Don’t get hung up on time Dana is the best advice, we are all very different and some will find things easier / harder than others. Trust yourself and follow Justin’s guidance on when to move on at each module, don’t compare yourself, it can be a not great habit to get into, even though we all tend to!
Hope you’re having a lot of fun in your learning!
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Thanks. It has been interesting so far. I’ll take it a little slower and easier.
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There is no time limit. It all depends on how much time you can put in.
Someone who can practice 1 hour 7 days a week would progress faster than someone who can only practice 1/2 3 days a week. So the real question should be how many hours does it take to finish grade 1.
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richard not roger … is an official teacher here : Richard Coles
And how you use that time
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We are all different, but as a rule of thumb, a slow measured pace beats rushing. Only you know if you are blowing past something too fast.
But don’t worry too much. If you are reasonably committed and attentive to what you are learning, you will realize when you need to go back and spend some remedial time on things you hadn’t given enough attention to, because it will show up as a stumbling block in your playing and learning.
That is what the consolidation phase of learning kind of is. You spend time using what you have learned to solidify and organize it in your head and in the process find all these things that still need more time.
I think I took 1.5 maybe 2 years to get through grade 3, but am well over a year “consolidating” and still going. I have looked at select lessons ahead in grade 4 and elsewhere where it fits what I want to do, but I would not call myself “past” grade 3 after 3 plus years. Just slowly getting better at the aspects I choose to work on.
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Hi Dana,
Don’t get mixed up in how fast. That way leads to poor learning.
I recommend you look at the mastery you are satisfied to achieve combined with your need to learn the next thing. For me this is a primary balance point I need to manage. I’m satisfied with returning to old material to improve once I understand the need to get proficiency, so I tend to move a little faster than my ability to perform the skill.
I know there are people here that go fast as well as folks that do the opposite and get good proficiency before moving on. Think about how you like to learn and decide based on what is best for you to be satisfied and interested for the long term.
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I’m going to try to nail all of the chords I’ve learned so far and try to be proficient at switching chords. Switching chords is my biggest weakness. Thanks for the info.
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Thanks!
Thanks Richard.
I’m just getting to the end of grade 3, and I started learning from Justin’s classic beginner course around 15 years ago. Don’t worry about it, it takes as long as it takes 
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This ^^^^
I may have said this before.
Its a marathon not a sprint.
Take your time, practice diligently and do all that is asked, lesson by lesson. Be honest with yourself when assessing your progress. Don’t look for quick wins. Don’t look for short cuts.
Stay on the path and don’t be looking at the clock.
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I have written this, or similar, in a number of topics.
Here is an overview of Grades 1 and 2:
And here are Justin’s recommended practice routines - to be done several times a week for at least a week for the first few modules and longer than a week as the course progresses.
Realistically, taking an estimated average learning and practice route of 30 minutes per day, increasing (after 3-6 months) to 60 minutes per day on core learning, several times per week, Grade 1 is likely to be a 4-6-month or more learning course.
I wrote this recently in this topic.
Beginner Grade 1 has 75 lessons plus essential consolidation. Each lesson requires at least one day of practice time but by the end of Grade 1, in Modules 5, 6 and 7, I would say that to do the learning justice and really get solid in the basics, each lesson should respectfully be given several days or a week or more, each of the seven modules probably starting at one week for module 1 up to several weeks for module 7. I would even (albeit exaggeratedly to make a point) go so far as to suggest treating each module number as a guide to the weeks required.
Modules 1 to 7 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 28 weeks. That is more than six months just there.
Grade 2 has 68 lessons. And as the learning ramps up the technical challenge and skill, each lesson and each module will require extended time to really get to grips with. I would suggest a similar approach.
Modules 8 to 14 = 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 = 77 weeks. That is more than a year.
Okay - those cumulative totals are on the high side. But I would rather encourage that over the opposite of not taking enough time.
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thanks that’s what i was looking for 
Thanks, for the info Richard.
For me it was about 6 months also. However I do believe you really can’t go to slow but you could move to fast.
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I think I did grade 1 in around 2 months, maybe a bit longer.
Depends how much practice you do though, and how quickly you pick things up. Make sure you pass all the graduation requirements before moving on.
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Its not a race.
If you work, have a family etc you are not going to put in the same amount of hours as a teenager can etc.
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It takes however long it takes…
Don’t sweat over time…
Sweat over technique & retention.
I did Grade 1 twice & am now doing Grade 2 for the 2nd time @ 2 years with Justin.
What’s cool is when people recognize what you’re playing or ask if you know a song & you can actually play it (easy chords & strumming maybe…) from memory!!!
Good luck & keep it fun!!!
Tod
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@DSC1755 You have a lot of good answers and I can’t give you a definitive answer because I’ve been an open chord strummer for many years before I started Justin’s classic course. But even when I started again with the new Grade 1, I still spent a couple of months on the lessons and I’m still continuing to learn new songs at the Grade 1 level. Give yourself time to learn a lot of songs at the Grade 1 level, especially in the website song lessons. If you have fun playing songs, you will also be improving your chord changing skills.
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