John petrucci, on the other hand, claims to have practiced 6 hours daily, along with John Myung. Am i the only one who finds that claim to be irrational and down right silly?

 

 

 Years later, I asked him how much he practices a day. He said he didn't know, he just liked doodling around with it. On days off, he'd strap the guitar on in the morning and go about his day, playing as he went. Sometimes scales, sometimes riffs, sometimes the music that was on the tv.

I think the key is that some people love to play the guitar and don't think of it as practice. To them (maybe Mr. Petrucci) it's not "practice".and it's probably not as intense as someone who practices for an hour. Another thing I notice is that some work practice around their day while some work their day around their playing. 

 

I guess it comes down to what you want to do.  I write and record in my spare time, so I need to play all the instruments, and I certainly don't have time to pratice each one to be a virtuoso.  Some fellow guitarists can shred circles around me.  On the other hand, I can relate easier to the drummer or keyboard player if we're tweaking an arrangement.

 

I practice bass (and even guitar, sometimes) an average of 2 hours a day. Sometimes a little less, and it helps me a lot to progress on my playing. I think Petrucci and Myung say truth when they say they've played 6 hours a day, because their technique is impeccable. You can easily realise a lot of effort was put on there!

 

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.

 

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."

As far as Petrucci, I would think it would depend as to what we think "practice" means.  It could be be theory, stretching or other excercieses to keep in playing shape.

 

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

 

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.

 

Not sure why it is, but i find it very easy to get slack with Arpeggios (but that i really mean sweep picked arpeggios), not that I'm bad at sweeping, although my Legato, Alternate picking and two hand tapping remain very much ahead. I've even known one person that could sweep pick like no tommorow, but hardly alternate pick properly, and his legato and two handed tapping were even worse.

 

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.

 

I like to treat practicing as if it were muscle training. It basically is in a nutshell. I'll play maybe 2-3 a day with "building my chops," learning songs, learning how to read the fretboard and all fun jazz. It is fine if you practice a healthy diet, warm up properly and never over exert yourself.

 

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.

 

 

 

How much do you practice then?

Well I used to find myself in the same rut, hated practicing scales. Then one day I decided to just sit down and force myself to do it, and now, I have no regrets, because I'm so much more free to do things on the guitar. I liken it to being 'set free' in a way.

 

things like that have happened to me before like once when I changed my strings to ernie ball I "magically" was able to write more material and was a lot more focused....I think it was just in my head..just like what I think about your pick situation...it's all in our heads.

 

I think it was the January 2008 issue of GW, I also recall seeing the article, where Vai and Satch are interviewed together,  along with Vai being interviewed about his 20th Anniversary JEM Ibanez, then a lesson on Surfing With The Alien, followed by the 30 hour workout.

 

Amen...it's the nicest guitar I've ever played. Hopefully that will be the next guitar I purchase...I've only got about $2,000 more to save up

 

$2000 more. I just purchased the Petrucci signature, older model. I blew only $1200 on that and I never really planned on going beyond that. Unless The lower model JEM decides to drop a little.

 

Tell me how it is when you get it built.

 

Oh, a bit more information on the other specifications would be nice too.