Originally Posted by: JeffS65
...and interesting that he wanted to have you 'stick with the artist's version'....Odd since Jimi made a career of not doing that...Hey Joe, All Along the Watchtower?

My point exactly. Oh, and Axe, I would say being a "professional" player does mean meeting a certain standard of playing ability, having various skill sets and essentially being someone that could be "hired" to perform a specific task. For example, being hired to come in to a studio and record a guitar track for a commercial. I consider someone like Hendrix an artist, rather than a "professional"...

There are many people out there that will give advice, like "learn music theory" "or "learn to read music", and would consider those skills a must in order to be a "professional" player. And yet, obviously, there are great, iconic players who did not possess those skills. Its a strange contradiction that we see a lot in guitar... where people may say "you need to play like this in order to be great", when, at the same time, the very people the student is influenced by not only didn't learn that way or those skills, but playing that way may be contrary to their true goal with guitar.

That's why my whole point with all this stuff is that you have to sit down, think about it, and decide what's really right for you. Once you've got that clear vision of the kind of guitar player you want to be, or even just a simple skill that you want to develop, its up to you to find the right methods of learning that work towards that goal. I feel its an ever on-going process. You're always periodically evaluating your playing, looking at your practice habits, and checking to see that its getting you to where you want to be.

Tony, good for you for standing up for yourself. I think you should try some online lessons and see how it goes. You might be surprised at your progress, and the cost can't be beat.