Many guitarists ask me, after their first Guitar lesson, how long it will take them to become great at playing the guitar. I’ve never been able to answer this question exactly, it’s a mixture of many things. Your success or progress in playing the guitar depends totally on the effort and determination that you put into it. One of my favourite stories is about Steve Vie: he would get home after school, pick up his guitar and start to play. On the edge of the bed he would play until he fell asleep. Not just once in a while, almost every day. Of course, most of us wouldn’t have the luxury of so much time to practice our Guitar, but this little story illustrates that your playing ability and success is not completely dependant on your magical talent or burning desire, but on a lot of hard work. There isn’t an easy way into it, just commitment. Therefore, whatever you do, please don’t take up the guitar if you are only going to, or can only practice for an hour before your Guitar lessons! You’ll just annoy yourself, get frustrated and you might never get any better! Sorry to be blunt, but there you go, “heads down, no nonsense mindful boogie“, as a wise Guitar playing Monkey once said! Just to chear you up , here’s Jimi Hendrix’s song “Hey Joe” solo note for note along to the record and slowed down, without the backing track ,so you see exactly what’s going on, enjoy this wee, epic classic, until next time! Play on! As usual, here’s the Tuition course link “Learn to Play Amazing Guitar quickly“
Hello…very interesting topic and I get the same thing quite often! They say that to really play the blues you have to have lived it. I have my doubts about that statement because I’ve heard a couple of fourteen year olds play great blues—so great that a novice may have mistakenly identified the artist as Stevie Ray Vaughan. These fourteen year old boys certainly did not have the kind of life that would qualify them as blues pickers. On the contrary, they had an environment conducive to playing guitar, i.e. parents who played and purchased a great deal of good equipment. They listened a lot and had more natural talent than average. And most of all they had the desire and the self discipline to put in the time necessary to play some great blues. When you put all of this together it is certainly a winning combination.
Since you are reading this I am assuming that you would like to play guitar. Are you willing to pay the price? Studies have shown that, other things being equal, the average guitarist who practices half an hour a day needs about fourteen years of good practice before he reaches his peak, before he is ready to join a band and play professionally. If that is the case it follows then that a student who practices two hours a day, will be more than competent on his instrument in just seven years. What about someone who is really fired-up and wants to get real good real soon? Is he willing to spend three hours a day or even four? Why not. He is training to fulfill his life’s ambition. How many hours does a doctor or an attorney spend when he is training for his life’s work? No doubt the time required for expertise at any of the professions is similar. A guitarist who has dedicated that much of his life to playing should literally be able to take a persons breath away when he plays and it should take just three and one-half years to reach this level. It is a high price to pay but there are many guitar fanatics out there doing just that. You will hear of them soon. What’s even more exciting—you may be the next one. Ralph G http://www.guitargogo.com
By: Ralph on March 16, 2008
at 5:58 am