Maybe because I'm old...and still insecure about my own playing (almost 50 years now) that I'm compelled to comment here. I guess it's the whole be-a-star-overnight, get-noticed thing. Any given Saturday, at any given music store, there they are.....the kids...all sitting and playing a hundred notes per second with the amps on hyper-drive. "Look how fast I can play.....". And I confess....I can't to this day play an arpeggio, or even flat-pick worth a shit, but somehow, I made it on to a couple of national albums by major artists, probably because of what I DIDN'T play(learned that from Tom Dowd and Jerry Wexler). I think if I heard one of these Saturday music store shredders actually play a major seventh chord with no distortion, I'd pass out. When did guitar playing stop being just fun and become a gymnastic display? Okay, off the soapbox. My advice to you new guitarists: learn to play SONGS, not licks. And for God's sake learn to read. Not knowing how to read cost me a lot of great sessions. Take gigs backing up singers with just your guitar. Do that and you'll be way way ahead of the shredders. Every time you see a guy who you think is the fastest you've ever seen, remember that there's probably a kid on the next block even faster. And above all, play guitar for the sheer enjoyment of it. Over and out....