So my question is quite simple, yet I am not sure what I’d say about it. Would you say reading/watching videos/thinking about music theory (no hands on guitar) is considered guitar practice time despite not being hands-on with guitar? So Justin recommends (for intermediate) 1 hour of practice on guitar, which I just right amount for me. But, some days I spend 30-60 minutes reading/watching videos sometimes even thinking (although not that long) about music theory. So would that translate to 1:30-2:00 hours of practice time or it’s still one hour? I.e. in arbitrary measured 10000 hours to mastery of guitar, would that time be only playing/practicing with guitar hands-on, or would it include reading/video lessons/thinking and other non hands-on time with guitar?
What’s your opinion and what is general consensus?
OK, so here is my strictly personal opinion. Any kind of music theory study is crucial for a musician’s development, that includes guitar players. The time spent on it certainly isn’t wasted, but it cannot be considered guitar practice, which is virtually indispensable for achieving a required level of manual proficiency, mastering the instrument and ear training.
Of course, YMMV.
I agree with Tomasz opinion on this. Yes of course you are learning about guitar but actually practicing to me involves having the guitar in my hands.
My son is crazy about soccer and watches you tube videos on things to practice to make him a better player, but it is on the field practicing and doing the actual drills are what’s turning him into a better player.
My opinion is that it’s 10,000 hours of playing time.
It’s not that the other skills don’t count but where would you draw the line? If I watch 9950 hours of YouTube videos on guitar theory, technique etc and spend 50 hours playing can I say I’ve mastered guitar?
I would not put so much thought into “practice” time. Justin has guidelines about reasonable hours to spend so no on feels lost, but you have to adapt that to your goals and desires tempered by your reality.
Knowledge about a skill based subject only allows conversational use without adequate hands on practice. It will help you practice appropriately and efficiently, secondarily moving you towards your goals and improving your use of time.
If you think of 10,000 hours (which is not a real defined number for accomplishment), one hour a day takes upwards of 27 years to achieve. I don’t find that kind of thinking helpful. It obscures the point.
I need to apply my time in ways that bring me meaning and enjoyment while fitting in with my other worldly obligations, since that is my goal.
I’d say it varies from person to person. There are people who grasp theory more easily than others. Then there are people whose dexterity improves quicker than for others. Do whatever that improves your playing. Labelling these things, to me, is secondary.
As for 10000 or x number of hours necessary to “master” something (what does that even mean?) … that also varies individually. 10000 hours is roughly equal to 1.14 years. It might be enough for children to “master” walking, but for language skills (clear pronunciation, vocabulary, etc) even more time may be needed.
So I’d take this 10000 hours with a grain of salt. It sounds good, but it’s just a number without much meaning.
As to the original question, if I’d have to label them, I’d say guitar playing = guitar practice time; theory = theory time.
I would not include time watching videos but I would include time spent doing practice exercises from the video. So, I’m currently doing grade 3 in the music theory course, I would include things such as naming the notes in a scale or naming the notes from the octave shapes exercise. Use a timer and do those exercises for 5 minutes is usually the recommended time.
Music Theory does not teach you how to play an instument. Learning to paying an instrument takes hands on time.
If studying Masic Theory taught people to play then everyone taking MT should be able to play the French Horn or Bagpipes or Saxophone.
I think you need to look at more holistically than just “practice time”. There are distinct benefits to. They are all interrelated and provide benefits to your guitar journey.
Laying hands on guitar
Studying and testing yourself on music theory
Ear training exercises
Laying hands on the guitar is the obvious one. You need the dexterity and muscle memory to get your hands to do what you want them to. Music theory will help you mentally understand where you want your hands to go to make the music you want. Ear training exercises will help you truly hear the songs you like so you can figure out how to play them.
So instead of asking yourself what constitutes practice time, ask yourself “how much time do I have to dedicate to my guitar journey” and then allocate time amongst all aspects accordingly.
Hiya,
Great you’ve asked an interesting question that will get us all thinking and talking, I’m sure.
All that you are doing is useful and will help your musical development , and ultimately it’s all about musicality and not just the guitar in any case.
Conversely, listening to many styles of music and gaining theory knowledge will make your guitar journey easier and more enjoyable
But to get the mechanical guitar skills, you just have to knuckle down and do the reps - there’s no short cuts, @LievenDV has great advice on this.
So I’d say, don’t sweat the numbers too much, but do make sure you are giving time to all the skill sets
Cheers
Ruaridh
When your fingers hit the strings, that’s where the rubber hits the road.
Would you feel comfortable going for a drive in a car in traffic with a person driving who has watched a lot of videos on it but never actually driven a car?
No, only time with guitar counts as practice time. Other activities are very helpful (learning theory, listening music, watching videos/interviews…) but it is not a practice time.
I include all the following in the time I allocate to learning to play a guitar.
Hands on guitar time
-exercises such as finger stretch and finger gym
-learning riffs, scales, chords
-playing songs
Music Theory
-understanding why keys contain sharps and flats and the basic structure as it relates to frets and strings on the guitar
-memorizing the notes on the fretboard
-ear training
Rhythm
-SOS lessons
-how to read rhythm, rests
All of these skills are necessary for me to play well and play with other musicians. As much as I would like to physically play my guitars all day the realities of life dictate how much actual time I can devote to learning the craft. I strive to spend one to one and a half hours in the morning and one hour in the afternoon to the above specific tasks. I count all of it as guitar practice and believe it is all essential to my development as a guitarist.
as long as you include exercises that link the video/articles you just saw to nodes in your knowledge network: yes that counts as practice for me. But who’s counting?
make a schematic of what you’ve seen.
Sleep over it and out of nowhere, to try reconstruct on paper what you’ve learned.
check for incompleteness and errors
Repeat this process a couple of days
This process of recalling and refining is very efficient when trying to memorize.
It’s the actual recallign that helps memorization most, cool huh!
Now link your theory to practical things.
build your own chords
find the notes on a fretboard, name them as you form chords etc etc…
Link theory to practical stuff, see them, feel them, hear them, … link as much sensory information as you can.
Same here, day after you go RECALLING what you did on the fretboard.
If you approach it like this, yes, this is “valid practic” to me
certainly not praxtice in the sense of working with the instrument, and certainly knowledge belonging to the 10’000 hours + to become a guitar hero.
Knowledge makes practice intuitive and when intuition hits practice, you are in the flow
Now when I think about it I really wish I had decided to start to learn guitar younger, not at age of 32. Since there are now more obligations, obviously, and since I “burn out” after 1-1.5 h a day I reckon I’d hit that magical 10000 in old-old age, around 80. I don’t practice on weekends, since it’s family time. And I am not overly optimistic I’ll keep on playing every (work) day 1 hour for rest of my life. So perhaps I’d never hit this number… but yeah, what does master even mean…
Wish I had energy/passion for more than 1 hour for guitar, but I simply don’t.
