Music - a Personal Journey

When I first started learning to play, I envisioned myself as my favorite guitarists, playing my favorite songs of theirs, and sounding amazing.

To be honest, I dove into the basics, theory, harmony, and the mechanics of playing, but truly I wanted to learn my favorite songs. At the time I was heavily into bands like UFO, the Scorpions, and the towering icons of the 1970s.

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For the first year or so, I chased several things. A sound (my first amp was a budget practice amp made by Crate), several classic tunes (Dust in the Wind, and Stairway to Heaven were my north stars) and how to play hard rock/heavy metal.

As time went on, and I was able to notch up my goals, my gear improved (better amps, a far better guitar) I finally hit some natural limits.

I remember spending countless hours grinding on the main solo to Crazy Train, getting it down note-for-note, realizing that it was hard to play other people’s music and ultimately while not futile (there are plenty of lessons to learn from an individual song/artist) but as long as I was just copying other people, I was building skills, but I wasn’t really growing.1 Still, I enjoyed this time.

But I had stagnated. By the late 1990’s I had begun a job that required a lot of travel, and my available time to spend practicing dried up.

Playing became a once a week or less frequent activity, and my progress dried up. When I picked up the guitar, I began just noodling. Riffing, grooving, and jamming.

I would come up with a chord progression, and then trade the progression with lead breaks, and mini solos. It was enjoyable, but I wasn’t putting in enough time to actually improve.

Fast forward to the start of the pandemic, and I was working from home every day. I was at my desk, with my amp right there, my guitar on the wall, and thus I began spending much of my lunch break playing. This led to a new amp, then a bunch of effects pedals, and finally the investment in a Helix.

Now, I play probably an hour+ per day, I spend time on exercises, scales, arpeggios, and riffing. I am having more fun than I have had in years.

I no longer am jealous of my idols, I know that I am not ever going to be a shredder, or a professional. And that is OK. I am having a blast