all of this eats into my time I could be playing.
But I don't mind, because I enjoy being a more well rounded person.
These days, it's more like 30-90 minutes of playing on most days, and maybe 3-4 hours if I'm lucky on some other more rare days.
I can't say I really do much in the way of technical exercises anymore when I practice/play guitar, but I definitely make an effort to be using the metronome almost daily when just writing some riffs/practicing some riffs.
Even just 15-20 minutes of metronome work a day DOES A LOT for your playing in general.
Everyone should be doing it to get more out of their practice sessions
). That being said practicing the "right stuff" for longer periods of time will ultimately yield greater results than the "wrong stuff" for any number of hours/years. It is easy to get intimidated when you read about vai or gilbet practicing for 8-12 hours a day and think that you have to do the same. The time isn't all that important. Just monitor your progress and adjust practice time accordingly to match your personal goals. Also, any amount of time practicing/playing guitar is valuable as long as it is time enjoyed.
Back in my teen years I would pick up the guitar in 2 to 3 hour spurts ALL day and usually spend the early hours of the morning playing through to 5am. (no wonder I was always to tired to go to school) Practice mostly involved strict technique excersises, which is what I still practice these days but for some reason I always feel I'm slacking off lately and I think this feeling came about around the time started playing out in serious bands (about 18). Rehearsing with bands and playing songs and gigs or whatever are so far disconnected to what my mind considers proper practice that I forget that I'm still progressing during band practice, writing, gigging etc. Perhaps I should be a little easier on myself but that being said, on top of being extremely shy and not having much of a social life, band commitments and recording work leave me with alot of spare time so I've started putting together a strict practice routine to fit in to my days and plan to go at it pretty hard to help ease the guilt haha :lol :
