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Comment by scott_s | Hacker News Reader

Good post, but one nitpick: the author of the submitted piece made a point that the 10,000 hour was for music students at about 20 years old who were not yet masters.

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I like the 10,000 hour rule as an order of magnitude estimation. Somewhere between hour 5001 and 49999, you become very good, given the right kind of practice. It's an acceptable heuristic for that, and research throws up similar numbers in a range of fields.

With focused, deliberate practice, I'm hoping I crack the electric guitar in 5001. :) But seriously, I know it's the journey that's more important - the heuristic really does give me confidence when I look at where I am and where I want to be.

One thing I found with psycho-motor skills like the guitar or piano is that slowing it down significantly at the start is really helpful. I downloaded a metronome app onto my phone and I'd start out at a rate of 10 BPM (which is agonizingly slow), and then bump it up in 10 BPM, and then 5 BPM increments. The other thing I'm thinking about is getting a skilled spotter, because early on your error correcting feedback mechanisms aren't all that great. Whilst I could focus on hitting the right keys at the right time, things like posture and how I hit the keys were things where I couldn't differentiate between good and bad. Might as well start out with good form.

Yes, from everything I've read, the key to grasping a new motor skill is to break it up in chunks and then to really slow it down. This has worked for me, and the interesting thing I noticed is that if I don't break it down and do it slowly, the level of frustration from doing it even for a short while tempts me to end the session right there.

If you can get a skilled spotter, or a coach who knows his/her stuff, nothing like it! I have to rely on myself unfortunately, and am very grateful for the super materials that I've found for learning the guitar. Like you, I am focusing on the fundamentals and patiently letting my skills build up. 2 years into it I am happy to say that it's looking good!

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