How Much Practice Do You Need on Your Instrument?

Whenever I’m asked a question about learning, it’s almost always followed by an inquiry as to how long that thing might take to learn. Ultimately, the student wants to know exactly how much they should practice, and when they should expect to see results.We’ve talked about expectations versus reality before in this column, so I won’t go into too much detail about how I perceive my practice time. But in short, I try to have no expectations and instead enjoy the process of doing the work until the skill comes to me naturally.But the question still stands: How much should we practice? Would you feel good if I said an hour a day will fix everything you’re having trouble with? Would you be shocked if I said 20 minutes a day beats almost all other practice plans? Would you take a photo of this column and share it on social media, telling everyone that I’m a lunatic because I said I used to practice 8–12 hours a day when I was younger?The truth is, those three approaches all work. At least, they have all worked for me. I have been through periods of my life where one hour a day felt fantastic, because I was touring and recording so much that I really just needed maintenance and small chunks of time to make tiny adjustments to my playing. When I became a father, 20 minutes felt almost impossible to maintain because I was delirious from lack of sleep and couldn’t concentrate on my granola at breakfast, nevermind in-depth explorations of new musical ideas for hours on end. And when I was in my teens, and literally every aspect of the bass and of music was new to me, 10 hours a day felt like it was never going to be enough to get to where I wanted to be.The older I get, however, the more my approach has shifted to be in line with some of the non-musical things in my life. At 46 years old, for instance, I’m very aware of how I want to live the last decades of my life. I want to live happy, mobile, pain- and injury-free, and have a sharp and active mind that lets me be present with my family and friends. That requires consistency in nutrition and training now, to help mitigate the less-than-optimal circumstances you often associate with old age: falls, brittle bones, disease, and disability in general.“When I became a father, 20 minutes felt almost impossible to maintain because I was delirious from lack of sleep and couldn’t concentrate on my granola at breakfast, nevermind in-depth explorations of new musical ideas for hours on end.”Much like the balanced nutrient intake and resistance and cardiovascular training required to build and maintain lean muscle mass, flexibility, and stability for a high quality of life in my later years, I’m finding some parallels in my musical pursuits. Whereas the goal in my teenage years was to be able to attain the dizzying technical prowess of my heroes, that doesn’t last and doesn’t mean as much later in life—especially when you simply don’t have the physical ability to play that way anymore.I’m moving more towards strengthening a rock-solid foundation of musical language that allows me to express myself far more effectively than some flashy solo on a gig no one is going to remember. It allows me to write more creatively, record more often, and create a body of work with some meaning to it, far beyond the pyrotechnics of technique that we see plastered all over the internet these days.And this is where we come to exactly what that takes—the answer to the age-old question of how long we should practice each day.The answer is to set yourself a goal that you’re actually going to stick to. Much like cutting down on sugar in your diet or alcohol consumption: Can you cut both of those things out cold turkey, or do you need something more realistic that you’ll actually stick to? Six days of eating clean and a cheat day on the weekend? There are obviously dozens of ways to approach any aspect of lifestyle or music practice goals, but keep asking yourself what is realistic for you, what will you stick to, and you will be on your way to a far happier time with your instrument right away.I find that once the pressure is off, and I’m not constantly telling myself I suck because I didn’t hit the six-hour mark in the practice room, my playing blooms in places I was least expecting it. Although the practice journal, recording yourself and listening back, and planning what you need to work on are important, I always try to not think about yesterday or worry about tomorrow. I can only work on what’s right here in front of me today, and that simplifies and improves the trajectory of my playing.