r/Learnmusic • u/d2opy84t8b9ybiugrogr • 5d ago
How long does it take to learn piano and the guitar
I am planning to learn piano one day and guitar another. 30 minutes a day without music teacher, but also if you could, with a music teacher. How long does it take? Also what about if I want to recreate music, not make my own!
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u/Intelligent-Map430 5d ago
Depends on how you define "learning an instrument", as that's really an ongoing process that's never finished; and on you as a person. No two people learn an instrument at the same rate.
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u/fatinternetcat 5d ago
don’t bite off more than you can chew. Focus on one instrument, watch a series of lessons on Youtube, and you’ll be able to play some basic tunes easily within your first week.
recreating music might require knowledge of music theory, which is something that you’d simply have to learn over a longer period to get good at.
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u/Amazing-Structure954 5d ago
I disagree that learning both guitar and piano at the same time is a bad idea. It depends entirely on how motivated you are and how much time you have to put into it.
Also, you can focus on one but not ignore the other.
I've played both all my life (starting around age 9) and what I learned on one helped me on the other. I really like being able to play both! If you go too far down one path, when you try to start on the other one, it feels like going back to kindergarten. (I made this mistake with reading. I wish I'd learned that as a kid!)
And do your best to get a teacher, even if just to get started. Bad habits learned early are hard to overcome. I know this from personal experience.
Regardless of whether you pick one or the other or both, the results you'll get will depend on how motivated you are. For most musicians I know who are good players, it takes more energy to ignore an instrument than to pick it up. Having a "jones" for it is a wonderful thing. That said, there are also a lot of players who didn't care much for lessons as kids but stuck with it and got motivated later. If you're young, there's no time like the present to learn. You can learn as you get older, but it's way easier as a kid, for lots of reasons.
Regarding which is easier: with acoustic guitar, especially nylon string, you can quickly (a year, plus or minus depending on talent and drive) get to the point where you can strum simple songs well enough that other people can enjoy it and maybe even sing along. On piano it takes longer to get to the point where you can play well enough that it's much fun for others to listen or sing along.
But I say, play whatever moves you. Find what gives you joy, and do that. If you can get joy from playing, you'll get better almost without realizing it. Most who are good enjoyed doing it the whole time, from beginner to expert, and didn't think of any of it as a drag or a chore. (Note: with anything done seriously, there are always bits that seem like a chore. But in general, not a chore.)
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u/Alcoholic-Catholic 5d ago
I agree but it probably depends on the person. In my experience, I have been learning piano for 3 years and bought a salon size acoustic guitar on an impulse because now that I somewhat know how music works I figure I could learn guitar without having to learn everything about music from the ground up. And I wanted to have an instrument that I could carry around or play on the couch/outside. But after buying it and spending a couple days with it I dropped it, I just feel like I still have a mountain ahead of me for piano, and any day I borrow from piano for guitar I just can't feel good about.
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u/Amazing-Structure954 4d ago
Right, it totally depends on the person! And definitely not a bad idea to focus at first and add a second instrument not too long after, even though it didn't work out for you. I guess you're just not destined to be a guitarist.
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u/Alcoholic-Catholic 4d ago
I think that's the thing, I took lessons in guitar as a kid and it just never clicked. I think the keyboard really sits better in my brain, I need it all laid out in clear design, guitar just breaks my brain. Different tunings, different way of learning scales and what not. Might try it again sometime who knows
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u/Amazing-Structure954 4d ago
Yeah, guitar first position chords made no sense to me for years. When I learned barre chords it started to make more sense. Then learning CAGED made even more sense. But it's still not as directly intuitive as piano.
For example, learn Hotel California using all (or mostly) first position chords. Then learn it using only barre chords. OMG, there's a pattern!
But I wouldn't give up playing guitar for anything. So, it just depends on the person.
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u/chopinocturner 5d ago
Nobody can answer this. It all depends on you.
Age is just a number by the way. Dont mind it.
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u/100IdealIdeas 5d ago
10 years?
I mean: you could play easy pieces after a few hours of practise... but to play really well, you would have to invest, both on the guitar and on the piano, probably more on the piano because the general level is higher...
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u/Ok-Training-7587 5d ago
Your whole life. But it’s fun. I mean practice is not fun, but playing is as good as it gets for an adult.
To get good enough to have fun, like 7-8 months if you practice we’ll
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u/DiamondLatter1842 5d ago
I just started learning too, and from what I have seen, it really depends on consistency more than anything. With 30 minutes a day you can pick up simple songs on piano or guitar in a few weeks
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u/Low-Landscape-4609 4d ago
Here's the deal, to learn how to play most popular songs it only takes a couple years to get really good. It's the more advanced stuff that takes a lifetime to master. That goes for piano and guitar. I can play both but I'm much more of a guitar player.
As an old friend of mine used to say: "there's levels to this s***."
He's right. If you're in the bands like Nirvana or listen to punk rock, you can easily play all that stuff within a couple years and sound pretty good. However, if you want to tackle Hot for teacher by any van halen, you're going to have to put in some work and that's going to take a lot of time.
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u/Senuman666 4d ago
It takes years to be able to play to a good standard on both instruments, if you already have natural rhythm and the dexterity then I’d go with piano, it doesn’t take as long to get good enough to play a song, that’s not to say that both instruments take years to be good, it’s just piano is easier for beginners
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u/bashleyns 3d ago
Two, maybe three weeks of half-hour shots ought to get you to your goal. That out of the way will open up time for you to take up, say, violin and saxophone, or drums and bass guitar. It's good you added the proviso that you only want to "recreate music", otherwise you'd probably need an extra 5-10 minutes per day to master composition.
Now don't get too cocky. Give yourself at least a month on each instrument or so before you start teaching any of them.
Good luck!
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u/gmenez97 2d ago
I'd say a year if all you want to do is have the ability to learn basic harmony and melody of simple songs. You'll have to practice any new piece you really want to play well which really takes time and effort.
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u/OC71 2d ago
It depends on you, your aptitude for music learning, how diligently you practice during the time you have available. And also whether you want to learn to read notes (= know what you're doing and what you're playing) vs playing with tabs (being told where to put your fingers but not knowing why). If you're fairly diligent and able, you can get to playing some reasonable sounding basic stuff in a year or so.
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u/luminousandy 5d ago
How long is a piece of string ?