I'm self-learning guitar for a year now, I come from a programming background and I am prone to "larval stages" when learning ^_^
My maybe biggest challenge so far is to stop playing when I'm tired or when I feel discomfort in my fingers leading to all kinds of issues including but not limited to developing deep "bone pain" in my fretting fingertips that doesn't go away unless I stop playing for a couple of weeks and let my hands really rest, and this is irritating to both me and my dog because then I go into tin flute or blues harp mania and my dog hates it ^_^
The guitar is really good, a custom made classical guitar, a gift from a friend, I could not ask for better or softer.
Also, I have noticed that when I come back after ~~2-3 weeks of rest that my guitar playing is better than I remember, so I guess resting has an important role in the learning process and I may not be doing myself favors even from this perspective by practicing so hard. But it's easy to overdo things you love ^_^
Obvious answers, taken from any kind of physical exercise regime would be:
- have rest days, when you don't play at all
- limit the amount and length of session to some reasonable time
- relax the fretting hand ^_^ (getting there, getting there)
So, what would "reasonable" be for most students? What's the ~90% standard lesson & home practice time in music teaching? How many rest days a week?