Share
r/Guitar Survey Results
Published on 05/08/2010 by Elwood | 907 views.A week ago I gave out a survey at r/Guitar. I asked the following questions:
- What type of guitar do you play most? (Acoustic/Electric/Classical/Other)
- Age
- How many years have you been playing?
- Skill Level (1-5, with 5 being expert)
- Gender (Man/Woman/Other)
- True or False - r/Guitar is doing a good job
- True or False - I think this survey is stupid
- My favorite guitarist of all time is...
- How many years to level 5?
Below are the results and some commentary for each question. I've also conducted some further analysis, but remember that this survey is not scientific. You cannot generalize about the population of r/Guitar on the basis of this survey because the survey was optional.
How old are you?
I was really surprised by the number of guitarists under 15 using r/Guitar. The population as a whole looks to be pretty young.
Ages of Respondents from r/Guitar on reddit.com
| <15 | 97 |
| 16-20 | 114 |
| 21-25 | 72 |
| 25-30 | 53 |
| 31-40 | 15 |
| 41-50 | 2 |
| 51-60 | 0 |
| Total | 353 |
What type of guitar do you play most?
Type of Guitar Played
No surprises here.
| Acoustic | 106 |
| Electrical | 234 |
| Classical | 15 |
How many years have you been playing?
Number of Years Played vs. Number of Respondants
Unsurprisingly, the majority of folks have played less than 10 years.
How well would you rate your guitar skills (1-5, 5 being expert)?
Skill Level, 1-5, with 5 being expert.
It looks a lot like a normal distribution! Most people rated themselves as mediocre - at a 3.
What is your Gender?
Male/Female
| male | 336 |
| female | 11 |
We had several other genders represented on r/Guitar. They included Narwheagle, otter, Andalite, Rock God, meat popsicle (twice!), Taco, and Armadillo.
True/False - Survey is stupid? r/Guitar is doing a good job?
This question had some problems.
This question was a bit unfair. I did not realize that you were forced into choosing at least one of the answers. Some countries like to run elections this way.
My Favorite Guitarist of All time is...
| Jimi Hendrix | 13 |
| Jimmy Page | 13 |
| Clapton | 10 |
| Don't Know | 9 |
| David Gilmour | 8 |
| John Scofield | 7 |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan | 7 |
| John Petrucci | 6 |
| Frank Zappa | 5 |
| Me | 5 |
| Buckethead | 4 |
| Django Reinhardt | 4 |
| Guthrie Govan | 4 |
| Santana | 4 |
| Andy McKee | 3 |
| Jack White | 3 |
| John Frusciante | 3 |
| John Mayer | 3 |
| paul gilbert | 3 |
| Satriani | 3 |
| Brad Barr | 2 |
| Jeff Beck | 2 |
| John McLaughlin | 2 |
| Josh Home | 2 |
| Nels Cline | 2 |
| Omar Rodriguez-Lopez | 2 |
| Peter Green | 2 |
| Randy Rhoads | 2 |
| Son House | 2 |
| Steve Vai | 2 |
| Tom Morello | 2 |
| Tommy Emmanuel | 2 |
| Trey Anastasio | 2 |
| Jeff Buckley | 1 |
| Mikael Åkerfeldt | 1 |
| My Teacher | 1 |
| my weiner | 1 |
| Stephen Bennet | 1 |
| Total: 38 | 148 |
How many years does it take on average to master the guitar?
Correlation between years played and years to "level 5"
I had some fun here and plotted peoples self-rated skill level and the number of years they have been playing. This illustrates that it takes on average around 35 years to reach arbitrary level 5! Some people reached this level in less than 10 years though. This graph extends to level 6, which is kind of like going to 11, but you couldn't choose it in the survey. Oh well.
I had a good laugh looking at ths. Good job. By the way, Guthie Govan FTW!
I have to say not seeing such influential guitarists such as Jonny Greenwood or Matthew Bellamy under the 'favourite guitarists' section is a bit disappointing!
I am pretty sure I put down Joe Pass as my favourite guitarist.
I included a few of the guitarists who got a single vote - but not all.
This is something really interesting... Good job, many people will find this information useful!
There is few things are better than a good stimulating blog article.
Your information is unbelievably compelling. I enjoyed reading your viewpoints on this subject. I'm impressed with your use of bold material and interestingly fresh ideas.