I've been to a few masterclasses with great guitar players and they all seem to say that at some point in their career they played all day every day.
I'm not really going to do it, but I wondered what I would even do.
My thinking got to something like...
- transcribing songs
- transcribing licks/phrases
- learning (repeatedly playing) a range of scales
- memorising chords
- learning note location on the fretboard
- pure technique (such as sweep picking)
All of this would be broken down into individual goals/targets etc.
What would you do?
Comments
If the 8 hours was all in one go I'd spend a lot of time not playing guitar but listening to music too
As for "when am I ready?" You'll never be ready. It works in reverse, you become ready by doing it. - pmbomb
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I, I want a name when I lose ........
As for eight hours a day practising, I don’t need nor wish to.
As it is, I did it backwards, and am now trying to relearn picking technique after 30yrs of playing.
I thought I was being dedicated but mostly I was just going over the same stuff over and over.
There are better approaches to take.
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I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
But like @octatonic said, knowing what to practice and structuring it properly is the key to advancing more quickly. I've got this 14 year old student I've been teaching for 2 years and he's a great player already because he's had 2 years of ear training, music theory, learning hybrid picking, how to bend correctly with controlled vibrato and how to play with other musos.
If that kid had just been on YT for 2 years watching Paul Davids showing him what fret numbers to use to play bits of songs he would not be at this level. Proper teaching works better than anything else, the downside is that it is expensive at £130 a month ish.
I split it between fretboard visualisation, rhythm / time exercises, improv and learning tunes.
But what I find the most effective is to record myself and obsess over details of timing, accuracy, dynamics, intonation etc and play things over and over till I’m satisfied.
If I had 8 hours I’d do even more of that.