kennywtelejazz
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
 

The funny thing in my case is that I would probably recommend myself not to put the guitar away as much as I did between 2001 and 2010, and to challenge myself to at least learn new things, even if that wasn't going to end up on tape.
 
Coming from a rock and metal background, the new millennium was a challenging place if you wanted to maintain artistic integrity. Ever since grunge, playing with any sort of virtuosity has been frowned upon in popular rock music. I feel that it goes on to this day - it's all about texture, and melodies are kept to a minimum. 
 
Unless you go full out "classic rock". But there's a cheesy aspect to that too. You can't exhibit serious rock star chops unless you mean it as a joke. 
 
The irony being that there is an endless supply of amazingly skilled kids out there, but all they seem to do is to show off in front of their web cam and upload it on the web. Okay, most of them exhibit an absolute lack of emotion, but, hey...
 
Me I felt I had reached a plateau. I wasn't hot enough to shred like the hairy dudes. OTOH, I couldn't pretend to be Kurt Cobain either. And everyone had been abusing the SRV/Hendrix thing for over a decade, which had also been my thing...
 
Anyway - using those new tools that are accessible to everyone today, I can honestly say that my playing has improved dramatically, even just in the last few months, whereas, I was stuck in the same place for over a decade. I could and should have challenged myself before...

Another point to add:
Don't take relationships for granted. We always get caught up in the moment like there is no tomorrow. 
Many times we are too much caught up in ourselves to recognize those around us that support our dreams. 
It's a bummer when we find out years later where the true friendships lie.

One word: plastics.

Blimey.  Probably something like, "Never, ever, on any account go down the DAW rabbit hole.  Everything after about 1986 with Atari Rainbow TOS and Cubase v2 just goes downhill, not in terms of functionality offered but in terms of the intuitiveness and MIDI editing features of the UI.  Seriously just don't.  You think the software was buggy then?  Just you wait...  Get a decent 8-track h/w recorder and a drum machine.  Forget all that VST stuff, all that will expand is your HDD storage requirements and your wallet will dry up and blow away."
 
But, I probably wouldn't listen.  I'd say, "wtf old man, you senile git shut up and make me a cup of tea already".  Or perhaps I'd make him a cup of tea.  For sure, tea would be drunk.

If we're veering off into general "career" stuff then I would definitely have to say...
 
"That one chick? RUN!!! RUN FAR FAR AWAY!! She... will... ruin... EVERYTHING!!!"
 
Same old story. Ugh.

1. Sell the Ibanez with the floating trem and get a fixed bridge guitar. I only say this because I had a serious sweating issue and rusted strings in days. The labor involved to change them on the Ibanez eventually caused me to take time from playing. Still have the Ibanez though, and still love it for what it is. :)
 
2. I was always more interested in experimenting than learning other people's songs. I would tell myself to learn TONS AND TONS of music from people I enjoy and admire. I should have spent a year doing nothing but learning songs.

I was a sax player many moons ago.  Haven't touched one in years. 
I would tell myself to pick it (the sax) back up and learn keys, computer and mixing like there's no tomorrow.
 
Although a producer friend of mine in Chicago told me to learn those things, I was slow and wasted a LOT of time. 
 
I would also tell myself to go practice, practice, practice.  One trick (or in my case, one take) ponies are soon gone. 
 
I would also tell myself, "learn the music business and then don't fall victim to it"...  and be ready for the computer revolution to totally change the way music is made. 
I've always believed that it's like riding a wave.  If you're slightly ahead of it, you'll ride it out fine.  If you're too far ahead, you'll only watch the others enjoy it.  If you're too far behind?  Well..
 

"Dude.  Don't listen to those guys.  If you like to top wrap your LP, top wrap your LP."

Beepster
If we're veering off into general "career" stuff then I would definitely have to say...
 
"That one chick? RUN!!! RUN FAR FAR AWAY!! She... will... ruin... EVERYTHING!!!"
 
Same old story. Ugh.

If only Lennon had gotten that message...

craigb

Beepster
If we're veering off into general "career" stuff then I would definitely have to say...
 
"That one chick? RUN!!! RUN FAR FAR AWAY!! She... will... ruin... EVERYTHING!!!"
 
Same old story. Ugh.

If only Lennon had gotten that message...

Man, my practice wife was a horrid creature ...