Do you wonder ever if it's all worth it?

[Luis_Br]

I also think we should enjoy the journey, the process. If you like playing the guitar just do it and play. If someday you are not in the mood, don't do it, or practice just a little. If you do it without too much concentration you won't learn as much either. But it is certainly better then just watching some worthless TV program as our friends said before.
Of course we need some targets to put some routine to our life. But I think it is nice if you put short and easy goals, in a way you feel good with them. Why do we need to be a master or a hero? Why do we need to follow a master or a hero? This is within our genes I guess. Long discussion though...
I like several medium level guitarists, musicians and other professionals. In my present moment of life I don't like to think too much in the final objective, or an end for what I am doing. I just try to enjoy the journey, helping some friends and being helped by them. I just wanna feel I am not doing anything wrong. Everything will turn into powder anyways...

[glassynails]

Everything will turn into powder anyways...

So true ....

[OldC1guy]

Glassy, never give up. It’s a journey. It’s an investment in time too. That came up recently for me. I’m a Tampa Bay Rays fan (since we moved to FL from CT). After a recent funk dropped them several games behind Boston, I thought about the investment in time that I have made to follow them. Figure 7 to 10:30, five or six nights a week; it is something that my wife and I share, although she usually bids adieu in about the sixth inning. It’s after the game that I give the guitar my greatest attention. Play for an hour or so, hit the pool, then good night. There are so many pieces that I want to learn; a few that I would like to “master.” Recently if the game looks lost, midway, I’ll cash in my chips and go to the guitar. But, I’ll never give up. As if I don’t have enough music half baked, I just printed Capricho Catalan after going through the “most beautiful guitar music” post on this forum. I have found that I can catch up pretty well on music that I have “paged out” for a few months. But, when it starts to sound right again, that’s good feed back for me. And that’s really the only one that I am playing for.

Except for this: I made a promise to our friends in the Keys, that when we visit them next January I’ll bring my guitar and play for them, including the Duarte Appalachian Dreams suite (Sharon Isbin). I do not want to break this promise so practice is serious.
Glassy, never give up.

[glassynails]

Glassy, never give up. It’s a journey. It’s an investment in time too. That came up recently for me. I’m a Tampa Bay Rays fan (since we moved to FL from CT). After a recent funk dropped them several games behind Boston, I thought about the investment in time that I have made to follow them. Figure 7 to 10:30, five or six nights a week; it is something that my wife and I share, although she usually bids adieu in about the sixth inning. It’s after the game that I give the guitar my greatest attention. Play for an hour or so, hit the pool, then good night. There are so many pieces that I want to learn; a few that I would like to “master.” Recently if the game looks lost, midway, I’ll cash in my chips and go to the guitar. But, I’ll never give up. As if I don’t have enough music half baked, I just printed Capricho Catalan after going through the “most beautiful guitar music” post on this forum. I have found that I can catch up pretty well on music that I have “paged out” for a few months. But, when it starts to sound right again, that’s good feed back for me. And that’s really the only one that I am playing for.

Except for this: I made a promise to our friends in the Keys, that when we visit them next January I’ll bring my guitar and play for them, including the Duarte Appalachian Dreams suite (Sharon Isbin). I do not want to break this promise so practice is serious.
Glassy, never give up.

Thank you sir, I don't think I'll ever give up completely.

[PeterLC]

The journey is indeed what's most important. I've been playing since 1981 and have had the occasional hiatus of up to 5 (!) years. Now that I've been playing again, since alnost two years, I couldn't imagine giving it up for so long once more. But then, I don't need/wish to play every day. Without that urge, and having the choice of either playing classical or going all-out improvising on the Les Paul (neighbors don't love me for that ), I think I've found a good balance. I do try to expand my classical repertoire but so far, I've mostly stuck on re-studying works I've played long ago. Right now, Lauro's 3d Vals Venezolano - I'd forgotten what a pig that one is in some places.

I can understand you're pondering on this, that's not necessarily bad. Don't get stuck in it though, just enjoy the playing. You have nothing to prove.

[glassynails]

. But then, I don't need/wish to play every day.

I can't go a day without playing really. It's just in my blood. If I go one day without playing I just have a real hankering to play and can't wait to get my hands on my guitar. The thing about it is is that I've been playing daily for so long now, that I miss it if I don't do it, it's like a habit. I can honestly say I've never gotten bored with the cg at all, just sometimes I wonder if I'm spending too much time on it. When I was in my teens and first learning guitar I DID GET BORED, but that was only because at the time I couldn't play anything and so I was confined to learning chords and things only, which I enjoyed, but it wasn't like playing music and I could only do it for so long each day.

I did quit guitar off and on during my twenties I think, whilst I pursued skateboarding and various other activities, but at the time I was playing (or trying to play) old 1920's blues and maybe acoustic parts of Led Zeppelin songs.

The reason I initially wanted to get into "solo" guitar was that I didn't have anyone to play with and also thought of it as more "respectable" I guess. I think I went through transcribing old blues things like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, etc, initially for quite a while (maybe a few years) and then I discovered John Renbourn via Stefan Grossman's catalog. From there somehow I discovered classical guitar.

I still remember listening to old Segovia cd's and how I couldn't believe that one guitar could "play all those parts" at once, it just really amazed me. I thought to myself, "That's what I want to do!".

[fisjon]

My guitar sits on a stand in the library (that's a posh word for the spare bedroom where my wife keeps her books) and every time I pass by the guitar shouts out loudly, 'play me, play me!' So I have to sit down for five minutes and run a few chords or play a short piece.
I struggled for years mainly with reading the music so learning a new piece was painstakingly slow, so committing to memory was the order of the day.
However I have now discovered tabs. What a difference, I can now look at a piece of paper and hey presto, music comes straight out of the guitar.
This was my revival, if you haven't tried them have a go, you don't have to give up reading music but you can very quickly learn a few new pieces.
Just bought a new guitar.

[zupfgeiger]

Hello Glassy,

I think you do not have to worry about what you want or need to play next. Simply flip in your notes or in your mind and play what corresponds exactly to your mood.

We don't have to make any money with it, right?

Best regards
Remarc

Exactly! What's all the fuss about?

I guess I'm just dying to be able to play all the pieces I love from memory, especially the smaller scale ones, but maybe some day it'll all come together. It's funny though that I always stress about forgetting pieces, but some of them only take a couple hours to get "going" again from memory. At one time I knew from memory Ponce's whole "Tres canciones Populares" and had forgotten them pretty much, but after a year of not playing them at all it only took me a couple hours to get them back under control. Tonight I could go home and play 1 and most of 3 out of my head without looking at the sheets.

There's nothing wrong with playing from the sheet, but for me I have to have it in memory to really start "playing" the piece, so that's all the fuss.

I can subscribe to this observation. I started to play Tres Canciones recently and after only a view days I was able to play them by heart. The musical structure is rather simple. There are two or three phrases that have to be repeated. But don't confuse easy reading with easy playing. Ponces tres canciones are beautiful and technically a challenge, the third piece even more then the other two. There is much fretboard acrobatic involved and playing the pieces really legato is demanding. - Sorry for being a bit off topic here.

[David Norton]

I’ve determined what a big portion of my “music ennui” is. It’s simply that, having done this for 40+ years, I feel that I should be capable of playing a much higher caliber of repertoire. Full blown concert pieces, sonatas and suites and concerti, not one- and two-page etudes or binary dance forms. When people compliment me on my playing, it is like complimenting me on being able to read a Grade 5 book. Grade 2, really. I know that I am playing beginner and early-intermediate music, and generally not very well at that. Politeness demands that I acknowledge the comments gracefully, although I cannot take any genuine pride of accomplishment.

[bacsidoan]

I’ve determined what a big portion of my “music ennui” is. It’s simply that, having done this for 40+ years, I feel that I should be capable of playing a much higher caliber of repertoire. Full blown concert pieces, sonatas and suites and concerti, not one- and two-page etudes or binary dance forms. When people compliment me on my playing, it is like complimenting me on being able to read a Grade 5 book. Grade 2, really. I know that I am playing beginner and early-intermediate music, and generally not very well at that. Politeness demands that I acknowledge the comments gracefully, although I cannot take any genuine pride of accomplishment.

+1. Very well said. You may take some solace in the fact that I've played for 40 years, and am not half as good as you are, and that is not without trying

[bear]

I have the advantage of being without talent so my expectations and personal standards are very low. I have the advantage of growing up poor. When children brought can goods to school classrooms for the needy, we got the food baskets. So, anything I have is appreciated. In the neighborhood where I spent my adolescence, fighting ability was valued more than anything else. So, I busted up my hands.
I am fortunate that I can play at all. If I am having fun and can make my wife smile, then I am a success and I don't need more than that.

The more talented you are, the higher the expectations you place on yourself and others place on you.

The OP's question is one that is often asked about many of life's choices, I hope everyone will reach a point when they can say "yes".

[Balrama]

This is an inetresting thread and some of you guys are really playing some advanced pieces,

So to those of you playing advanced pieces are you able to sight read the music at say D03 and play them beautifully if not the first time but the second or third?

Thats all I really want to be able to do, for CG and then play other acosutic stuff.

[a human]

On a grander scale (pun intended), I often wonder if my whole life has been worth it and wonder what I shoulda/coulda/woulda done instead.

When those type of gloomy thoughts arrive, my defense is to go play my guitar and lose myself in music as much as possible.

THAT is what it is worth, to me.

[Kevin L Benbow]

For what it's worth, I find that playing in the hospital and for other nonprofit events makes it worth it for me. My playing is appreciated and it puts a little pressure on me to keep learning.

[Paul Hammer]

I find that playing in the hospital and for other nonprofit events

Good for you, Kevin. It's a wonderful instrument - and the patients are very lucky to have you playing for them.

However, I do understand the Topic. I have practised hard for the last 6-7 years and have achieved a lot (for me); but when it comes to the crunch, and I play in front of a few people (on the very odd occasion), it all goes pear-shaped.

Then:
I have begun to have a little arthritis in my left pinky;
My teacher ditched me after a particular lesson, when I could not play a piece how he wanted; and
I wanted to have a totally 'chilled-out' Summer.

So I totally stopped playing in May, had a wonderful relaxed Summer, and I have not really missed it. I am a driven and addictive personality; and, in spite of the health, co-ordination, hearing, mental and other benefits, I have begun wondering if this is just one more addictive outlet?

My wife says that I never relax; so this summer I really have relaxed with gardening, fly-fishing, and pottering.

Rain has started again here, and I will pick up my trusty CG again soon.

PS I am reading: 'The open-focus brain' by Dr Les Mehmi. He has discovered an easy way (with practice) to get into a relaxed 'alpha' state; and the book has many examples of musicians who have benefited from focussing in a different way.

So, if I ever do play again - in front of a few people, I hope I shan't make such a mess of it.

Regards to all, and keep playing (or not playing) - however it grabs you.