Is There An Optimum Amount of Time for Practice?

[dhdfoster]

Is There an optimum amount of time for practice? I've read that the human brain can only absorb information for a certain amount of time at one task before it becomes fatigued. If you practice for 12 hours, are all of those hours productive? Do muscles gain strength and coordination usefully for the entire time?

I'm curious if anyone feels there is an amount of practice time where most of time is productive with real benefits.

I usually practice in the evening and try to break up the time working on different things and I take short breaks to do non-guitar stuff. Even with that, I just get mentally burned out on it after a few hours.

[Clifford-D]

You have roughly 80 years playing/practice time minus what you've already wasted.

Best get to it. :)

[giggedy]

good answer

[rucarlso]

If I'm trying to learn theory while I practice, I can only do so much before
I tap out mentally. And that amount of time depends on the person. I can only absorb so much information before I just need to take a good, long overnight break.

Physically, however, I can run mindless, memorized drills forever. It's purely for dexterity, and as long as my fingers are up to it, so am I.

[giggedy]

sounds like you've got your answer too. go until your mind says stop, then practice mindless stuff until you want to stop. This stuff ain't rocket surgery.

[Stratophile]

Ya know....for me I find that I get the most outta my practice LATE at night. The family is sleeping and I can just play uninterrupted. I generally play an 1-2 hours a night. I then go right to sleep.

I find that in doing so my mind works on things while I sleep and when I get up the next day I can generally blow through something that I was working on the night before.

IF you are practicing and it's NOT productive TAKE A BREAK. There are times I put it down for a week and then come back to something and it just falls under my fingers.

If you are bored stop and do something else. If you are banging your head against the wall on a passage or phrase....either back up and punt......or go to something else.

Your brain THRIVES on challenge. BUt sometimes it does need time to digest the new information.

[dhdfoster]

Great answers, thanks. I agree that there is difference between the mental aspects and the purely physical. My daytime practicing seems to be more disciplined, but at night I tend to try more creative and different approaches to things I've been working on.

[giggedy]

stratophile, great advice. giving the mind a rest is really important. If something feels really challenging and it's not getting better, then put the instrument down. stretch, go for a walk, anything. Wait until you're relaxed again to practice.

[violetlove]

More is better.
Lately, cos of the band, I've had practice sessions that stretch for 4-5 hours with a couple of short breaks, and pacing throughout while we discuss what we are doing. I'm pretty tapped out a the end of that, but my playing has jumped up a notch as a result too. My calluses are the biggest they have been for a while.
An hour on any one given task is probably the max for most people.
Like peeps have said, listen to your mind and body. Sometimes late at night I'm charging, other times I find myself nodding off and drooling on it.
Morning is generally the best time for intellectual tasks, but realistically, most of us have more time at night.

[willhutch]

There was a fascinating post here several months ago about some new brain research about learning music. There was a link to a fairly long paper the upshot of which was that your mind consolidates new learning while you sleep. It also showed that in many cases, thinking about a musical activity is as good as actually executing it on an instrument.

The implications I drew for practice:
1) frequent, shorter practices are better than less frequent, longer ones. That is, an hour a night for 5 nights prepares you for the audition better than a 5-hour session the night before. This is because ou brain has 5 nights of sleep during which to process new learning.

2) You can practice without the guitar. Per that research paper, imagining playing a passage - in detail - is very nearly as effective as actually playing it. This being the case, you have many more opportunities in the day to 'practice'. This can lead to more frequent practice.

This doesn't answer your question about optimal time of an individual session. Regardless of the answer, the above info may be useful in structuring a long-term regime.

[fr8_trane]

There have been studies done that found the optimal amount of time is 20 minute bursts of learning. Anything more than that and its diminishing returns because the average brain can't process and retain more than that.

Here's shane theriots take on this as it applies to guitar followed by an excerpt.

http://www.guitar9.com/columnist83.html


HOW MUCH TIME?

Here is where things get interesting. When I attended GIT, we were told to use a timer set for 15-minute segments while practicing. The reason behind this concept is that the average attention span of a person is about 20 minutes. (It may be more for some and less for others...) It is during this period of time when your peak learning period takes place. You are apt to remember and retain more material learned during the first 15-20 minutes than the later segments. How do we apply this to practicing? We divide each of our subjects into 20 minute segments. (You will probably want to plan more time for transcribing and sight-reading, if you choose to.)

THAT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE ENOUGH TIME

I realize that, but you will be amazed at how much you can learn using this method. Let's say you want to learn 3 positions of the melodic minor scale. The traditional way would be to hammer them all out at once, repeating all three patterns again and again. With this method, you are likely to confuse and mix up the scales. (They are weird patterns anyway). Using the 20 minute method, we work on one position, or even three strings at a time. By focusing on "bite size" portions of material for smaller increments of time, we can dramatically improve our retention. You can go back later in the day and hit them again if you like, but be sure to move on to another subject when the 20 minutes are up. For Chords and rhythm, you might work on a new group of voicings or a jazz standard. Again, try to break the material up into bite size pieces. Maybe only tackle the first 2 lines of the tune, then move on until later. This is effective practicing.

EXAMPLE PRACTICE ROUTINE

5 Min. Warm up (picking exercises and legato exercises)

20 Min. John Scofield solo from video (learn 3 lines) (Transcribing)

20 Min. Learn maj. 9 arpeggios (scales and arps)

20 Min. 3 new voicings from Eric Johnson book, compose tune with them (chords and rhythm)

20 Min. Tape min7 progression and solo over it using Scott Henderson's applications for pentatonic scales (from video) (improvisation and scales)

5 Min. Short break

15 Min. Holdsworth legato exercise - 4 note per string scales (technique)

20 Min. Chet Atkins finger picking example (technique, chords and rhythm)

30 Min. Sight reading examples from Berklee text (sight reading)

In a little over 2 hours, you have built a schedule that will greatly enhance your practice time. This isn't dabbling; it's focusing. Try it for a few weeks and see how effective this can be.

Good luck with these concepts and try to keep an open mind; these are only suggestions that I have found helpful! You might want to check out Kenny Werner's excellent book, "Effective Mastery" for more ideas.

[rucarlso]

Werner's "Effective Mastery" is a great. I second that recommendation.

I like to spend my nighttime practice sessions working on songs and transcribed solos. And also jamming over a recorded backing track or just a CD. Usually jazz or jazz-ish, cuz that's what I'm into.

I had to find time to practice the more mundane stuff--running drills, just doing things to keep my fingers in shape and to build speed. (I am right now determined to build speed.)

So I started bring my guitar to work. I usually get to the office about 20 minutes earlier than I need to. So I sit in the backseat of my car and just run drills w/ metronome and an egg timer. I pray to God that no one notices me because they'll think I'm some kind of freak :)

And then at lunch I usually go down to my car and get another good 45 min of practice in.

It has helped tremendously. And, in fact, it kinda lightens my mood at the office, too.

[StanG]

The 15 minutes on, 5 minutes off worked for me in law school and studying for the bar. I'm sure it is applicable to music.

[einstein]

Shawn Lane never practiced.

[SvenHock]

Shawn Lane never practiced.

And? Most of us are mere mortals.

[j_uc]

Is the "example practice routine" realistic? (for me at least, after a day's work, it certainly isn't). What's funny is on the one hand he says make the most of your practice and how the brain works, on the other he offers a routine suited for Superman. :confused:

[jazzandmetal?]

Shawn Lane never practiced.

Yes he did. In one of his videos he talks about how he learned and practiced things so that now when he plays it is effortless....or something to that effect. Haven't seen the video in a while. He was great. But there is no way at some point he didn't sit down and practice.

[Luke]

Shawn Lane never practiced.

He was too busy eating.

[fr8_trane]

Is the "example practice routine" realistic? (for me at least, after a day's work, it certainly isn't). What's funny is on the one hand he says make the most of your practice and how the brain works, on the other he offers a routine suited for Superman. :confused:

Do a search for the Vai practice routine if you want to see a superhuman routine.

The practice routine layed out by Theriot is very realistic if you want to get a bit serious about learning your instrument. Keep in mind that 2 hours of practice/ day is strictly bush league compared to what serious jazz or classical musicians subject themselves to.

That said I realize that most of us amateurs with fulltime jobs, wives and kids might not have 2 consecutive hours a day for practice. Thats OK I believe the principle of 15-20 minute chunks applies even if you can only practice for an hour or half hour.

As for the individual items listed in Shanes' routine, those are just examples. He doesn't expect everyone to learn holdsworth legato exercises or Chet atkins style finger picking.

Here's the first part of the article that explains WHAT to practice

Effective Practicing http://www.guitarnine.com/image/clearpixel.gif http://www.guitarnine.com/image/clearpixel.gif http://www.guitarnine.com/image/clearpixel.gif http://www.guitarnine.com/image/clearpixel.gif by Shane Theriot
Page added in August, 2000
Many times I've had students ask, "how should I practice?" or, "where do I start"? With the huge amounts of material available these days (videos, books, schools, Internet, etc.) it can certainly be overwhelming when trying to design a practice schedule. The following ideas have worked wonders for many players, myself included.

WHY PRACTICE?

First off, lets define practicing. When you practice, you should set out to accomplish some sort of goal for yourself. This doesn't have to be a big deal, but practicing doesn't mean playing the same licks and jamming for hours. Practicing effectively involves working on things you don't already know and applying the information in order to reach another level.

SCHEDULE YOUR TIME

Start out with some kind of schedule for yourself. You don't have to make it really elaborate and complicated, just a general idea of the material/music you want to cover. A little pre planning will go a long way and keep you focused, making the most of your time.

THINGS TO PRACTICE

You should try and cover the basics - chords and rhythm (this might be a few new voicings, funk chord move, jazz bassline or a Curtis Mayfield tune), technique (picking exercises, Yngwie arpeggio sequence, Bach violin etudes, etc.), scales and arpeggios (lots of books and videos on these), and ear training (traditional ear training exercises or transcribing solos). If you get really ambitious you might add sight reading to this list. These would be a good start. As you can see, lots of material can fall into these categories. Don't forget improvising and composing. You should try to do a little of both each day.

[j_uc]

Sorry but it looks completely absurd to me.
For instance: learn 3 Scofield lines in 20 minutes; meaning 3 bars of music, or maybe more ? does it include understanding the theory behind the lines, figuring out the rythm, transcribing, memorizing, playing at tempo with the right feel and dynamics? In 20 mn? I can't do it.
Another example: AH legato exercise, 15 mn - did he save the easiest part for last?
That said, I understand the need to practice with focus and purpose.