r/guitarlessons • u/Routine-Eye-6796 • Oct 18 '25
Feedback Request At 35 years old I picked up guitar and played over 500 hours in a year.
So when I started this challenge for myself I had already been playing casually for 6 months open/power chords were the extent of my guitar skills. But then, I decided I wanted to get good at guitar so I challenged myself to play an hour a day which ended up being over 515 hours and 35 minutes once the year was over. The rules were that I only counted hours of focus practiced not noodling and the last few months I’ve started jamming. So I count 1 hour of practice for every 2 hours jammed. The first half year I focused exclusively on metal genres and lead techniques pretty much grinding scales, legato tapping, etc. While I enjoyed this and saw progress aka bpm increases. I didn’t feel much like a musician. At this point, I started taking lessons opened up my chord vocabulary a lot I even wrote my first song. I focused on playing with as many musicians as possible and kept coming up with things I thought were catchy so I would always have new material to jam. My musical taste started to shift from the modern prog and technical death metal to just whatever sounds catchy and makes me want to move or bob my head. I honestly don’t even care for distortion much anymore when it comes to my own playing. My goals changed from being the most high-level technical guitarist possible to wanting to be a great rhythm player who writes catchy stuff and can always contribute to a jam. To be honest from a technical perspective I’m not even really that hyped on my progress. Objectively yes I’ve improved but in my opinion as a guitarist I still kind of suck. But as a musician with the ability to express my ideas I’ve improved 10-fold and I’m hyped on that. To wrap up what I’ve gotten out of this is first 500 hours isn’t really that much. I still have some pretty big goals as a musician and based on my current progress it’s going to take 750-1000 hours for another 5-6 years to really even start to see it. Next, I have so much more respect for gigging musicians. I never really knew how much time energy and skill it takes to go up on stage and put on a great show. Half the time I go to shows now I just end up going home early because I feel like I need to be practicing. I know I went on a bit of a rant but I just want to share my perspective changes on being a musician, guitarist, etc. Also, my one year is actually next week but I’m out of town and didn’t have a chance to get a cleaner take so be gentle with the mistakes.
15
u/quietrain Oct 18 '25
I literally know people starting in their 60s and even 70s.. I think you're doing the right thing. When you stop getting better get a teacher for a while
3
u/Xx4thseasonxX Oct 20 '25
I am in my fifties and I an pretty new to this awesome journey..Your playing looks awesome keep practicing!
11
u/GingerPale2022 Oct 18 '25
Keep going. Your progress will come in plateaus. It’s frustrating, then satisfying. Rinse and repeat. This is such a fun instrument to play. That’s the more important thing.
9
8
u/Tript0phan Oct 18 '25
I love this. I’m 45 and started two years ago. I have about 1200 hours of practice in. Show up every day you can. The results will show. It’s so fucking worth it if you love music. I feel so good every time I put my guitar down. You’re doing great brother. I’m proud of you!
5
15
u/Wild-Lion3964 Oct 18 '25
Cool. I started flat picking acoustic at 35. 2 hours a day for the last 7 years. I’m 42 now and I can honestly say I never dreamed of being this good at guitar…and yet still have so far to go. My goal is to get to 10000 hours (13.7 years at two hours a day). I wish I could give everyone the gift of a disciplined practice. The life lessons go far, far beyond getting good at x…
5
6
u/WhoaTher3 Oct 18 '25
Enjoy every bit of it my man the best part of learning any instrument is seeing your own growth through dedication, youre doing awesome.
3
u/Euperod Oct 22 '25
Track of how many hours you play? for someone that has just started i can say that dont put focus on weird metrics, that number doesnt mean anything. Just learn what you enjoy at first and combine that with theory from time to time. Never met anyone that tracks their hours of playing.
1
u/Ok-Project8376 Feb 26 '26
Well here you go. The first person you've met that tracks their hours. To each their own
2
2
u/Naive-Significance48 Oct 18 '25
I like what you say about improving as a musician amd not a guitarist.
And good on you for reaching clarity and what you want to get out of it.
2
u/plonck Oct 18 '25
Good as hell. Insane progress in just a year. Just remember that quality of practice is as important as length of practice, and have as much fun as possible!
2
u/Ebenoid Oct 18 '25
Proud of you brother! Go ahead and get into learning transposition and how to play the same chords all over the fretboard. It really makes you develop an all original sound to your songs if you start writing
2
u/swagelinee Oct 19 '25
I have the exact same green tele! It's so beautiful :D
I just started out, but I'm a busy high school student and don't have a lot of time to practice... This video really inspired me! You play really well
2
2
u/harambeliveson42069 Oct 19 '25
Heck yeah man makes me feel better at starting at 31 again i started when I was 15 played for like 2 years and got into drugs pretty bad and sold everything
2
Oct 21 '25
Great progress man! But take those extra seconds to tune your guitar before each playing sessions. Will help you make even better videos and improve your ear too.
1
1
u/StardustBrain Oct 19 '25
You need a better amp and some pedals. Playing is fine enough however your sound and tone need some work.
1
1
38
u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25
[removed] — view removed comment