How much do you practice? Petrucci?

 

I'd say nowadays I average around 45 minutes a day but I'm working towards getting that up to about two hours.  When I'm writing new material it's a real motivator to practise as I'm constantly writing things that involve me having to practise scale and arpeggio patterns for ages before I can nail them.  Being in a prog band really keeps you on your toes in that way, haha.

 

And, like others have said, practicing that much isn't unrealistic when your only job is to kick ass at the guitar.

 

Damn! You beat me to it! I was going through the whole thread to see if someone said that.

"For my chops, I would usually be on a strict diet of potatoes and small mammals....Small mammals are good for the hands."

 

Learning the correct technique in the first place means you will in all likelyhood, never develop Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. i like to stress the importance of playing the guitar with the strap set at reasonable height when standing up, very important when playing technical styles of electric guitar. I myself often use large intervallic lines, sometimes utilising wide single string stretches, and as such, i wear my guitar pretty high, normally at pretty much the same height as John Petrucci, and if im playing stuff that needs even wider stretches, i raise the guitar up even more. As i often tell people, better to sacrifice supposed coolness and wear your guitar high to avoid injury in the future so i can still play when im 55 (if not longer), then to look 'cool' now and wear the guitar low and probably get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome when im 30 (im 19 now), and never be able to play again.