When I started taking guitar lessons, my guitar teacher told me I should practice at least 30 minutes per day.
It’s general advice that has been around for years, and to this day it’s what a lot of teachers advise.
I think they’re dead wrong.
Most people today struggle to fit everything into their daily schedule.
And the problem with this “at least 30 minutes” approach is that it feels overwhelming to make that commitment.
I’ve seen, time and time again, that setting that expectation actually REDUCES the amount of practice time actually done each week.
Many people feel that 30 minutes (or more) is a lot of time to dedicate to their guitar playing every day…
And for some people, it IS too much time!
But rather than playing whenever they can,
they end up not practicing at all!
Long practice sessions are one of the WORST things you can do for your guitar playing — especially for beginners.
Beginning guitar players still haven’t developed the calluses on their fretting hand.
After maybe 10-15 minutes, their finger tips start to hurt.
Any practice you do after your fingertips are sore is NOT going to helpful.
In fact, it can actually hurt your guitar playing.
Once your fingertips are nice and tender, your brain will automatically start adjusting your hand position in order to avoid the discomfort.
And you probably won’t notice, because you’re busy trying to LEARN TO PLAY THE GUITAR!
Which means that…
Everything you practice from that point forward is NOT the correct technique you want to develop!
Now, you’re practicing bad habits.
And those bad habits will actually slow down your progress more than if you had stopped after less time!
On the other hand, intermediate players have calluses…
But they usually waste A LOT of time during their practicing.
Intermediate players often play things that don’t actually help them get better (because it’s something they’re already good at), or they lose focus and start noodling around on the guitar.
“Playing” guitar, and “practicing” guitar, are two different things.
You need to balance both — practicing to improve your skills, and playing to have fun!
But after about 10-15 minutes, most intermediate players have lost focus and moved on to something else.
They spend most of their time playing, and very little (or no) time practicing.
That’s why they run into plateaus.
10 Minutes is all you need
... and I can prove it with basic math
I firmly believe that consistency is more important than quantity when it comes to learning guitar.
You can’t go to the gym once per week and get in shape…
… And guitar is no different.
You don’t need hours upon hours of practice to get better at guitar… You need consistent practice.
And, I can prove it. Check this out:
10 MINUTES of daily practice = 70 minutes per week
70 x 48 weeks (missing 4 whole weeks out of the year) = 3360 minutes
3360 / 60 = 56 hours of practice done per year!
All you need is 10 minutes per day…
And you’ll rack up more practice time than if you did a full 1 hour practice session, once per week, without missing a single practice session.
Heck, you can even miss 4 whole weeks out of the year… And STILL get better!
The best part about this is that for my students (who all use this approach),
They end up playing longer than 10 minutes.
They don’t have to — but they inevitably do.
Why? It’s simple…
The real problem isn’t how long you’re practicing.
It’s being able to get started in the first place.
Once you sit down to practice, that 10 minutes will go by in a blink of an eye.
Next thing you know, you’ve actually done more practice than you would have if you felt forced to do at least 30 minutes.
This is great news for adults with busy schedules…
… And even better news for parents.
It’s much easier for a kid to pick up the guitar for 10 minutes than it is to commit to a 30-minute practice routine.
By setting a smaller expectation for yourself (or your child), you actually INCREASE the amount of practice over the long term.
This means that you get better, faster.
Ultimately, this means you HAVE MORE FUN, SOONER!
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Article By: Jordon Brosseau
Head Instructor, Forest City Guitar Lessons