guitar wannabe regrets

[merciful-evans]

I know this fellow Tim. Nice bloke, sociable & good company. Recently he overheard someone talk to me about music/jams/gigs. So Tim approaches me and says 'Is that right then? Do you play guitar?'

I tell him I do. Tim then admits that his biggest regret is not following up on his early tuition and never learning to play guitar. 

The funny part is when he says 'you'll never guess who my favourite player is' (and he's right I would never have guessed). He says 'Its not Clapton or Hendrix. My favourite player is Greg Allman!' So I admit that I had no idea Greg played guitar, and that I just thought of him as a keyboardist. At this point Tim starts to look pensive and doubtful. 'Er... hang on there... so who was his brother?'

'Duane?' I suggest.

'Yes, yes, Duane Allman is my favourite' ! 

 

I'm guessing everyone has met a Tim. As for regrets, its mostly irrelevant. You are either compelled by your interest to play or not. He actually had the advantage because he had tuition. I never had any, and had to figure stuff out for myself. That was not unusual around 1970.

 

In Tim's defense, I'm sure he knows a lot of stuff I dont. One lifetime isn't enough to achieve all the things that interest us. 

[Karloff]

sounds like I would get along with Tim just fine

[Sgt. Pepper]

Gregg was also good at marrying Cher. But not so got at staying married to her.

Edited January 18, 2020 by Sgt. Pepper

[saturn]

I'm not sure if we are supposed to chime in with our own guitar regrets here?  

Sometimes I regret that I've never been one of those guys who practices hours a day. I wonder how good I could be or get if I really worked at it? But i like doing things outside the house too much to spend hours inside practicing. Unfortunately you can't do it all. I guess I've always been the type to do a little bit of a bunch of things, rather than a whole lot of a few things. If that makes sense.   

 

[rct]

I regret two things in my Guitar World.

2.  I scheduled a trip to see both Danny Gatton and  Roy Buchannon the Sunday after Thurs-Fri-Sat at Reading Tavern, about 75 miles from home, little more maybe.  It was a rough weekend, ended up crashing in a car for one night, "dressing room" the other night.  Home on Sunday about SunriseThirty.  Bros came knocking on the door to get me for the trip down to Maryland to go see those greats and my brother and mother turned them away.  I woke up at DinnerThirty and wondered what I was supposed to be doing that day.  Dammit.

1.  Numero Uno. BIGGEST GUITAR REGRET.  MAN I AM STILL PISSED:

Two years before he died Leo Fender was up in New York for some thing his Mrs was doing, I don't know what.  Was offered a ride up, a meet with him, lunch, all that, by the district rep whom I happened to be acquainted with, and a guy that ran the biggest Fender franchise around here at that time, whom I happened to have bought a few off of so yeah, they were getting a carload to go up.

I didn't go.  Still pissed I didn't go.  Had other stuff to do that turned out I didn't have to really do, but didn't know until done.  Still.  Pissed.

rct

[Rabs]

4 hours ago, saturn said:

I'm not sure if we are supposed to chime in with our own guitar regrets here?  

Sometimes I regret that I've never been one of those guys who practices hours a day. I wonder how good I could be or get if I really worked at it? But i like doing things outside the house too much to spend hours inside practicing. Unfortunately you can't do it all. I guess I've always been the type to do a little bit of a bunch of things, rather than a whole lot of a few things. If that makes sense.   

 

Yeah me too...

For me it was slightly odd maybe..  When I was 11 my mum forced me to take up classical guitar as I was the baby of the family and she was determined that one of us at least took up an instrument.. I did that for a couple of years before I was expelled from that school and the I just stopped cos to me it was just like extra homework, I didn't see the point..

A few years after that I started getting in to rock and started playing again.. At this point though I had pretty much forgotten everything I had learned (including how to read proper music)…  But what did happen was that because of my basic training when I was young I took to it really easy.. I was always a good rhythm guitarist... And because of that I took it for granted a bit as I was that much better than the guys around me just starting.. So I never really learned much after that, I joined a band and winged it.. That band ended and my playing  became very erratic in terms of how much I would play, and would sometimes not play for months because I was working hard at that point and didn't have the time or was just too tired most the time.

It was only really when I came on here (what like 10/12 years ago now 😮 ) that I really started paying any attention to the technical side at all, playing wise and how they actually work..

Now I am in such a bad rut with my playing and its been going on for so long that however hard I try I just cant break through that barrier... 

So yeah.. I wish I had actually bothered learning much much earlier. But I don't regret a second of what I have done. I would have loved nothing more than to make/play music for a living.. It just wasn't to be... So now I make them instead  😄

As for people who never take up music and regret it..  Well as mentioned above.. To learn an instrument requires motivation and dedication.. If you don't have that for guitar or whatever then you have no chance to start with,

Edited January 18, 2020 by Rabs

[SteveFord]

I regret selling an awful lot of guitars and amps over the years for whatever stupid reason and

I regret stopping playing for 25 years while work got in the way.  

[Sgt. Pepper]

I regret not seeing Zappa in 81 when Via was in his band.

My guitar regret. Not getting into acoustics sooner.

[merciful-evans]

8 hours ago, Rabs said:

 

So yeah.. I wish I had actually bothered learning much much earlier. 

 

This would be mine too. I wanted to play when I was 8.

As it was, I had to wait until I was 16.

[sparquelito]

13 hours ago, rct said:

I regret two things in my Guitar World.

2.  I scheduled a trip to see both Danny Gatton and  Roy Buchannon the Sunday after Thurs-Fri-Sat at Reading Tavern, about 75 miles from home, little more maybe.  It was a rough weekend, ended up crashing in a car for one night, "dressing room" the other night.  Home on Sunday about SunriseThirty.  Bros came knocking on the door to get me for the trip down to Maryland to go see those greats and my brother and mother turned them away.  I woke up at DinnerThirty and wondered what I was supposed to be doing that day.  Dammit.

1.  Numero Uno. BIGGEST GUITAR REGRET.  MAN I AM STILL PISSED:

Two years before he died Leo Fender was up in New York for some thing his Mrs was doing, I don't know what.  Was offered a ride up, a meet with him, lunch, all that, by the district rep whom I happened to be acquainted with, and a guy that ran the biggest Fender franchise around here at that time, whom I happened to have bought a few off of so yeah, they were getting a carload to go up.

I didn't go.  Still pissed I didn't go.  Had other stuff to do that turned out I didn't have to really do, but didn't know until done.  Still.  Pissed.

rct

Tell me about it, brother rct.
I know your pain.  

In late January 1977 I was invited by a good from from high school to go to Montgomery and see Elvis Presley in concert there. 
The date of the show was going to be 16 February. 
My bud and I were rock and roll fans, and I was more of a KISS devotee while Tyler was a Judas Priest fan. 

His parents had four tickets, and he didn't want to go by himself, with his parents, and so I gladly agreed to go. 
You know, Elvis's star had faded a bit, but it would have still been really nice to go see him. 

Long story short, I bailed out of the trip, because of work requirements or maybe some nonsense involving my girlfriend/future ex-wife. 

Weeks later, later on in February,  I caught up with Tyler, and asked him how it went. 
"Man oh man," he said, "You know, Elvis is kind of fat and older now, but you should have heard him SING!  He was killing it, and the girls and ladies were loosing their minds, screaming and crying, and throwing panties and hotel room keys on the stage at him. I have never seen anything like it, ever!"
I felt like a real dumb-*** for having not gone. 

Six months later, Elvis Presley was dead, and I was an ever bigger dumb-*** for having passed on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. 

I don't live life with regrets, in general, but that was a big one. 

Merciful Evans, please tell your friend Tim this much;

It's never too late to learn to play guitar. 

I know plenty of people who regret never taking it up, and once in their middle age, they feel like it's too late to become a guitar student. 
I can assure Tim, and others, that learning to play an instrument later in life can be a wonderful and therapeutic thing. 

Studies have shown, you may have read, that people who engage in new, artistic, creative endeavors later in life can actually stave-off the effects and symptoms of Altzheimer's disease.
There's something about challenging those portions of the brain involved in creative pursuits that stimulates nerve ending growth and cerebral goodness. 

I swear I'm not making this up. 

🙂


 

[zigzag]

13 hours ago, SteveFord said:

I regret stopping playing for 25 years while work got in the way.  

 

This.

[uncle fester]

I regret missing SRV when he came to my University in the late 80s...  and not being in a band when i was younger.

Edited January 19, 2020 by billroy fineman

[Sgt. Pepper]

14 hours ago, SteveFord said:

I regret selling an awful lot of guitars and amps over the years for whatever stupid reason and

I regret stopping playing for 25 years while work got in the way.  

My motto is if there not played they gotta go.  That is why BB is gone, the D-28 and the D-18, the Guild, LP's, SG,s Strats, Teles. All nice, but not interested in electrics any more and I know the 28 and 18 would sit and collect dust after getting the 41.

Work happens when you want to eat food and have a roof over your head.  Did you see those colorful Firebirds. I can't stand the non reverse ones. I like the ones you have. the ones Johnny Winter played. The red one looked tight.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Sgt. Pepper

[mihcmac]

I really regret letting go of my black 58 Epiphone Coronet that was a basket case I bought $100 in 72, that had been modified with 2 PAF humbuckings.. Anyway I spent many hours rebuilding and refinishing. Gibsons first fast thin neck with a relatively flat fingerboard, I think..

An original 58 below what mine looked like before being modified.

Edited January 20, 2020 by mihcmac

[rct]

I regret that this Absente will be gone soon.

rct

[mihcmac]

52 minutes ago, rct said:

I regret that this Absente will be gone soon.

rct

Got to be careful with the Green Fairy. I hope you are able to find you way back.

It was a favorite of many of the early modern artists...

Edited January 19, 2020 by mihcmac

[saturn]

40 minutes ago, rct said:

I regret that this Absente will be gone soon.

rct

All the whiskey I've had and don't think I've ever tasted Absinthe. Gotta put that on my list of things to do.   

[rct]

Wormwood, fennel, mint.  It's bitter plain, that's why the pour water over sugar cube tradition.  You have to be in the mood, and when you are nothing else will do it.

rct

[Sgt. Pepper]

I drink Absenthe every once in a while. Chasing the Green Fairy is not for sissys. It made the end of my first marriage tolerable.

Edited January 20, 2020 by Sgt. Pepper

[mihcmac]

I like doing shots and slamming the glass on the counter while the tingly sensation rushes to my head and gradually settles down to my my toes. My favorites are Absenthe and Mezcal (not together) as there is no afterburn in the morning, but you may not know where you are when you wake up, but no regrets .

Another of my regrets is loosing my Eko archtop (just like the one below) while passing through New Mexico in the late 60's, it was probably because of the Mezcal...

Edited January 24, 2020 by mihcmac

[mihcmac]

I regret selling this one a few months ago..

[Tman]

I met Tom Petty in one of the offices where I work. A colleague said hey Dr. T, I want you to meet Tom. I turned around to shake his hand and realized it was him. I absolutely never do this and am always professional to any celebrity...except for him. I said "Wow, that Tom! I'm a guitar player and a big fan!" He could not have turned and walked away any faster.  I was embarrassed to say the least.

He came back a year later and I met him again but this time said nothing and thankfully he didn't remember. Learned a big lesson.

Biggest guitar regret is not storing them somewhere else in 2018.😩

[merciful-evans]

Since we are talking about moving guitars:

I've decided to move this one on this year. I will clean it up and restring it and list it on pre-loved & gumtree initially.

Will I regret it? Dont know, but I've never regretted losing one so far.

[jdgm]

5 hours ago, coxdenis32 said:

You must learn to play the guitar at an early age. This is due to the motility of the fingers and the possibility of elasticity of the ligaments. For example, I know that thinking forms in the first days of life. These words of George Orwell  https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/george-orwell/ have been remembered by me for life. I am sure that this is not a story with whiskey because youth is a sweet.

 

2nd post for this.  One in acoustic forum too.

[saturn]

Since this got bumped, I'll post another regret. 

Back in about early 1989, I was working for the airlines. 4 of us that worked at BWI, all Non-Reved out to LAX one weekend. One of the guys we went out with had buddies who were from the Baltimore area but were out in LA as working musicians. We stayed at their place in Van Nyse. After one night of doing the LA scene, hitting The Whiskey and other places, me and one other guy rented a car and drove down to San Diego and Tijuana. Well the other guys went with their musician buddies to the studio and Ronnie James Dio was there recording. They all met him and hung out while he was recording whatever album it would have been.  We had a pretty good time ourselves, but I would have loved to hang with Dio for a day.

Edited May 13, 2020 by saturn