The good old "reallity slap"

Anyone of you ever said to himself: " Hey ! I'm getting pretty good at guitar! "
Some friends come over (non musicians) and you play them a couple of songs, improvise here and there and they go: "Wow your getting good".
So you feel good to see that all that hard work and patience is paying off.

Then you go jam with someone a lot younger then you and you start jamming with him and he's just so impressive and better then you.
"Reallity slap" !! Painfull isn't it !? hahaha

Well the good thing about this, for me and I hope for all of you, is that it's a kick in the ass to practice more or to take it more seriously. But there's always that little thinking going on in our head :" I should have started to play guitar younger " ( or started to take it seriously younger, in my case.)

Im saying all this just because I have read a lot of post recently of older people saying stuff like : " Am I too old ? "
Well I'm 28 (I know it's young :p) and I think exactly the same. Its a sickness. We compare ourselves to others to often. Its not healthy.
Why did we start to play guitar anyways ? To have fun right ? To be able to play our favorite band's songs. To jam along the other musician's in our families at christmas and new years day parties right !?.
So lets do that ! Let's go have fun and let's enjoy the process of learning !

I just thought I would express myself here on the forum tonight to help myself get back on the right track. To go back to the real purpose behind my passion for music and clear my head a little. Hopefully this post will help you guys as much as it just did for me.

Let's remember what its all about.

Not unlike your post, I think healthy a thing is to look at what you can learn from any player, no matter the age. That's why I liked your post, why worry about it, ya know? It's about having fun.

Back when I was serious in the 'shredder' late 80's, it was a competitive mindset and I hated that. I just dug playing and if you were good, I could learn.

Yeah see?!?!

That's why at our age we shouldn't be letting young bucks play in our sandbox. It takes our rock and roll dreams and squashes them. :D

I've come to understand that guitars that were made a long time ago, i.e., vintage guitars, often are 'better' guitars than the current crop.

I've seen no evidence, one way or the other, that the same applies to guitar *players.* ;)

Originally Posted by: JeffS65I think healthy a thing is to look at what you can learn from any player, no matter the age.

Yup, totally agree. We always learn more from the more experience players right ? And sometimes those experienced players are 16 years old :)
Nothing wrong about that.

"Besides being a guitar player, I'm a big fan of the guitar. I love that damn instrument. -Steve Vai.

I'm a late thirty-something former mullet wielding shredder wannabe that had a little garage band back in the 80s. I never was and never will be able to dedicate the time and work necessary to nail down an entire song from one of my guitar heroes, but that's okay. I love their music and have a great respect and gratitude for the talents they share. I love the guitar and what I enjoy more than anything is creating my own music. I can't remember exactly how Steve Vai said it but it's basically the title of my post. Find what you love, what you enjoy, and pursue it to the degree that you wish to attain.

Great reality check Sebastberg, It's always good to know there are others out there who share the same take on things.