How to find time to play

Put a guitar next to the toilet. :)

Jason

I tried that but I almost got electricuted due to split stream! :wink:

I practice for 30 minutes in the morning right after breakfast, rather than what I used to do - read the paper. Although I have kid/wife/house/pet/job thing going on, I do have some time in the evenings but I usually don't seem to have the motivation in the evenings... mornings work best for me. So, like Chuckster said, maybe moving your alarm time up a bit in the morning might work for you?

My other idea is to have the guitar near the door and anytime you are waiting for someone, pick it up and play. That worked for me when we didn't have a kid. It always seemed like I was waiting for my wife and I got and extra 15-20 minutes a day in that way... but now with a baby, we don't leave together anymore like we used to.

Don

I have almost all those things.

Best tip I can give is always have a guitar to hand.That way you can pick it and get a few minutes practice when waiting to do other stuff .waiting for the bathroom ,waiting for the kids/wife to get ready to go out etc.. Also decide when you want to practice and make sure you get all the other chores out of the way first.When you have finished all your chores make sure you ask your wife at leat half a dozen times if there is anything else that needs doing before you go anywhere near your guitar! Better still do something that you've been putting off for a while ,like painting the fence or mowing the lawn.That way you won't get the classic "I wish I had time to play the guitar" or "you could be mowing the lawn instead of playing that thing!" from the wife.
Good Luck.

Thanks... yeah, I've been blessed with a great family and plenty of hobbies/responsibilies that keep me active. I definitely need to "take care of business" before touching the guitar, so no worries that my kids will forget my name because I'm locked ini the basement referring to my SG as "Millie, my love."

On the other hand, when is a good time to dedicate yourself to a new venture? There is probably no good time - especially with two knuckleheads age 3 and 1 - but I'm a firm believer in starting something even if timing isn't good. Why? Too much procrastination and too much "I never got to it" occurs because people put things off waiting for a "better time." It is 2006, there isn't time for a better time. If you wait, you lose.

Anyway... good suggestions. I have my guitars hanging up on the basement walls for the express reason of having them handy (as opposed to in their cases), but of course, I have to be in the basement for that to occur.

Keep the suggestions coming! I'm starting up lessons again (soon) and will seriously think about getting up a bit early to play for 30 minutes before the havoc starts (getting my kids up, fed, dressed, and getting off to work).

Most families spend some time watching TV, this is when I have always practiced guitar. I either go in my room or out on the porch during warm weather and practice.

Even wives like this, they get to watch what they want. :D

Ahh the mirror of my life.. 3 yr old 3 month old and a 800 sq ft house 3 cats 2 100 pd dogs.. and 4 guitars.. they hardly ever get played at home.. i insist on playing with some friends 2 nights a week to get practice and those 2 nights playing with others is more valuable then 2 weeks worth of home practice.... my wife is very willing to allow this most of the time.. maybe cuz she does not want me to be around hmmmm... but it is hard and the guitar is definately sacrificed by the lil boys who wear me thin.. gotta love em...

I have my guitar right next to the couch and pick it up during commercials or when there's nothing worth watching on TV, which is usually the case if you decide not to watch inane garbage.

Have you considered setting up a "Family Fun Time" with your kids?
This could be one hour every evening where you all get together for fun things.
You could ask if they'd like to play music with you, or they could do their own hobbies.
Perhaps one night it's together time (i.e. board games) and the next night it's guitar time.
There's tons of fun music stuff for kids ... most like keyboards - I had one that hooked up to the Nintendo (Miracle Piano).
Perhaps you could volunteer to learn to play their favorite song one night a week, or learn something for Christmas.
If you want serious time to practice, you could play while they do homework and be available to answer questions.
The secret is to have a set time to do these things together with your kids, instead of sneaking into the basement.
You might also have to rearrange things so that everyone is playing together, instead of in their separate rooms.
You can be playing guitar with them while they play their favorite computer game during "Fun Time"

I'm in my grade 12 year. I live in the middle of nowhere in nova scotia canada. The fact that all I can do for entertainment is watch guitar or do schoolwork is what got me into it in the first place.

Perhaps if you took a guitar to work, (depending on your job i suppose)

Like many of you, I'm an (early) 30-something guy with wife, kids, dogs, other interests, blah blah blah... so, how do you all find time to play everyday? I get home about 6pm and by the time everything is done and the kids are in bed it is 9:00 and time to do a project on the house, answer email, play a (little) guitar (if I'm lucky), or just flat out rest.

Any suggestions out there? Anything that any of you do to find time to practice and play? Just curious.

If you add 10 years to the age, that sounds like me.
Including when/how much I play my guitar.

Sometimes I'll play along with my 5 year old when he's practicing his piano, but other than that, most of my guitar playing is on the night-owl schedule.

most of my guitar playing is on the night-owl schedule.

That sounds like me too .. I used to play when I got a few minutes in between things when I was just noodling with open chords and finger picking, but it got a lot harder to do that once I got into lessons, electric guitar, and serious practice with some goals...

I treat my guitar hooby the same way I treat my workouts. I make the time. If you wait to have enough time, that time will never happen. Time is not something that increases as the day goes on. It has to be a scheduled part of your day, just like everything else. I have some of what you mentioned. I have a wife, dogs, and a niece (5) and nephew (7) that live with us. On top of that I am a small business owner and the daily routine involves dealing with employees, clients and all the issues of running a business. So scheduling is important to me in order to get in the required things I have to do from day to day.

Schedule it.

Stick to the schedule as much as possible. Sure there will be days when you may not get to play when you want or even at all (ARGH!). But you have to do your best to stick to your schedule and for those other times improvise.

When I miss a "scheduled" session I really take it hard and that forces to try that much harder for the next seesion.

Make yourself a calendar, and every day you don't manage X amount of practice (I use an hour), put a great big red cross on that day. If you get to the end of the week and you see you've got a weeks worth of red, it really gives you a kick up the backside for the weekend :)

If you don't have enough time in a day, increase the length of your days. Most adults can do with five hours of sleep with no real bad effects during the daytime. If you sleep more then that, start by sleeping thirty minutes less. Schedule a five minute guitar session before every meal. Finally schedule a big 15 minute chunk in the early morning. Total time gained is a full hour every day.

Most guitar teachers/methods suggest thirty minutes of practice every day for decent prorgess, so you'd only need half of the above to get going, even less when you already managed to practice a few minutes.

I'm in the same boat as well - late 30's, 3 kids (and all the extracurricular school/sports activities that go with them), job, etc. It is tough to find time to practice. I find that I do it mostly after 9, when the kids have gone to bed, and the wife is trying to unwind from her day. I used to take lessons as well, but the realities of job, family forced me to cut that out for the time being (I will go back, though, eventually). The reality of this situation is that guys like us will never be able to practice as much as those who are still in school, unmarried, no full time job etc. That's not a criticism, it's just the way things are. So, as long as you adjust your thinking a bit, you can still have lots of fun practicing and playing, without beating yourself up because you don't have the time to devote to the guitar that you would have if you were 16 again!

Thanks for all the notes... no doubt I'm to blame for not making enough time to practice. I'll be starting up with another teacher next week (hopefully) so I should be making the time since I'll have to at least show some improvement from week to week.