2500 hrs to being able to play?

In my opinion, attempting to put any kind of timescale on "learning to play" is A)pointless and B)stupid, for two reasons;

1) Every single person is different, there is no way you can justify saying that if you practice for X hours you will be a good player - you could do 1000 hours of bad practice and be a sloppy player with bad technique; you could do 250 hours of good practice and be a decent rythm player. It took me about 3 days of playing for 5 hours each day to be able to form the basic Emaj and Cmaj chords. It took my brother about 2 hours (after which he got bored and gave up).

2) You will never, EVER stop learning to play. I've been playing for 3 years, and am still learning so much on a regular basis. There are members here at GN who have been playing for over 10 years - I'm sure they too are still learning.

Just practice, and you will get better. Its QUALITY of practice, not just QUANTITY.

Most of all, just have fun with it!

Pete

There's a famous saying in cartooning (probably in other fields as well) that "every artist has 10,000 bad drawings in them". Obviously it's not literal, the point is more to emphasize the importance of doing LOTS of drawings.

Same with guitar, the important thing is to focus and practice and just generally play a lot, regardless of specific timeframes. I played and practiced a LOT when I was first learning, but one thing I wish I'd focused more on was precision. I think I probably practiced kinda sloppy when I was younger, learning most songs or techniques about 80% but never really getting that last bit down by heart. Anyway, I'm doing a lot of work now to make up for it. It just goes to show that it's not the time spent but how you spend it that counts.

I don't know who originated it, but another really useful saying I've picked up from this forum is "Practice doesn't make perfect; practice makes permanent." If you practice sloppy, you'll lock in sloppy playing. Practice with good technique and you'll lock in good technique.

Jeff

If you're new to guitar, I would suggest lessons. Set reasonable goals for yourself and, if possible, record your playing so you can judge your progress. We all progress at different rates, so I wouldn't lock myself into a time frame. To me, time frames and deadlines set us up for defeat when we're first starting out. Good luck.

Denny

I've been playing for 2503 hours now. I still stink. There goes your theory!! :wink:

Its a spoof. You can get better at guitar in just ONE hour or learn to play like your favorite hero in just 15 minutes. Apply for master guitar program NOWW.

I have read on different sites that it takes anywhere from 1000 to 2500 hrs of practice to become ok/pretty good at playing. I am talking jamming with friends, playing leads etc. I think that at 20hrs a week, that is only a few years time. Am I way off track here?

I saw a vid of John Williams on Youtube and the commentator reckons you can turn out a rock guitarist in twelve hours. There are loads of different viewpoints, everybody develops at their own pace. Over at the Classical Guitar forum I frequent, one of the members wanted to get into a top American school to study under Sharon Isbin (behave yourselves at the back). His teacher had told him he'd need to practice six hours a day for the next five years and this guy was on the forum asking how to apportion that practice time having got it into his head that he was guaranteed entry so long as he put in the exact number of hours. We let him down hard. He never came back. I presume he's practicing six hours a day, but have no idea what he might be practicing.

Sooooo, 2,500 hours of Mary Had A Little Lamb is not going to turn you into Joe Satriani (for example). Nor is 2,500 hours of rigorous study of scales, arpeggios, chords, solo structure and technique, song construction, rhythm, jazz theory, world music, Pythagorean tuning and deconstructing Beethoven's symphonies - but it will get you a lot closer to understanding how Joe Satriani gets to sound like he does and being able to emulate that.

Best,

A :-)

It is clear that there aren't any absolutes here. But it would be reassuring for a beginner to know that if you stick to it you can expect to be able to do such and such in 6 months, and such and such in a year. That way you could judge your own individual progress.

I am amazed at how much effort it takes to learn the basics and how precise fingers need to be placed to get strings to ring out, let alone work the strumming and rhythm associated with it.

I am left handed (playing the right handed way) so I am aware that I have probably better control of my fret hand than most right handed players. I can't imagine trying to fret with my non dominant hand.

My point is it would be nice if someone with experience could at least speak to the averages so that we beginners would have some idea as to where we might be in time.

Averages are meaningless.

I mean, I could figure out how fast my "average" student progresses, but none of my students are average. Some are always faster or slower at certain things. Even if the average meant something, knowing it wouldn't mean anything... knowing you're behind the curve would only slow your progress further, and knowing you're exceptional presents a different set of problems.

I've known people who've taken years to get to a low-intermediate level, and had a ball doing it. I've had a student who got through two years worth of material for the 'average' student in 12 weeks... and then gave up the guitar because he felt it wasn't worth the effort. Which one would you rather be?

Most professional musicians have invested thousands of hours in practicing. Most non-professionals haven't. But it's not math; putting in X hours doesn't give you Y results. It's about how you spend the hours, and how much progress you get from them towards your goals.

You're not average. Unless of course, you have exactly 2.57 people in your household. In that case, you probably need exactly 2500 hours :)

I understand your comments and agree. I guess I was looking to find out if all the dificulties I am having are typical and will resolve in time or am I just some klutz that should seek other uses with my limited amount of spare time. I have no dreams of being a pro, but don't want to play only behind closed doors.

If you keep working at it, you'll get better.

But there's really no universal yardstick - it depends on what you want to do with the guitar. I'll give you an example...

Ask 100 guitarists what a beginner needs to know. I'll bet all 100 will list a decent ability to change between basic chords.

Now get a copy Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" from 2003. #3 on the list (B.B. King) can't do that.

foxden,

My guess is that most if not all the things you are struggling with are typical and should resolve themselves in time...but that time may be different for each area that needs work and it may be different than the time it takes someone else to learn it.

Perserverance is the name of the game with this instrument and learning to go with the flow and have fun. The rest will come with time.

As you progress you'll learn one thing about guitar it's a series of ah ha moments. What I mean is you'll practice something for what seems like forever and never seem to get better and then one day you'll pick up the guitar and it will just click and you'll be able to do it like it was magic.

Keep playing and don't get frustrated.

I couldn't do crap for 5 years, and then in 3 months I figured it out.

"Push the strings ALL the way down." :lol:

I've told this story many times, but one more time won't hurt. :D

I was fortunate to catch Chet Atkins, one of the greatest guitarists ever in a TV interview when I first started guitar. In case you don't know who Chet is, here is a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25RvDYU0qEc

Hope you enjoyed that. During the interview Chet was playing two songs at the same time. :shock:

The reporter was amazed and remarked, "You are so talented!"

Chet stopped playing and laughed. Then he said, "I'm not talented at all."

The reporter was shocked and asked how Chet could say such a thing.

Chet remarked that he had practiced over 20,000 hours and told the reporter if he practiced 20,000 hours he would be able to play just as well as him.

That was it. That was my answer right then and there. I realized that if I just kept playing that someday I would be a good player. Maybe not great like Chet Atkins, but good. And I decided I would just keep playing the rest of my life. That was about 35 years ago, I have probably practiced 10,000 hours. I am not great like Chet, but I can play.

You can't think of it in terms of time. If so, you will get frustrated, and maybe quit, many do. No, you have to start enjoying playing right now and have reasonable expectations. If you keep practicing, you will get good. And there are better ways to practice. The really great players usually had a very good practice regimen that enabled them to advance much quicker than others with poor practice habits.

Think about 20,000 hours. If you played 8 hours per day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks per year (just like a job), it would take you 10 years to get good like Chet. That is a lot of practice, most folks are not able to practice like that. But try to practice an hour or two every day, and try to have disciplined practices that will help you advance quickly. But know that guitar is difficult and takes lots of patience. It will always be frustrating, accept that now. Just have fun and keep playing, that is the secret.

There's some reason why Chet Atkins is called 'Mr. Guitar'. Also, watching Jerry Reed play on his chopped Baldwin gut string makes my jaw drop. Wonder how many hours he had practiced...