How Often do You Play?

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Do you even?

  • Less than an hour per week

  • 1 hour per week

  • 2-5 hours per week

  • 5-10 hours per week

  • 10+ hours per week

  • Music is my life 20+ hours per week

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So exhausted, that I barely touch my guitars. But I want and would do it a lot if I had more money and less problems 🥲

If I was set up for life, I’d play at least couple hours a day. Sometimes I would sit for hours and hours straight even though my hands got sore hehe
 
I entered 5-10 per week. but it's not consistent, an average. Some weeks I won't play at all. Some weeks I may do 20 hours. Work takes a lot of time and I'll be thinking all day how I can't wait til this shit ends so I can play. I'll even be thinking about what I'm goin to play or practice or record or whatever. But the end of the day comes and I'm mentally spent.

Weekends are good though, Friday night, Saturday and Sunday are my days. I usually balance it out with something the wife wants to do, but then the rest of the day is mine. It's not always playing, a lot of times it's swapping pickups or arranging things for a different sound or who knows what comes to mind. I enjoy that just about as much as playing.
 
glpg80 said:
+1 that’s exactly my thoughts. I spend more time designing and building amps and my playing is suffering horribly for it as I don’t have time to just play and enjoy it.
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Yeah I can see that. I just get to wrapped in life shit and then too stressed/tired to be creative. Need to change that shit.
 
I woodshed/practice practice 2-3 hours every day, 7 days a week. As in, forced improv, metronome work, etc.

I probably record stuff and work on recording techniques another 5-10 hours a week on top of my woodshedding - time moving around mics and trying out recording techniques.

Then I do a handful (2-3) of hours a week "playing guitar" like everyone else means when they say they "practice" - as in, playing songs, writing riffs, dicking around, playing songs I know, learning new songs.

Yes, I know this is 20-35 hours a week. I'm serious
 
Hardly at all anymore. A while ago something happened that took my love for playing away. I finally plugged in for a bit a week ago and couldn't play any of my warm-up riffs. It was like i had lost my skill set. Broke my heart. I know my bro was watching me suck and was sad for me.
 
rottingcorpse said:
Hardly at all anymore. A while ago something happened that took my love for playing away. I finally plugged in for a bit a week ago and couldn't play any of my warm-up riffs. It was like i had lost my skill set. Broke my heart. I know my bro was watching me suck and was sad for me.
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Sorry to hear that.
I hope that you get through this rough time.
Sometimes I feel that way if I don't get enough sleep or outdoors time.
Sounds like you could use a vacation or a good concert to help clear your head and heart and rejuvenate.
 
rottingcorpse said:
Hardly at all anymore. A while ago something happened that took my love for playing away. I finally plugged in for a bit a week ago and couldn't play any of my warm-up riffs. It was like i had lost my skill set. Broke my heart. I know my bro was watching me suck and was sad for me.
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I can’t recall how many times over the years life has gotten in the way of playing & left me feeling that.

The more times I force myself to get back at it, the easier it gets. It helps if I make myself learn & play something different for a bit, that doesn’t feel so debilitating when I’m off my game.

I’ve learned a lot of “boring” classic rock riffs & solos the past 2 years, because it’s easier to digest than the technical shit I want to play. It also helps me be a more solid player in areas that I know I’ve ignored. Then when i transition back into tricky stuff, the routine feels normal again.
 
Right now I'm a 2-5 hours a week guy. My band is in the midst of recording our 3rd album and in preparation for that I was woodshedding quite a bit being the primary "song" writer. I can't really put a number on it. Guitar tracks are done though.

Sometimes I'll hit repeat and play a song 20+ times just to cement it in my dead head. My brain isn't what it used to be after 15 yrs of addiction & alcoholism. I've been clean & sober a long time now, but that lifestyle left its residue.

When not in recording mode I find I have to challenge myself with the notion I have something musical to offer & push myself to write.

I'm thankful I can still find time to make music. I love it.
 
Problem for me is all my shit is in a basement room and I don’t like hanging in the basement. It doesn't help that I’m a night owl but my wife goes to bed super early. The basement room is right below the Bedroom so when I want to play and record it would have to be whisper quiet and I didn’t get a basement to be whisper quiet, so I say fuck it and fire up the PlayStation or watch French, Charles Bronson movies on Tubi instead.
When I do play, it would probably be longer if I didn’t hate using DAWS so much. Or maybe it’s just hating Logic. So tired of having to google every fucking 10 minutes how to do some basic shit because the software has every option on a right click but one that makes sense. I really miss, the simple beauty and ease of a tape machine, a mixer and some outboard gear.
The demos just flew out of me when I used a 4 track in the 90’s. And that was recording electronic drums and everything.
 
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skoora said:
Problem for me is all my shit is in a basement room and I don’t like hanging in the basement. It doesn't help that I’m a night owl but my wife goes to bed super early. The basement room is right below the Bedroom so when I want to play and record it would have to be whisper quiet and I didn’t get a basement to be whisper quiet, so I say fuck it and fire up the PlayStation or watch French, Charles Bronson movies on Tubi instead.
When I do play, it would probably be longer if I didn’t hate using DAWS so much. Or maybe it’s just hating Logic. So tired of having to google every fucking 10 minutes how to do some basic shit because the software has every option on a right click but one that makes sense. I really miss the simple beauty and ease of a tape machine, a mixer and some outboard gear.
The demos just flew out of me when I used a 4 track in the 90’s. And that was recording electronic drums and everything.
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Dude why don't you grab audacity for free or something?

It's impossibly easy to use, and free
 
2-4 hours a day is generally what I do wiht a day off. 15 mins of warm up type stuff, 30 mins of Real Book reading. Work on setlist stuff, original ideas. When recording it is more but 2-4 hours is a good average.

No more endless metronome, scale, speed exercise stuff. My hands are cooked from too many hours of that already.

Pretty fortunate to still be able to play in a pretty good band and also write some music after all these years.
 
My playing pretty much consists of noodling on a guitar while watching TV after every night. So I probably play for 2 hours a night 7 days a week. Then if I can be bothered I will turn on an amp and play a bit on the weekends.
None of this is good practice but at least it keeps my fingers moving and my brain connecting with my hands as I get older. I get a bit of finger and wrist pain thanks to my work so I find I can't really practice for extended periods

I really lack motivation these days sadly but I do get days where I am inspired and I write a song... like the last 2 days I have written 3 songs musically that just need to be fine tuned and arranged a bit better. I have a ton of riff videos that I never seen to get to and expand into songs

I put it down to the fact I don't really listen to any music anymore. Everything I listen to is at least 20 years old and while I do find some new stuff that perks my interest I never sit down and listen to it the right way like I did when I was in my teen, 20's and 30's

getting old sucks haha
 
Since this question is not limited to just playing guitars, I'm either working on music and/or playing on music at least 40 hours a week.
 
Sadly not much these days. When a melody hits me I'll pick up a guitar or if I get the urge to pick out a song I hear on the radio.
 
rottingcorpse said:
Hardly at all anymore. A while ago something happened that took my love for playing away. I finally plugged in for a bit a week ago and couldn't play any of my warm-up riffs. It was like i had lost my skill set. Broke my heart. I know my bro was watching me suck and was sad for me.
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Probably not on the same level, but i go through periods..generally football season, where I dont play that much. I forget how to play songs, then when i remember, i have no touch, no timing. It is just clunky as fuck.

My best playing would be described by most here as clunky anyway, so you can imagine how bad it gets. But what really sucks is when i forget how to play my own songs I wrote..

Point is, if you do decide to come back to it, in a few weeks, you can get 80% of the way back, and then just keep grinding to get the rest
 
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