How long did it take you to become proficient at playing the guitar?

[MikeD]

And how much did you practice?

Was the guitar easy to learn for you? Difficult?

I realize that proficient is subjective so use your own judgement.

I know everyone learns at different rates and that some people just have an inherent aptitude for the guitar and music in general.

In grade school I knew a guy that played drums. In high school he decided he wanted to learn to play the guitar. He refused to touch a guitar until he could buy a Les Paul like Jimmy Page. Well, in about 6 months he was playing Led Zeppelin including the solos. We were amazed at quickly he learned and quickly he became very good at playing the guitar. That was in the early '80s and he has been a working musician ever since.

That is not me. Learning to play has always been very difficult for me. A bit of a slog. I've owned guitars for 35+ years and I'd rate my playing at advanced beginner, at best.

Now, I have not been practicing the entire time. There's been periods of my life that I didn't even pick up a guitar for years. I'm talking about over a decade at one point.

I've never taken to the guitar easily. It's unnatural to me. I'm not a musician. In fact, there's never been a musician in my family...ever. Even extended family. The closest we've come is owning a radio.

BUT I have been practicing a lot lately and have seen some real improvement. That's encouraging.


So I got to wondering how long it takes most people to learn to play the guitar, generally speaking. This seems as good a place as any to ask.

Please share your experience.

 

[rugerpc]

It's possible to be proficient?!?

Not there yet...

Been playing for decades without real practice discipline, so I have no one else to blame.

 

[gush]

I was a pretty decent trumpet player in high school and I taught myself drums in high school as well.

I started learning guitar as a sophomor and the early stages were kind of easy for me. I came from a very small school so there weren't very many musicians to learn from. I also worked a lot so I didn't develop a ring of guitar players to pool skills with. There was no internet so I listened to actual records. That made for slow progress. Super technical stuff is out of my reach but I do just ok.

I'm still trying to improve and internet sure helps but I enjoy what I do.

Our band gigged last night and we had a
fabulous time. I'm going to try to get some clips of that on here if I can figure it out.

Keep plugging away because 20 years from now when you hear a passage or riff on the radio you will say "I think I know how to play that!".

 

[ChrisCst22]

I first started playing guitar at age 7. I'm 31 now. For someone who's been playing 24 years, I think most would assume I should be far, far better then I think I am. I also feel like I set the bar pretty high.

I'm really good at some things. Specific styles. I'm a big 311 fan. I can cop his tone, and his chops almost to a T. Other people who hear it agree. Bands like Chevelle, Seether, Rage, Deftones. Everyone agrees I can play that stuff almost spot on.

However, when it comes to any speeding solo, nope. Can't really do it. I feel I have a pretty decent vibrato. I know how to shake the string nice and slowly, or very fast and vibrantly. But when it comes to choosing the notes to play in a "solo", I almost always go to the same place. And that's really annoying. Ha!

Edit: I didn't really answer the question from the OP. I feel like I really started to sound somewhat decent by 18 or so. So about 11 years. That's a lot longer than most people expect!

 

[László]

I've mentioned this before, but it's still an interesting topic: not only do people have different talents, and different muscle abilities (i.e., they favor large motor skills such as athletics, or small motor skills such as musical instruments, drawing, etc.), but the age at which whatever talent one is developing starts, matters.

There have been studies showing that there isn't much point in starting a musical instrument before a child's hands are ready, usually around 5-7. At the same time, if the child hasn't developed the musical neural pathways by puberty, it's very rare for them to become truly accomplished at an instrument, at least sufficient to play on a professional level, because those neural pathways start to close up the older one gets past puberty.

Then there is the whole "10,000 hours" of practice and playing needed to develop those skills - a major issue for most adults whose lives tend to interfere with sitting in a room and practicing alone for however long it takes.

And, political correctness aside, we are all assembled with different talents, and different potential in terms of developing those talents.

In my own case I've seen this - I started piano at 4, and am a small motor skills person with a good musical ear. On piano, I feel utterly at home, and can do an awful lot of things. I'm also classically trained. However, I started guitar at 17, and didn't really get serious about it until I was nearly 20. The pathways that made piano so easy for me were of course "no longer available" when I started guitar.

Frankly, my musical ear and experience are decent enough to allow me to "wing it" through a tune and do sessions. But I do not have the chops or the skills to truly play the way I'd like to, and in fact, I will never have that ability given my age at this point. I am what I am, and my hands are slowing down a little.

So in answer to the OP's question my answer to the question "How long does it take to become proficient on guitar?" would be:

For very talented people whose neural pathways are still available,, the answer is "a few months." My son left for summer camp at 14 as a piano and bass player, and came home an incredibly proficient guitar player, and was teaching for a local teaching company before he was 15(!). He had taught himself on a little travel guitar. That's pretty amazing, and I knew at that point that he "had it."

For some folks, the answer is "never." They never had it, and aren't gonna get it.

And then there is everyone in between "a few months" and "never." Where you fall on this timeline depends on an awful lot of things - genetics, training, environment, age, interest, perseverance, discipline, and so on.

So it's impossible to predict until you either get there, or don't.

 

[AP515]

While I agree with Les, there is a bit more to say. There is a level of improvement that each person can attain. Even if you don't have youth to give you that unfair advantage, (think of how a baby learns to speak), there is still a measure of improvement that us old guys can attain. I tinkered with the guitar for 20 years while I went through the school and marriage, and career years. In 2007 I found myself going through a divorce and while it was horrible and difficult and I would not wish it on anyone, I also found I had more time on my hands. I filled a lot of that time practicing. In about 3 years I went from strumming 3 chords, to Santana solos. Now I do recognize that it takes me much, much longer to commit something to memory, and I'll never be "professional" at this, but compared to where I was in 2007, I am measurably better, and I feel a sense of accomplishment for having gotten this far.

My point is, practice is still its own reward and anybody can improve by doing more of it.

 

[solacematt]

It was practice everyday for a few hours of everything I could muster playing in my issues of Guitar World, Guitar, and Guitar One magazine. Six months later I got together to jam with my friend who was the one who initially showed me my first few songs and I had exceeded his skill; and he had been taking lessons a few years, so I thought that that was pretty cool.
I think what made me a better player was that my father didn't let me out of the house except for school and work because he didn't want me getting into trouble. Because of that I had fairly good grades and for fun I would figure out albums front to back by ear (no computer or internet). I think that all of that being stuck at home crap was what helped develop my ear and made me a better player.

 

[helmi]

been playing for 35 years. still suck, but still love playing. that's all that really matters!

 

[Huggy Love]

develop my ear

MikeD, All the replies on this thread are very, very good advice, (I hope they help you to get closer to where you want to be as a player) but what Matt says is really important.

The first time I really picked up an instrument was bass, on a dare from my army barracks roommate, there was a talent show, the cat they tried to teach bass to couldn't grasp it so I gave it a shot. Two hours later I was in the talent show, playing a simple bassline with good players on guitar, keys & drums, and wham.....bam.......we won it. I guess you can call that "proficient". A couple years later I bought my first guitar, 6 months after that I was playing a full one hour set at the college bars on Wisconsin ave in the DC area, ......proficient?no? I will admit that after my initial bursts of aptitude on the guitar, it took A WHOLE LOT LONGER to get to what I feel is "proficient", to be able to sit in with any jazz combo and hold my own.................A WHOLE LOT LONGER. Which brings up the real question.....what level of proficiency do you want to achieve?

Now here is where Matt's words are important, I never took a lesson in my life. Everything I can do on the axe is from what I learned by ear off the music of everybody from Funkadelic to Van Halen to Santana to Wes Montgomery, I did it by ear and THAT'S what made me stronger. Not to say avoid lessons or books (I've picked up a few things from books over the years) but the connection between your ears-brain-fingers is what will make the difference. Do your best to develop that and the rest will be a lot easier. Jam along with the radio, that'll get you going.

Good luck on your path to proficiency.

 

[mezzio]

Been playing on and off for 24 years now, and I've never been as good as I want to be. It always seems like I'm striving to learn something new.

Of course I thought I knew a little something until I decided to buy Rocksmith and it made me feel like a complete guitar moron, lol.

 

[ozboy]

People's brains ar plastic to an extent. So age isn't the be all and end all. I've struggled with a lack of natural talent for many years. In my opinion there are some definite things for improvement.

1. Get a good teacher. You don't even know what your doing wrong until then.
2. Practice single bars obsessively. You really have to focus on quite specific motor skills, like bending a note just so. These translate to broader skills.
3. Work with a metronome

 

[ozboy]

There is only one jimi Hendrix, one Eric Clapton, one Santana. Those guys all have limits as well

imagine the frustration of having once being able to create great music but 20 years down the track reduced to trying to copy yourself.

 

[László]

I do want to make it clear that with practice, I agree, everyone can improve. And I also agree to a great extent with getting a good teacher to help make the progress faster.

I've taken lessons from time to time on both piano and guitar as an adult when I've felt bogged down, and of course learning new things always makes me play either instrument better.

But the question "how long" is another matter, and that can't be predicted. Not only that, but age, talent, and other factors do matter.

 

[László]

imagine the frustration of having once being able to create great music but 20 years down the track reduced to trying to copy yourself.

Beats the living hell out of never being able to create great music and being reduced to trying to copy others' accomplishments.

 

[ozboy]

You would think so. some studies distinguish between "experimenters" who develop later and have longer careers and "conceptualists" who do most of their best work very early and then stop developing. This applies to several fields.

 

[jfine]

Proficient? Depends on your definition of proficiency. I started playing guitar at age 12, on a nylon-string, with a teacher who only taught open-position chords, basic strumming and a little fingerpicking, for the popular folk songs of the time (early 1960's). No theory, no reading other than chord names, no concept of how any of it fits together. Luckily I had (and have) a very good ear, so I was able to figure out chord relationships in different keys, but it was a very long time before I learned what to call that stuff; basically the number system. What I wanted to play was rock 'n' roll on electric guitar, and I'd like to report that once I got an electric a couple of years later, I picked it up quickly, but that wasn't the case. I had to figure out how to flatpick (and I wish I'd pursued the thumb-and-fingers approach harder after I got the electric, but I couldn't play "Pipeline" that way!). I spent at least six months trying to play minor-pentatonic lead stuff going up and down the neck all on one string because I'd never seen anybody play it in one position; I didn't know that was possible until I saw a kid who was a year or so older than me doing it. Once I got that I felt like I was on my way, but I still had to find out about things like light-gauge strings and how to bend and use vibrato. I had no access to anyone who knew any more than I did--I was the best guitar player in my neighborhood and I knew next to nothing! It was a very frustrating situation to be in--there I was, growing up in San Francisco, a town full of good guitar players, and I didn't have access to any of them. I really felt like I was working in a vacuum. There were no guitar magazine around at that time either--Guitar Player didn't start publishing until 1967. Anyway, after about five years, I'd finally progressed enough to where I was able, barely, to play with cats who could actually play. The year I turned 17, I'd gone from being a barely-competent 12-string and rhythm player to being a pretty good rock and blues lead player (it was another couple of years before my rhythm playing caught up to the lead playing.) I've had students who got further in a year than I did in five, but back then we didn't have electric players on every block, or YouTube either!

 

[CoreyT]

Started playing 70 or so, took a thirty year break when I got married, and got back into it again spring of 2012.
Much better now than when I was younger, but I do not intend to be as good as a pro or anyone doing this to make $$$.
I do this as a hobby and a good outlet to relieve stress, as I have a day job

 

[deepender]

And how much did you practice?

Was the guitar easy to learn for you? Difficult?

I realize that proficient is subjective so use your own judgement.

I know everyone learns at different rates and that some people just have an inherent aptitude for the guitar and music in general.

In grade school I knew a guy that played drums. In high school he decided he wanted to learn to play the guitar. He refused to touch a guitar until he could buy a Les Paul like Jimmy Page. Well, in about 6 months he was playing Led Zeppelin including the solos. We were amazed at quickly he learned and quickly he became very good at playing the guitar. That was in the early '80s and he has been a working musician ever since.

That is not me. Learning to play has always been very difficult for me. A bit of a slog. I've owned guitars for 35+ years and I'd rate my playing at advanced beginner, at best.

Now, I have not been practicing the entire time. There's been periods of my life that I didn't even pick up a guitar for years. I'm talking about over a decade at one point.

I've never taken to the guitar easily. It's unnatural to me. I'm not a musician. In fact, there's never been a musician in my family...ever. Even extended family. The closest we've come is owning a radio.

BUT I have been practicing a lot lately and have seen some real improvement. That's encouraging.


So I got to wondering how long it takes most people to learn to play the guitar, generally speaking. This seems as good a place as any to ask.

Please share your experience.

In the early 70s, when I was 18, I got good at what I did (couldn’t really call it proficient - more of a one or two trick pony) within a year. An engagement breakup aided that immensely, because I found that I could pour my feelings into the guitar. But after decades away, while trying to relearn and progress further while pushing 70, it’s been a several year struggle.

 

[Mike J.]

I would not call myself proficient on guitar at all. Got my first guitar in 1997, so I was 44 at the time. Worked very heavy hours until 2013 so progress was very, very slow due to lack of time. Got laid off in 2013 and got another job that was pretty much 40 hours a week with some overtime here and there which meant more practice time and I finally retired in March of 2020.

As far as playing live, my only experience as a "guitar player" is only at church. To give you an idea of my abilities, so far I'm able to tackle any song but do not expect me to play solo's by Lincoln Brewster. Physically I just cannot do it. I work and work at speed picking exercises and it doesn't so me any good. My picking hand wrist just seems to lock up and I have a problem with hand to hand coordination. But then, I'm now 71 years old and even though I persist I know I will never be a technical monster on guitar and you know what? That's fine. I'm not a sloppy player by any means ( I won't allow for that at church) but again, I'm limited.

But I do have an imagination. There have been many instances at church where I've come up with my own parts and even the occasional solo's. I've also received some wonderful compliments from members of the congregation as well as from my fellow musicians. I can assure you that I am not big headed over this in any way at all. I'll quietly tell myself "well......I guess they can tell I did my homework." And then I go home. Besides, there's 14 year old kids out there on guitar who can blow my doors off any day of the week and that's wonderful!

I'm not out to compete with anybody. I'm just an older guy who's trying to do the best he can with what God gave him. Thank you Lord!

 

[Greywolf]

I've been playing for 48 years , still working at it . I would say I felt comfortable at about 8 years.
The best quote I've ever heard about guitar is " Guitar is an instrument you can learn to play in an afternoon, but will take the rest of your Life to be good at. "