So when did you become a guitarist?

wamb2000
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Mon Sep 12, 2011 11:10 am

As a teenager I played due to the novelty and notariety of it. Thought it would gain me some brownee points somehow I guess. I would practise to keep up with others. Anyways life, work, family etc. led to not picking it up for several decades. Now in my fifties after watching an informal improv performance at a local coffee shop, I was inspired to pick it up one last time. At the same time wondering if the internet would somehow assist me in trying to regain some of what I had lost over the years. Well 7 months later I find myself addicted, playing every chance I get. With several songs nailed and under my belt I now play for reasons of the self and the soul playing every chance I get. Another song completed and another one started.
Something clicked like never before. I can't explain it exactly in words. When did I become a guitarist? 6 months ago I think. Am I really good on it? Who cares? Its fueling a passion I never knew existed. Great question and I love the various responses. Hope I bump into some of you some day.

Wilf


michelew
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Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:14 pm

daryl wrote:
Just my humble opinion.....

I equate a guitarist to an artist, and a guitar player to someone who can paint. A guitarist/artist is someone who can evoke an emotion from their audience. While painters can paint at various levels of competence and some of whom will eventually become so competent that they will start to evoke emotions from their viewers.
By that definition, we definitely have guitarists in our community.

I can definitely think of one who only realized it only a month ago, of course we all knew it a year ago (when they first appeared). :)

I can think of quite a few videos that's have moved me from diferent people, so yep they are definitely in our midst.


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neverfoundthetime
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 6:53 am

Kev, you certainly are a guitarist in my eyes (and ears ;-) ) and I love what you play and how you play it. (everyone else... watch this space!).

Wilf, nice to meet you and thanks for commenting. Would be great if you pop over to the Please Introduce Yourself thread and tell us your story.

Shel, certainly agree with you!


dennisg
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 10:26 am

I keep wanting to contribute something to this thread, but I'm pretty sure I've never had an epiphany after which I thought of myself as a guitarist. I still don't use that word when describing myself to other people, mostly because the word feels appropriate only when describing professionals, and not what I do to the guitar.


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neverfoundthetime
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 10:40 am

So how do you think of yourself with guitar in hand in amongst a group of folks who love what you play and can't play themselves Dennis? The accidental guitar player? ;-)


dennisg
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 12:36 pm

neverfoundthetime wrote:
So how do you think of yourself with guitar in hand in amongst a group of folks who love what you play and can't play themselves Dennis? The accidental guitar player? ;-)
It's a reasonable question, Chris. I tend to want to lower people's expectations of my guitar playing, which is why I don't refer to myself as a guitarist, I try to get other people involved when I play for a group, and (above all) I don't brag. I don't regard anything I do on the guitar as special or amazing, and I honestly believe that many, many people could be doing as well or better than me if only they'd apply themselves to it.

Not to scuba dive into a discussion on semantics, but the word "guitarist" is, to me, loaded with implied skills that i don't feel I possess. So I never had an a-ha moment where it suddenly dawned on me that I'm now a guitarist.


dsmarion
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:02 pm

dennisg wrote:
neverfoundthetime wrote:
So how do you think of yourself with guitar in hand in amongst a group of folks who love what you play and can't play themselves Dennis? The accidental guitar player? ;-)
It's a reasonable question, Chris. I tend to want lower people's expectations of my guitar playing, which is why I don't refer to myself as a guitarist, I try to get other people involved when I play for a group, and (above all) I don't brag. I don't regard anything I do on the guitar as special or amazing, and I honestly believe that many, many people could be doing as well or better than me if only they'd apply themselves to it.

Not to scuba dive into a discussion on semantics, but the word "guitarist" is, to me, loaded with implied skills that i don't feel I possess. So I never had an a-ha moment where it suddenly dawned on me that I'm now a guitarist.
You know, years ago I heard an interview with Rick Derringer and he said something to the effect of 'how do you know when you've made it" when someone asked him how it felt 'to have made it'. This was long after he was touring at the age of 18 and playing with Edgar Winter at the height of his success (not to mention being taught a lot of what he knows by Johnny Winter (one of the best around whose version of 'Rock-n-Roll Hoochie Coo' is still my absolute favorite version when he guested on it on Edgar's Roadwork album ). So even then after all the success Rick still didn't know whether he had 'made' it. Sort of like the 'guitarist' question here - how do you know? The answer is -- only you can answer this question for yourself. It is very subjective.

Scott


dsmarion
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:06 pm

dennisg wrote:
I keep wanting to contribute something to this thread, but I'm pretty sure I've never had an epiphany after which I thought of myself as a guitarist. I still don't use that word when describing myself to other people, mostly because the word feels appropriate only when describing professionals, and not what I do to the guitar.
er, what you do TO the guitar?? You make it sound obscene or illegal lol. You really don't give yourself enough credit for your ability (that coming from a guy who is constantly accused of the same thing lol).

Scott


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neverfoundthetime
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 3:16 pm

I tend to want lower people's expectations of my guitar playing, which is why I don't refer to myself as a guitarist, I try to get other people involved when I play for a group,
Dennis
I hear you Dennis! That's pretty much what I do. I'm not sure what proportion of mankind plays a musical instrument but I'd guess that less than 5% of any gathering of folks (except a TG gathering!) would be able to play a guitar. So we may well look like guitarists to the majority of people.


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