When does too much practice become a waste?

[Napthol]

I used to have this habit of picking up my guitar and practicing for exactly one hour each time. If I looked at the clock and it was six minutes before an hour I would just keep going until I reached an hour. This was stupid of course. But I have obssesive compulsive traits which have led me to do things like this.

For awhile now I have been practicing in much shorter intervals. I'll pick up my guitar and practice for say 15 minutes. Then I'll put it down and watch TV or do something else for awhile, then later come back to my guitar and play for maybe 10 or 15 minutes.

I guess I feel that would be an effective practice routine. Little bit here and a little bit there.

I have wondered for a long time how many minutes you can go and get something out if it before the extra practice just becomes wasteful because the brain gets too saturated.

I think this would be a good brain research question.

What do you guys think is effective?

 

[ICTGoober]

Perfect practice makes perfect.

 

[PFDarkside]

This has been studied, although I don’t have the details. Depending on the learning (what percentage mental vs physical)

My understanding is that for mental tasks (like memorizing scales or chord progressions or chord shapes, etc.):

3 X 20 minutes X 7 days is better than
1 X 60 minutes X 7 days is better than
3.5 hours X 2 days

For physical tasks like breaking a speed barrier, it’s a combo of physical and mental, where you need breaks for the muscles to recover/build. I think for small motions like guitar you are building the neural pathways similar to starting to lift weights.

Two caveats are that every person has a different mental burn out time (so some are more effective after an hour than others) and also physically warm up is needed in some cases so if you always need a 5 minute warm up, the example above extends longer than the 7 hours per week example.

No matter what, ICTGoober is right, and perfect practice makes perfect. Another way to say it is “practice makes permanent”, so if you are spacing out, making a bunch of mistakes, it’s time to set it down and clear your head. If you start each practice session with a goal, I find it’s easier to make that goal instead of just mindlessly trying to practice something for some set time period.

I also think that depending on his mood, Aceman might have some really salient points.

 

[Securb]

My understanding is that for mental tasks (like memorizing scales or chord progressions or chord shapes, etc.):

3 X 20 minutes X 7 days is better than
1 X 60 minutes X 7 days is better than
3.5 hours X 2 days

Now that I am working from home it is more like 3X 20. Before then I would have to cram my practice and prep for the band in longer sessions and it was not as effective and felt more like a chore. Currently, I am working on a difficult piece and it is nice to take it a few measures at a time and digest it piece by piece.

 

[Mincer]

It becomes a waste if you don't use it to put music into the world.

 

[Demanic]

It becomes a waste if you don't use it to put music into the world.

At least, into your own world.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[beaubrummels]

Two things IME

1. Duration of practice isn't as important as what exactly you are practicing.
2. If you only practice the same thing without setting progressively new goals and trying new things, then it becomes a waste. At that point, you aren't practicing, but just performing what you already know over and over with no advancement.

 

[Clint 55]

My perspective is to have a productive goal and to practice as much as you can with those focused goals without burning yourself out. Practicing most days doesn't lead to burn out so I would say try to practice every day. After that, try to practice as much as you can to reach your short term goals and broad goals. Have a plan for practice sessions short term and have a long term regimen. If you do those things, you can't not accomplish your goals if you stick to the plan.

As far as wasteful practicing, if you think what you're doing isn't leading to improvement such as wanking in a strong area, then focus on a weakness or an area that you specifically want to target and know you can make gains there.

 

[solspirit]

The only problem I see with long practice time is physical issues.
When I was practicing an hour or more a day, I would dedicate the last 15 minutes or so to just playing with theory and looking for a sweet phrasing or lick.

There was a time in CR that for about half of every year, I was only working 2-3 hours a day and I would practice 3, 4 & 5 hours a day and like I said the only issues were physical.

 

[Mincer]

At least, into your own world.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

Exactly. Don't be the finger pointing at the moon. Be the moon.

 

[solspirit]

Exactly. Don't be the finger pointing at the moon. Be the moon.

Zing . . .
How poetic

Pretty much the point I was trying to make the other day.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

My practice these days consists of playing along to a couple of backing tracks. 10-15 mins tops at a time maybe twice a day.....

Years ago I used to do a ton of "Spider" type finger excercises (mostly a routine I came up with myself based off the basic "spider" excercise, but unlike what was prescribed, I always tried to play them as fast as I could, I automaticaly got cleaner/clearer as I went along.. )....those really helped with getting my fingers moving. :bigthumb:

But then after a while I thought it made my playing too rigid with a tendency for too much sheer muscle memory to take over, plus they were mind-numbingly boring so I stopped them. But it's thanks to those that my fingers really started moving like I wanted them to...have'nt done any for at least fifteen years now...All I do these days for "practice" is play along to stuff...

 

[GuitarStv]

As has been mentioned, a little bit every day is way more valuable than a huge amount only once or twice a week. But 'practice' covers a huge amount of territory.

You can practice to play faster (mostly physical). You can practice to hear things better (ear training). You can practice to play better rhythmically, different types of swing, and feeling different subdivisions better (metronome work). You can practice to play the right note at the right time while soloing (following changes w some theory). You can practice just to add things to your repertoire, or keep from forgetting songs (just straight repetition). And there are a variety of different ways of practicing and applying theory.

I've found that the type of thing that you're practicing impacts the amount of time you are spending on it. I can happily play a couple hours straight every day when I'm reviewing or learning new repertoire. I'm good for 40 minutes to an hour practicing following changes and improvising while soloing. Learning a song by ear, usually about half an hour at a time. Playing scales or trying to do speed related training I am cooked after about 15 minutes each day from boredom. Same thing when repping scales/arpeggios.

For anything distasteful, I try to schedule in small chunks (10 - 15 minutes tops) a couple times a day every day. That way I know that I've only got to do a little bit for a little while each day but I'll eventually grind through what I need to know. Then after a little chunk that's not so fun, I'll usually do a longer chunk (30ish min) of stuff that I enjoy. This keeps me from getting burned out on playing. I try not to spend more than an hour a time without a long break. By using this method of doing things, in the past I've managed to cram in 3 hours of practice a day for 6-8 month stretches . . . that's about the as productive as I tend to get on my guitar and it really shows. Everything about my playing tightens up, I write more music, I sound better when soloing, and I learn new stuff.