You might have heard many people say that it takes 10,000 hours of “work” to master a skill…<\/p>\n
I suppose there is likely a lot of truth to that if you were… a surgeon, for example, where actually doing your skill is not for fun but must always be done at a masterful level.<\/p>\n
But does that apply to guitar playing? No, not really. In fact, not even a little.<\/p>\n
I’m sure I’ve got way more than 10,000 hours on a guitar and I’ll be the first to admit that I have a lot of technique and know a lot about music. But I promise that as a blues lover you don’t want to hear the sounds that come from that technique and musicality (most of it really doesn’t sound very “musical” after a certain point.)<\/p>\n
You could say it’s a law of diminishing returns. The gains you make after a certain point may or may not be all that useful on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
And I can’t tell you how many kids I’ve taught over the years that were out playing their first “gig” in a tiny fraction of 10,000 hours on their guitar.<\/p>\n
They learn the 4 chords they need to play the little song they wrote and before you know it they are playing to a packed house over at Grandma’s.<\/p>\n
But most importantly, they are having a great time doing it.<\/p>\n
I found a GREAT video from a “Ted Talk” that shows you just how important the first 20 hours of the journey really are:<\/p>\n