This is a question that is regularly asked by almost every beginner student, from young students to adults. It is natural to want to know how long it will take to be able to play an instrument. However, most people often forget the fact that it is their practice time and commitment towards the instrument that will determine their progress. Then again, there are some other factors to consider which determines the duration of their progress. Since we usually have two different age groups of students, namely young students and adult beginners, let’s discuss these two groups individually under specific parameters.
Young Students (Aged 8 years to 12 years)
Approach to Learning: Young beginners should have fun with their instrument. As they are just getting to know the instrument and the skills they can achieve while learning it, it is very important that it excites them and inspires them to work toward progress. As they are young, theories and basic reading should be introduced in a progressive and practical way so that they can take in the details and master one aspect at a time. Over burdening these learners with a lot of Music theory can lead to them losing interest in their music learning.
Objective: Their objective should be to perform in about a year with the knowledge they have gathered during that time. They should be able to connect with their instrument and play the tunes they want to play. Once they can execute the music they hear, there is a sense of achievement that inspires them to learn further and therefore accelerates their learning progress as the instrument catches their interest.
Duration: If you are a complete beginner and aged between 8-12 years, it may take you about 6-9 months to have a strong command over the fundamentals, especially certain techniques such as chord shifting, pitch change and the coordination of both hands or hands and feet (as this requires advanced motor techniques), etc. Students aged above 12 have the capacity to take in more information and process a bit quicker, so they might be able to have better command on basics in 4-6 months.
Adults
Approach to Learning: As an adult, there is an interest to learn and play the instrument that has been there a long time but you haven’t found time or you had other commitments that prevented you from taking it up earlier. There are also cases of adults who’d learn from the ever-growing internet (mainly YouTUbe) but are either unsure due to too much information or stuck at a point where their progress has been constant for a long time (they don’t know where to go next). First as a working adult, you have to decide what you want out of it. Is it just to play in front of friends (as a hobby) or gather knowledge to be able to play in a band or release your own compositions, or for therapeutic, stress release or other reasons. Whatever the reason is, you should ensure that wherever you are learning from should be flexible enough to suit your timings as well as your goal. So, it should be a goal or result oriented approach. Music Pandit, has been created with just such a goal in mind. It’s the perfect destination for an adult learner.
Objective: The objective should be able to measure your progress and layout a practice schedule that works for you. Keep in mind what you want to achieve and spend time on that. Try to excite and inspire yourself during practice which will help you commit to the instrument more. Keep playing the songs you love other than just the exercises your teacher might have given you for your improvement and make a conscious effort to understand what you are executing.
Duration: If you are just beginning, it will take you at least 3-4 months to have good command over the fundamentals and then further take it to the level where you will be able to play along with certain songs and even hum it yourself. It also matters how you see yourself playing the instrument, if you expect yourself to be able to jam along with other instruments, it will take a little longer especially if you're just beginning to learn your instrument.
The duration is just an assumption, and not always exactly true but it is the average time one takes to finally understand their instrument based on our experience. There are other factors that determine how long it takes to progress including daily practice of the exercises and lessons given to improve muscle memory. So, make sure that you set your goals and follow them with plenty of regular practices and commitment to achieve them in the duration. Music Pandit has curated Practice Routines to counter these issues of not knowing what to practice. Whatever you practice must have a direct application and should build your skills for your learning purpose - that’s where Music Pandt comes in.
We hope you were able to get an educated understanding of how long it takes to learn to play an instrument with this blog post. If you want access to detailed guided lessons and practice routines, please do check out our Guitar courses on https://musicpandit.com – On Music Pandit, you get step-by-step lessons that are designed to get you playing your favourite songs as quickly as possible. The lessons cover a whole range of topics including easy chords, popular strumming patterns, how to be creative with your playing and how to apply your techniques on any song!
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