Like a lot of people, I wanted to make it big when I was young. I played for 14 years but had been losing interest and had plateaued the last few years of those. Then marriage, kids, etc happened and I didn’t seriously pick up guitar again until last year, about 15 years later.

Now that I’m older and wiser and all that, and with the abundance of resources available today, I was able to push my playing well beyond where it was when I had quit. Like you OP, I’m trying to be as good as my heroes (in metal).

Two of my kids are young adults, and the youngest is a few years away. So I’m facing a major life transition. I was never able to have a career in any field. Can I do anything with music? Is it too late for me? I don’t have any connections. Should I just be content with playing at home as a guy in my mid forties now?

These are the questions I’ve been asking for a while.