Hours of practice

To become a musician at this level requires a huge amount of commitment. Many years of dedicated practice go into having the skills needed literally at your fingertips.
On a typical day Robin will do 5-6 hours of practice, that is every day of the year.. The only day I have known him to have a complete day off was our wedding day 15 years ago!
However the type of practice he does varies depending on whether he is preparing for a concert, learning and memorizing a new piece, composing or preparing for a new recording.
The only constant are various right and left hand exercises that he does every day, some of which can be found in his book 'The Guitar Gymnasium' published by Mel Bay.
People are often surprised by the amount of practice that Robin does, however, when I point out that they wouldn't expect an Olympic athlete to arrive at the games without having done any training, they realize that he is only exercising his hands and mind!