How Long Should You Rest After Guitar Practice?

When you get your first guitar what you want to do is to play your favorite band’s music or create your own songs. 

Of course, this takes time mainly at the beginning so you decide to spend long hours practicing at home.

You may think that the more time you play, the faster you learn and it is true but is not the only remarkable aspect. 

Resting periods are also important and I will tell you why.

You should rest for a few minutes every one hour of practicing and do some finger stretches. You can take some days off mostly if you are a beginner or if you spend many hours playing.

What I’m saying is not to disappoint you, you must know that breaks are useful and make the process way enjoyable. 

In this article you will find information about this topic, I will try to clarify every aspect related to resting time after guitar practice.

Should you take days off from practicing guitar?

Guitarists are mostly obsessed with the guitar, they are like maniacs and you can see them always playing their loved instrument, trying to learn a difficult piece, or mastering their techniques and playing skills. 

However, it wouldn’t be bad to take some days off from practice.

Although in those days you can play just for fun, is important to relax and let your mind rest for some time. 

What is more, taking some days off could be beneficial for your paying, since you may not feel burned out and you could perform more focused and better. 

What is a healthy practice routine for guitar?

Regarding practice routines, it always depends on you what you want to achieve. 

Practicing methods and time will be quite different between first learners and experienced players.

If you are giving your first steps on guitar, you may know that like everything in life, you need practice. 

That’s why you need to sit down and practice consistently and put in the hours, it doesn’t matter if you practice 15 or 60 minutes.

This could be tough because beginners need to develop strength and finger coordination. 

Moreover, blisters could appear and at that moment you will need to rest.

Obviously, the more you play the faster you learn but remember to have days off to relax. 

As a beginner, you should focus on practicing chords, rhythm and timing, and maybe scales.

In addition, you can also invest time in reading music or even creativity, that’s up to each player. 

There isn’t a perfect practice routine, so try to practice what you consider is going to help you to accomplish your goals.

More serious payers have already developed the main techniques and they also have callouses at their fingertips, so they are always ready to play. 

Intermediate players tend to practice at least two hours a day. 

They should try to expand their creativity and master every technique they consider needed in their playing. 

However, if you are studying, pay special attention to what your teacher tells you to work on.

As regards professional players they don’t even stop, they generally play from four to six hours per day and hardly ever take days off from practice. 

When they do take some days to rest is after their gigs. 

As a professional guitar player, you may be gigging for long periods, sometimes three or four hours. 

This is not always the case but these players are used to scheduling their practice in order to make more profit from it.

Needless to say, it doesn’t matter if you are a starter or an experienced musician, after starting your practice you have to do some warm-up plus stretching exercises.

How long is it ok to practice guitar in one sitting?

Like everything in life, this varies from player to player. 

Rule of thumb, you should spend one hour practicing per sitting, fifty minutes of practice then, 10 minutes of rest and stretching.

After that, you can repeat the process. 

I mention that it depends on the musician because you may feel some pain after a shorter period of playing, if that is the case, spend less time practicing or take more resting time.

How long is it ok to practice guitar in one day?

In terms of hours, there is not a specific limit, you can play as much as you feel like it. 

Nevertheless, if your fingers hurt or you feel pain, you should stop there and that would be your limit.

Although most players play just for fun or as a distraction to be entertained, some others are interested in growing as musicians. 

If you are one of the latter, you must know that practicing a specific technique is far more effective than only noodling around.

Get along with the metronome, learn scales and build up your speed by practicing consciously. 

Of course, is way funnier to play your favorite band’s songs but effective practice will be truly useful to do that in a better and faster way.

How often should you take breaks when practicing guitar?

Longer unbroken periods of practice are not the best way to master playing methods, that’s because our minds are more likely to remember the beginning and the end of the practice sessions. 

Furthermore, taking regular breaks is really important when practicing. 

A study has found that taking short breaks of only ten seconds has a big impact on your learning. 

I encourage you to try this approach, when you are practicing, take a ten seconds break and then go back to your instrument. 

It may sound like a waste of time but in those ten seconds, your mind will be working behind the scenes on the parts you’re practicing.

In addition, you should stop and rest every 45/50 minutes or an hour, you can stretch your fingers and then continue playing. 

What is more, that break will also give your brain time to recover which is truly relevant when learning new skills and techniques.

Risks of not resting after guitar practice

As we were discussing through the article, resting is undoubtedly important and you may undergo some risk if you don’t do it. 

First, on a physical level, you can experience pain in your fingers, wrists, and hands which could lead to tendinitis, and if you practice being stand using a strap to hold your guitar, you might suffer some pain in your back or shoulder.

Then, on a mental level, you may suffer burnout, you might feel overwhelmed and frustrated because you start feeling tired or mentally drained. 

What is even worse, you could get through a creative block which is a terrible situation for artists.

Conclusion

To sum up, practice is one of the most important parts of learning guitar and if you do want to get on well with the instrument, you should put in the hours. 

Try to set your goals first and practice in order to achieve those objectives and try not to play aimlessly, otherwise, you will be wasting valuable time.

Remember that practice involves time and taking breaks is really relevant not only to avoid feelings of exasperation and discouragement but also mental exhaustion and creative blocks. 

Take advantage of the resting time, do some stretches and take care of your physical and mental integrity.