QUOTE (Pantalaimon @ Jul 22 2007, 05:09 AM)
This I know: One day I will be a great musician.
I have a similar story
My dad has been playing guitar for 40 some years now, since he was 15 (that means he's 55 now
). Needless to say, practicing correctly or not 40 years of dedication will turn you into a good guitarist, he's really impressive. He doesn't know any scales or pretty much any theory, but he always knows what key he is in, what notes to play, and what chords sound good with it.
He bought my my first guitar when I was 9, a baby taylor acoustic at Dave's Guitar Shop in lacrosse Wisconsin. From there I learned the major chords, noodled around learning some stuff like the intro to "paint it black" and "come as you are" and other such basic things, but I never learned the whole song as beginners often do. I forget which year it was that he bought me my first electric, a fender musicmaster, though it had electrical problems and didn't work through an amp without a lot of crackling. So I had been playing some on my acoustic, but probably not every day and certainly not for hours, so I hadn't progressed much beyond those basics mentioned earlier. On the electric, things were easier to play, so I began to play a little more, but still not seriously.
I put the guitar down for a few years. I would still tell people that I could play guitar if they asked (even though to this day I feel I'm not yet worthy of calling myself a true "guitar player") and I would pick it up now and then, but not ever sitting down and practicing with it.
My dad still impressed me, but he is a terrible teacher. There really is no way for him to teach what he knows, he can only play. His ability comes from trial and error and simple experience, which is respectable to me but I think there is a lot more to be learned, much quicker, through just studying it (most of you will agree). So he never really taught me anything.
It wasn't until about freshman year in high school that I began to have other friends who were proficient with instruments. Especially a buddy of mine who plays the drums, and another friend who plays the guitar (among others). We'd jam sometimes and I'd always suck, so I began to feel the need to improve myself. All of this came to a boil when I bought my first REAL guitar (even though for years I'd had my dad's les paul, strat, telecaster and acoustics around me), a fender aerodyne telecaster and a fender automatic gt amp (kind of rare I think). Honestly I wish I'd just gone with a regular tele, but I chose this one partly because I think it looks cool
It's a decent guitar though, that's the point. I really began practicing it.
The first thing I decided that I needed to do was to learn a song all the way through. Otherwise I couldn't really consider myself a guitar player. So I learned Phish's "Stash", Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You" and "Ten Years Gone", Vai's Tender Surrender, some chili peppers songs etc. I didn't have the ability to really do that (especially tender surrender
), but the most important part was that I was actively practicing and challenging myself on these songs.
Ever since then, every time my ability comes into question I find myself lacking and I only practice harder. I can feel that one day soon, I think within 2-3 months, I'll be happy calling myself a guitarist and maybe able to surpass my dad. Since I bought the telecaster, I decided I needed an upgrade, so I looked around for a bit and Kris and David inspired me to buy a parker Nitefly, so I got that as well as a fender hot rod deluxe amp. All of my gear is made in the USA because after I bought the japanese tele, which still is a good sounding guitar, I decided I really want top quality stuff (not to say that there aren't other companies outside of the US that have great quality - but until I can afford an elmwood modena or other things, I'll stick to US made stuff for simplicity
).
Thanks to slammer I finally recorded something. I think recording really helps you, that's the latest thing pushing me to get better. I know I can play better and harder things than what I can improvise, so that's really kind of good to think about, I know I have some degree of technical skill, but I need to learn to utilize it now
So I joined GMC about 3 months ago, and I feel a whole lot of improvement in my playing. I think I'm well on my way to being the guitarist I want to be, and I know I will be.
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You greatly impreed me !!
It may have cost you x amount but where he lived it might have been more or hard to find.Thats what i love about ebay you get 2 people in a bidding war and things can go crazy.Its a great place to make a proffit.Guess it showed you were a good guy though sending him some money back,not many would do that, 
Gear: Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster, Gibson '67 RI Flying V, Mesa Boogie F-30 112 combo, crazy pedals.
