What Is The 10,000-Hour Rule For Guitar?

If you've existed for any amount of time, especially in the internet-o-sphere of self-diagnostic quizzes and meme-able knowledge nuggets, then you've probably heard of the so-called "10,000-hour rule." Popularized by journalist Malcolm Gladwell (journalist, note — not psychologist) in his 2008 book, "Outliers: The Story of Success," Gladwell generally asserts that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to master a task. For an instrument like the guitar, this means 10,000 hours of practice.

Before you break out your calculator: 10,000 hours roughly equals 10 hours of practice a week for 20 years, 20 hours a week for 10 years, 40 hours a week for 5 years, etc. But wait, don't go thinking that this is some hard and fast, precisely measured metric. It's actually a loosey-goosey opposite that's been called out as imprecise, at best, and total bollocks, at worst. In his book, Gladwell cites as evidence everything from the Beatles to Mozart to Bill Gates, lining up the beginning of their careers with their peaks. But, Gladwell's point was really to say that one need not lose hope if they're not born a prodigy. This makes the 10,000-hour rule nothing more than an easy factoid for learners to glom onto in the hopes that their current struggles aren't in vain.   

So what's the point here? Much like the 80/20 rule for guitar boils down to "practice smart, not hard," the 10,000 thing boils down to "consistency matters more than anything." Keep practicing, practice smart, don't stop, and you'll gain proficiency over time — that's it.

There's no magic solution to getting better at something. It's not the case that at hour 9,999 your switch is at the non-master position and then when the 10,000th hour strikes, your switch goes to master position. That's ludicrous, especially considering multiple intelligence types as outlined by Harvard educated psychologist and professor Howard Gardner in his 1983 book, "Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences." Some folks are born linguistically gifted, others mathematically gifted, musically gifted, and so forth. Even if we take the 10,000-hour rule as true, it'd only be an average that takes all types of learners and skills into account, but describes no single individual.

What does this mean for your individual instrumental journey? It means that you can take the core of the 10,000-hour rule to heart and not give up no matter your innate talents. After you've chosen the most reasonably priced, best guitar for beginners, don't stop. Consistent practice is more important than blips and blurts of scattered practice. Actions create habits and habits define learning, especially when it comes to muscle memory and retention. Don't concern yourself with quantity of hours or minutes, but milestones like playing a certain song or riff. 

If you're musically gifted or well-coordinated, you're going to have an easier time in some regards when learning the guitar. But because becoming "good" at guitar requires such a complex suite of skills — What about songwriting? Collaboration with other musicians? Social media management, if you want to go professional? — you'll be good at some part of it. That's the final takeaway from Malcolm Gladwell's book: Don't assume you can't do it if you can't do it immediately. Even artists who wrote the best guitar riffs from the '70s had to start somewhere. Improvement just might take 10,000 hours.