Well, I've played short 3- 6 mths gigs off and on in CA before.

Just me and a friend - 2 guitars or just by myself with a loop pedal, which actually worked out better.

As for a full time thing, it's too tough to make a living at this. Now, if I was a fast learner and under diff circumstances, perhaps my teenage dreams of rock/pop

stardom would have been realized by now! LOL!

At my self taught pace, it's taken this long to get good enough. I broke out in 2009, finally broke through a musical skill level rut, stuck for years and years,

that I stopped playing, sold all the equipment off, for 9 yrs. Then I heard Buckethead on Utube! Life changer!

Saved and bought a Strat and amp and started playing again. His music was the catalyst that "opened the heavens suddenly", downloaded into my inner ear.

It's like a portal opened up, and now there is always a tune or melody coming from within, as natural as breathing. The challenge was to get the physical finger

coordination to play what I hear, or in a live situation, I key off what others play, could be the keyboardist, bassist, etc and I just now have the counterpoint

melodies in my head to add to the mix. That's as best as I can explain the process in real time when it happens.

Basically, I've bypassed the need to read music or understand modes like Dorian or Lydian, or chord progressions or understand the technical 'dry' side of it.

I've played countless videos of tutorials by the 'masters', like Steve Vai , Satriani, etc, etc..and I yawn or wanna fall asleep. I've never understood the dry side of

it. Still don't.

For me, Music has to do only one thing- evoke emotions from the human ear and "heart" from the sound one makes.

In this sense, I have to honestly say, I've mastered it, finally. Remember those old videos I uploaded on Utube, I've improved quite a bit from back then.

Maybe it's my confidence level , whatever it is, I'm very grateful that it just 'synched together' after all this time. :)

What a relief, I don't have to kill myself !

(Relax..background story: Once. when I asked my Wing Chun teacher, Sifu Gary Lam, how he became so fantastic at this martial art, he replied.."If after doing

something for 30 years, if U're still no good, then U need to go hang yourself or tie a heavy weight around your legs and go jump in a lake! LOL! )

G'nite !