[Guitar Slim II]

You act as if learning the songs you want to learn is trivial. For a player, it's kind of the whole point...

But when you say you "learned a song", did you learn it note-for-note like the guitar player on the record played it? And could you nail it?

If you can already do that -- that is, play just like B.B. or Hendrix or Clapton or Knopfler et al -- well, you're probably already beyond what most teachers can teach you.

But if you can't play it note-for-note, in real time, then you haven't really learned the song, IMO. That should be the goal: play what the cats are playing, right down to their signature licks and favorite chord voicings. And really play it: in time, with the record or with other musicians.

And even if you don't really want to play covers long-term, you master a style by mastering the masters. That's how you make a style part of your own musical DNA.

Styles like blues and rock are usually pretty basic, the harmony is pretty straightforward compared to jazz or classical. What can you do, then, but just try to be a better player? And the best way to do that is to learn from great players...they're the best teachers you'll ever have.