How many years have you been playing guitar?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WormHoles
  • Start date Start date
31+ years
Never a "break" as guitar has always been there for me to make me happy.
I'm actually tuning lower with more gain the older I get and feel like my chops and songwriting are at the strongest now. Still need a lot of work, but I'm almost happy with my current progress on skillz, lol. I need to get better at improv but there's only so much time in the day with other guitar priorities
 
Im 43 and started when I was 11. 32 years of six stringing bliss.

My daughter just started taking lessons and I think what advantages she has with the internet and youtube etc etc etc. When I started I would wait anxiously for my monthly issue of Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine to arrive. I would play for 12 hours a day all summer long. I cannot imagine how many hours I dialed in.

Now thanks to chronic illness I can no longer gig. I can only play for short periods of time before my back gives up. I have all this expensive gear and all the time in the world now that Im disabled but I cannot take advantage of it. Trust me when I tell you it sucks.
 
It will be 20 years this year that I've been playing. I'm 45. I started a bit late. I've tried to log as much time in as work and married life would allow.
I've played in a some great bands and really enjoyed what I've gotten from playing. Have done some mini tours and played some great venues. I've met some of my best friends through music. It's been such a great part of my life.
 
35 yrs

Even at a conservative one hour per day that equals 12,775 hrs!
And I know is prolly much closer to 20,000 + hrs :yes:
 
SFW":3icu9zol said:
Since 1987 and there is rarely a day that goes by that I don't play. Which basically translates to the fact that I should be much better than I am. Lol.
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This lol. Except 1982 for me. :D
 
about 15 years. Probably average 40 hours of play time a year.
 
stompboxfreak72":1dk3o94k said:
Im 43 and started when I was 11. 32 years of six stringing bliss.

My daughter just started taking lessons and I think what advantages she has with the internet and youtube etc etc etc. When I started I would wait anxiously for my monthly issue of Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine to arrive. I would play for 12 hours a day all summer long. I cannot imagine how many hours I dialed in.

Now thanks to chronic illness I can no longer gig. I can only play for short periods of time before my back gives up. I have all this expensive gear and all the time in the world now that Im disabled but I cannot take advantage of it. Trust me when I tell you it sucks.
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I feel your pain brother! (Literally!) Two back surgeries later... I try to avoid humping any real heavy gear. I used to haul my two 4x12s around and lift them on and off of stages by myself. Now, when I do gig with bands, it's always a known thing from the get-go that I won't be humping any big subs or mains around. I mostly just do my solo acoustic gigs though, so everything I carry is light. Likely, had I not been such a dumbass lifting things when I was younger, I wouldn't have a bad back. Then again, my dad and brother have both had back surgeries as well... so I was screwed from the get-go evidently.

And yeah... I have many very well-worn copies of GFPM, Guitar Player, Guitar World filling drawers. I really don't ever throw magazines away, and I really like magazines for all of my interests. So at some point it'll look like a hoarder house. :lol: :LOL:
 
ElectricVoodoo":2w5ym84n said:
FourT6and2":2w5ym84n said:
19 years. But I sound like I've been playing for 1.
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Great answer. I feel the same way.
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I'm with you guys, I started playing when I was 17 and now 35. I have periods when I pickup on a lot of new techniques and theory but with a 3 year old and 6 year old kids it's really been suffering.
 
45 years, countless hours, 20 plus bands in that time...
 
I wanted to play very early, about 4-5 yo. My dad bought an old piano, and got me some lessons and started me there. Took to the keys like a fish to water. within 4-5 yrs of starting, I could sit down with lots of different sheets and just play it. New my theory forward and backward....but bored quickly...cause really, at 10 years old, piano just wan't fucking cool so I quit. So at about 10, i learned some simple 3 chord progressions and played them relentlessly (on a '59 Start :thumbsup: ). Started with some serious classical lessons at 13, took those on and off until i was 15, then said fuck it.

Played A LOT of baseball, got a scholarship to play in college. Didn't pick up a guitar again until i was about 30-31 y.o., now 45 and still play a llittle everyday It was like starting from scratch in some instances.

Anyway, it's funny how good i was at piano at such a young age, but suck at guitar. :rock:
 
38 years....
But I started at 0, so..... ;)

ALL that time, and I still don't know a damned thing.... :D
 
Holy hell... This made me realize how long I've been playing. I'm 31 and playing since I was 8. Getting very close to 24 years come November. I won't say I'm a horrible player because I've done too much but yeah... I should be better hahaha!
 
Since the late 60s. That puts it at over 45 years. Wow. How many hours? I have no clue. Would not even know where to start. In some areas, I have learned much and have greatly improved. In others, I have been lazy and have not progressed like I should.

It's been an interesting journey. I've met some great musicians along the way. Gained some good friends.

I definitely enjoy playing. It provides a means for me to express what I feel inside. I am not very good with words. Music and guitar allow me to paint the picture that I want everyone to hear, and show them the emotions I want them to feel as the view the picture.

Thanks for reading.
 
Note to the forum member who sent me the PM. I don't have enough posts to be allowed to respond. Instead, I opened a new thread on the subject.

Thanks.
 
About 20 years. It's been feast or famine for me as far as how many hours I get. I'm still nowhere near anything anyone would call "good". I just play whatever at this point and if it sounds halfway decent, I'm halfway happy.
 
Red_Label":3671lyhg said:
mikey":3671lyhg said:
33 years. I couldn't calculate that in hours. I have played about 1200 gigs in the last 20 years with the same band. That may
be a monumental achievement in of itself if you've ever experienced band politics. :lol: :LOL:
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I played with my last long-term band for fourteen years and hundreds of shows. That dead horse had been beaten so bad. I tried to get out multiple times before I finally made a clean break. I always said that being in a band was like a marriage between 4 or 5 people. Cripes... it's a wonder bands don't kill each other! We had a few shows where the drummer and bass player had their "dukes" up and were ready to come to blows even before the show started (one is an alcoholic, the other a control freak). I can tell you that nothing takes the wind out of your sails to care about playing a kick-ass show, then someone in the band almost got their ass-kicked BEFORE the show starts. :lol: :LOL:
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I've made the marriage comparison as well! Hasn't been many arguments lately, but maybe too many "chiefs" at the moment. I'm pretty burned out on it, I could use a break after our summer commitments.
 
Received my first guitar in 1974, but I can't really say I've been playing for 42 years. Fiddled with it until around 1980 and didn't become obsessed until I started college in 1986.
 
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