10,000 hours

[Bo]

Just wondering.... They say that in order to completely master an instrument (at virtuoso level) you need (on average) 10,000 hours of practice. Do you think this is true? There are other factors as well, of course, like talent, but I suppose they have already been taken into consideration in the above statistic....

Bo

[c_otter]

Well, if you practice every day (allowing 2 weeks off per year), it takes:

9.5 years with 3 hours/day
7.1 years with 4 hours/day
5.7 years with 5 hours/day
4.8 years with 6 hours/day

So the 10,000 hours doesn't look that unreasonable. Keeping in mind that talent and quality of practice matter.

[Bo]

Yes, I believe it is true too (in general).