Quest Accepted: Become An Awesome Guitar Player

Roughly 26 years ago, I accepted a quest that would forever change my life. I’d already completed similar quests: Learn To Play The Piano, Become Proficient At The Drums, and Understand Basic Music Theory. For this new quest, I needed to take everything I’d learned from my previous quests and build from there. The quest? To learn how to play guitar and play it well.

• Quest Accepted: Become An Awesome Guitar Player

I’ve always loved music. My father had a massive record collection that I used to listen to all the time as a kid. The vast majority of it was classic rock from the 60’s and 70’s, but there was some country, folk, 80’s rock, and other stuff in there, too. I would sit downstairs in the basement for hours and hours everyday listening to one record after the next.

At the age of 7, I started taking classical piano lessons. My parents wanted me to be well rounded, so they signed me up for music lessons, various sports, and all sorts of other extracurricular activities. Sometimes I loved piano lessons, sometimes I hated them. But I would forever be grateful that I took them. They laid a musical foundation that I still rely upon to this day.

After a few years of piano lessons, I switched to the drums. Studying the piano gave me a solid understanding of music theory, melody, and harmony. Studying the drums gave me a deep understanding of rhythm. I only took drum lessons for a couple of years, but it was long enough to get pretty good at them.

By the time I was 13, I’d set my sights on learning a new instrument: the guitar. At the time, I was listening to a lot of metal and hard rock with heavy riffs and killer guitar solos. I loved the sound of electric guitar and wanted to learn how to play all that stuff. There was only one problem: I didn’t have a guitar.

• Side Quest: Get A Guitar

When I was 13 years old, I borrowed an old piece-of-shit acoustic guitar from a friend of mine. It was a Fender six-string with rusty strings and a slightly-warped neck. Not exactly the electric shred guitar I would’ve wanted, but it was something to practice on.

I instantly fell in love with the guitar. Sure, it was a piece of shit. But it was a piece of shit in my possession that I could play whenever I felt like it. The friend that let me borrow the guitar gave me a few tips on learning to play. But for the most part, it was all me. I took what I’d learned from years of piano and drum lessons and put it together to teach myself to play the guitar. The first song I learned was Come As You Are by Nirvana.

For months, I practiced on that shitty acoustic guitar every day. The strings were hard to press down and I developed massive calluses on all my fingers. As much as I liked having the acoustic guitar, I still wanted an electric one. I pestered my parents to buy me one but they were reluctant. So I kept practicing on the acoustic and with each passing week, I got a little bit better.

• Congratulations! You have reached Guitar Player level 2!
• Speed: +1
• Side Quest: Get An Electric Guitar

After about nine months of practicing on the crappy acoustic my friend let me borrow, I finally convinced my parents to buy me an electric guitar for my birthday. They took me to the music shop where I’d taken drum lessons a couple years earlier and I picked out the only guitar and amp that we could afford: a white Hohner Rockwood and an old, beat-up Peavey amplifier. Both were cheap pieces of shit, but it was definitely a step up from the acoustic.

• Quest Complete: Get An Electric Guitar

I loved my new electric guitar. Every day after school, I rushed home so I could play it. Sure, it was a cheap guitar and the amp barely worked. I had to fidget with the wires all the time. But it was loud and it was mine. I named the white guitar Snowflake and I loved that thing with all my heart.

Over the next several years, I continued to practice all the time. I was always learning new songs, chords, scales, and other guitar-related stuff. I definitely leveled up several times during my high school years. Playing the guitar became my favorite hobby. I dreamed of someday playing in a band, getting up on stage in front of thousands of people. While still in high school, I used to jam with friends and formed a couple of garage bands that never left the garage.

• Side Quest: Join An Established Band
• Congratulations! You have reached level 5!
• Confidence: +2
• Speed: +3
• Improv/Soloing: +1
• Jamming: +2

After I was done with high school, a friend of mine introduced me to a local band that was looking for a guitar player. I auditioned and they asked me to join. Of course, I said yes! I loved their heavy sound and we all got along great.

• Quest Complete: Join An Established Band

A couple of months after joining the band, we had our first gig. They’d played a few before I joined with their old guitar player, but it was my first. It was a local show with a few hundred people there and it was awesome. As nervous as I was, I was twice as excited. I loved getting on stage and playing in front of people.

For the next year, I continued to play guitar for that band. We played shows all over Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and even played a show up in Portland, Maine. It was great – at first. But after a while, I started having issues with the singer. Eventually, they led to me being kicked out of the band. But the timing was great and opened up a major opportunity for me.

Another band that I was friends with needed a guitar player. They had been around for years and were a nationally-touring band with a record label in New York. I was already a fan and knew most of their songs. They asked me if I wanted to audition and I of course said yes. As soon as the audition was over, they asked me to join. I did and two weeks later we hit the road to go on tour.

Every night, we played in front of anywhere from a few hundred people to a few thousand. It was amazing. We opened for a number of awesome bands and I got to meet many of my heroes. Everywhere we played, people treated us well – especially the women. All the stuff you hear about groupies and what goes on back stage is all true. It was crazy.

I spent about a year in that second band. It was great at first but, after a while, stopped being fun. Being on the road all the time is hard. There’s temptation everywhere. Even though I wasn’t even 21 yet, I was getting free drinks at every club we played. And I started having problems with a couple band members. Being stuck in the same van with the same 5 sweaty dudes day after day can take a toll after a while. I left the band voluntarily. And I definitely leveled up during the year I was with them.

• Congratulations! You’ve reached Guitar Player level 6!
• Speed: +1
• Confidence: +1

After leaving that second band, I never joined another. I’d had my fill. I got to live out my dream of being on stage in front of thousands of people, traveling around the country. I’ve been on stage a few times since, but never as a full-time band member. The first time I got on stage after leaving the band was about a year later. A friend was going to school at Bryant College and I joined her and a few others in playing at the school’s annual Battle of the Bands. We came in first place.

The last time I was on stage was at a Halloween show a couple years ago. My brother asked me to play guitar on a few songs. We did a Misfits song, an Alice Cooper song, and a Black Sabbath song. That last one was the most rewarding. We did the Randy Rhodes version which has my favorite guitar solo of all time. It took me nearly twenty years to learn it, but I eventually did. And I played the hell out of it at the Halloween show.

Even though I rarely get on stage anymore, I still play often. And every once in a while, I get together with a few friends to jam. My interest in the guitar has gone up and down over the years, but always returns. Since my band days, I’ve leveled up several times over. Now I can play everything: all the classic rock riffs I used to love as a teen and all the solos to the metal songs I used to listen to in awe.

• Congratulations! You’ve reached Guitar Player level 10!
• Confidence: +1
• Speed: +1
• Side Quest: Give Back

I’ve given free guitar lessons to dozens of people. Some of my students, I gave lessons to for years. Many of them were the boys I worked with at a special-needs school. There are few things more satisfying than sharing something that you love with others. I know that I could charge a lot for lessons but it just doesn’t feel right to me. Instead, I’ve always given them for free.

My guitar quest started 26 years ago and will never end. I’ll always be a guitar player and an awesome one at that. I know that sounds cocky, but I’ve earned it: I worked my ass off to get good at the guitar. I went through the suck period and practiced until my fingers bled. But it’s been so worth it. Music is something that I’ve always loved. Being able to play it and share it with others is truly a gift.

You may also like to read the other posts in the LifeRPG Series:

Quest Accepted – Become Strong and Muscular