When is your favorite time of day to Practice?
Hey toneBuddies! 
Hope you're all doing well and creating great music! Today, I have a question for you:
When do you find yourself most drawn to your instrument? Are you an early bird, filling the quiet morning air with your melodies? Or perhaps you're a night owl, serenading the moon with your tunes? Maybe you're someone who likes a mid-day break with your instrument?
Sharing our individual routines could provide valuable insights for those struggling to find their optimal practice time. Plus, it's always interesting to see the variety in our community!
So let's hear it, toneBuddies! What's your favourite time to practice and why?
Happy practicing! 
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If I have my druthers, I prefer to practice in the early morning. I have always been a morning person. That said, as a full time high school teacher, husband, and father of two teenagers without driver’s licenses, I will practice anytime I can. I often get no chance to practice until 9 or 10 o’clock at night, and so that’s what I do. The frustrating thing is that I’m often so sleepy that I will literally be falling asleep while trying to play. Needless to say, that is not very productive! 🥱
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Eric Phillips not easy to find time when someone is busy as you are, but you manage it very well according to what we can all see and hear in every post you do! I'm more than happy to have subscribed to Tonebase and met you, among many others too
, you're such an inspiration 
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks, Blaise, you are an inspiration as well! I got into TB for the huge library of lessons, but it’s the community and people like you that keep me going on the musical journey.
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Eric Phillips So true Eric, same for me... this community rocks!
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Eric Phillips I agree with Blaise . I don't know how you do it.
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Eric Phillips I can relate to that. Full-time worker here and 4 kids at home. I try to practice for 1.5 hours every evening within 7 - 9:30 PM. I also take breaks throughout the day when I'm working from home to do bite-size practice items like RH preparation, chromatic scales, rest stroke/free stroke, or holding the guitar and relaxing my body. On the weekend, I can usually get at least 1.5 hours per day if not more (after chores and church and what not).
I took classical guitar in college 30 years ago and at that time I learned to sight read. For whatever reason, that particular skill stayed with me pretty well, so I will also take 10 minutes here and there as I can and read through exercises from easier repertoire: the Sagreras books 1-3, simpler Sor/Carcassi/Carulli/Giuliani studies, etc.
Sometimes I have to fight the frustration that I "lost" so many years and I have to accept that it takes time and there's no "making up for lost time" by trying to binge practice off and on. I'm shooting for consistency towards achievable goals.
I've heard somewhere that it takes on average 10k hours to reach virtuosity; I'm far from that but I'm enjoying the journey anyways!
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I split my time in 3 sessions covering morning, afternoon and evening... then I can say anytime
I like the morning to wake me up on the instrument, run through technique and exercises for the first session. The second session, usually in the afternoon, is about working on music within pieces or passages and also read through new material. The last session, usually in the evening, is about playing and performing music. While I mostly stick to those 3 sessions, the amount of time and the focus in each change according to committed or unexpected goals and ongoing or unexpected life events.-
Blaise Laflamme Wow, I wish I could be so well organized with my practice routine. In my job, I am ridiculously well organized, but when it comes to the guitar, I am so all over the place.
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Eric Phillips well... I'm very well organized regarding music as it brings me inner balance, then I organize other parts of my life around that
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Blaise Laflamme great approach! I've never considered that.
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Blaise Laflamme Three times a day!? No wonder you play so well! For some reason, I’m reminded of a line from Woody Allen: (paraphrasing} ‘as a child, I wanted to be a great violinist, like Heifetz. Then I heard you need to practice every day …’
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David Krupka Thank you David, I figured out for myself that was a better way of learning overall, the «often shorter» approach. To the extent you'll learn better in a week by doing 30 minutes a day for 6 days than 6 hours straight in one day, that connects to your comments about Woody Allen.
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David Krupka on a funny note (I mean, it's Woody Allen!), I was reminded of his movie, "Take The Money And Run" where the narrator talks about the protagonist attempting to learn cello as a boy: "He had no concept of the instrument--he was BLOWING into it." I hope that's not me on the guitar!
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When I am avoiding chores
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Sulamith. buhr That’s 24-7 for me!
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Sulamith. buhr Truth!
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Poet Mary Oliver advised that we give our second best effort of the day to our job. I practice every morning starting around 6:30. That gives me 90 minutes before I must get ready for the office.
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Michael Neverisky Sounds like heaven!
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Michael Neverisky Wonderful way to start the day!
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Michael Neverisky wow!!
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All day every day if I can
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Rick ruhl Whenever my wife asks me, “What would you like to do for Father’s Day?” I always want to say, “Play guitar all day with nobody else in the house.” But that might not go over too well.
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Eric Phillips yeah, but wouldn't it be worth at least asking one year - just to see what happens?
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Eric Phillips
don’t you play them with a deep sense of regret?
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Really envious of people here saying they can practice three times a day! Like many others, I'm pretty busy, but I try to get at least an hour in every day if I can. In the week this is usually after I finish/get home from work, so 7 or 8 pm. At the weekends it'll usually be in the afternoon.
Sometimes I get lucky and can do a longer practice, sometimes I'm unlucky and don't get one at all!
