For a long time, people said the difference between an amateur and a master came down mostly to hours of deliberate practice. A large review of the research found that's only partly true. In music, practice explained about a fifth of the differences between people. In games like chess it explained about a quarter, and in professional life almost nothing.
That doesn't mean practice is unimportant. A fifth is a lot, and practice is the part you control. But it does mean that if you compare yourself to someone who has played just as long and gotten better, you haven't proven that you're practicing wrong. Other things play a role too, things the study didn't measure.
Pick a path based on where you are:
- If you're a beginner: ten minutes a day, at the same time.
- If you've hit a plateau: practice one hard passage, slowly.
- If it's gotten boring: play without a goal for a while.
- If you compare yourself to others: compare yourself to yourself.
A first step today: pick a spot in something you play that isn't working yet, and play just that, slowly, for ten minutes.
For a long time, people said the difference between an amateur and a master came down mostly to hours of deliberate practice. The research shows that's only partly true: in music, practice explained about a fifth of the differences between people. That's a lot, and it's the part you control. But it isn't everything, and that changes both how you can practice and how you can look at your progress. This article covers what the studies show, what counts as practice, and four paths depending on where you are.
The hours explain some of it, not all of it
The idea that nearly all skill comes from the amount of deliberate practice became known as the 10,000-hour rule. In 2014, Macnamara, Hambrick, and Oswald tested it in a review of research on music, games, sports, education, and professions. Deliberate practice was defined as activities designed specifically to improve, not just playing or performing.
Practice mattered everywhere, but by different amounts. The researchers concluded that deliberate practice is important, but not as important as has been claimed.
- Games About a quarter, for example in chess.
- Music About a fifth.
- Sports Just under a fifth.
- Education and professions Little or almost nothing.
The rest of the differences came from things other than the amount of practice.
What counts as practice
There's a difference between playing and practicing. Playing through songs you already know is fun and keeps your fingers moving, but it isn't what the study calls deliberate practice. Practice in that sense means picking something that isn't working yet and working on exactly that.
In practice, that usually means three things: choosing a small passage instead of the whole piece, playing it slowly enough to get it right, and listening to the result, ideally by recording yourself. It's tiring in a different way than playing, which is why shorter sessions are often enough. This isn't something the study tested. It's what the definition means when you put it to use.
Why it's still worth it
A fifth may sound small, but practice is the part you can change today. Much of the rest can't be changed after the fact, like when you started. And if you play for your own sake, the question is rarely whether you'll be the best. It's whether you'll be better than last month.
Habit is what makes practice actually happen. Lally and colleagues showed that a habit done in the same situation every day becomes more automatic over time, and that missing one day didn't ruin anything. The same time and place every day is easier to keep up than a long session whenever it happens to fit. You can read more about building the routine in writing routine, which applies just as much to an instrument.
Four paths, depending on where you are
If you're a beginner. For you if you've just started, or started over. Ten minutes a day at the same time is easier to keep up than an hour on the weekend. First step: decide today when and where you'll play tomorrow, and leave your instrument out right there.
If you've hit a plateau. For you if you play a lot but don't notice yourself getting better. Pick a single passage that isn't working and practice only that, slowly, until it does. Record yourself and listen afterward. First step: pick a passage today and play it slowly for ten minutes.
If it's gotten boring. For you if all that practicing has drained the fun out of it. Set aside some time where you play without a goal, just because it's fun. You need both practice and play. First step: play for fifteen minutes tonight without practicing anything in particular.
If you compare yourself to others. For you if you see people who have played just as long and gotten better. This is the most demanding path, because the comparison is hard to let go of. Practice explains part of the difference, not all of it. Compare yourself to yourself instead. First step: record something you can play today, and record the same thing a month from now.
A first step today: pick a spot in something you play that isn't working yet, and play just that, slowly, for ten minutes.
This is the understanding and a first step. Atlas is where it becomes a habit. If you add Creative discipline as its own area, you'll find Play without a goal, This week's project, and Show someone there as suggestions to make your own, so you can see over the weeks how often it actually happened. Try Atlas free for 7 days, and cancel whenever you want.