Warning: This article contains information that could explode your world. This Guitar Lesson article will be over in a minute, but you will be armed and dangerous with a new way to slam dunk the hot riffs you want to play.

That’s because I am about to unleash the magic formula that … wait a minute. Haven’t you heard all this before? I think so. OK, no hype, agreed?

But here’s the real secret. Seriously this time, the way to get good fast on the guitar is very simple and I want to share the one key element that will make a world of difference in any guitar lesson. But before I start blabbing the secret let me share a little background.

You see, I used to wonder how those guitar players on radio and TV got so good. How did they play those cool sounds and come up with such amazing patterns.

Listen, and let me take you backstage to a Jimi Hendrix concert. That’s right. I had a ticket to see Hendrix live on a cold winters night.  But that ticket wasn’t quite enough. I wanted to know everything I could about the master. So, my friend and I went over to the concert hall early that afternoon.

The sound of music was coming from inside the huge auditorium so my buddy and I did what any two curious teenagers would do. We waited until a roadie went in the back door and followed him in.

There we were, backstage. We looked around for Jimi and quickly figured out that he wasn’t there. The music we heard was his band warming up. We crept closer and settled in. There on stage was Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell and an unknown guitar player jamming. It was loud and those guys were rock n roll skinny. That’s another story. My buddy and I were happy to be soaking up all we could.

Here’s the secret. Catch it and you will go far young Skywalker. What were those guys on stage doing? Set the scene: They were on a long concert tour, traveling all night on a bus, eating whatever they could find from city to city, and on an early, cold afternoon before a gig with possibly the best rock guitarist to ever live, they were (drumroll please) … practicing.  

10,000 hours ought to do it.  

A major insight has recently been published and it goes something like this. Anybody who is a master of a skill such as golf, dancing, guitar playing ( wink) has most likely put in 10,000 hours of practice on whatever that skill is.

Really? That works out to about five to seven years practicing two to six hours a day. Of course a lot depends on how many days a week and the actual hours of practice. Your mileage may vary.( Ha, Ha! ) Get busy.

At first that fact might be a little discouraging but don’t dare let it get you down. Use it for a positive! Now you know exactly what to do! Exactly!

Break it down. It doesn’t say you can’t be extremely good in a few months. You can be. You can be major good in much less time than 10,000 hours. Just don’t expect to beat the masters at Guitarmageddon. So, practice every day. Stay with it, set goals and I believe you will reach them. 

By the way, want to know what Jimi’s dressing room looked like? At the time of this tour he would meet up with the band in each city. Jimi was flying all around the world.  The guitar lesson I learned from him is this: Just inside his dressing room was a small fender amp sitting up on a table. What do you think he used it for?