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Something to think about.

bagman67

bagman67

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This pretty much describes my past, present, and in all likelihood, future relationship to guitar playing.  But it's comforting, nevertheless.  It's kind of a rethinking of Sturgeon's Law (i.e., "90 percent of everything is crud") with a rationale that most of what gets done is done by folks who have not put in the time to achieve mastery.  At least I'm working toward something.


Bagman
 

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Well, I have to tell you, I've been playing electric guitar for 30 years, been in several serious bands, wrote hundreds of songs, put out four albums...


... and I'm only now just starting to become happy with my work.  Too bad I'm old now  :headbang:
 
Fred Rogers spoke at my college graduation. Yes, that's  Mr Rodgers to you. He was also a musician and songwriter. It wasn't the first time I'd heard it said, but he told about getting a chance to play a composition for one of his idols. He didn't comment on the composition, he just asked, "How many songs have you written?" He said something like 3 or 30, I forget. "Come back when you've written 300" was the answer.

BTW - my nephew was about 5. When I met up with my folks, I asked my nephew, "What did you think about Mr Rodgers?" His reply was, "I liked him better on TV". 

Anyone ever have a song idea you hate to write because its too cool to waste on your first 300 sucky songs? I fight that all the time.
 
Right on, and good share.  I've felt this often with new projects and/or ambitions (...like guitar building), but this basically sums up my "pep talk" to keep going and not quit at first signs of struggle or disappointment.

It's all about perspective.
 
It's sort of the old 80/20 rule about project management. You can get 80% of the project done in about 20% of the time it'll eventually take, with the final 20% needed for completion taking the other 80% of the time. The temptation is always there to stop short, since you're mostly done. But, the results are never first-rate or professional if you do, so you'll inevitably be dissatisfied with what you've accomplished. That "extra mile" is pretty difficult.
 
Super Turbo Deluxe Custom said:
Rather than think I'm in the good 10%, I'll concede I'm in the 90% that is crud.  What then?  I still like playing and writing.
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Then enjoy the ride, sir.  You are already a winner!  Also, I am in the 90%, at least at guitar playing.  I am, however, the very only dad my children have, so I work harder at that than anything.  I doubt whether I'll see mastery there, but the effort to get there is worth it anyway.
 
Ralph Steadman (the guy who followed Hunter Thompson around drawing ridiculous cartoons) said that "the charm of any activity is in the trying and so rarely in the finished article."

That seems pretty "90%".
 
Nice. Thanks for posting it. Very inspirational.

I'd like to think that I've mastered a couple of things in my life, guitar playing is NOT one of them. I see this as going hand-in-hand with Gladwell's 10000 hour rule.

One of my Dad's favorite sayings when I was a kid was this: Man was born with two ends; one to sit on and the other to think with. Success or failure depends on which he uses most.
 
That's a good saying. One of my favorites along those lines comes from Mark Twain: "Seems like the harder I work, the luckier I get".
 
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