[LNW]

Hello, everyone. Just joined the forum, and this is my first post. My usual guitars are my Takamine 6 string and Epiphone 12 string.

My question/purpose for this post is asking for any resources, opinions, thoughts, suggestions of what direction and approach I should take to bettering my guitar playing/skills. Let me explain by telling a little personal background.

When I was in high school, I took guitar lessons for a few years. My guitar teacher introduced me to different musical styles of the guitar which I dabbled around with (some more than others). But I eventually stopped lessons because I didn't have a very wide music appreciation (as I do now), so working hard at some new jazz or blue skills didn't interest me too much...but largely I stopped because I "plateaued" - if there was some specific song I wanted to learn, I'd learn it. So this resulted in my usual playing time just being playing the same old songs, some chords and singing, some really basic improv solos, etc.

Now, several years later, I have a more expansive taste of music and know the types of music I really love...classic rock, blues, folk music. And I've been picking up the guitar a bit more lately like with my newly acquired 12 string. But I still find myself dealing with the same issue as years ago - playing the same old same old, not really getting better at anything, nothing clear to work toward. Just aimlessly messing around which eventually makes my interest peter out because I know each play session will kinda just be a repeat of the last one, etc.

I want to advance my skills and get better. I want to spend more time actually practicing on something and adding new skills, not just aimlessly messing around and playing the same old songs. I have an interest in getting better at acoustic blues (for starters)...whether rhythm guitar, improv soloing, some mix of both, new licks, etc. But I have a fuzzy idea of how to get there, what to do. I just don't know where to start. Some ideas I've had are to get a comprehensive book on acoustic blues, or to get one book I found that gives you a new guitar lick to learn each day for a year. Or maybe start taking guitar lessons again.

Thanks for reading my (lengthy) question, and for any suggestions, encouragement and input you may have!