posted by mahler82
Many beginners and intermediate players who wish to eventually achieve a high standard of playing ask our guitar faculty what kind of time investment they need to make to become a fine guitarist. Here is one such question.
Q: I only have about 30-60 minutes per day to practice. Is it possible to be a decent guitarist?
A: When you begin learning, we recommend that students do not spend their practice time on the guitar in large chunks of time, but rather break up their practice time into smaller intervals. This helps the student avoid injuries from overuse, and avoid the tension that comes from long periods of concentration upon a new task.
What is most important at the beginning is taking the time to master each technique before moving on to the next, because each new skill depends upon the skills learned previously. We do recommend that our students also study the sheet music that they are playing apart from practice time, as well as taking some time each day for visualizing playing each skill, each exercise, and each piece correctly. Our faculty members have written some fine articles about the guitarist’s mindset and lifestyle that help you make the most of every moment in your practice session.
We strongly advise warming up thoroughly before beginning practice so that your hands and arms will not experience the tension from cold muscles and joints. Some excellent warm-up exercises for guitarists are available in our free online guitar lessons.
In fact, even as you move up in difficulty, we still recommend breaking up your guitar practice into smaller chunks. It will help you focus more intensely and learn more in the long run. It is even more necessary to have a properly warmed-up body and focused mind before tackling more difficult pieces.
Using these techniques, a student can achieve a relatively high level of playing with only 30-60 minutes per day in practice, if they follow these guidelines carefully. It may take you longer to achieve your goals than other guitarists who have more time available to practice, but you should be able to achieve a high level of competency if you are patient.
Of course, if you want to become a professional guitarist, you will need more time to invest in your practice. However, you can get a head start on achieving that goal by enrolling in lessons and using what practice time you do have available at this time wisely.
