Originally Posted by: Mid_Life Crisis

Hello all, just wanted to introduce myself as I'm keen to get involved with the community aspect here. I think it will benefit everyone if we can build up a bit of a support network for encouragement and motivation!

I started playing around 30 years ago and was pretty serious at first, playing in a few local bands etc. I did have some formal lessons but I've never really studied theory. I understand the concepts but haven't managed to apply that to what and how I play. I've really just winged it and learnt enough riffs and licks from tab to sound semi convincing as a blues/rock player with a lot of limitations.

Unfortunately, life got in the way of my rock star dreams and I've gone through long periods (years) of not touching the guitar at all mixed with short periods of just replaying the same old stuff I already know, until now!

I've finally made the commitment to go back to basics and learn from the ground up so that I can try and get involved in the local blues scene and start playing with others again. I think the main challenge will be fitting practice in around work and family commitments, but hopefully the online format will let me do that.

My story mirrored this quite a lot.

In the 80's, I could (as they say), shred. -underwhelming- yay...Yes, I could play with a decent amount of skill but I knew virtually nothing. Scales? Sure. I didn't really know what went behind it and why certain things worked better than others. Innately I could hear it, so I had that going for me. Given what I do for a job now and how I approach it, I am a sucker for understanding how and why something works. Why didn't I care when I was younger to learn this stuff? Lazy, lazy, lazy....It's part of why ended up here at GT many years later.

That's the part where I see you and I are (were) in that same boat; making the commitment to go back to basics and learn from the ground up.

I've been at GT for a long time and don't use it like I wshould (life...) but I know a heck of a lot more than I did several years ago.

Good luck and have fun!