I had another date with my guitar tonight. It was fun but also a bit frustrating. I’m beginning to realize that I’m at a stage in my guitar playing where I’m good enough to impress most people who don’t know how to play guitar, but also good enough to know that I truly suck. Know what I mean? I think when people start playing, they can impress themselves pretty easily with each new thing that they learn, but there comes a time when they realize that a certain level of expertise is pretty much out of reach. I’m at that level.
I’ve been playing for the better part of 15 years and have the callouses to show for it. It grosses my friends out when I regularly chew off a piece of dead flesh from my fingertips that is about to fall off…
I’ve sacrificed most of the feeling in the very tips of my fingers on my left hand for my art. I can stick a push pin through the tip of my finger without even flinching.
But I don’t think I will get too much better than I am right now. I just don’t have the dexterity. Pretty much the only reason I play now is so that I can sing, which is also another skill that I feel this way about. I don’t know if I’ll stop playing any time soon and then years down the road tell my kids that I used to play a mean guitar… to which they will roll their eyes and say “right, dad… go back to your crossword puzzle.”
I sometimes wonder if I were to become suddenly broke and homeless, if I could make any money playing a pawn shop guitar and singing on the streets. I wonder if I could impress enough people to make them stop and think about what my story must be to wind up there… maybe even have a few shake their heads and feel bad that my better-than-average skills are going to such a waste. I already have a set of standards that I would use that I know by heart… a lot of them from U2.
So if years from now you come across a disheveled, middle-aged, homeless Asian man singing U2 and playing guitar at the entrance of the subway, stop and ask to hear his story of woe. He might tell you of his younger days when he used to blog and give financial advice to his co-workers. Tell him that you think he plays a mean guitar and sings pretty well… despite what his kids might have said.
the gee-tar is your friend. =pgotta love the push-pin pic.
Ouchie.
I played guitar once… for about six months, anyway. As far as playing only well enough to know how bad you are–I can totally relate. I do a whole bunch of things just well enough to know how much I don’t know and to be totally depressed at my level of complete incompetence. Compared to what I think would be acceptable, that is.
I actually “exclaimed” out loud when I first saw the pushpin pic… That’s awesome! Don’t be so gloomy about the future, but maybe you want to add “Smelly Cat” to your repertoire.
ewwww grossss…. haha….
that tack picture is nastay.I played guitar for a few months lol. I should get back to it…And that’s a good song. guitar man by bread.
THIS is what I come back to??? A freaking tack stuck in your finger???? Sheesh!Hey, we can’t all be superstar guitar players. Just know that God gave you that talent to please Him…
I learned that there are four stages of mastering a new skill:
Unconscious incompetence: you don’t know what you don’t know.
Conscious incompetence: you realize you suck
Conscious competence: you have to work at doing it right
Unconscious competence: you don’t have to think about it anymore; you just do it – Mastery!
You’ve got blistas on ye fingas!
I’ve plateau in my ability for the last few years. Too much playing around and never really challenging myself. That is when I discovered jazz and blues. I’ve worked on getting the technique right that I’ve ignore my musicianship. I’m working on improvisation now. Few encounters give you the same feeling as sitting down with fellow musicians whom you’ve never met and be able to jam out a tune.