I started playing guitar when I was 18. It was 1987 when I picked up my first guitar. I wonder what would have happened if I had started earlier. Would a couple of extra years have made me a better guitar player? Considering that I hate to practice, and there weren't any professional guitar schools I doubt that a few extra years would have turned me into a shredding monster. I would probably have become a different guitar, as U2 was a big influence in my formative years. Maybe another band or guitar player would have become my big influence if I had started earlier. But overall in the grand scheme of things I don't think if I had started at age 12 I would have become a better guitar player that I couldn't become in my past 31 years.
I do wish that I had taken up sports at age 18 instead of last year. I can now run rings around my younger lazy self. I ran my first running match this summer. And I LOATHED running with a fiery passion as a kid. I can only imagine what my fitness and physique would now be if I had taken up sports as a teen.
Yes and no probably. There's a LOT of information to be had online, that's for sure. Which is good. I wish I had that resource as a beginning guitar player. On the other hand, back in 1987 you learned to be more independent. There were no websites with easy tabs to be had, there were no websites at all. You had to learn songs by ear. Whereas nowadays if some young guitar player wants to learn a new song, the first thing he does is do a google search for some tabs. And when he can't find any, the next thing he does is post on a forum if anyone knows any tabs. And if the online tabs are wrong, he'll play it wrong. Us ear trained players on the other hand will immediately hear that its wrong. And while Nirvana is not exactly the most demanding music to play, when I got my Nevermind CD and put it in the CD player, by the time I had played it for the second time I could almost play along with every song.
