I have spent a fortune on electric guitars

AllthegearNoidea

And never really got anywhere with my playing. I've owned guitars for about 20 years and enjoyed buying and selling more than playing. I took classical lessons for about 6 months when I started playing. and what I can play now is what I learnt then. 

I then got hooked on wanting an electric guitar and I just stalled in my progression as a player as I gave up my classical lessons. I learnt little bits of solos and can play with some feeling but cannot play a song from start to finish, cannot improvise as I would like, hate playing with backing tracks etc. Took loads of electric lessons and never got where I wanted as I looked for new gear to buy and noodled with the pentatonic scale. All my fault not the numerous teachers. 

So so I find myself with a £3800 Les Paul R8 historic, £2000 1969 vintage Silverface princeton in mint condition, £2700 Fender CS limited edition tele and a £600 Marshall SL5 all of which I have little or no interest in playing and a £250 Simon and Patrick SP6 that has sat in a case for 20 years which after digging it out recently I have more fun on that all the electric gear although the neck is a little narrow for me

So.  

Do do I sell the electric gear and buy a guitar that I can learn some fingerstyle and strumming tunes on and mothball the rest of my gear or just give up as my frustration with the time and money I've wasted is overwhelming at the moment

jason

Grunfeld

Beautifully honest post Jason.
And not abnormal.
I'm going out on a limb here:
The real problem is fear.
Fear of being crap.

You can't get competent at playing guitar while you're fearful.
An expensive guitar won't... CAN'T... deal with the fear.
Only one thing can do that...
Exposure to your fear.

Play a f*cking E chord
Play a f*cking A chord
Play a f*cking B chord

and play them again and again and again and again and again.....
And again.
They won't kill you and they won't hurt anything about you and it doesn't matter if they sound shit today cos one day they won't.
One day they won't.
And in the meantime learn all the other f*cking chords too.   (Not the jazz chords, no one needs those, just the majors, minors)  you see where this is going... lose the fear, play the guitar.

Play. 
Does it sound crap?
So f*cking what?
Play it again.
...
Eventually it will sound better.

Basher

You could learn fingerstyle on the S&P, although I guess something with a 1 3/4" nut width might be a bit easier. Why not just sell the Marshall (or that and the S&P) and see how you get on?
If you really enjoy learning some acoustic tunrs you could then flog one of the posh 'leccys and buy something special.

AllthegearNoidea

Grunfeld said:

Beautifully honest post Jason.
And not abnormal.
I'm going out on a limb here:
The real problem is fear.
Fear of being crap.

You can't get competent at playing guitar while you're fearful.
An expensive guitar won't... CAN'T... deal with the fear.
Only one thing can do that...
Exposure to your fear.

Play a f*cking E chord
Play a f*cking A chord
Play a f*cking B chord

and play them again and again and again and again and again.....
And again.
They won't kill you and they won't hurt anything about you and it doesn't matter if they sound shit today cos one day they won't.
One day they won't.
And in the meantime learn all the other f*cking chords too.   (Not the jazz chords, no one needs those, just the majors, minors)  you see where this is going... lose the fear, play the guitar.

Play. 
Does it sound crap?
So f*cking what?
Play it again.
...
Eventually it will sound better.

Good advice as my chord playing and rhythm playing is abysmal. Am I better off on acoustic?

antifash

It's ultimately up to you, but it sounds like you (and everyone else) could survive with one decent electric and one decent acoustic too. It always comes down to practice and the amount of time you are willing to put in. Ideas don't necessarily come with expensive guitars. Expression can be played on anything. Good luck!

AllthegearNoidea

antifash Ideas don't necessarily come with expensive guitars. Expression can be played on anything. Good luck!

Cheers thank you

ICBM

Honest answer - whether you should sell your electric gear depends how much of a hit you're willing to take on what you spent on it, since you're unlikely to get anything like those prices back. If you are prepared to, then you should probably sell at least some of it (and probably the Simon and Patrick) and buy a nice acoustic. Make sure it's one you will keep for a long time - ie don't buy something impulsively until you've tried enough to know what you want.

But don't give up.

Grunfeld

AllthegearNoidea said:

my....playing... is abysmal. Am I better off on acoustic?

Hear this:  it really doesn't matter.
Acoustic or electric -- it doesn't matter.
Really:  it doesn't matter.

"Abysmal" matters.

Plan:  Get "abysmal" to "meh, a bit crap", to "coming along", to "sounding okay", to "sounding competent"

And that's about YOU.  Not your guitar.

Jez6345789

I fully agree with the comments above but reality is if you have not had enough motivation to nail electric its doubtful past the initial enthusiasm of doing acoustic stuff you will find the discipline to master good quality finger picking. Its just a distraction because you are not achieving on the electric. 

This is not a criticism just an honest assessment from someone who has more than enough gear and perhaps at best  half an idea.

Ultimately you just have to get past the current feeling of lacking worth and remember everyone has something to say musically and you just need to find your voice even if its simpler than some others.

It is probably worth getting out and playing with others helped me a lot  and gives you something you have to practice for next week. rather than just noodling about and getting no where fast. 

slacker

I think there are a number of issues here...I'll try to be brief...

Why?-Why do you buy guitars? If you like trading then do that, if you like looking at them more than playing, get some wall hangers. In this scenario you are short of a Strat, Rickenbacker and a Gretsch. Buy, sell, speculate, enjoy. 

What?-What do you want to do with your playing? I've been listening to Radio 6 Music and IMHO a lot of bands can barely play and have no idea of any music theory. Respect because they've got a record deal and making their music. So if the guitar is a tool to make music, make it. If its to play along to youtube etc then just look up the lessons, tabs, demos, start with something simple. If it's to be a worldwide megastar and after 20 yrs you aint then give up that idea and enjoy wht you do (I've been playing since 1976 and done about 4 paid gigs and that was on bass). 

How? Along with the advice of playing the Fing thing which is great actually but in addition to that learn some basic theory. Play all the white notes on a piano C to C. So thats A string 3rd fret and all the whole notes CDEFGABC. That there is your basic major scale. So theres two notes on the A string three on the D and three on the G. That pattern is a maj scale and will go anywhere to make  a major scale. It's only one octave and the B strings a bitch but it's a start. 

If you take the 1st 4th and 5th notes of a major scale you have your three chord trick. So playing any of these songs is only three chords. Look up the relative minor on web and introduce that to your three chords. Finds loads of songs and play along. Avoid the Beatles at this point, they used loads of random chords. 

Hope this helps. And if you know all the theory stuff apologies for being too basic. 

JezWynd

octatonic

AllthegearNoidea said:

And never really got anywhere with my playing. I've owned guitars for about 20 years and enjoyed buying and selling more than playing. I took classical lessons for about 6 months when I started playing. and what I can play now is what I learnt then. 

I then got hooked on wanting an electric guitar and I just stalled in my progression as a player as I gave up my classical lessons. I learnt little bits of solos and can play with some feeling but cannot play a song from start to finish, cannot improvise as I would like, hate playing with backing tracks etc. Took loads of electric lessons and never got where I wanted as I looked for new gear to buy and noodled with the pentatonic scale. All my fault not the numerous teachers. 

So so I find myself with a £3800 Les Paul R8 historic, £2000 1969 vintage Silverface princeton in mint condition, £2700 Fender CS limited edition tele and a £600 Marshall SL5 all of which I have little or no interest in playing and a £250 Simon and Patrick SP6 that has sat in a case for 20 years which after digging it out recently I have more fun on that all the electric gear although the neck is a little narrow for me

So.  

Do do I sell the electric gear and buy a guitar that I can learn some fingerstyle and strumming tunes on and mothball the rest of my gear or just give up as my frustration with the time and money I've wasted is overwhelming at the moment

jason

Stop focussing on gear.
I could go an buy myself an F1 car but that wouldn't make me a Formula One driver.
One of the best guitarists I know owns a Mexican telecaster with upgraded pickups and no other guitars.

The problem is you are practicing in an ineffective way.
If you want to change your approach then it will be by practicing in an effective way- it actually doesn't matter what guitar you do that on.
Acoustic, electric- it doesn't matter.
It is also simpler than you think it is, but it is very repetitive.

AllthegearNoidea

Thank you very much to all that have replied and offered advice. I am grateful you have taken the time to offer advice. I will find a few tunes I like and forget about what I am playing the tunes on and just play
Cheers

Sassafras

Sounds like a lot of nice, expensive gear for someone who claims he can't play.
Stop obsessing over gear and get down to some serious playing.
Playing with others is IMO more valuable than solo practice.

AllthegearNoidea

Sassafras said:

Sounds like a lot of nice, expensive gear for someone who claims he can't play.

I did say at the start I've enjoyed buying and selling. Playing with others is difficult. I work all over the country and find teachers and bands get annoyed when you constantly cancel as you are hundreds of miles from where you're meant to be due to work commitments

BigLicks67

Set yourself personal targets on the acoustic. Stick with the S&P and say to yourself when I can play X song/piece, I'll think about buying something better. Depending on your skill level, the piece you set yourself should be a challenge.

octatonic

Sassafras said:

Sounds like a lot of nice, expensive gear for someone who claims he can't play.
Stop obsessing over gear and get down to some serious playing.
Playing with others is IMO more valuable than solo practice.

Nope.
You need to do both- they are equally important.

TheBigDipper

Don't feel guilty because you own some nice gear but aren't the player you think you need to be to justify owning it. There's nothing wrong with the joy of ownership. If you don't need the money or space, keep them. 

If you're enjoying the acoustic, just pick a song and learn it. For example, Fishermans Blues has four simple chords. The desire to play electric will return when you're ready. Don't push it so it becomes a chore. 

TimmyO

Nice thread

Lewy

My only advice is to put music at the heart of your thinking, which sounds incredibly obvious but the number of times I've encountered people trying to learn guitar and they don't even really know what music they really like, let alone what music they want to make. If you can envision yourself playing the music you want to, then you can work out how to get there without endless distractions and diversions (into stuff like gear).

guycp

Get a nice acoustic that you can grab whenever the urge to play comes. Choose something that really inspires you too play, - something with a great sound that you don't want to put down. Then develop your own sound. Make it fun and a pleasure to do. Keep an amp & electric for when the right occasion presents itself.