I'm not a good guitar player, don't practice at all, but love playing guitar, jamming, writing songs. Anyone else?

[doster]

So I've been playing forever, but I'll never be a REAL guitar player. I don't practice scales or learn to play many songs, but yet, I love playing guitar.
It's fun to come up with my own riffs and songs, that I rarely finish.
Anyone else out there that can relate?

 

[brookdalebill]

Careful, if you keep it up, you’ll get good!

 

[RodeoTex]

Well yes, I've been a beginner for half a century now.

 

[Red Ryder]

I've considered myself a hack since I started.

 

[Fretting out]

Yup in that boat

Play all the time, don’t practice anything anymore really just play

Couldn’t tell you any of the theory behind anything

 

[maxvintage]

I think there's a fundamental difference between who feel compelled to "speak" musically and people who just want to know how it's done. I'm the latter. I don't really know a lot of songs: I can't sing. I've spent hours learning various jazz standards, but once I've figured out a good set of chord shapes to use to articulate the melody I tend to lose interest. I like to play live, to make a groove work: I like to take a good solo, but these are examples you could say of problem solving.

Some people need to tell stories musically, and they'll learn those same songs and have a drive to play them for people--maybe for praise, but I think it's the same reason some people like to draw and some people like to carve: music is their voice, it's how they speak best. I probably express myself best by writing and talking.

 

[57joonya]

I’m not great , I been playing for 35 yrs or so. I just like good sounding licks . Doesn’t have to be fancy or fast.I don’t play out much anymore , just a long time hobby that I love

 

[LOSTVENTURE]

I enjoy the learning process. I have always done it by ear, and after 60+ years, I think I'm pretty good at it. I do enjoy getting out and playing. All during the 60's - 80's I was in bands making a decent living at it. Now I primarily play with my church's praise team, which can be challenging and sometimes stale all at once. But, here at the house there are always a couple guitars out and something in the CD player that needs figured out.

 

[Manual Slim]

Yup! If you ain't got the chops just hack, hack, hack.

 

[oldunc]

Joshua Redman swears that he hardly ever practiced growing up; he was in college studying something fairly serious- economics maybe- when music somehow took over. Worked out well for him;

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

I try to be good at most things I do. I consider myself a "top-shelf" amateur guitarist....but cannot or...at least....have not wrote any songs I would release to the public. So.....surround your strengths with people who compliment them and make some great music.

 

[Red Ryder]

My live performances are always better than any studio work. Whether I do covers or originals I always try to give it all when I play out. But the studio, I get bored and never like the end result.

 

[bgmacaw]

Anyone else out there that can relate?

Some people make a career of it...

 

[Killing Floor]

I can think of a few guitar heroes who aren’t great guitarists.

 

[tfarny]

I was that way for a long time and then I lost interest in playing. It got boring having nothing to do with it - no band, no gig, nothing to record. So I quit for years and when I got back into it I had a different approach - I've learned a bunch of technique and theory, I learn some stuff (not a lot) note for note. Usually, it's in the service of playing with people.
Right now I'm finally taking a minute to improve my fingerstyle techniques with a Tommy Emmanual course on TrueFire. It's two steps back to go three steps forward but I'll never be a good fingerstyler if I don't really have solid thumb technique and timing. And I'm bored with being a so-so fingertyle player who knows a few fun songs but can't really deviate from the patterns.

 

[FuzzWatt]

I've always felt like I have yet to arrive. A day late and a buck short.

I don't have the attention span nor the want to sit down for hours at a time and practice the same things over and over. I just enjoy picking up my guitars and playing them with the limited tools I've got. It's good enough for me, and that's all that matters.

 

[adjason]

Yeah man writing your own songs is where its at- cause even if you kinda stink you're more of an artist plus its way more fun than learning someone else's songs. Most of mine are kind of equal parts be a bit embarrassed by and proud of. Its just tough to find folks who want to play with you

 

[Manual Slim]

My live performances are always better than any studio work. Whether I do covers or originals I always try to give it all when I play out. But the studio, I get bored and never like the end result.

Aw man. It's the opposite for me. I'll retake something all day till it sounds reasonably passable to me but my live performances are harrowing descents into parts unknown.

 

[GorgeousTones]

@Cosmic Cowboy Thats really pretty great advice..! When I was younger, quite a bit younger now I should say. I started at roughly 6-7yrs old and heckled my father (a serious real studio pro, but lousy impatient teacher) to show me just enough to play the Punk Rock, Grunge.. Green Day, Silver Chair, Nirvana, I believed was the be all end all.
I got with a drummer and bass player some time later, And we occasionally played the few songs or the parts of songs we actually knew. But for a few years all we ever did was improvise hard rock stuff making it up as we went. Despite only using the very limited understanding of the instrument and virtually zero melodic/harmonic knowledge ... Something a bit unexpected happened!

By playing every day oftentimes for several hours at a time. My drummer friend and I actually started improving. We kept getting better, Our Non-verbal communication, Ear and ability to listen in a band context not just what we were playing individually. Give and take of space and ”call & response” interaction
Not to mention playing in time, Working to be creative with new rhythmic ideas.. Despite studying music at the university level, I look back on those early days jamming and making up our own riffs and believe that experience was beneficial to me even now..

 

[Vitadog]

If you have never played guitar you might think I was pretty good, if you have ever played guitar you will think I need a lot more practice to be considered good. Solid intermediate rhythm and arpeggio player, currently working on learning jazz chords and progressions. Play on average 7hrs a week, no structured practice but will work to learn something. I was never drawn to be a lead player, don’t play scale based lead - ever and I have never learned any song. Always just played what I felt like playing. Just recently stepped up to the next plateau when I started learning jazz, those crazy finger positions came to me fairly easily at this stage. I fully relate to your methodolog.