Yeah you can take this whole "Make it fun!" shit too far.
I was classically trained and made an early career out of guitar. I didn't drop out because of the scales or extensive exercises. I dropped out because I hate performing.
Jamming on chords will get you by if you're a folkie and just want something to sing to.
But playing scales and exercises, ESPECIALLY to a metronome, will take you to a whole other level. Advising someone against using a metronome is like advising someone not to lift weights or approach girls. It's discipline, and you don't get good at something without discipline.
Take two new guitar students. Give both of them a bunch of classic rock CDs. They each have an hour to practice every day. One of the them spends a full hour figuring out the guitar by ear, the other one spends half an hour listening and jamming along, and the other half hour playing scales to a metronome. Guess who's going to get insanely better? The scales guy.
When I was at my peak I used to practice 6 hours a day. It was 2 hours of scales, 2 hours of exercises, and 2 hours of repertoire. I'd highly recommend this breakdown of time management. If you practice one hour, then spend 20 minutes on scales (to a metronome), 20 minutes on other exercises like stretching, trills, right hand patterns, and 20 minutes of repertoire i.e. fun stuff. This is what's called effective practice and will take you much further in a shorter amount of time than just dicking around.
If you don't want to get good at guitar, by all means don't use a metronome.
I was classically trained and made an early career out of guitar. I didn't drop out because of the scales or extensive exercises. I dropped out because I hate performing.
Jamming on chords will get you by if you're a folkie and just want something to sing to.
But playing scales and exercises, ESPECIALLY to a metronome, will take you to a whole other level. Advising someone against using a metronome is like advising someone not to lift weights or approach girls. It's discipline, and you don't get good at something without discipline.
Take two new guitar students. Give both of them a bunch of classic rock CDs. They each have an hour to practice every day. One of the them spends a full hour figuring out the guitar by ear, the other one spends half an hour listening and jamming along, and the other half hour playing scales to a metronome. Guess who's going to get insanely better? The scales guy.
When I was at my peak I used to practice 6 hours a day. It was 2 hours of scales, 2 hours of exercises, and 2 hours of repertoire. I'd highly recommend this breakdown of time management. If you practice one hour, then spend 20 minutes on scales (to a metronome), 20 minutes on other exercises like stretching, trills, right hand patterns, and 20 minutes of repertoire i.e. fun stuff. This is what's called effective practice and will take you much further in a shorter amount of time than just dicking around.
If you don't want to get good at guitar, by all means don't use a metronome.