Learning guitar is a process that actually involves many different things. Many factors such as injuries can cause roadblocks for people trying to learn guitar, however, these are merely obstacles. The bottom line is simple, if you put the time in from the start, you will progress quickly and see results sooner than you think. It’s all up to you!
Daily. It is much better to practice for 20-30 minutes a day EVERY day than to play for 2 hours monday, 20 minutes wednesday, etc for example. With practicing, consistency is key. I’m not saying duration isn’t important, just not as important.
This all depends on your goals. Yes, you should have goals! If you are just a hobbyist, learning because you think it is interesting and one day would like to just hang and play a little guitar- 30 min/day could work fine for you. However, if you have serious goals that’s different. If you have any professional aspirations or thoughts of joining a band- I recommend at least 45 min - 1 hour a day.
I have most of my students on a schedule that looks something like this: Warm Ups 5-10 minutes Chords 10 minutes Scales/Theory 20 minutes Technique 10 minutes Songs/Free play time 20+ minutes.
The warm up times vary and so do chord/scale times based on experience. I recommend you check out my guide to Practicing Guitar.
You want to make sure your rigid with your practice regimen and times, however, I’m going to tell you a secret. You ready? The key to getting the most out of you practice time is ....... drum roll..... Have FUN! Remember, you are playing guitar. Root word: play. Don’t get overly obsessed with struggles. You’re doing this to have fun. This will keep you from giving up in the future, trust me.
Personally, I recommend starting on an acoustic guitar. It is much harder for a beginner to use, but if you can push through it- you will see amazing progress. The reason is because acoustic strings are much harder to push down and play on. By learning on one, once you switch to an electric, you’ll be playing with pure ease.
The trick to this is muscle memory. Muscle memory is built by repetition, on top of a few other factors. I recommend you check out my lesson on learning guitar chords.
Have a question that wasn't answered here? Please, I encourage you to get in touch via the contact page. There you will find several social outlets as well as a contact form linked directly to my email to use to get in touch with me. Good luck!