Are you where you want to be as a player?

[jklotz]

Dumb question I suppose, but I wonder. Have you achieved your goals as a guitar player? Are you happy with your playing as it stands now?

[donlyn]

Are you where you want to be as a player?

Originally Posted by jklotz

Dumb question I suppose, but I wonder. Have you achieved your goals as a guitar player? Are you happy with your playing as it stands now?

Is this a trick question?

Don

[Rudy4]

My goal is always to play better than I do at present, so yes, I achieve my goal on a daily basis.

[Acousticado]

Not even close. Likely never will. I get incrementally better and I’ve learned to be content with that. I sing, so that helps fill in the gaps where my fingers should be. When I occasionally play at social gatherings, folks seem to like what I do, so overall I guess I’m happy.

[Wade Hampton]

No, of course I’m not where I’d like to be as a musician. I play a bunch of different instruments, some better than others, but while I am a solid rhythm guitarist and good enough to get paid for it, I’d like to be far more accomplished than I am.


whm

[jklotz]

Originally Posted by donlyn

Are you where you want to be as a player?



Is this a trick question?

Don

No Don, it's not. I typed my own response to my question, then deleted it. I'm just curious how other players feel about their own playing. It's a bit personal, as I am rarely satisfied with what I do, but I'm just curious how others feel.

[zmf]

I have a good time playing guitar. I get a new song, or an old song, in my head, sit down and play, and I get close enough. And even if it's not close enough, it turns into something new.

so what's the correct answer?

[1neeto]

Been playing on and off for about 8 years now. I am nowhere near where I should be.

[Wade Hampton]

For me being satisfied with my musicianship is the same as complacency, and to me complacency is just another name for stagnation.

When I first started playing music in my twenties, there was a group of players about seven to ten years older than me who had learned how to strum guitars during the Folk Music Revival of the late 1950’s and early 60’s. They had an anti-showbiz ethos which was okay, I guess, but they used it as a way to justify some fairly appalling musical habits like not bothering to check the tuning of their guitars, not waiting to make certain that everyone else was ready to start before jumping into playing songs, speeding up (always!) on moderate to fast tempo songs, and just ending songs abruptly, again not bothering to check whether everyone else was tracking with them.

If anyone had the temerity to try to work together a little more closely and precisely, they’d trot out the “Yeah, well, I learned to play guitar at hootenannies and we always sped up all the songs.”

In the late 1970’s I was in a church music group with a couple of these “hootenanny heroes” and I heard that “yeah, but I learned how to play at hootenannies” nonsense so much that one rehearsal I finally said “Yeah, but it isn’t 1962 and this isn’t a hootenanny! Now KEEP TIME and don’t push the beat!!!”

One of the two of them started mumbling something about it not being showbiz, either, and I said: “I mean it. Now I’m singing the lead on this song and I don’t want you playing pell mell and pushing the beat on me like you always try to do.”

I think that dealing with chuckleheads like those guys is a large part of the reason that I became a solid timekeeper. Because I didn’t want them screwing up every song.

Anyway, I’ve always tried to get better and more accomplished. Nowadays, though, I’m fortunate enough to work with far better musicians, and can insist that we hold ourselves to higher standards.

Nobody in my current musical circles gives me any grief about it, either. It’s accepted as a given.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[TBman]

I guess.

Some days yes, some days no.

I think never being satisfied is part of the fun/challenge of playing.

[archerscreek]

Almost, maybe. My goal is to be able to play clear and meaningful breaks at a clip of 135 BPM using four 1/16th notes per beat and four beats per measure.

My pick hand is there and more. Fretting hand is there and more. Brain is a bit behind, though. I get brief tastes of it, phrases and such, and I think I can see the light, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes another year to put it all together to be able to jam at that speed in an impromptu fashion.

[Lillis]

Originally Posted by 1neeto

Been playing on and off for about 8 years now. I am nowhere near where I should be.

Ditto to this

[LadysSolo]

I am better than I was yesterday but nowhere near as good as I hope to achieve in the future. But as long as I keep improving, that's okay. Somedays, it all comes together and I feel really good about my playing, but not nearly often enough. I guess my answer is yes and no.

[flaggerphil]

Nope, but I'm still pretty happy with where I am.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by LadysSolo

I am better than I was yesterday but nowhere near as good as I hope to achieve in the future. But as long as I keep improving, that's okay. Somedays, it all comes together and I feel really good about my playing, but not nearly often enough. I guess my answer is yes and no.

I can say I’m better today than yesterday, and that’s because I’ve been playing about 4 hours a day for the past month or so. I was more skillful 6 years ago, but I understand music much better now.