How Much Should You Practice?
Here's a good artical on the subject with links to a few others. When I am learning a new instrument I spend 3-5 hours a day in the woodshed. I can't understand why people drink the koolade from instructors that promise proficiency in 6 months with just 5 minutes of practice a day.
http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/how-many-hours-a-day-should-you-pract...
This is really helpful stuff here in this article. I've found that my ideal practice time is between 1 and 2 hours, usually about an hour and a half. That's about the most I have time for, but find that my mind and energy start to meander after the two hour mark. I also have a "lesson plan" for myself with some specific goals for each week or month, which helps me keep on track and make sure I'm working on old and new techniques, learning new songs, etc.
Of course, I now have a newborn baby, so I have even less time and have to get more focused practice out of only thirty minutes, if I can get that.
Hey, congratulations on the new baby! Enjoy the time while you can because it goes by so quickly.
The biggest issue I have to work out for praising is that I want to do it all right now (like most of us I think) and really need to settle into focussing on one or two goals at a time. There are so many 'fruits' on the web site tree that I want to pick them all and take a bite out of each one instead of picking one and finishing it before I start on another. WIth the tougher (for me) songs like Blowing my Horn, that I'm working on for quite a while now, I find after several months, when I try to go over it for more than 20 - 30 minutes, I'm third of it and don't seem to be able to get certain parts up to speed. I practice at 80 - 85% for accuracy but in one or two spots, just fumble once I hit 95% let alone trying full speed!!
Thanks for posting this. There is one heck of a lot of good info here. It not only reinforces what David has said but also gives a slightly different slant to it and some additional information. Now back to practising, but now thinking more about what and how!