How long does it take to get good at guitar?

My Instagram: @Brandondeonmusic
52 Week Guitar Player Instagram: @52WeekGuitarPlayer

I have nothing left to say.

#shorts

Except you're a bitch.

[petesfeet]

25 years and from what i can tell, you never stop learning.

[calebmulholland]

I’ve been playing guitar for 4 years:

1 year: I was comfortable with Chord transitions, and was starting to get into lead guitar

2 years: I was comfortable with fast alternate picking, and could play barre chords.

3 years: started to get much better playing solos/lead lines, but I still didn’t understand music theory at all.

4 years (current): I just had a major breakthrough in my ability to play by ear, and am starting to focus on music theory so I can learn how to improvise. I am able to improvise small lines in the key of C, and am still working.

My current list of skills include:
Tapping
Pinched Harmonics
Fast Alternate Picking
Bending
Pull-one
Hammer-offs
Vibrato
Sliding

I’m going to keep learning, because I can always do better!

[DropTheTheory]

20 years of the grind, and the learning never stops.

[seb.]

My experience:
4 months: could smoothly make chord transitions
8 months: memorised every pentatonic pattern but it took me another 3 months to make decent stuff with it (with additional techniques such as pull offs, tapping etc…)
10 months: could play barred chords without any issues
A year and a half: started learning modes and other scales and incorporated them in my playing also improved in speed and can play fast alternate picking lines

[Shonnytimestimes]

1 month in and my fingers have a mind of their own. Not stopping until they fall off

[wiebenijenhuis]

Have been playing for 12 years

1. Memorized neck and open chords
2. Seventh chords, bar chords and can play somewhat in time
3. Learned Sweet Child O mine
4. Quit
5...
6...
7...
8... Relearned everything and learned pentatonic scale
9. Actually playing completely in time and started eartraining, started with modes.
10. Actually getting better at everything
11. Modes, exotic scales and overal technique improvement. Harmonic functions and a general understanding of all borrowed chords
12. Advanced techniques, started learning sheet music. Jazz chords and joined a band. Playing in front of around 200 people and not afraid of the stage anymore. Improvising in multiple keys all around the neck.
13. Will see what happens when we get there, hope I can clean up my playing a lot this year!

The pause helped me a lot and I am glad I quit for a while. i started when I was 7. The learning curve is like a sine wave. You have ups and downs and you always keep getting better!

[GiveSic]

It's entirely up to you after you learn the basics. I had an incredibly bad teacher in school and let it effect how I felt about learning for years, one bad experience isn't indicative of the experience as a whole. You aren't too good to learn anything, take every piece of advice given to you, and study hard.

[glenforde]

Been playing almost 20 years. I feel good about the 12 steps named. You'll never stop learning if you want greatness.

[gunsmoke]

I think it also matters how consistent you are. Just because you have a guitar in your room for 4 years that you played for 4 months in the first year then rarely picked up for the other 3 doesn't mean you're going to sound as good as someone who's practiced for half that time consistently.

[royceyrips]

it’s been 4 month and jimi hendrix asked me to teach him some stuff

[VirtuosoGT]

I've been playing for 14 years, but not everyday. Recently got properly back into playing and I would say I'm an intermediate guitarist in terms of technique, and a beginner when it comes to theory.

Just changed jobs and now I have time to play everyday, so within the next couple years I plan on improving to the point where I can comfortably improvise in any key

[tugbmzo]

Everyone knows that practice makes perfect 😊

[nitty]

It’s been about 5 months. 3 or so hours most days. It’s very fun for me so it’s no task to learn something new. If I can’t hear obvious improvement on something in a couple days I’ll come back to it when I feel like trying again. Instead I’ll just jam. Works like a treat

[plteltronix]

i practice 3 hours everyday and still cant hold my guitar. Im pretty good arent I

[jrawsadam]

I started playing guitar at 23 so I didn't have to sing for bulshit cover bands anymore. I am now 38 and just in the past four to five years have really gained a lot of Mobility on the fretboard. Recently really focused on Triads about the past two to three years and that opened a lot of things up for me. I think I wasn't having fun playing for at least about six to seven years it was just work. Before the past five years it was more of a vehicle for songwriting. Now I can jam and contribute more in musical settings. I love that the magic just keeps revealing itself the more I play.

[XxCastlegirl_xX]

I’ve been playing for about 5 months, and I can play basic songs. I can read tabs and I have a decent amount of chords memorized. Even though I haven’t been playing guitar very long, I’ve played piano for 11 years and violin for 7, so fluently reading music and having a really good ear have definitely helped me learn fast.

[FandangoHoward]

I have practiced consistently for about 6 months and can smoothly transition to and from most open chord shapes, and for the past week or so, I have started working on left-hand muting so I don't have to worry about my strumming hand when switching to and from chords that mute the lower strings. It's tricky for me, but I'm getting there.

I've been struggling a little bit with memorizing the fretboard, but I've been trying various "tricks" to map it out in my head, and I feel like I'm on the verge of breaking through a bit on that front.

[KBB]

I’m a slow learner and I work a lot.
So progress is very few and far between, but i can say that if there’s something that seems impossible.
Just do it a little bit everyday, if you think your fingers are too fat or too short I promise you they’re not.
Just don’t expect yourself to improve immediately,
Also this varies from person to person, but I find that taking sizeable breaks can help you digest things and improve much better.
3 days to a week even, but you MUST practice every week at least

[sj]

Honestly been at it for 5 years. Started later in life (25) now I’m 30, and as of the last year, started going really dedicating practice everyday, and the Improvement has been dramatic. Also being in a band has helped me get so much better

[chrisfusion]

Been playing for near 10 years and now teach guitar. What i think is most vital for improvement is that you come to enjoy it early on, and dont base your enjoyment off of how "good" you think you are. If you can learn to love the process, you can become a great guitarist.