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.

 

Most guitarists would probably think totally otherwise. Learning to play other people's songs, contrary to many people's belief, tends to in fact be probably the best way to develop your own style and voice on the guitar. I myself could only play maybe, less than 10 songs from start to end, but I have been through many magazines and websites, just looking for licks. For example, I might watch a Steve Vai DVD, steal some of his licks, but never use them exactly in my own songs or improvisations. I draw inspiration from other people's licks, but I sit there, play that lick over and over, and eventually I will say "add this/take away that from this lick/play this in a different part of the fretboard", and eventually, the lick takes on a new voice, no longer Vai's lick, but in fact mine. Having said that, you can still certainly develop your own voice on the guitar, but playing other people's songs/licks can make that process more fun, easier and can expand your mind on the possibilties of your own playing while looking at someone else's.

And I found, certain songs I've learnt to play,or songs I've learnt to play bits from, i tend to enjoy the experience of listening to that certain muscians/group of muscians more, because you can appreciate the time and effort put into the songs even more IMHO.

 

 

Well it's definitely not too late to start incorporating the playing of other artist's songs into your practice time. I could almost guarantee that it will help with your song writing. Also, with each of your respective instruments, try to find some time in your day, even if it's just 15 mins, to spend some time actually practicing, as more technique can add to the range of things you do (of course given that extra technique is applied in a tastefull manner), and generally makes playing more fun. i too used to simple play, and not actually practice, and when I started to properly practice, within a few months, the extra technique and theory I knew gave me the feeling of having set myself 'free' in a way, free to do more, explore more within myself musically and artistically.

 

You would almost think practising that much would extremely harmful. The most in one day I have ever practised was 11 hours, and I only did that once. Over the last 2 months, on at least 3 occasions I played upwards of 7 hours a day, but I find playing for really long tests your concentration, and if you play without breaks,  your attention span can fail you a bit and you play a little sloppy.