Originally Posted by: quickfingersbut it IS competition when you are labeling yourself as a musician who is trying to be "among the best." thats the facts, bro. if your a skateboarder who's claim to fame is doing 20 stair handrails, and you want to be the best, thats DIRECT competition. dont tell me that guitarists dont compete, becasue thats a damn lie. even in the most creative of environments, with ideas flowing, theres still direct competition, wether you feel it or not. so to say that you want to be known for your instrumental skill in guitar (im assuming that by this statement you mean technical skill) then thats a million times moreso. im not ragging on people that want to be good guitarists....hell, i play guitar all the damn time to BE a real good guitarist. im not trying to put other peole like me down. but you do have to sit back and laugh a little bit at people in a guitar forum, without a band, who have been playing for like 4 years maybe, and are approaching mid-20's that are talking about "making it big" or "being a respected musician among guitarists." its not that that dream isnt possible, it just sounds damn incompitent when people try to act like theyre the only ones who have thought of that. like, oooh, thats real revolutionary. becasue every otehr guitarist in the world plays powerchords, you will be the ONLY guitarist to step it up and you will be known as "guitar hero" in your hometown. come on, people. seriously. you could close your eyes, shoot a bullet, and nail a guitarist in the head wehrever you are in the world. not to say that just becusae there are tons of musicians in the trade means that you have zero chance of being recognized, but...f*ck, you guys. sounding a bit on the pathetic side.

Well, "best" in a musical context is easily related to a person's opinion of musical quality as well as how much a person knows about music. If, for example, we have a person who only listens to radio play then their knowledge of other qualities of music is much more limited so what is best to them isn't going to be what's best to, say, me. Furthermore, the genre of choice will also play a role in this. To a person that listens to country music, a metal band won't do anything to sway them into the opinion that they're among the greatest. I can honestly say I've never tried to compete with another guitarist. I've never tried to out solo, or come up with more riffs for a song, or anything like that. In my eyes, the song always comes first and if it happens to sound better by someone else's doing, then by all means. Why ruin a good thing? I don't necessarily work my technique with the intention of staying better than anyone else. That's a futile goal because, as stated before by the both of us, there will always be someone better so why bother? And furthermore, I'm 21, been playing for 3 years, just finally found a stable band and also happen to have goals in the music industry. Don't think I've not thought about just how many other people are in the business or just how much work and effort goes into it. I'm aware of all of that, I've done my reading. But it's still a decision I wish to follow through on and I fail to see how that sounds pathetic in any way. I will, however, agree that it's growing quite disheartening if, say, I'm in the same place within a decade. But even that can be forgiven because these things don't just fly by for everyone. It takes a lot of time, dedication, and patience. But I can honestly say from my own personal experiences in music that trying to be better than others is missing the point of music itself. I'm not saying that people don't compete in the business, just that not everyone is so concerned about it.