Are you where you want to be as a player?

[FoxHound4690]

I'm not even close to being where I want to be as a guitar player.... I want to be proficient at playing licks in between chords and I always get so far then freeze, i really feel like i've hit a massive brick wall recently with my guitar playing i practice a fair bit but never seem to improve... very disheartening

[Csi_Basel]

I’ve only been playing for a month and practice about 2 hrs per day. I do see the improvement, but what’s more important is that i enjoy the journey.
Stay safe.

[lowrider]

I've been playing for 3 1/2 years and I'm happy with my playing, but I'm no where near satisfied. I have a long way to go, but I'm getting there, little by little everyday.

[elmcmeen]

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?

I wish I could play the way I could 12 years ago.

[KarenB]

Of course not.

[Tannin]

Oddly enough, yes.

I was a frustrated player not achieving my (possibly unrealistic) goals from the age of 12 or so when I started up to about age 30 or 35, when I pretty much stopped. I only picked up a guitar a few times a year after that

Then, for no particular reason, I started playing again a couple of years ago. Now I play every day and I'm already a fair bit better than I ever was back in my 20s or 30s, and I improve a little further every day. Back then I wanted to be this, or do that, and seldom achieved any of it.

Now, I don't have any of those old ambitions. I just want to play a little bit better every day. I like improving, bit by bit. Here is a little made-up story which explains how I feel:



---------------------------------------

One day, as Tannin was practicing the guitar, the Good Fairy turned up. She said:

"Hello Mr Tannin. Seeing as I had nothing much else to do this morning , I decided to drop in and make a wish come true! Now don't tell me ... let me see ... er ... Yes! How would you like to be able to play like Clapton?"

"Me? Play like Clapton?"

"Yes, you! One touch of my wand and I can make you just as good as Eric Clapton. Maybe better. Or Tommy Emmanuel if you'd rather. You'd be the best there is!"

"Wow! And I'd still keep on playing and learning and getting better, a little bit every day?"

"No. You'd already be perfect."

"Hmmm .... "

"Well?"

"No thanks. I'll stay being me and getting better. I think I like getting better better than I like being better."

[Dru Edwards]

I'm very content at where I am after 30+ years of playing. Of course I still strive to grow and improve (as with all aspects of life), and I continue to do so, but I enjoy the time I spend with my guitars. I'm happy.

[Mr. Jelly]

Yes and then some. I'm am finalizing the achievement of yet another frontier of guitar knowledge and music manipulation that I never thought I would experience. Simply wonderous.

[Methos1979]

In short, the answer to the OP's question is a resounding YES! Funny thing is that I'm really not all that good. But when I started on this journey some 8 years ago I thought it would be awesome if I could just be good enough to be able to play whole songs all the way through and maybe, just maybe, be good enough to play an open mic. Now we have an acoustic duo band with a website, a Facebook page, and people pay us to play.

Are we great? Nope. But we're good enough. And while I'd like to be better I have no desire to invest the time to really improve so I will always be about this level and I'm quite fine with that. I do this for fun. And fun is what it surely is. I don't want it to be work and I don't want to feel not happy with where I am. I am very content with the small, continual improvements that naturally occur with just playing and learning new songs.

[FrankHudson]

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?

On some days, perhaps for a few minutes, or maybe a chorus or two, yes. But then I've always been fairly easily satisfied with music that fits my desires at any one time.

[tnvol]

I'm not where I want to be as a player in the sense that I always want to be better... But I'm happy with my playing. I have a lot of fun and I can see improvement weekly....

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by elmcmeen

I wish I could play the way I could 12 years ago.

Yes, that's kind of what I was thinking...

I'm where I want to be as a player when I am working hard at it and putting in the time. Lately, I have been so busy that the only time I play is when I am preparing for and doing a recording for my YouTube channel -- something I do about every two weeks now.

- Glenn

[Silly Moustache]

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?

Am I where I want to be?

Using my style :

Up to a point, yes, I've pretty much developed my own style of flat-picking - I never wanted to play every fiddle tune, I jut wanted to accompany my self and others, and play a decent intro/outro and break.
Wade mentioned that being content was the same as complacent, and, IMHO, that isn't the same as my challenger nowadays, especially with little point in practising etc..

My challenge is to keep these raddled old fingers with trigger fingers, and Dupuytrens getting settled into my palms moving. They get very stiff, and
well, challenging.

playing jazz/Western style/American songbook material - NO - I have three archtops and I even took some lessons, but ---well, maybe its a matter of old dogs and new tricks.

[guitarxan]

I am happy with my level of playing. I know that at 60, my technique and skills will probably not get much better. I am actually most happy with my left hand skills, they have improved over the years. It’s my right hand, finger style and strumming where I lag.

What I enjoy most now is learning new songs-songs that I thought were beyond me and actually being able to play them is quite satisfying.

[raysachs]

I've far exceeded my initial goals when I first started to play in 1977 - left 'em in the dust long ago. But of course we always make new goals. As we get a little better, we see the next thing that seems to be in reach and we make a run at that. Rinse and repeat. I doubt I'll ever run out of goals, but I've met and exceeded a number of them along the way. I'm still not very good, but you shoulda heard me back THEN!

-Ray