How Many Hours Should You Practice Guitar In A Day

Ten thousand hours of practice is considered as an epitome to master any craft. The number of hours you should practice the guitar completely depends on your personal goals as a guitar player. Let us find out how many hours should you practice the guitar.

“The level of achievement that we have at anything, is a reflection, of how well, we were able to focus on it. Because the only thing that's holding you back is the way you're thinking.” ~Steve Vai

How Many Hours Should You Practice The Guitar

A beginner guitar player should try to practice for at least 30 minutes every weekday. If you are aspiring to make it as a studio musician or professional guitar player, you should try to practice for at least 90 minutes each day. Most professional guitar players practice 180 minutes — 240 minutes each day. Your practice should be well-structured and focused.

How long should you practice completely depends on your goal as a guitar player?

Goal As A Guitar Player Suggested Practice Time In Minutes Number Of Practice Days In A Week Total Practice Hours In A Year Years To Complete 10000 Hours
Learn A Song Or Two 10 1-2 Days Does Not Matter Does Not Matter
Learn The Basics 30 5 Days 156.5 Does Not Matter
Play In A Band 180 6 Days 939 10.6
Become A Professional Musician 240 6 Days 1252 8.0
Play Like Steve Vai 540 6 Days 2817 3.5

 

The 10000-Hour Rule For Musicians

In 2008, Malcolm Gladwell published his New York Times bestseller, Outliers. It's within this book that Gladwell frequently talks about the 10,000-Hour Rule, citing it as "the magic number of greatness."

He takes the example of The Beatles and how they completed 10000 Hours to achieve greatness.

The book also looks at many “outliers”, people who are extraordinarily proficient in certain subjects or skills. It then tries to break down what helped them to become outliers. It is a great read.

Consider Productivity

When practising the guitar, your main goal should not be time spent. Rather, it should be quality of practice.

Focused, deliberate practice for 30 minutes is a lot more productive than 90 minutes of mind-numbing practice.

So even though 10000 hours is considered as an epitome, always be mindful. 1000 hours of mindful practice will always be more productive than 10000 hours of mindless noodling.

Suggested Read: Free Beginner Guitar Course

Suggested Read: How To Warm Before Playing Guitar – Warm Up Exercises

Suggested Read: How Often Should You Tune Your Guitar Strings

Suggested Read: How To Setup A Perfect Guitar Practice Room

 

 

 

 


6 comments


  • Desmond Kelechi

    I love guitar


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Udeeksh Sood on

Udeeksh is an Audio Engineer. He loves to produce music, research music gear, play guitar, go on treks and road trips.