That awkward moment

[Jegonzal]

That awkward moment when you think you are advancing on your guitar skills and there comes this fellow musician/guitar player and shows you how a guitar really is played. Lol.

[oldsouth]

I just hope that it never stops happening! I always play my best when I'm constantly learning, studying methods, tunes, etc. I got to meet Jimmy Capps last year.... well, that assuaged my "fears" (if I had any).... I'll never be the world's best guitar player!

[Larry F]

Oh yeah. On the plus side, it shows you what can be done by a fellow mortal. I've rarely been envious of musicians like that, unless they are real jerks. I have a cognitive dissonance situation when someone who is an a**h*** can play or write music better than me. If they are good guys, I'm rooting for them all the way and want to be their friend. Seriously.

[klasaine]

Lol!
Come to my town.

[slowpinky]

I have a cognitive dissonance situation when someone who is an a**h*** can play or write music better than me. If they are good guys, I'm rooting for them all the way and want to be their friend. Seriously.

Ha - likewise! I'm into great music - whoever makes it. But great playing and great humanity are not always complementary. On the other hand, its hard not to take the experience of being 'outclassed'(for want of a better word) as a player personally. When I was in my 20's , it spurred me on - got me practicing harder and smarter. Now, practicing at all is a bonus to my weekly routine - so in some ways Im easier on myself. But it still stings a little when one of my guitarist colleagues comes around for a coffee( nice guy - lives nearby) picks up my guitar and carves it! - and yes he gets way more gigs than I do!

Come to my town.

No thanks!

[oldsouth]

There is always someone smarter, better looking, more talented, richer, more content/happier, etc. All we can do is our best. Sure, it can be annoying when a 16 year old "natural" drops your jaw and you realize that he is doing more in a couple of years of playing than you've learned in a couple of decades.... actually, a 10 year old girl came into a guitar shop where I was working years ago and blew away all of the old pros! Then, she proceeded to play drums like Keith Moon! But then, that is life - better to enjoy her talent than kick yourself for not sharing it.

BTW, anytime I need humbling, I just pull up some Martin Taylor or Tommy Emmanuel or Johnny Smith, Chet, Django, Travis, etc...

[Hankssc]

Yep jimmy Capps is a great player and I got too see him in Nashville at the IBMA a couple of years ago. I enjoy watching him on Larry's country dinner on RFD tv and the old Wilburn Brothers show.

[BBill64]

I get jealous of guys who play fast but I've never met someone in my peer group with decent feel (which I like to think I have, despite my slow pacing).

[Mjark]

Get used to it.

[dougmon]

I have this moment everytime I sit down with anyone who has been playing for a while. I think "Hey, this person does <something> really well...maybe if I watch, I can pick it up." I've sat down with people who were not overall good guitarists, but really had a feel for things like power chords or Ramones tunes, and I've thought to myself "Oh, I wish could do <that thing> as well as they do it."

[dsutton24]

I'm just happy as heck when my own skills improve or a new technique gels. I don't worry much about not being 'as good' as the next guy.

[vincent]

I find it motivational. Makes me want to go home and practice.

And it's the obvious thing to do, watch guys that are better than you and hope to pick something up from them. The not so obvious thing to do is when you go into a guitar shop, find the guy that is just starting to play and watch him because he might do something quirky and cool that doesn't make sense musically but sounds good (because he does not have preconceived notions or some of the same patterns as someone that been playing a while).

[P Thought]

I have always enjoyed hearing and watching somebody really good playing my guitar. I like seeing what it can do once in a while.

There will always be lots of guitarists better than I am, but I know that as I keep working, I'm becoming better than I was, and there will be a few more people fooled into thinking I'm good.

[Mid Life Crisis]

Every guitarist who has ever lived will probably have acknowledged that there is someone better than them. Have you ever heard a guitar player exclaim "I am the greatest!" before?

It's a given, then, that somebody. somewhere, is better than you. More than that, nobody can be the best at everything. It is very common to find that someone is better than you as regards a particular skill, which could be fingerpicking, rhythm, theory, slide or whatever. I know someone who is a terrible guitarist (we were visiting NYC once and he was asked to turn his amp down in Guitar Center) but I would kill to be able to play vibrato as well as he can.

[Henry]

Originally Posted by BBill64

I get jealous of guys who play fast but I've never met someone in my peer group with decent feel (which I like to think I have, despite my slow pacing).

Prolly isn't a person here who doesn't know that feeling BBill or can remember it. Speed's a fine and wonderful thing but it's the bits in between the notes that make the difference and for all the players the OP laments not one of them will play something like he does; whether you place a value judgement on that playing is irrelevant to my point.

[Carlsson]

Originally Posted by P Thought

There will always be lots of guitarists better than I am, but I know that as I keep working, I'm becoming better than I was, and there will be a few more people fooled into thinking I'm good.

Agree. There are two sides of this. Evaluating your guitar skills within the guitarist community requires an open mind and a humble attitude (which will often be very rewarding). There's so much to learn from other/better guitar players.

The general public, i.e. the non-guitar playing audience, on the other hand... It doesn't take quite as much to convince them that you're good (I don't mean talking about guitar playing, I mean the actual playing).

EDIT: Oh, and: that was pretty funny.

[StoogeSurfer]

One thing I like to try to do is to learn something new by experiment every time I pick up the git, which is at least twice a day, and sometimes six. This adds up.

[Frodebro]

I stood across the stage from an extraordinary guitarist for a number of years. He was in his early forties when I joined the band (I was 24), and his entire family were accomplished guitarists. It was intimidating at first, but it quickly turned into a huge learning experience for me. These days, I am never put off by players who are better than me. Honestly, I would prefer to be the worst player in the room. That guarantees that I will learn something new.

[Breen]

I like the feeling.

But I'm a bit special in the head.

Kicks my ass. I like this feeling.

[den15betts]

That's why I've banned anyone from listening to Robert Johnson in my house.