Originally Posted by: maggiorJeff - I wouldn't say you are stupid...not at all. You've just taken a different path to the guitar...that's all. With what you had, you've figured out how to get your voice through the guitar. I wouldn't call that BS. So now your journey includes some of the maturity that John mentions...and you'll continue forward.

This is like saying that only a person with a degree in English Literature is capable or writing a story or a book that is worth reading. Simply not true!!

I would bet that there are things you can play that would make a "properly trained guitarist" go "hmmm, that was cool, how did you do that?".

Though to be clear, I can say that my previous post was a bit of hyperbole, if sort of a stab at funny-ish.

I never really totally dogged myself in my playing. But the point does remain that there was much that I find that would have been useful had I bothered when I was younger.

But support from fellow guitarists is always welcome :D

I do remember when the first time someone like, stopped to watch me play when I was noodling at the local guitar store. Great store in Moorhead, MN back in the day. They had an 'isolation' room in the back corner (which was just a small room with a window). I was just running through my standard noodling I always warmed up with and a few people collected at the window to watch.

I was totally self conscious but I soldiered on and played.

When I was done, I walked back to the counter where the sales guys were hanging. I had become friends (well, a gadfly really...) with them. The primary guitar salesman and an awesome player said, 'People don't stop to watch you play for no reason' ...and left it at that.

At that point I realize I could play. I relied on that instead of investing on actual understanding though.

In a way, I've relied on my ability to do a 'fake it 'til' ya make' in many things. The reason why I seemed so goofy but direct in my previous post is that at some point, you will run in to your limitations and regret what you were too lazy to do before.

I'm 50 years old, can play guitar pretty well but have to play catch-up on my weaknesses. An occasional free-lance graphic designer with no formal training. A Project Manager (my day job) where I manage a shockingly big project...yet I am working on my bachelors now (with a degree in Project Management....I have the job my degree would get me already).

I don't really down myself too much but at this point, at 50, I can look back and know that simply because I could take the easy way out and still do decently doesn't mean I should have.

The actual point of my 'people watching me through the window' story is not about my ability to play but that because of my 'til you make' ability, I've always felt a little like someone's going to find out that I'm not actually all that. To actually have a sound basis in knowledge of any discipline undergirds that which you might already be capable of doing.

Thus my previous post.