Which is better?

[Johnny Marr]

Practising around half an hour three or four times a day or practising once a day for around a couple of hours? Regardless of your personal situation with work and family. I work from home and my hours are very flexible and fairly short.

[CBLjazz]

Practising around half an hour three or four times a day or practising once a day for around a couple of hours? Regardless of your personal situation with work and family. I work from home and my hours are very flexible and fairly short.

The key is consistency and quality not quantity.
The mistake many serious players make in their thinking about practice is that quantity means quality. In many things, especially music, this is not the case.
If you spend all of your time learning and not reinforcing bad habits then your time will be well spent.
As I reflect on my own experiences, I spent many 2-4 hour practice sessions wasting time & causing problems by reinforcing bad habits, repeating mistakes and creating bad "muscle memory".
I now only practice about an hour a day and I get so much more done- quality not quantity.

Whatever you decide make sure you don't reinforce bad habits. Practicing slow helps elleviate this problem.

When it comes to music I say perfect practice makes perfect performance NOT practice makes perfect- cause it doesn't.

[Ian Hand]

It's not really about how long you practice or how often, it's more about how focused you are when practising. Concentrating on a new technique or chord progression intently for 10 to 15 minutes will get better results that just noodling around amlessly for 2 hours! A lot of people avoid playing things they are having trouble with and go back to practising things they can already play. Also if there is a tricky passage in a song but you can play the rest of it really well don't waste time playing the whole song every time concentrate and focus on the bit that is giving you trouble and play that over and over!
That's how to make progress more quickly.

My situation only allows me to practice for about 30 minutes a day so if I want to get better I really have to focus.

[Johnny Marr]

Thanks both. At the moment I tend to play for about 20 mins to half hour a few times a day. Following on from what you both said I think I get better quality practise that way. I've read others say it takes them half an hour to warm up, though, which is why I asked. I think I'll continue practising in short sessions throughout the day.

[Li Shenron]

Have you actually read the question?

For my personal benefit, it's better to have one longer practice session rather than scattered practice. Usually it costs me some time just to focus into something, so practicing in 30min bursts means that I won't be concentrated enough.

It's a personal matter IMO, other people can focus immediately, and may otherwise lose their focus after a while, but instead usually the longer I do something the more focused I am (except that of course after 4-5 hours then I get another problem, that my fingertips start hurting).

[Virgman]

Whatever you can do is the best.

 

A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.

 

No matter what you do it takes a long time so enjoy the ride.

[Knottyhed]

Practising around half an hour three or four times a day or practising once a day for around a couple of hours? Regardless of your personal situation with work and family. I work from home and my hours are very flexible and fairly short.

I'd say best results are gained from breaking it up during the day, you can only maintain maximum concentration for a certain length of time, but it's probably down to the individual as Li says.

I personally find my mind can start to wonder after about 45mins. During the week I tend to practice for 45mins (pausing regularly to evaluate what i'm playing), take a 10-20 min break, then do another 45 mins. Unfortunately that's about all I'll have time for in the week.

On weekends i'm less regulated and just practice constantly on and off throughout the day doing as much or as little as i feel like (this usually adds up to at least 5 hours).

[Johnny Marr]

My mind does tend to wander after a while. By going back to the guitar throughout the day I keep my enthusiasm and concentration up i think.

[nuke_diver]

For me I need about 30 min just to warm up my hand so I need more time I guess.

I do probably spend too much time noodling around and not concentrating but I'm not in a band or planning any so as long as I am enjoying my playing I don't think it matters too much.

[SanDiego333]

A lot of people avoid playing things they are having trouble with and go back to practising things they can already play

 

 

You must be reading my mind. A terrible bad habit of mine. I'll be cruising along, hit a part that's a little difficult, mess with it for 30 seconds, get frustrated, and go back to {censored} I've been doing for 30 years.....no progress in that!

[Ian Hand]

You must be reading my mind. A terrible bad habit of mine. I'll be cruising along, hit a part that's a little difficult, mess with it for 30 seconds, get frustrated, and go back to {censored} I've been doing for 30 years.....no progress in that!

No, no mind reading - just an awareness of human beings tendency to want to stay in their comfort zone

[arkistan]

* disclaimer: the following statement is not based on any scientific evidence, but rather a personal belief.

I think both have there pros and cons. A nice, long and focused sessions is clearly good, but I think several short sessions will have its merits when it comes to "memorization."

I forget the exact details, but there is a theory that once your brain forgets and is then reminded of something X-number of times it will become permanently set in stone, allowing you to remember it forever. You know how you just remember some things you learned during your childhood? I'm not sure how well it applies to muscle memory, but I would assume it could only help if you remind your muscles of a technique 4 times a day rather than 1.

[Jed]

Practising around half an hour three or four times a day or practising once a day for around a couple of hours? Regardless of your personal situation with work and family. I work from home and my hours are very flexible and fairly short.

 

I think it depends what you are working on. For cognitive memorization (theory) I do short-duration multiple-event type training, while for muscle memory (technique) I do longer duration for fewer events.

 

Keep trying different things until you find the mix that's right for you.

[Li Shenron]

You must be reading my mind. A terrible bad habit of mine. I'll be cruising along, hit a part that's a little difficult, mess with it for 30 seconds, get frustrated, and go back to {censored} I've been doing for 30 years.....no progress in that!

 

 

Well it's a bad habit only if it results in never practice anything new... But you DO need to also practice what you already "know" how to play, because only around that you can build/refine your dynamics (the "touch").

 

I'm not talking about technical exercises, but rather about etudes and songs. And I don't mean you have to spend hours on them, just that there is also the opposite bad habit: doing only faster/more difficult exercises all the time without taking care of how well you actually PLAY musical pieces.

[Dubb]

I'm of the opinion that a minute of practice time is a minute of practice time, whether they come in groups of 10 throughout the day or in a marathon practice session. Some have mentioned that it's easier for them to keep focused during shorter practice sessions. This is a valid point, however, it most likely varies from person to person - some people probably focus better by immersing themselves in practice for hours at a time. In the end it's the quality of your practice time that is important.