When do you get time to play?

[Jouni]

I've had the "7am to 16pm" work for years, and a girlfriend, now a 11month-boy.
Get a band, and a rehealsalplace. Only way for me to steal acouple of hours, is to go there. with or without the rest of the band.

 

[jjones1700]

It's no fun when you don't have time to practice/play. I'm just learning to play the guitar. I'm 36, have a wife and a kid. It's not an ideal situation to learn in. What makes it worse is that the wife is a RN at one of the hospitals, so her schedule is a bit hectic, leaving me to watch the kiddo a majority of the time. I manage to squeeze in a few minutes here and there a couple of times a week.

I'm hoping I will learn how to play pretty proficiently before I die...

 

[philbagg]

I have all the time in the world to play these days.

Do I? Nope. Ever since I dropped my lovely BC Rich Warlock down the stairs two years ago, and have since been playing a horrible les-paul copy, I've lost interest. It's common for guitarists to NEED a good sound before they can practice properly. I used to play for (between) half an hour to about 4 hours every day, and my progress was immense. Now I pick it up maybe twice a week for twenty minutes at a time, and it's REALLY showing

Not to mention, my amp is screwed. Once I get around to picking it up from my mates house I'll post a thread with a sample. It sounds horrible. So I'm stuck with amp sims (with a bad guitar)... I don't enjoy playing like I used to.

Although, I'm starting to get back into it now, and I'm dying to start working on recordings for a metal album I'm writing at the moment. I'll have to borrow a good guitar for it.

 

[TelePaul]

Hey guys, thanks for all the interesting observations. It's good to know I'm not the only one who feels this way. I really only noticed things were bad when i picked up a new pedal on a bit of a whim and didn't rush home to put it through it's paces with a variety of guitars and amps.

I played a little bit on a few acoustic covers some friends wanted to track, which was nice...but I'm not sure recording counts as practice. It's good for developing specific ideas but I'm dying to get back to the music I want to play, spending a few hours with a Telecaster and a compressor pedal and some reverb.

I think the consensus seems to point towards a band context - a rehearsal space and a schedule for practicing. It's a good idea and certainly something I've been thinking about, maybe one or two nights a week. Of course I'd have to find the band first.

Lots of food for thought here, thanks guys.

 

[Rski]

When I was young and single, lots of time to play, should have taken lessons back then to progress faster.

Married, my time slots became fashionable with me and my loving spouse in those days. I remember commuting and not having the time of energy to play guitar.

Kids came along, late nights Fri or Sat was favorable, then still commuting some time slots here and there.

Taken a job out of the town far away, moved into a house with a recording studio, worked afternoons, more time to play then.

Taken a job near home, boys became older, Sat morning with the odd week night sprinkle worked.

Now straight days, a little bit some late afternoons, catch good recordings here and there. Rainy week ends now and again and gigs.