My long anticipated "Private Lessons: Guitar World Presents" arrived this morning, shipped from the US. I purchased this book from Amazon for one reason in particular, to attempt the "Steve Vai 10 Hour Guitar Work Out", and I was very satisfied. Although the highlight of the book, for me, was Steve Vai's lesson, I was really impressed by the collection of private lessons by the different guitarists, many of which are some of my greatest all-time guitar heroes. In particular, Paul Gilbert, Eric Johnson, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Zakk Wylde, Marty Friedman, Kirk Hammett and of course, Steve Vai. For those of you who have no clue what I'm on about, I recommend checking this book out. It's worth it's value in money and is a vital guide to any guitarist looking to improve their technical abilities on this beautiful instrument.

u don't have a link by any chance...?

Why wouldn't you just buy the Guitar World back issue with Vai's revised 30 hour workout?

Sure do, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0793517125/qid=1107924304/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-4588520-8535106?v=glance&s=books&n=507846. I really recommend you check it out and the reason I didn't buy the back issue is because I wanted to see all the other private lessons Guitar World has released in the past.

It`s out of print. I tried to get it a few weeks ago and it`s unavailable. Pissed me off pretty bad `cuz they didn`t tell me for almost a week.

They have a January 1990 copy of Guitar World on sale eBay Taiwan for about $40.00 USD.

The reprint cost about $10.00 USD and has many lessons from many back issues in one place -- along with the 10-hour workout.

Guess that's two reasons...

Guitarworld sucks. they used to have all the lessons on their website for free with mp3s as well, then they took them down and sold them.

I have the 30 Hour one. I've never actually had 3 days where i can play guitar constantly. I plan on hopefully trying it next break from school

i still dont see the point in these extremely long workouts.


anything beyond 3-4 hrs of straight practicing, IMO, is pointless. its like weightlifting... if you lift and exercise for longer than 2 hrs or so, its pointless. you're just hurting yourself.


once you practice something for awhile, you have to give it some time off. then the next time you practice it, you will be a little bit better at it. etc etc


and i dont think that one should cram all the aspects of practicing (everything from technique to theory to songwriting) in one day/practice period. to use my exercise example again, if you try to exercise your whole body in one day (upper, lower, cardio, lungs, etc) you would crap out half way thru. (at least i think so)


people seem to view this many ways.

but this is just my opinion.

I agree completely, the reason I purchased the book containing "Steve Vai's 10 Hour Work Out" was not to spend 10 hours practicing guitar a day, but to take a few of his exercises and practice them over time. I agree that to fully absorb a practice session you need breaks to mentally and physically recover from the last session. I usually spend no more than 2 or 3 hours of guitar practice (with a guitar in my hands) a day, before doing some music theory and ear training afterwards. I do have school (I am only 14 after all) so I don't usually have 10 hours of my day to spare, especially with homework and exams. However, during my holidays I do manage to give myself close to 5 or 6 hours a day, but I rarely exceed that.

I think the goal would be to practice at least 3 hours a day.

I read somewhere where Zakk Wylde practices about 2 hours a day and never misses a day. Must be nice.

If I did not have to work I would still only put in about 4-5 hours a day!

i'm lazy, i put in about 20 minutes a day max. although i usually screw around on guitar for a few hours, no real practicing occurs

guess i'm never goign to be a steve vai

and just how many hours a day do u practice?

i hope that post wasnt directed as an insult, especially the last line