Thanks for the article.
I collect that sort of thing - conflicting theories and arguments are useful indications of where the truth
might reside...
We had discussed this sort of thing on a thread somewhere (I expect someone will come up with the link) and certainly virtuosi (e.g. Charlie Parker - up to 15 hours a day for about four years) seem to clock up that sort of figure.
On the other had this is disputed by another academic further down the article.
Although other have expressed similar views Edison is first reported as saying "Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration" sometime around 1902, in the September 1932 edition of
Harper's Monthly Magazine. (the quotation is familiar, but thanks to google search for the background)
Whatever the rough figure of time required, the key element (which is also mentioned in the article) is enjoyment - the more enjoyable you find it (or devise strategies for making it enjoyable) the faster and better you learn... and the more time you tend to put in...
So - have fun!
And if you intend to retire in a couple of years you can start packing in lots of hours of practice into the day - so expertise is achievable! That's what I keep telling myself, anyway... look on it as an accumulative process... every improvement is an increase in expertise...
