Be a kind of "professional" player with very little time?

[PickingApprentice]

Happy days!! Get her pickslanting now!

[Acecrusher]

I don’t think that I have the talent to do this professional (I chose the title somewhat wrong - I meant to play at a professional skill level,

I’m not sure what you mean by that. You want to play at a professional skill level but you don’t think you have the talent to play professionally?

Nevertheless I would go for the engineering career if I were you, especially if you doubt your ability. Even if you do have the ability, the rock music industry is dead now, thanks to the internet and the government which refuses to do its job and prosecute people who illegally download music. The movie industry has been far more vigilant about protecting their business. The rock industry is in the absolute worst shape it’s been in since it began in the 1950s - over 60 years ago! If you know any rock bands that have debuted in the last 12 or 15 years years (not including supergroups meaning bands that have members who were already rock stars before joining the new band) and are now headlining arenas with just one opening band, I’d like to know who they are!

If you were still determined to be a rock musician despite the industry being dead, you would know it. If you have that level of desire, it will be obvious to you. Still if you have any doubts and want to post a video or audio file of one of your original songs, I’m sure people here would be glad to critique it. Success in the rock music business was always more about songwriting abilities than technical ability.

[Drew]

@Kalahmeet

My whole problem is: How can I fit work and music in my life?

I know people who stopped playing because they were too busy with work and family. Of course, every single one of them still loves music. Most of them started playing again after a long time, even after 20 years when they were in their 40’s or even older. But I don’t want to stop at all, I want to constantly get better and learn new songs/styles/things. That is what I want.

I’m about ten years older than you, and work in a career that takes a lot of my time, as well (I’m a financial analyst). I also have a few other time consuming hobbies that take up a lot of time - in the summers, especially, cycling - that have made me try to balance work and guitar and other hobbies.

It CAN be done. The hardest for me was when I was studying for the CFA exams, particularly the second one… I got into a routine where I would study for hours on end, but every 2 hours or so I’d stop and take a 15-minute practice break to pick up a guitar. Since I had so little time, I used that time to practice very specific things rather than just play for fun. I found I actually got better during those few months, because even though I was only playing an hour or so a day at most, I was being very disciplined about working on my technique.

As long as playing is important to you and it’s something you really love doing, you’ll find a way to make time for it.