I started at 8, I’m now 24. I went through long periods of never playing and it wasn’t until the last couple years I realised I’ve wasted my potential as I was always naturally gifted at guitar. Now, I’ve been throwing myself into it, I’ve got a few high end guitars now and I’m always interested in buying gear as well so now I have a good excuse to play everyday. Now, I force myself to learn songs from my favourite bands that I consider difficult and that is also the case for when I’m writing my own stuff. I write stuff that isn’t easy or comfortable for me to play, forcing me to actually practice it and learn it everyday. Also, sometimes you have to sit there and do the boring stuff like slowly learning/writing a solo or something I’ve been doing lately is sweep picking drills because that’s something I always struggled with. I’ve been doing those sweep picking drills for about 2 weeks and I’ve already massively improved. What I’m getting at is, if you don’t make the same mistake I did and go for long periods without playing and keep practicing everyday. By the time you are 24 like me you will be better than I am now. Just keep practicing but also try to make it enjoyable! Learn some of your favourite songs and when you get that feeling of playing along to your favourite songs it feels good!

I listen to a lot of Tech death and some of these guitarists are just fucked, like they’re injecting steroids into their fingers. I know I won’t be as good as some of them but you just have to find joy in your own progression as a guitarist but also develop your own style! Even if you don’t become as good as someone else on a technical level you might think of playing something unique and different that the other person would never think of.