Does Practicing for Hours and Hours Make you Better at Guitar?

Question: Do you need to practice for hours and hours to improve at guitar?

Not necessary, it’s the quality of your practice sessions and consistency each day that matters more than the amount of time you practice in a single session.

In this lesson I explore how the quality of your practice is far more important than the amount of time you practice. Although I already have a number of articles on how to practice, I thought it was important to discuss the quality of your practice time and how you don’t need to practice for hours and hours to make progress. Here’s the YouTube link if you’d like to watch it there.

Video & Lesson Outline

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 1:26 General Answer and Advice
  • 4:27 Proper Knowledge and Technique
  • 6:52 Appropriate Materials for Maintenance and Improvement
  • 8:53 Intention to Improve
  • 9:52 Maximum Concentration and Accuracy
  • 13:16 Relaxation + Ergonomics + Musical Knowledge and Appreciation
  • 16:15 How much time is enough?

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Bradford Werner
Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and publisher from Victoria, BC, Canada. He originally created this site for his students at the Victoria Conservatory of Music but now shares content with guitarists worldwide. Curating guitar content helps students absorb the culture, ideas, and technique of the classical guitar. Bradford also has a YouTube channel with over 100,000 subscribers and 14 million views. He taught classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory for 16 years and has freelanced in Greater Victoria for 25 years. See more at his personal website.

4 Comments

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  1. Hi Bradford,
    Since a few weeks i am following you and started practicing again after not playing for 25 years.
    Now I practice some stuff from you book and pieces I used to play years and years ago. I face the problem that: i can play e.g etudes in a pretty way but slowly of faster and making mistakes now and then.
    What to do: leave it like that and go on to the next piece or keep practicing until it’s perfect (which can be rather frustrating)

    • Hi Paul, what is your technique routine like? I would aim for total accuracy in short technique exercises first and then expand them gradually to increase the length for which you play accurately. I would start there before bringing that idea to repertoire. When you do you can start trying to practice one phrase or musical idea at a time and see how that goes. This will allow you to not worry about small mistakes in repertoire at the moment but still be working on the issue and enjoying playing.

  2. Very helpful lesson, thank you! I’ve been noting what I work on in a journal and how long I practice, but need to focus on more technique exercises, quality playing, and relaxation, as well.

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