How many hours do you practice each day ?

Rare day when I don’t play for an hour or so at some point. I couch noodle a lot.
I play with friends as much as possible: sometimes in a nursing home or park gathering.
Have to keep my claws lubricated, otherwise I become The Tin Man.
 
If we're talking focused practice on a technique, scales, theory, etc...then virtually none these days. What time I do have to play is usually spent learning songs and/or improvising over various backing tracks. On average I probably have a guitar in my hand for 30 minutes to an hour most days.
 
It's come and gone over the decades, sometimes a few hours a month and sometimes a few hours a day.

Used to feel guilty if I didn't play daily - I think I got that from all the music teachers I had over the years. For the past couple of years or so I play at least 3 times a week for 2-3 hours at a pop, so an average of about 10 hours a week. During the lockdown I was playing daily for a couple of hours; left a plateau I'd been on for about 25 years.
 
“…I don’t practice. I just open up the guitar case once in a while and throw in some raw meat.”
-Wes Montgomery
 
Mouse said:
If we're talking focused practice on a technique, scales, theory, etc...then virtually none these days. What time I do have to play is usually spent learning songs and/or improvising over various backing tracks. On average I probably have a guitar in my hand for 30 minutes to an hour most days.
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I don't practice the traditional stuff anymore either - no scales, new chords, timing, theory. It's all playing along to either CDs for fun or figuring out songs and playing to backing tracks. I don't even see it as practice anymore. It's more like my therapy and escape from the world session. My music room is probably the happiest place on Earth, and I like spending time there playing the rock star in my own mind. Every time I play it's like I play a two hour concert for an audience of ..............just me. Complete with encores and out of control shredding at the end.
 
Too Many Notes said:
I don't practice the traditional stuff anymore either - no scales, new chords, timing, theory. It's all playing along to either CDs for fun or figuring out songs and playing to backing tracks. I don't even see it as practice anymore. It's more like my therapy and escape from the world session. My music room is probably the happiest place on Earth, and I like spending time there playing the rock star in my own mind. Every time I play it's like I play a two hour concert for an audience of ..............just me. Complete with encores and out of control shredding at the end.
Click to expand...

This is me 100%…well, maybe 95%. I still play too many notes but I’m not much of a shredder.
 
I've enjoyed practicing musical instruments since early childhood. As my abilities grew I became quite regimented. I would dedicate X period of time every day to an instrument. Though rarely the same instrument everyday. Usually a couple of hours, split between scale and dexterity exercises and theory pursuits.

Then I would "play." The adage about the distinction between work and play being opperative here.

Bear in mind however that there's a difference between "practicing" and "rehearsing"...
While part of an orchestra I rehearsed every day. And that usually always focused on a single instrument.

During my most prolific period I was also an exhibiting artist. It was my norm to be working on an image but "thinking" about music, break away from it and go pick up an instrument and "think" about the image... then back to the image. If I had a show coming up, I could easily go for ... 36 hours maybe .... doing this

If I didn't play my instruments everyday I would grow stiff and fidgety.

2006 changed all that. I can close my eyes and "see" my finger dancing on a fingerboard or across keys. Just as I still dream about running (I'm a partially crippled former distance runner, due largely to an inept orthopedic surgeon)

Now I only practice in my dreams.
 
I wouldn’t call what I do practicing. I play some everyday just to keep my chops up and my fingers from galling at the joints. It’s more like meditation.
I’m an old geezer.
Got nothing to prove (except that maybe I still can play at a level that satisfies me).
 
I decided at Christmas I wouldn’t buy any gear this year, and would join Fender Play and Guitar Tricks instead. Which I did, and I’ve played/practiced nearly every day for about an hour since then.

I also bought two amps, a guitar and several pedals. And a case for the guitar. And an audio interface. And some guitar stands.

Sigh.
 
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