How Long Does It Take To Get Good At Guitar?

If you see singers or guitarists playing great guitar songs, you probably wish you could play guitar as well as they do. However, learning to play the guitar or becoming a professional guitarist takes a lot of time. Whether you know how to play the guitar fast or slow depends on many different factors, like the intensity and length of your practice. If you practice hard and with tips, you can confidently play beginner songs within 1 to 2 months of learning to play the guitar. Technical factors are also very important in this case. To know how long it takes to get good at the guitar , follow our sharing in this article!

How long does it take to get good at the guitar?

Playing guitar fast or slow depends on many different factors

Learning any skill takes a lot of time to practice and learn, and so does playing the guitar. To give you a more accurate view of how long it takes to master the guitar, we'll share with you an overview of the average time it takes to learn guitar to an advanced level.

Level

Months Needed

Beginner

1 to 2 months

Intermediate

3 to 6 months

Intermediate – advanced

12 to 18 months

Advanced

18-36 months

Beginner level: 1 to 2 months

At the beginner stage, you will choose some basic chords to practice. These chords can be used in most songs with simple plucking. During these first 1 to 2 months, you may experience some simpler ways of plucking. After memorizing some basic chords and playing, you can play some guitar songs easily.

Intermediate level: 3 to 6 months

You will begin to learn more about guitar technique and music theory at this stage. This knowledge will take your guitar technique to the next level. You can learn more about hammer styles, lute styles, and more picks. This stage is also very suitable to start reading music and reading guitar tabs (tablature).

Intermediate - advanced level: 12 to 18 months

At this stage, you should move on to more advanced chords or more difficult barre chords. At this point, you can also get creative and feel free to play some beginner and intermediate techniques. Practice how to quickly move between advanced finger combinations will make the music you play better. At this point, you should practice playing most of the songs from beginner to intermediate and then start working on a few more advanced songs.

Advanced level: 18-36 months

By now, you have mastered many guitar techniques, good understanding of theory and music. You can play quite a few songs of varying difficulty. You can play the guitar according to your own feel and style. Your ability to improvise and choose songs will also be enhanced during this period.

You can reach different levels from low to high, depending on how long you learned to play the guitar. You'll need to get into each of these stages and learn about the different chord levels. You should not rush, but practice slowly from basic to advanced knowledge.

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Whether you know how to play the guitar fast or slow depends on many different factors, like the intensity and length of your practice: How long does it take to get good at guitar

Case study

The results you achieve depend a lot on the time and effort you put in

There are many case studies to find out how long it takes to learn guitar. However, all studies are for your reference only. The results you achieve depend a lot on the time and effort you put in, do you really work hard or not? Do you really make time for guitar practice?

In fact, you may have spent 18 to 36 months learning to play the guitar, but you still haven't reached an advanced level. Malcolm Gladwell coined the 10,000 hour rule in one of his books. Accordingly, he suggests that any professional in any field spends at least 10,000 hours practicing and honing their skills and knowledge. However, 10,000 hours is not a short period of time.

One of our case studies below will make it easier for you to visualize.

Kelly is a complete guitar novice. She doesn't understand how chords or music work. If Kelly spends 30 minutes practicing the guitar every day and practicing 6 days a week, she will practice 3 hours a week. From that we can calculate that within a year she will have a decent guitar playing level and can play many songs at a basic or intermediate level. However, she cannot play difficult guitar songs or use advanced techniques.

However, if Kelly spends 2 hours a day and practices 6 days a week, then you've spent 12 hours a week practicing guitar. Kelly will reach a decent level within a few short months. You can see that she can reach some levels faster depending on how long she practices.

After 5 months of practicing, this explains why many people can reach a good level while others only reach the level of a beginner. With the right level of dedication and learning resources, whether you can go high or low is up to you.

Is it possible to learn much faster?

A lot of people want to learn guitar faster, it's entirely possible when you have high concentration and intensity of practice. If you put more effort and time into the guitar than others, you will definitely achieve better results.

In fact, many people believe that learning the guitar depends quite a bit on aptitude and skill level. This comment is not entirely true, for newbies, the skills they have are mostly at a basic level. They still have to learn more about music theory and chords, let alone their guitar technique. So, to master a song at an intermediate level, they have to practice regularly instead of relying on skill level.

Intense focus and disciplined practice will help you learn to play guitar faster. At this beginner stage, you need to practice at least 4 hours a day to be able to master that song. If you want to learn to play guitar in a short time, intense practice is inevitable.

If you just sit and listen to music, strum a few notes when you're interested, or take a break after every 30 minutes of practice, the day you know how to play the guitar is still a long way off. Concentrating and practicing continuously will not only help you feel drawn to the music, but it will also help you memorize each chord better. Repeating the strokes over a short period of time also helps to improve your hand movements.

With the will and determination to focus on practice, you will quickly know how to play the guitar after a short learning time. If you really try, you can memorize a song in a day. Despite the rush of time, this is entirely possible.

Read more

To be motivated to have a guitar practice routine, everyone has to know why it's important to start practicing in the first place

How to quickly learn a song on guitar?

Practicing to master each chord will help you not make mistakes when playing

The driving force that makes you able to do anything is that you really want it. Your strong desire can make you do extraordinary things that you did not expect.

Practicing all day to learn a song on guitar quickly may seem crazy, but you can do it if you really want to. The burning flame of learning helps you burn through any upcoming difficulties. We will give you 3 steps to help you quickly learn a song on the guitar most effectively:

Step 1: Practice for high accuracy

When you are just starting out, learn slowly without rushing. Practicing to master each chord will help you not make mistakes when playing. This starting stage is simple but very important, it's about creating your form for each chord and recording those chords in your memory. The chords at this stage will be developed and repeated later, so if you make a mistake, it will be easy to make a mistake later.

The worst thing is learning something wrong. As for the guitar, when you learn a bad form or incorrect technique, you have to learn them all over again. Sometimes your re-learning will be more difficult because you are familiar with those wrong chords by now. Therefore, you need to practice accuracy during this period.

Step 2: Switch to rhythm and play the song like it's supposed to be played

When the patterns and chords you practice are correct, you need to make sure they are in perfect rhythm. This stage will help you practice the rhythm of your song in the same way as the original song. When you encounter any difficult chord or note change, you need to practice together many times to reach the perfect level. Practice each part calmly at this stage, and you should still play the guitar relatively slowly.

If you miss the rhythm, your rhythm will get off track while playing, and you can use the metronome. It will help you maintain a better rhythm for a more accurate tone. You will see your progress in this stage, and the song is almost finished when the notes are brought together.

Step 3: Start speed training

Remember, you only start this third step when you have really mastered the previous two steps. Accelerating in a song on the guitar requires the player's familiarity with the notes and chord changes in the song. You can practice strumming over and over again, one part at a time, until you reach full speed and then combine them together.

Speed training isn't about trying to play the song at the fastest possible speed, but playing it fast with precise melody and smooth chord transitions. Speed training makes you sound more like a professional guitarist than someone learning to play the guitar. You need to practice and focus on your music to do that seriously.

Tips for learning the guitar in the minimum time

Learning the guitar faster can be even better, thanks to a few tips that will help you cut down on your learning time. In addition to concentration and intense practice, these helpful tips will help you learn guitar faster and learn easier. Some of our helpful tips include:

Establish your own learning style with different learning materials. Each of us has a different brain, so each person will also have their own ways of absorbing knowledge. Your learning style may not be the same as that of your teachers or friends, so you need to establish your own. Researching study materials from multiple sources helps you approach different learning styles and discover the best way to learn. It helps you to absorb information logically and effectively.
Play guitar with others. Everyone has their own way of playing the guitar, but if you're playing alone, you won't be able to recognize your weakness. Playing with other people helps you get suggestions to become better, avoiding bad habits during practice. You can play with anyone, teachers, friends or join groups of clubs. Sometimes playing the guitar together will help you learn some valuable lessons.
Get the right equipment to play better. Even if you are a person with great guitar techniques, it is not possible to play well with a poor quality guitar. You may constantly be out of tune without even realizing it if you're learning on a hand-me-down guitar. Sometimes, it makes it easier for you to get into bad habits. Preparing a good guitar to start practicing is not too expensive. You don't need to choose a very good guitar, but it must be good enough to help you learn more effectively.
Practice regularly, and really focus on learning on the guitar. You can't get success if you don't try. The same goes for learning the guitar. You should regularly practice playing the guitar and really focus on it. It is best to practice every day so that the knowledge and techniques of plucking are not forgotten.
Keep your guitar passion. If you learn guitar with great passion, you will have a lot of motivation to do it. If you have no passion, it is easy to give up the guitar after a period of hard study. The best way to 'keep the fire burning is to choose for yourself your favorite guitar style and play a song you love to hear.

Keep watching this video to get better at guitar

https://www.youtube.com/embed/xkN9ZX6rW3E

Learning by yourself or learning online?

A successful self-taught guitar is possible, and you don't need a live instructor. However, every person who wants to learn guitar successfully needs to have a mentor or a body of knowledge to follow.

For example, you can learn guitar from a book, a YouTube video or an online course. The mentor will bring a lot of useful knowledge as well as the experience of learning guitar. They also give you a direction in the right direction instead of training yourself unconsciously and then making mistakes.

The best way to start learning guitar on your own is to pick up a book or a trusted online lesson and learn it every day. You should set a goal as well as a roadmap for yourself and stick to it. Taking any random lesson you come across will make your learning go nowhere.

You can learn guitar from a book, a YouTube video or an online course

In addition, you also need to regularly practice and build yourself a solid foundation as well as a plan to go further in the future. Any learning style you want to pursue needs to have a clear path and goal. Sometimes you should refer to the path outlined by your advisor. They are experienced people, and their paths can bring better results.

You can combine other guitar learning methods or lessons with Yousician app - which teaches you how to play your instrument by making it a game. We have an article about Yousician review, read it now!

Frequently Asked Questions

How many hours should you spend exercising each day?

Many different stages will determine the length of your practice. In the early days, when your passion and love for the new guitar were at their highest, you could spend a few hours a day beside the guitar. Discovering and practicing its chords is so much fun right now and you can last forever.

However, once the excitement wears off, you should have a daily practice routine for the best results. If you are really busy and can't exercise every day, you should set aside at least 3 times a week to exercise. The best time for you to practice guitar is 30 minutes to an hour per practice. You can spend this time learning chords, looking at music theory and some guitar techniques. Playing a song or two to practice speed and hand reflexes is also great.

While a lot of practice is good, it's even better if you can build your own practice time each day to get better and better. If you practice your mind, you can spend more than two hours a day. Of course, you need to rest while practicing. Stop and rest for a few minutes when your hands show signs of fatigue or confusion.

Is it easier to learn acoustic guitar or electric guitar?

Honestly, there's not much of a difference when it comes to learning to play electric and acoustic guitar. You can even learn to play these two instruments in the same amount of time.

These two types of the guitar have quite similar chords, the difference between them is not significant. The only difference is the neck size and the properties of the physical sound. You just need to focus on memorizing chords, strumming patterns, music theory and mastering technique and you can easily switch between these two guitars.

Learn electric guitar or acoustic guitar faster?

Although both types of guitar are equally easy to learn, learning the electric guitar will be faster than the acoustic guitar. Playing electric guitar requires less finger force and makes it easier for you to move on the keyboard. It also has power chords mode, which makes it easy to play.

Even so, you should still choose a guitar you love to start playing. No matter what type of guitar, if you practice hard and really love it, you can learn to play it quickly.

Conclusion

Learning guitar is not too difficult, but it is also not easy and fast if you are lazy. How long does it take to get good at guitar?

The answer depends on how hard you practice and how focused you are. If you put in a lot of time and effort and have a burning passion for the guitar, we believe that you can reach amazing levels after a short time. Start learning guitar with precision, with a clear goal and path. The fact that you learn everything in a bluff, learning halfway, will make everything unfinished and difficult to succeed. Good luck in your journey to becoming a guitarist!