What Is The 80/20 Rule For Guitar?

The 80/20 rule: What in the heck is that? Eighty percent of the people do 20% of the work? Though that might have gotten a chuckle from you, the 80/20 rule applied to learning how to play the guitar boils down to a simple premise: Practice smart, not hard. This ought to be common sense, same as someone isn't more "productive" just because they slaved away at work for 16 hours.

But within such common sense dwells numbers — lots and lots of confusing numbers. The 80/20 rule, aka the "Pareto Principle," has been arguably overused, overcited, oversimplified, and overcomplicated all at once. Going back to early 20th-century engineer Joseph Juran and late 19th-century economist Vilfredo Pareto, they noticed that roughly 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes across multiple domains. Think of health issues. Big killers like heart disease account for 13% of all human deaths, so if you want to live longer, focus on heart health and don't worry about developing ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Applied to practicing an instrument like the guitar, or any learned skill, this "80/20" rule means focusing on what core exercises will actually make you better, rather than churning your wheels, diddling around. 

There are loads of guitar-related articles about the 80/20 rule online. Each overcomplicates the issue with buzz words and supposed learning shortcuts that miss the point, which is: Don't get caught up in stupid numbers. Play songs that you like, don't fixate on irrelevancies, and keep the broader picture in mind.

The 80/20 rule doesn't mean forgetting about more technical or deep elements of learning an instrument like the guitar. All too often, statements like, "Eddie Van Halen never learned how to read music!" are used to justify being lazy. Yes, learn how to read sheet music, though tabs are overwhelmingly more essential for beginner guitarists. Yes, learn that Phrygian dominant scale so you can emulate god-tier guitarist Marty Friedman, who poured all of his exceptional talent into Megadeth's 1990 "Rust in Peace." 

But first, play "Wonderwall." You'll get sick of it really quickly, believe us. As guitarist Tim Ferriss correctly explains on his website, focus on core chords like the good 'ole G-D-C open chord combo so you can bang out well-known tunes from the likes of Green Day and AC/DC. Then, build some minor chords and barre chords into your playing to expand into many more options. This is the best way (the 20%) to develop all the core skills needed (the 80%) to improve over time. 

In fact, we'd argue that you should just forget about improvement altogether. You get better at speaking in public by speaking in public. You get better at writing by writing. You get better at playing an instrument by playing an instrument. So, stop looking at tutorials and trying to over-architect your own learning process. You can pepper some scales and sheet music in there (more valuable for non-beginners), but really: Just play the songs, riffs, etc., you like. The one major caveat is to play things that seem a tad out of your reach at present. This type of friction, or difficulty, will force improvement by itself.