I have spent a fortune on electric guitars

Gassage

@AllthegearNoidea

One thing I am aware of- if you buy my J40 and TC2290 in the emporium, many judges say you'll become Paca du Lucia overnight. Not pushing in anyway but...

AllthegearNoidea

Ngd. I went to electromusic in Doncaster and bought a tanglewood michael sanden  tsm-3 at a ridiculously low price for a new guitar. A definite step up from my Simon and Patrick and i am very happy so far. May not be a flash name but it suits my ability and budget

BigLicks67

Is it one of these?

AllthegearNoidea

BigLicks67 said:

Is it one of these?

Hi. Yes it is.

earwighoney

AllthegearNoidea said:

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

Whatever you do should reflect what makes you happy, be it buying a lot of gear or selling it to buy a acoustic. 

FWIW, I'd recommend trying to stick to playing one guitar exclusively for a fixed duration of time (be it a week or a month) before 'moving on' to another instrument.  I've found it can be enjoyable to reduce one's options from time to time as having too many options sometimes can be overwhelming. 

If you do decide to sell some things I'd advocate parting the things which you take little pleasure in owning or playing or are irreplaceable if you can afford to keep them.  

earwighoney

octatonic said:

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.

Yes, to that, gear isn't really that important in the grand scheme of things, there are other things which are more important such as practise.  

Kuroblack

I can identify with a lot of your post

I've been playing on and off for 20 years as well  (weirdly I also bought my first Acoustic from Electro, back when it was smaller and towards the end of Copley Road) I've never learned a whole song and my playing is, how can I put this, haphazard!

I wouldn't sell up if you don't need to, my Les Paul probably gets a hour or so each month, if that, but I wouldn't part with it. If I listen to GNR on the way home from work, it stands a good chance of making it out of the case!

If you're currently into the acoustics sounds, then just embrace that for a while - there are loads of online sources to suit all tastes and styles. I quite like Marty Swartz for stuff, tends to be nice and simple with a 'straight to the point' style. The 'guitar365' guy is ok as well. I do find it harder to get neater sounds from my acoustics though so don't beat yourself up. On the plus side, when you move back into Electrics again, your skills will be better

boogieman

You sound similar to me. I spent a lot of money on high end gear at one time, hoping it would make me a better player. Then I realised my crap playing was down to sheer lack of talent that no amount of gear would solve   I traded down to stuff that works for me: still decent but definitely not top end.

What made the biggest difference then was I started playing regularly. You need to develop the finger strength, callouses and muscle memory to play competently. Doesn't matter what you play, just try and get the playing time in.  Once you get that going, try learning different riffs and/or songs all the way through. The Justin Sandercoe site is great help for this, but there are plenty of others: you're bound to find something you like. Or check out tab sites or buy some play along CDs or tab books. 

I'm still not a great player but I've got myself to a better standard. Practice is everything. 

Majorscale

I often heard this "I can't play any songs all the way through" comment when I was teaching and those saying it were largely disheartened. In my experience it was because those students were aiming too high too soon. There are hundreds of simple but still musically interesting songs that with a bit of effort will reward you with a decent repertoire and a level of accomplishment & enjoyment. One kid came to me wanting to be Satriani but was miserable as he wasn't achieving anything, one lesson later he was playing "should I stay or should I go". Not his first choice of artist but he found it more fun than anything he'd been focussing on before as he could now play a whole song competently... 

Start simple, be realistic and stick at it. These days there are so many more routes to learning such as YouTube. And to echo others here, playing with others is a great motivation and would transform your playing.