Guitarist Levels, Your path to 1000 hours |
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Guitarist Levels, Your path to 1000 hours |
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Apr 8 2012, 06:07 PM |
I think its safe to safe if you have a 1000 hours under your belt, you have a good understanding of what you are doing. I am going to be using this for my progress. I have come up with a fun way of reaching goals. I would like to invite the instructors to give their input, but I have come up with dividing up the hours from 0-1000 into 7 levels.
Hours Title 0-10 Guitar Hero Defector 11-50 Air Guitarist 51-100 Guitar Not A Zero 101-300 Ax Grinder 301-500 Shred N Butter Man 501-750 Guitar Virtu-So-So 751-1000 Guitar Hero What I would like to know is given the average person what things should the know at the various levels? Do you think we could quantify? I like the idea of having a measuring stick to strive to meet, and beat. I have made the hours not to be too long between titles. People can get to Ax Grinder pretty fast. We could create a chart to show what kind of techniques, scales, chords, songs would be equivalent at this level. We could take this beyond 1000 hours, if others who are past this want to develop this further. To me, its about the practice time, the good practice time. I can riff away aimlessly and not get better. I think if we record, observe, and evaluate our practice time. We will see great strides in progress. We all know its not how long you have owned a guitar, or had access to one, but how long you have been playing, and pushing yourself to get better.I would like to hear your thoughts. I think this could be a lot of fun. -------------------- Keep on playing!
DWR My goal is to learn to play guitar like its my second language, and my first words to the world will be "Bite Me!". "Just fn play already!" Guitarist Title: Air Guitarist Guitarist Title thread DWR's EPIC Practice Journal l DarkWaveRiffer's Modern Music Mentored By Cosmin Thread Lead Mastery Mentored by Gab Attacking Scales Mentored By Alex Thread Want to know how to practice for success?? Click here!! Are you sabotaging your practice? Click here! |
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Apr 8 2012, 06:37 PM |
I think 1,000 is actually low. Thats only 40 days or a little over I think. I have more than that, its not as much as it seems. If you play guitar for 24 hours in one week, just about 3 hours a day. In less than a year you have 1,000 hours. I would think something like as high 35,000 - 50,000. Depending on age 100,000 even. To answer the actual post, you should only ever know what you want to know. To me the purpose of guitar is not to play, but to compose. So I have learned based on how my writing has developed. I am good at sweeping and alternate picking, but my tapping is not on the same level because it hasn't facilitated itself in my writing yet. I prefer melodic, vocal passages in lead work so I emphasize phrasing over technique. I don't neglect the other techniques, I just focus on my strenghts, what is going to better benefit myself as a composer. You never know enough though, and you will never know it all. Guitar essentially cannot be mastered and it has no master, it only has disciples seeking the highest amount of truth they can ( to put it so epically ). So if you reach that guitar hero stage, your a guitar hero in only a select few, and more often than maybe just one area. A guitar hero in metal is probably a mediocre flamenco guitarist ( not always the case ) but you see my point Yes, but we are talking about pure practice time, where you are pushing yourself to progress. Many people don't have 8 hours a day to put into practice. If you put in a good 1000 hours of practice, you will be pretty decent. 10,000 hours it takes to be an expert. I like to quantify things. That's one thing I see that is lacking in music in general. I know everyone goes at their own pace, but there should be a way to put a average time to learn a certain technique. Say for instance Vibrato...does it take 20,50,100 hours to have the technique down where you could be called proficient? Some people just want to play songs they hear on the radio, some want to be in a band and play covers, some want to be in a band and make their own stuff up, and some want to learn it all. The common denominator is practice time, and learning the techniques.Our instructors are very good at teaching, given everyone get's the same instruction, and level of feedback people of similar level should learn a technique/concept in a range of similar times. What that range is...I don't know, and I suspect there hasn't been much research on it. I am not trying to squash creativity. I just want to make a road map for myself, and others can use on their way to learning guitar. If I have a 1000 hours of good practice time under my belt, I know I will be at a level where I have found my groove, and the habits I have developed will carry me through to getting better, and better. This post has been edited by DarkWaveRiffer: Apr 8 2012, 07:07 PM -------------------- Keep on playing!
DWR My goal is to learn to play guitar like its my second language, and my first words to the world will be "Bite Me!". "Just fn play already!" Guitarist Title: Air Guitarist Guitarist Title thread DWR's EPIC Practice Journal l DarkWaveRiffer's Modern Music Mentored By Cosmin Thread Lead Mastery Mentored by Gab Attacking Scales Mentored By Alex Thread Want to know how to practice for success?? Click here!! Are you sabotaging your practice? Click here! |
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Apr 8 2012, 07:01 PM |
Yes, but we are talking about pure practice time, where you are pushing yourself to progress. Many people don't have 8 hours a day to put into practice. If you put in a good 1000 hours of practice, you will be pretty decent. 10,000 hours it takes to be an expert. I like to quantify things. That's one thing I see that is lacking in music in general. I know everyone goes at their own pace, but their should be a ways to put a average time to learn a certain technique. Some people just want to play songs they hear on the radio, some want to be in a band and play covers, some want to be in a band and make their own stuff up, and some want to learn it all. The common denominator is practice time, and learning the techniques.Our instructors are very good at teaching, given everyone get's the same instruction, and level of feedback people of similar level should learn a technique/concept in a range of similar times. What that range is...I don't know, and I suspect there hasn't been much research on it. http://retirerichroadmap.com/blog/skill-ma...nd-10000-hours/ haha. that might seem like span - sorry, but it's growingly accepted by those interested in the topic that it takes about 10K hours of focused practice to "master" a skill. Divide that the hours / day you are able to practice and you'll get a rough notion of how you're doing. When you think about it, it makes sense too. I've posted this observation before, but I'll regurgitate it here. All the "young guitar wizards" began playing at the age of 10 or younger. Add 7 years, and you'll understand that 7 years seems right. They are young guitar wizards because they put in at least 7 years of focused practice. So if you want o measure yourself, measure your progress in terms of discipline. Are you practicing every day? If so, expect in 7 or so years, you're going to be much better than you are today This post has been edited by SirJamsalot: Apr 8 2012, 07:08 PM -------------------- The more I practice, the more I wish I had time to practice!
My Band Forum: http://passionfly.site/chat |
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Apr 8 2012, 07:02 PM |
Hey! This initiative sounds really good! It's always useful to set short and long term goals when we are talking about guitar playing. However I also think that we need more than 1000 hours of real practice to reach a top level. By the way you will notice a big improvement if you practice 1000 hours in 1 year.
-------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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Apr 8 2012, 07:14 PM |
Hey! This initiative sounds really good! It's always useful to set short and long term goals when we are talking about guitar playing. However I also think that we need more than 1000 hours of real practice to reach a top level. By the way you will notice a big improvement if you practice 1000 hours in 1 year. Guitar Hero is not top level. Its just top level in what I have come up with. Your journey has really just begun by 1000 hours, but by the time the 1000 hours comes up you will be well on your way. When they look back at where they started, and where they are in 1000 hours they will be amazed. Sirjams, Thanks for the link!. I have seen mention of this 10K hours, but its not practical for people just starting. 10k hours is very daunting, and you can be very good long before 10K hours. You can be very good at 1000 hours. Can we safely say you will be an intermediate, or even advanced player will 1000 hours under your belt? This post has been edited by DarkWaveRiffer: Apr 8 2012, 07:15 PM -------------------- Keep on playing!
DWR My goal is to learn to play guitar like its my second language, and my first words to the world will be "Bite Me!". "Just fn play already!" Guitarist Title: Air Guitarist Guitarist Title thread DWR's EPIC Practice Journal l DarkWaveRiffer's Modern Music Mentored By Cosmin Thread Lead Mastery Mentored by Gab Attacking Scales Mentored By Alex Thread Want to know how to practice for success?? Click here!! Are you sabotaging your practice? Click here! |
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Apr 8 2012, 08:39 PM |
Guitar Hero is not top level. Its just top level in what I have come up with. Your journey has really just begun by 1000 hours, but by the time the 1000 hours comes up you will be well on your way. When they look back at where they started, and where they are in 1000 hours they will be amazed. Sirjams, Thanks for the link!. I have seen mention of this 10K hours, but its not practical for people just starting. 10k hours is very daunting, and you can be very good long before 10K hours. You can be very good at 1000 hours. Can we safely say you will be an intermediate, or even advanced player will 1000 hours under your belt? Well, I guess it depends on our definition of good then If we're talking in terms of "able to do a lick at 200 bpm", then sure, you can probably manage that. But if you mean "good all around player" in only 1000 hours of practice, then I'm going to be the protagonist ~ show me the money! 1000 hours divided by 4 hours a day is 250 days ~ that's about a year. I know of no guitarists who have been playing a year who are "good" ~ all the ones I've run across are just getting to the point where they are able to inject "feel" into what they are doing, Their vocabulary is minimal at best, and ability to bend with control, weak. In my experience, the mind must absorb information. You can throw a 1000 hours worth of information at the mind in a month, but the mind needs the full 1000 hours to make sense of it, and the body needs 1000 hours to burn whatever physical motions are required to play it, into muscle memory. Anyways, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade ~ you should always strive for the hours, but I think you run the risk of going into depression if you set yourself up the expectation of becoming "good" in only a year's time. Everyone I've ever encountered has gone through some form of "I should be better by now ~ they've usually been playing about 2-5 years. I just think you run less risk of giving up if you know at the outset that you're in for the "long haul" when you pick up your axe. I know of no short-cuts. Discipline, long-term goals, patience, understanding that it's going to take you years, not months, to get into a reasonable sense of self-worth in your guitarmanship. Focus long-term! Chip away at the block! Nothing wrong with counting hours, but remember the old saying "a watched kettle never boils". Record yourself always, and look back at how far you've progressed when you get frustrated. Rock on! p.s. I know you understand long term ~ and you're just looking for a short term- indicator since 10K hours seems too far in the distance. I think what I'm getting at is that people don't judge their ability in terms of time ~ they judge it in terms of ability to play to their own satisfaction, and our own satisfaction is very hard to accomplish. If you really want to find a meaningful guage of how good you are in terms of your own expectations, then pick a song you consider to be "good playing", then learn it! See if you can play that song "well" enough, to your definition of good, then you'll have reached your goal. I think that is much better guage than hours played and it gives you meaningful feedback! AND it will pave the ground for learning to compose your own songs because you will begin to expose yourself to song structures that you like (since you picked the song!). This post has been edited by SirJamsalot: Apr 8 2012, 08:50 PM -------------------- The more I practice, the more I wish I had time to practice!
My Band Forum: http://passionfly.site/chat |
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Apr 8 2012, 09:00 PM |
This is just a path to 1000 hours, not path to Guitar legend. Its also just adding some mile stones to reach. It would be fun to record what people are reaching at various levels, and inject some level of competition. We can also see if given enough people, and data, gather some averages. We could also make it a contest. Its also not about mindlessly consuming 1000 hours of information. Its about focused practice. If you look at how efficient most people practice, you might get 20-30% efficiency, unless they are applying some of the principles I spoke about in my practice for success thread. 1000 hours of good practice. I think you will be surprised given your current level, if you record 1000 hour from where you are, the progress will be measurable. I was working on a segment where I had to do some upstrokes, and in my mind I was thinking it would take me days of practice to get it down, and in reality took me 2 hours of getting comfortable, tying it in and building some fluidity.We are not going to set ourselves up for disappointment. The milestones will be reachable, and each successful milestone builds on each other in confidence, and motivation.
-------------------- Keep on playing!
DWR My goal is to learn to play guitar like its my second language, and my first words to the world will be "Bite Me!". "Just fn play already!" Guitarist Title: Air Guitarist Guitarist Title thread DWR's EPIC Practice Journal l DarkWaveRiffer's Modern Music Mentored By Cosmin Thread Lead Mastery Mentored by Gab Attacking Scales Mentored By Alex Thread Want to know how to practice for success?? Click here!! Are you sabotaging your practice? Click here! |
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Apr 8 2012, 09:16 PM |
It would be fun to record what people are reaching at various levels, and inject some level of competition. We can also see if given enough people, and data, gather some averages. We could also make it a contest. Its also not about mindlessly consuming 1000 hours of information. Its about focused practice. Hey I LIKE this idea! -------------------- The more I practice, the more I wish I had time to practice!
My Band Forum: http://passionfly.site/chat |
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Apr 9 2012, 11:10 PM |
I would probably double my practice time if I didn't read, and reply to the forum so much. lol But it does fuel my desire to play.
Great points, and I am going to, and do practice regardless of levels, and titles. I just thought this would be a fresh, and fun way of approaching practice, and also see how hours practicing really make a difference. I am an engineer by trade, but I have a strong creative streak, and I often times feel like the black sheep there. I approach my engineering creatively, and I also see merit in bringing some engineering methodology to my music endeavors. I know from a pure technique stand point, applying those principles can have you practicing more efficient, and progressing faster. My mind asks the question, all things being equal, such as skill, access to information, and feedback, two guitarists learning hammer on techniques, both applying the techniques they learned from the same instructional exercise, how many hours would it take for them to play the exercise at cleanly, and what would the BPM of the exercise be at. Controlling such conditions, given enough data points, you would definitely see a trend. Let me be clear on my motives, through my own journey of learning to play guitar, I want to analyze how do I practice, and progress efficiently, and steadily. Also by my experimentation, and asking these questions will get others to think about these things as well. Where it becomes tricky is the creative application of the techniques, but by controlling your practice, you develop your vocal vocabulary so you can have more to apply, and experiment with. We all want to express ourselves, and all of us here have chosen guitar to express ourselves. It really about developing the tools to express yourself the way you want. Some do it more organically. They learn a song, or part of a song, play it to the point where they learn some of the techniques, pick up more songs, more techniques, and given enough desire they continue through the rough spots, if they selected a really hard song, where most would have likely given up.Or you can define the variables you can control, tweak them, check the results, compare them to your expectations, tweak them, and come up with something a little more predictable. Ben, I like your analogy of guitar to a the perfect statue, or perfect guitar player all of us are, but we need to chip at it (practice) and reveal it. Things changed for me, when I realized, and made up my mind that guitar would be a life time thing for me. Its where I find comfort, and often revelation. So a lot of the answers to our questions about guitar lie in playing, and listening to what your guitar tells you. I guess to sum up the whole reason for this thread. I like milestones. Short term, and long term. Creating some common milestones that people can competitively reach for, gives extra motivation to practice more, and also its nice to share the journey. Which is why most of us are here. -------------------- Keep on playing!
DWR My goal is to learn to play guitar like its my second language, and my first words to the world will be "Bite Me!". "Just fn play already!" Guitarist Title: Air Guitarist Guitarist Title thread DWR's EPIC Practice Journal l DarkWaveRiffer's Modern Music Mentored By Cosmin Thread Lead Mastery Mentored by Gab Attacking Scales Mentored By Alex Thread Want to know how to practice for success?? Click here!! Are you sabotaging your practice? Click here! |
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Apr 12 2012, 01:29 AM |
So I am going to be adding to my signature my current title. Which will be Air Guitarist. Seems fitting. I am logging my hours, so it will be interesting to see my journey, and at what hours things start opening up. I have a theory that you reach critical mass at a certain point, where learning becomes easier, and easier because the time put in translates to time playing the guitar, getting coordinated, comfortable, and picked up some good habits along the way. Since I am very critical of my playing, and analyze it to no end. Also with the help of the great instructors mentoring me.I am hoping that this will shorten my time to critical mass. If others want to join, they are more than welcome. The only reward for now is hopefully taking a closer look on how you practice, and how your spend your time. Which in the end should bring progress that much faster.
-------------------- Keep on playing!
DWR My goal is to learn to play guitar like its my second language, and my first words to the world will be "Bite Me!". "Just fn play already!" Guitarist Title: Air Guitarist Guitarist Title thread DWR's EPIC Practice Journal l DarkWaveRiffer's Modern Music Mentored By Cosmin Thread Lead Mastery Mentored by Gab Attacking Scales Mentored By Alex Thread Want to know how to practice for success?? Click here!! Are you sabotaging your practice? Click here! |
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Apr 12 2012, 04:52 AM |
Well I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is someone has been working on something similar to this for a couple of years now. That person is me
The bad news? don't expect anything special to happen when you get to 1,000 hours. I have been documenting every hour I practiced, and how much time I have dedicated to a particular skill, song, or riff. This project of mine is called Evolution of Zero. I even have a website, but so far there is nothing on there. I'm currently trying to get out of engineering school as fast as I can, so what little free time I have goes to practicing. I simply don't have the time construct a website to be what I want it to be. Hopefully this summer I'll get it up and running. I have so much information to share, but it is beyond the scope of a simple forum post. So, why is it called "evolution of zero"? We all start of at zero. You, myself, and Malmsteen. We all start of at the same point. No one was born with a natural talent to play guitar, piano, or become a professional athlete. We all had to learn our skills. But why do some people excel while others lag? What does one group have that the others don't? This is a complex question, and the answers is more obvious than you think. Getting from zero to hero isn't a step by step process. Its an evolution. There are no stages that indicate your progress. Every day there are micro improvements happening. By the time you have learned what you wanted to learn you'll feel like you have always known it. As far as the physical aspect of playing, there are no eureka moments. You'll know that you have reached your short term goal when you forget how hard it was to get there. Even though I have a clear, quantifiable goal - 10,000 hours - conquering this massive hour count isn't the primary objective. It is simply a conduit to carry me on my journey. I don't want to drag this post on too long, but I will give you some tips. Forget about milestones, they will only disappoint you. Right now your only objective should be to practice perfectly. Speed is not important, and making your fingerwork sound like music is not important. If what you're practicing sounds like music, you're playing it to fast What you're doing now is programming your muscle memory. Thats it. You'll never be able to play what you feel if your fingers can't operate on their own. Anyhow, check out my signature. For well over a year I have been posting how many hours I have practiced. I consider it my Zero to Hero rating. I do have to update it though, as I have added some hours to it -------------------- He who laughs last thinks slowest. "That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence." - Christopher Hitchens Gear: Guitars: Uncle Rufus' Twanger Classic Amps: Mississippi Boom Box Mojo: Hammer of Odin and a pair of Ox gonads Inspiration: Samuel Adams Boston Lager Zero to Hero: 1,387/10,000 |
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