How long to get really good

I read a few recent articles about a book called Outliers - The Story of Success - by Malcom Gladwell. There is a chapter in the book called the 10,000 hour rule.
The chapter describes the process of how people have become exceptional at what they do. His examples include The Beatles and Bill Gates.

The simple conclusion is that in all cases these exceptional people spend hours practicing, starting from a young age, and they accumulate a sum of practice time that most other people never even come close to which is - you guessed it - 10,000 hours.

So, whether it's Bill Gates programming 8 hours a day, 7 days a week for 7 years before dropping out of Harvard to start his software company or The Beatles playing 7 hours a night in the Hamburg clubs before hitting the big time, is all about putting in practive time.

If I translate my 3 musical stages into banked practice time what do I get?

1. I played in school in a garage band for 18 months in the late 70's. Practice time ? say 300 hours.
2. I sang in a cover band for 3 years in the mid 90's during which time I played the guitar during practice sessions and had the benefit of working with talented musicians. Practice time ? say 200 hours.
3. Over the last 6 months I have averaged 1 hour a day. Practicing, scales, drills and learing my favourite riffs. Practice time ? say 180 hours.


So, doing the maths 300 + 200 + 180 = 680 hours.

Wow, I'm almost 10th of the way there.

But let's put this into perspective. At my current practice 'rate' of 1 hour a day it'll take me another 20 years to hit the 10,000 hour magic number.

That's OK! because as anyone who puts their backside on a chair and puts in some practice knows, you do see results and you see them quickly. 10,000 hours may be what's needed to make you brilllant but even 10 hours or 100 hours' practice makes you better too.

Then, once you can play 'that' riff, song or chord which once eluded you, the wonderful satisfaction you feel makes you want to do that 'extra' hour, which will take you one step closer to the magical 10,000.

happy practice