https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 21:24:49 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214858 Sat, 16 Dec 2006 03:27:25 +0000
http://www.icleps.org/Papers/Ericsson%20et%20al%20Psych%20Rev%201993.pdf (warning big pdf file!)

But if 10,000 hours is mastery, then the real question is what is the number of hours you need where you're 'reasonably good'. I would think that's much less...

That being said, I'm trying to learn guitar, piano, and voice, well enough to write interesting songs and perform them, so that's 4 different 'things' to get 'reasonably good' at, it seems :)]]> Guitar Players Discussion redpoint https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214858 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214794 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 19:13:53 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion kingpatzer https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214794 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214765 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 16:12:38 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Ignar Hillström https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214765 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214718 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 06:43:58 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Oric https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214718 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214642 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:50:47 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Ignar Hillström https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214642 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214634 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:29:00 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion dhutson https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/paged/2/#post-214634 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/#post-214626 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:05:04 +0000
If you have school, any sort of social life, and are trying to play that many instruments, you won't have time enough to keep up with it all.

I think the practical limit for most people is two instruments. More than that and it's just not possible to put in the time it takes to be reasonably good.

It takes a rare level of personal discipline to do more than that. After practicing guitar for a few hours, sax for a few hours, I can't imagine moving over to the piano stool . . .

If you want to never watch TV, never go out, put in minimal effort on school work, etc., then sure it's possible.

But most people don't care to have their lives that focused.]]> Guitar Players Discussion kingpatzer https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/#post-214626 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/#post-214618 Thu, 14 Dec 2006 23:37:51 +0000
Paul MacCartney is pretty good on guitar and piano besides being a great bass player. He can sing too. :D]]> Guitar Players Discussion Wes Inman https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/#post-214618 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/#post-214527 Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:31:54 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Misanthrope https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/#post-214527 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/#post-214515 Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:05:21 +0000
1. They're good at one (Dave Grohl on guitar), and passable at another... because of the musical style (is Grohl's drumming with Nirvana world class, or did he get a bit of a ride on Cobain's songwriting?)

2. They're good at one (Winwood on keyboards) and play another because it allows the band to do things in concert without bringing in other musicians (Winwood on guitar with Blind Faith), or because it's entertaining to swap instruments on stage.

3. They're good at one (Prince on guitar), and take advantage of technology to lay down other tracks... I think ego plays a big part with Prince!

So at least in my opinion, there's a difference in ability between someone who plays multiple instruments for their own purposes/interests... and someone like Roy Clark, who's hired to play various instruments by others - not because it's cool to show that Roy plays a bunch of things, but because Roy plays that specific thing better than anyone else who is available.

I also deliberately excluded folks like Tommy Tedesco and Tom Bruner, the studio guys who each probably did 10,000 record/film/TV dates. You'll find each of them with credits on guitar, banjo, balalaika, sitar, whatever.... but as far as I know, they really treated each of those as variations of a guitar (playing a manodlin tuned in fourths - like a guitar - instead of fifths, like a mandolinist would)

Another reason I don't consider most of the pop-rock guys multi-instrumentalists is because I don't think of myself that way - I'm a guitarist. I studied percussion in college, played drums in the college jazz band, I've sat in with a local orchestra on timpani a few times, and I've been paid to be the drummer with a local theatrical show. But I don't keep my chops up - if somebody offered me an interesting percussion gig, I'd have to invest quite a few hours of practice before I could take it on; as a result, I don't bill myself as a drummer.

Or piano... I took five years of classical piano lessons. If you don't play any piano, you'd hear me and think "hey, he plays piano!". If you play piano, and you heard me, you'd think "well, that's nothing special..."

So in the end my opinion's still the same: there are lots of people, including me, who 'play' many instruments. But there aren't many "multi-instrumentalists"... I have the same sort of divide in my mind between "guitar players" and "guitarists" :)]]> Guitar Players Discussion NoteBoat https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/is-it-possible-to-keep-up-with-everything/#post-214515