Originally Posted by: "looneytunes"I have been playing guitar since I was 13 and now I am, well lets just say I'm a lot older than that now. I play guitar a lot, but I do not consider myself a musician, because, frankly, I don't think I am that good. I might play at family gatherings or in festival parking lots, etc. Others think I can sing and play, but I consider myself far from a professional musician. However, I do play with others and frankly, I didn't start learning to really play until I did. You learn a lot from playing with others. Things that instructors cannot teach you.

You're going to kick me but you sound exactly like my dad.. and I'm 31.. My dad also started young with music, since his dad was an piano/organ/pipe-organ instructor. He also feels that he's not that good of a musician but has always enjoyed playing in the company of others. My very earliest memories of him were him singing at my primary school with my mum.. hey!.. it was the 70's! :) Then also the song I liked him to play the most, "Puff The Magic Dragon".. haha!

I have been teaching him some music theory lately but since he doesn't really play at all any more, he doesn't really understand it that much. However, his interest has peaked again because he was talking about playing at his church but being out of practise etc.. So I'm going to buy him a guitar for Christmas, nothing over the top.. but in the classical guitar style that I know he likes, with a spruce top and nice natural wood finish.. yah.. :)

So yeah.. getting back to the real topic at hand..


I remember my first "proper" experiences playing with guitar were around age 15 and I was out of school, out of work, out of home.. and I was basically bored out of my mind.. so I picked up dad's old classical and just started playing "stuff".. I knew a few basic chord shapes and a fair amount of basic music theory, at least enough to learn songs from those "101 Easy Guitar Songs" songbooks. Much later I ended up playing in my local church's band..

I have to admit that I find it much easier to be creative and "in the groove" when I am playing with other people and I have learnt a lot of "stuff" from playing in the bands I have. Then again.. I have learnt a massive amount in the last few months without altering my current lifestyle.. It's a different type of learning that you learn by yourself. It's almost like a meditation for me a lot of the time when I am alone.. but when I am playing in the band at church, I need to make sure I am playing in time, in key and I'm keeping tracking of where I am up to on the sheet music... It's just different.. *shrugs*