Recording your practice time.

[That_Guy]

Your over thinking it. Play as little or as much as you want. If it feels like work stop. Its meant to be fun. The 10 minute rule is just to trick you into getting started then the next thing you know an hour went by. If it was the one hour rule you would either dread it or never seem to find the time. The whole point is just do it. Any amount of time is better than nothing. There is really no point to timing it unless your forcing yourself to practice which is wrong.

[AttyTJ]

👏👏👏

[N-lightMike]

Hey @DrBob , I really like @That_Guy ‘s comment. However, I wouldn’t accuse you of over thinking because some of us think a lot, That’s not bad in and of itself. So, yes, anything that is part of your guitar journey, anything that is part of your practice, anything that is part of your playing, it all counts.

All that having been said, sometimes life gets busy and we really can’t spend anymore time than 10 minutes. That’s when this guitar routine saves our guitar journey. We still pick up the guitar everyday.

Now there’s the rub. If you really only have 10 minutes, and you choose to spend it working on tabs or organizing your binder, is that the best use of your precious 10 minutes?

All in all, I’m gonna have to get back to what That_Guy said. It’s not about keeping track of your time like it’s a chore that you can check off your list. If you really only have 10 minutes, then yeah, you’re gonna keep track of the time. But then, you better get straight to the lesson and spend your time doing that. You don’t need to waste time printing out the tabs or remembering lessons. If you simply spend 10 minutes everyday working on whatever the daily lesson is, you will see improvement in your guitar skills and you will be better at whatever you do with the guitar. You’ll play songs you’ve known for a long time cleaner and you’ll know how to add more variety to them.

But if you have the time to print out lesson tabs and organize them into a binder, why worry about how much time you are spending. The whole idea here is to get the guitar into your hands if possible. Sometimes, we need a break from the gutiar for a variety of reasons. Then, it’s a great idea to find something else to do that will contribute to your guitar journey.

One last thing; if you are asking what’s acceptable to mark a lesson complete, the suggestion is to spend a minimum of 10 minutes. No matter how well you did or didn’t do the lesson, no matter if you couldn’t even get all the way through it. But even the 10 minutes is not a rule, but a suggestion. The intent is to start the lesson and do what you can. If you logged in and put in what effort you could then you completed the lesson for that day.

MG 😀

[jumpinjeff]

@DrBob , I am in MikeG’s camp. If I have only 10 minutes to do something on guitar I am going to do the daily lesson. That is my commitment, that is my minimum, that is my home base and my launch pad. Tuning sure but in real time what does that take?20 seconds or so but yes always tuning and heck I will tune sometimes as I am playing because a string goes flat. Especially when the week is working on bends (the usual culprit for flattening tone). In the end you get to decide what is allowable or what constitutes your playing time. It is easy to gauge if your practices are bearing fruit by how you are progressing. If you don’t see progress, time to change your practices or conversely if you are happy and seeing progress keep doing what you are doing until it stops working for you.

As for the 10,000 hours thing: not a fan of the concept. One size does not fit all. It only takes ten minutes to have a blast if you love playing guitar. If the concept keeps you engaged and keeps you motivated then embrace it. I found it stifling and limiting so I let that one go. 10000 hours, true or not, is a coincidental measurement. My love for the instrument, the sound it makes, the feel of it in my fingers, the way I can communicate with my guitar in hand, and the observation of progress….that’s what drives me.

[N-lightMike]

👍🙏

[SoCal_Ian]

Technically the 10,000 hour rule is what makes you an “expert” at something. Is that more or less than “accomplished”? Seriously though, even Gladwell (the progenitor of the rule) has come out to say it’s been misinterpreted. Some things take physical skill that some will never achieve (ex. a 4 foot tall man isn’t going to be NBA material no matter what) and some people are born with a greater natural ability (ex. child prodigies). The REAL thing to focus on says Gladwell and the others is focused, dedicated practice on a regular basis. If all it took was 10,000 hours then we could have put a guitar in the monkey enclosure at the zoo and expect to come back some time later to find another Segovia. Ain’t gonna happen.

[N-lightMike]

🤣 That Segovia fella sure is funny lookin’. LOL

[DrBob]

Thanks everyone for all of the fine comments. I have to change the way I look at my practices. While I really do enjoy the guitar I have over the years through various courses adopted some of the ridged minimum 10 minute rule and that was for straightly practice, nothing else. I will try too loosen up and let my mind flow as too what I would like to have guitar fun with.

Again Thanks for everyone’s comments – this response was greatly appreciated. Puts Perspective on my guitar enjoyment.

Enjoy your weekend.

Dr. Bob

[N-lightMike]

That’s great @DrBob . An awful lot of us had to rework our thinking when we joined TAC. But this is the beautiful idea that works: have fun with direction equals progress. Yeah, direction is in there, but it’s not ridgid, it’s just a beginning to get the creative juices flowing and still gain technical skill.

Have fun and rock on.

“Practice is the time to test our limits… Not the time to beat ourselves up for having them.” –@Derrick

MG 😀