Are You Playing Enough Guitar?

“Are you playing enough guitar?” That’s what my wife asked me in the kitchen today, and it made me realize how much time I was wasting on guitar stuff instead of actually practicing guitar.

My Guitar Practice Has Dropped in 3 Years from 3 Hours to 1 Hour

Early on I played or practiced sometimes 4 hours a day.

But then a lot of us guitarists or bassist become “plinkers”. We know enough songs and riffs to just play them endlessly in our guitar room. That’s not practicing guitar.

And my wife noticed my lack of “practice time” on guitar. She’s right 80% of the time.

Danger Signs: You Aren’t Practicing Enough Guitar or Bass

I listed many of them in my YouTube video. Here they are written down.

1. Facebook Marketplace. If you spend more time obsessing and hunting used guitars and basses than practicing those instruments: that’s a mistake.
2. YouTube Creation. If you spend more time making YouTube videos than actually practicing guitar or bass, that’s a mistake.
3. Blog Creation. Same as YouTube Creation. Don’t let blogging and YouTube become your hobby. The purpose is playing guitar and bass better, and with people.
4. Guitar Upgrades. Don’t go too far down that path. Upgrading my IYV ILS300D electric guitar from humbucker pickups to P94 pickups did NOT make me a better guitarist. It was fun, but it did take time.

Did I miss any potential guitar gobblers of time? Let me know in the Comments.

What’s the Answer to Practicing More Guitar?

For a guy like me, clock management. Measure the time you do guitar related stuff versus actually PRACTICING GUITAR.

Time to pull out a stopwatch and keep track of my guitar/bass practice. That’s a solid reminder to me.

For example, polishing the YouTube video for this blog post and writing this blog post is “budgeted” for 1 hour. That’s my time limit.

So I need to practice guitar 1 hour or 90 minutes elsewhere. That might be harder when I am picking up the grandkids after their school.

Time’s Up: Time for “Us” to Practice Guitar or Bass

Stop cruising the Internet right now. Close your computer or phone. Pick up that guitar or bass and either play something or preferably practice something.