Are you where you want to be as a player?

[stephenT]

The target is always moving, isn't that the way it should be?

Awhile back I set out to learn Etta Baker Piedmont style acoustic playing which took me in new directions and inspired new tunes of my own.

Reading Daniel Lanois book "Soul Mining - A Musical Life" inspired me to find new sounds on electric guitar and to play more electric rhythm parts without a pick and changed the way I approach mixing in Logic Pro X.

So hopefully I'll continue to want to push my playing in new directions.

Originally Posted by jklotz

Have you achieved your goals as a guitar player?

No.

Originally Posted by jklotz

Are you happy with your playing as it stands now?

And no.

[Sacdubro]

No, I find the guitar to be a humbling instrument. However, I'm okay with being a perpetual novice hobby player. Like any skill-set it requires practice time. It's easier in the current environment but may not be applicable long term. I am always looking for a new song or lick to add into my rotation so challenge continues. As per Malcolm Gladwell, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill-set. Therefore, I've a few more hours ahead of me to get to where I could be.

[Gordon Currie]

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'll never achieve my goals; they're kind of like the stars - I never reach them, but I use them to navigate.

The more I learn about guitar and music the more I see I can never know everything. Which is fine as what I learn is awesome.

I used to never be satisfied with my playing. In the last decade or so, I have had moments of true satisfaction where what I was playing was JUST RIGHT.

[musicman1951]

I was a trumpet major in college. I try to save most of my dissatisfaction for that beast of an instrument - as fickle as they come.

I can't say that when I started 57 years ago I sat down and wrote out a set of goals (not that it wouldn't be an interesting exercise). I'm usually reasonably satisfied while playing my favorite genres, but there are so many possibilities and areas where I have hardly scratched the surface - and probably never will (but you never know). I have reached an age where I'm not thrilled to do one more thing badly.

The question is, of course, rhetorical, but still a good one to ponder. I can't imagine any musician not wanting to get better. Tiger Woods takes golf lessons.

I remember there were about 4 measures in my master's recital where it was like I wasn't even playing - the music just flowed from the instrument. It was magical. That's 4 measures from an hour long program of pieces I had practiced for a huge number of hours. I'd like to get to that place and stay there for a whole song. A whole night. Forever. So yeah, like everyone else, I'm not there yet.

[mercy]

Im very close to where I realistically, given the meds I take and my age, to where I want to be. Im just not willing to put in the extra time daily it would take to get there. Guitar is only one thing in my life so I try to balance everything. Im no pro like Tommy E but no beginner either. Not that I would want to play Tommy tunes even if I could. I like Ed Gerhard the best but Pierre is fun once in awhile.

[CoolerKing]

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?

Not a snowballs chance in Hades. If I practiced for two hours a day maybe. But life, particularly kids, gets in the way.

[paulp1960]

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 feel I'm making slow but some steady progress in improving my playing.
I'm good enough though to enjoy my playing and also playing with my 2 best buddies. We have all played on and off since we were about 16 and we're nearly sixty now.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by 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?

We are not telling. However, everybody failed, so summer school for you!

Tony

[tonyo]

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?

Fascinating question to muse on.... been playing for 7 or 8 years now, I think I've lost track. It was a life long dream. Tried once 25 years ago but the pressures of family life and teachers obsessed with teaching scales sucked the soul out of that effort.

When I started again 7 or 8 years ago, I had a clearer goal. To learn songs that people would sing along to around a campfire. That goal has been well and truly achieved and I'm very happy with where I am as a player in that regard.

But now, now that I can play and sing, where I want to be has changed. It's the conundrum that changes when new skills are dreamed of and then accomplished.

There are many things I now want to be able to do that I don't have the skill level for as yet. So I'm torn between celebrating how far I've come verses striving for new abilities.

Overall, I have to say I am where I want to be.

[NormanKliman]

Originally Posted by jklotz

Dumb question I suppose, but I wonder.

Look at the length of this thread since yesterday. Not a dumb question at all. Nobody asks, especially other guitarists!

Originally Posted by jklotz

Have you achieved your goals as a guitar player?

Like they say, it’s a journey, three steps forward and two steps back, a love-hate relationship, etc. If you want, there’s always another bend in the road.

Originally Posted by jklotz

Are you happy with your playing as it stands now?

There’s always room for improvement. It’s all about maintaining a level and not burning out in the process. I try to keep a balance between very difficult and easier material so there’s usually something I’ll feel like playing at any given moment. For now, anyway.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by jklotz

Have you achieved your goals as a guitar player?

No. I wanted to be rich and famous. I dreamed of making successful records and playing to 1000s of people in stadiums. Hasn't happened yet - nor is it likely to now.
However, as a goal it's somewhat receded in importance over the years.

Originally Posted by jklotz

Are you happy with your playing as it stands now?

Yes.
Well, 99% anyway. The 1% is not a problem, I could fix that in a few minutes if I felt like it, but all the music I currently play fits easily inside that 99%. Most of it I could play with maybe 70-80% of my current skills. Some it with as little as 10% (it's still great music).

However, I should say that even as a beginner I was happy with my playing, and was probably at least 90% as good as I wanted to be from day to day.. I was "happy with my playing" because just playing guitar made me happy, it didn't matter that I was crap (compared to how I can play now).

[roylor4]

No, not even close. The better I get, the more I see skills I'm deficient in.

I tend to go through cycles. Sometimes I focus on the the depth of a certain skill, then circle back around and add to the breadth of overall musicianship. My learning feels like a pre-virus stock graph. On downward trends I am exploring the depths of certain aspects of playing. When I turn around and add these skills to performing, that's when I feel how much growth this actually contributed to (or didn't) to my playing.

I'm nearly 57 and don't have enough years to accomplish what I would like to but I will continue to learn as long as I am capable.

[tupper]

I am an older guy and think I have seldom been satisfied with my efforts. Looking back I think this attitude has been beneficial. I wasn't agonized by results, just never completely satisfied. This attitude provided motivation to play better. So I studied and played a lot of music.

My wife used to say I was not motivated, I was obsessed. I once read a remark where someone asked a very old world class musician why they practiced so much. The reply was "Because I think I am getting better".

[Su_H.]

It's a no for me. I haven't reached my goals for guitar and my goals are:
1. Play Austurias
2. Have a regular gig at a restaurant or somewhere
3. Teach guitar