Why do you play guitar?

by **Doug Marks** on Tue May 27, 2008 9:07 am

What is the primary reason that you play guitar? "For my own enjoyment" doesn't count.... that's a given. What about playing guitar do you enjoy the most?

by **Dr.Jeckyll** on Tue May 27, 2008 2:39 pm

I would have to select several points i guess, but the strongest is songwriting (sadly I'm not too good at it yet), since it also includes expressing oneself, which is another important reason. Other points would be artistic creativity and mastering the challenge of playing guitar!

by **surfdog** on Wed May 28, 2008 8:34 am

For me it's playing live...but as I like having friends there...I went with that. :wink:

by **Allan** on Wed May 28, 2008 3:42 pm

For me, music is an emotional journey. In playing my guitars, it's a pursuit of tone and enough technical ability to create the sounds I search for. I want to create emotional journeys for myself and the better my playing, the more satisfying those journeys. Maybe I bring others along at times (audiences) and that can be fun, but the main thing is to create my own personal soundtracks to the drama of my days.

In other words, I play to relax, meditate, or put my self into another mood. :-)

Hmm...now that I think about it a bit more, I suppose it's also an outlet for artistic creativity, as in one of the poll options.

by **6String** on Wed May 28, 2008 5:00 pm

I selected other as part of why I play is for the technical challenge. Its something I've always wanted to learn and I have that type of personality that if I want it bad enough, I go after it and dont quit until I have it. You could say its a bit of a self esteem booster. It feels great when you finally see all that hard work pay off.

More importantly though and my reason for selecting "Other" was guitar for me provides a certain relaxation/escape for me. I've always loved music and found it to be an excellent outlet. I associate dozens of memories and events in my life with the songs that were popular at the time or what was playing. Playing guitar allows me to be a participant in that instead of a bystander. At some point, I'd like to take that to the next step and be able to compose so I can convey my exact feelings. Thats a bit off though.

Doug, I'll turn this back to you. Why did you take up guitar and continue to play and teach?

by **skrapmetal** on Wed May 28, 2008 5:30 pm

I would say a Passion for songwriting

by **JAEZ** on Wed May 28, 2008 6:18 pm

I just want to jam with my friends (whenever I get some). But I have no time for friends because my kids consume all my time whenever I'm home. I can't even play guitar when they're awake. :lol:

For now, I enjoy MM courses and look forward to learning something new everyday and to pretend that I know what I'm doing while jamming along backing tracks. :wink:

by **Doug Marks** on Wed May 28, 2008 6:23 pm

Doug, I'll turn this back to you. Why did you take up guitar and continue to play and teach?

I've gone through many phases. Initially, I wanted to be in a band. After I attained that goal, I enjoyed the challenge of copying material and trying to sound like the original. Then, I enjoyed creating original material.

by **TexasMetalist** on Thu May 29, 2008 1:27 am

I play guitar as a stress relief mostly. At 41, I remember taking the lessons in '84 as a teenager.

by **KenRhodes** on Thu May 29, 2008 8:29 am

I chose the pursuit of a musica career, but honestly, I could have just as easily picked any one of the other choices. All of them apply. Some of those goals have been satisfied to a greater extent than others, though. Although, being famous isn't really that important by itself, I'm not exactly avoiding it - it just hasn't happened yet.

Right now, besides pursuing a music career, jamming with friends and entertaining family and friends are at the top. If I can get a stable band line-up going, then playing live gigs will once again become a point to focus on. I've recently started writing new material again, and that is a fantastic outlet all by itself.

by **Angry Chair** on Thu May 29, 2008 11:19 am

I like the challenge.

by **28if** on Fri May 30, 2008 10:48 am

I went with 'An outlet for artistic creativity'. This is part of it but not all. I try to play guitar for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I love music, I love guitar music. When you are at a concert and the band is just ON... Better then cex (I'm 47, married with children so I don’t remember too much about cex). That feeling you get when you hear a riff that just knocks your socks off! I am sure most everyone here has had the moment when the shear mastery of guitar comes out of an individual coupled with a drop dead tone, it gives your body a charge of abrupt pleasure.

Second reason and why I chose 'an outlet' is because I don't draw or paint, I don't sing, I’m not writing the next great American novel. I need an outlet; I play and record by myself just to be able to stretch my creative muscle. I truly believe that everyone needs to express themselves creatively or their existence on the planet will seem moot.

Going back to my first reason, when I hear a passage that affects me so much, I become very interested in the technical aspect of the instrument. How did the player do that? How did they make it sound so fluid, so natural? Then it becomes a challenge.

edit:: I found this in triplicate in the purgatory section of our filter.. Most likely because of the flagged word "cex",, well, you know what I mean :lol:

---Axe

by **Steve Dunlap** on Sun Jun 01, 2008 5:58 am

I play the guitar simply because it's fun. I am 51, and I see that there are few on this forum that are my age. I voted for the technical mastery category, but I also love to jam with people, and it's an outlet for me. For instance, I have always been a sort of narrow minded heavy metalist...I still am for that matter, but in the last couple of years, I have been enjoying learning Malmsteen licks and songs, and I thoroughly enjoy the MAB Speed Kills 1, 2, and 3 lessons which I recently ordered. I have also completed Doug's entire course as well.

Steve

by **EveSlash** on Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:22 am

i enjoy playing because its such a sexy instrument and music is such a large part of life, and to create it and play it gives me double the enjoyment. hopefully the babes will come( I hope I don't have to book them to come hahaah)

by **SweetChild** on Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:25 pm

Somewhere between "Artistic outlet" and "Technical Mastery of Guitar."

I'm a pencile and paper sort of gal first and foremost, self-taught in art up to now. There's only so much you can teach yourself though, and I can't afford the level of art instruction I want to advance off of this plateau I've landed in. So I thought I'd take a break from drawing/painting ( I still "doodle" gotta keep up the skills!) and learn another artistic skill from the ground up. I've always loved listening to guitar-heavy music, so I was naturally drawn into the guitar.

I would like to jam with friends, possibly join a local band. I'd be lying if I said I havent daydreamed about the adrenaline rush and satisfaction of playing live gigs. But right now it's simply a thrilling new outlet for me. I'm focused on the first goal of completing the course to a level of personal satisfaction. I'll set new gaols as I reach the old ones.