Level of skill after a year of playing

[thanos michalis]

Hi guys , i started playing guitar last August without having any musical experience and i also didnt had any lessons.
So my question to all of you who have been playing more than a year , is what should i be capable of playing after a year?
(i would like to hear the most extreme things and not some confidence boost )

 

[idssdi]

Tbh it all depends on how much time you spend on it. I think I could do the outro solos of Sidewinder and M.I.A. after a year. Not sure whether I actually did good but it is like 7 years ago or so.

 

[Filip Tomiša]

I think I was able to play Black Keys – I got mine in my first year, but like Ids said it just depends how much time you spend practicing. Some people only learn chords in a year while others can only play riffs.

 

[Jen Hapke]

It also depends on what you practiced all the time. I mean you can spend a year on learning only strumming rhythms or you can spend the year with only fingerpicking or you learn a lot of theory and how to use it.
You could have chosen a really hard song and learned it over the year but you can play nothing else and know no chord names.
It really depends. Back when I first started I only learned some basic songs and strumming patterns and then gave up as it came to picking.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

this is seriously a “by basis” question. Someone who is wanting to be an Yngwie Malmsteen is not going to be in the same spot after a year as someone who just wants to be like Kurt Cobain. Also, we have to take it into consideration a lot of other factors.
1. Does aspiring Yngwie guy have a supportive family who bought him his first guitar and paid for his lessons while aspiring Kurt guy struggles with depression and can’t focus on guitar because his family is always fighting?
2. Does Yngwie guy get to sit at home all day and play guitar while the aspiring Kurt has to go out and work 50 hours a week to support his family because his dad left his mom and his mom is sick on disability?
3. Does aspiring Yngwie pick up on things easily while aspiring Kurt struggles with rhythm and can’t grasp the concept of chord changes?
This is NOT a race. You shouldn’t be at any specific spot in anywhere in your journey after any length of time. You are exactly where you’re meant to be given your situations. If you want to be further, work harder. Simple as that

 

[Calvin Phillips]

dont look at it in years, look at it in hours played. They say 30 to 40 hours of repetition usually is enough for the brain to properly make the connections. After that it starts to become instinct. So ideally, if you spend a hour or two a day for a month on a song or lick, you should have it down pat by months end.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

I was something in between playing the silent hill theme and playing the buried alive intro badly haha. But like already mentioned, this is different for everybody and it is not about time as long as it is fun for you and you want to stick with it. Guitar needs a LOT of time after all.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Omg the Silent Hill theme

 

[Bartosz Tkaczyk]

After one year of playing i can play lead section of few songs i learnt (Scream without solo, The Devil in I etc.) and couple of easier solos. Also i can play Syn’s etudes if it counts on 3rd level of speed (alternate picking for now) so i don’t know. I play for like 3-4 hours a day and it’s not enough for me and in my opinion i should play even better after that time. I think it depends on what you want to achieve.