Anyone here care to discuss what they may have learned and what may do differently given the chance ? 
 
 
Kenny

Get what you really want instead of wasting money on alternatives.
Room treatment matters.
A couple of pieces of decent quality hardware make more difference than a million plug-ins and emulations.
Back-ups, back-ups, back-ups.
 

Dear self,
 
Don't screw up your back so you can keep playing live and let the nerds push the buttons instead.
 
Sincerely yours...
 
Beepwad

I see a few members have showed up 
 
I would definitely tell myself not to get caught up in all the petty side issues and ego trips of being a guitar player  .
 
In the near future , good guitar players are gonna sprout like an invasion of sex crazed bunny rabbits and over populate the music business .   
Even keyboard players that can easily outplay the best of guitar players are gonna start using samples of well recorded guitars and get into the act .Get used to that Idea , learn from them all , and use it to your advantage .
 
Be open to learning something new and useful in music . Hopefully something new in music that will translate into a musical skill that you can enjoy doing , get good at and use to be of service to your fellow man & woman in music  .
 
 
 
Kenny
 

Find a cheaper hobby. 

Rain
Get what you really want instead of wasting money on alternatives.
Room treatment matters.
A couple of pieces of decent quality hardware make more difference than a million plug-ins and emulations.
Back-ups, back-ups, back-ups.
 

Rain 
Very good points you make  
 
Kenny

Hi,
 
Stop cooking in restaurants, tell the university studies to take a fudge step, and get a synthesizer! Also tell one guy where to go with his ideas!

"Quit screwing off and study more.  Then practice what you studied."

Back in the 90s, I would have told myself to not buy ~ 15 grand worth of MIDI gear (rack-mount synths, etc.), much of which would just end up taking up self space and gathering dust.  I'd advise myself to just acquire a minimal setup and wait until computers were able to run those functions with much more panache and with much less expense.

I'd say,
"Don't bother buying that 8 or 16 track Tascam reel to reel tape machine that you'll get next to nothing recorded on, only to sell it for a major loss eventually anyways.
Wait a decade or so, until computers advance far enough that you'll be far better off investing just a fraction of that cost into something that's called a DAW.
 
Besides, until then, time will prove that you're really not going to get anything of any substance, quality or quantity recorded before then anyways."
 
But of course I won't have listened because of major GAS and equipment desire.
 
Therefore the whole point will have proven to be null and void.