1/2 an hour. What's so magic about 1/2 an hour?

It's true.  Maybe I've been suckered; I was practicing 45 minutes per day or so, and then started bumping into other stuff that seemed important, so I keep adding onto my practice time.  15 minutes or so on right hand drills, 15 minutes on fretboard memorization, left-hand warmup, 30 minutes on scales, 30 minutes on strumming patterns/chord changes/barre chords, 30 minutes on repertoire...  I'm up to a solid 2 hours a night, with no end in sight.  I need to work on fingerpicking, really hit the barre chords so that my thumb quits cramping up, add some style practice.

It's coming down to organization, and what needs to be worked on daily, and what can safely be done less often.  My problem seems to be that I regard it all as in the 'every day' category.  I don't begrudge the time spent (I'm having a blast), but it's about to consume my life!

How do you choose?

for me personally Ive never practiced a scale in my life, never done a drill, or done fret board memorization. Hell ive never done a hand warm up.  because for me that would ruin guitar, I just love playin by sound and messin around figure stuff out and the like.. but as you can see, dguyton loves that stuff, so i guess its whatever makes you happy?

so i would say, budget your time for, first and foremost, whatevers the most fun for you

I can think of many things that could be worse in consuming ones' life. Go with it, let it consume you. I had the same illness 25 years ago you're having now and today, I'm a full-time professional working musican. Follow your heart, put your family first (because they will always be your biggest fans) and stay dedicated and focused.

Peace and Guitars,
SouthPaw41L, Toney

1/2 hour has been the standard recommended practice length for every instrument I've ever played, for as long as I can remember.  It gives you enough time to warm up properly, and then work on whatever your practice goal is.

But as James notes, what will make you a much better player is daily practice, of whatever length is working for you.   

Keep your guitar out of it's case, on a stand, next to where you park your butt at the end of the day.  It makes daily practice a whole lot easier.

No sweat.  I was just ranting anyway. 

I play every day, but as James pointed out there's a difference between playing and practicing.  At first, playing as practicing, but now I've got the open chords pretty well (excepting Bm and the whole retinue of suspended and diminished and such) and can hit them such that I can strum a song first time through.  So now it's including songs that have Bm (the barre version), F, and F#m.  I play those transitions twenty or thirty times before or after each song.  So, I guess that's kind of practice. 

It's the scales I'll be playing in the new book.  I hate scale and arpeggio exercises (or at least seem to recall that I didn't like them when I was playing classical bass so long ago it's hard to believe it was even me).  But I now recognize how important they will be to move my playing forward to where I'd like to get it. 

It's just the 1/2 hour I was complaining about.  Seems like everyone wants to put claims on my time, even people I've never met. 

- Zurf

The key to playing the guitar is to be able to manipulate the fretboard in a predictable manner.  The only way to do that is practice.

Shawn Lane on practice as a youngster.

"I practised a whole lot when I was very young, between 10 and maybe even 18. I used to practise..just play guitar all the time. "

And look how that worked out for him. 

I SUGGEST TO GO TO MY TOPIC.
I wrote a lot about what can happen by playing to long.
And about 1/2 hour practising, let's say maximum; 1 hour BUT, like always, the more you work, the more skills you get. I am comparing this with the medical world, there is fenomenal big difference between studies (here it takes 7 years) and practising. YOU ARE ALONE, because you can't afford it to work with 3-4 medical docs. Here in Belgium: the so called "collegiality"is far from what it means.Doctors are all selfish, and if you are successful they throw with mud. I certainly walked in the narrow lines, people often called me Rock Doc, I took my time,... I worked more than 14 hours everyday, even after my car crash: I HAD TO STOP, because I was exhausted.
If you feel good 100%: go for it, the only condition: "listen to your body". Like starting guitar players can have some nasty problems, just 1 example, the tips of your fingers. I have seen players with, this extreme, blisters on the tops of the fingers. I suggest you to start about 30 minutes, and you see what I mean, fingertips are painful, that goes away, but DO NOT TRESPASS the PAIN LIMIT, and it sounds maybe crazy, sit and play. I can' play anymore standing there on stage, I have to sit. Just try a GIBSON LES PAUL and you will feel what I mean