[karcey]

When visitors see my guitars they ask "Do you play guitar?" and I always say "No, I'm just learning."
If I say I can play, someone might ask me to play something ... very embarrassing!
Keith Wyatt says you're a guitar player when you can play your first chord, but I think he's dreaming ... there has to be more to it than that. So help me answer this question :- At what point does one cease being just a learner and start being a player? (Please don't tell me I'll be learning for the rest of my life, I know that already. But I hope to be a player sometime before I die!)
Are you a player?

[Rockerbob]

I think you are a player when you can play a few tunes to your own satisfaction. Maybe a poor guitar player, but a player none the less. We are (hopefully) always learning, but when you can stop learning for a little while and just play a tune or two, you are a player.

[mickyboy100]

i'll second that

[knight46]

I would tend to agree with RB, a player is someone that can play (poorly or not) in some manner. And your satisfaction with your playing is probably the key.

[TwistedLefty]

What does "player" mean to you?
to me it means that i am able to play by myself or acompany another player/singer or even just play along with a recording.

[Dewy]

When you play something that makes YOU happy... When something you play is played to your satisfaction , i.e. you judge another's "performance" of something you know... or analyze it...

And its important to realize, its yet another step to be a musician (see the song, or big picture) that plays guitar... beyond just a "guitar" player.

No matter if you are own worst critic or high hippie pie, be ye lax or disciplined, if strumming makes you happy or finger picking is your favorite puzzle... your a guitarist.

[mike123]

there are days when I am a "player"
other days i am just playing at playing.....
and it is not always my choice of which i am

[eddiez152]

Karcey,
I think if you can play a combination of three chords and make up or play to a tune you know or heard, you are a guitar player. I know some tunes that have only two.

[Stratrat]

I think Rockerbob summed it up pretty well. I consider myself a guitar player, albeit not a good one by any stretch of the imagination.

Keep in mind that "good" is a very relative term - to somebody who doesn't play the guitar at all, you're "good" if you can put a few chords together and play a song. An experienced guitarist would have an entirely different appraisal of "good".

[jackmonroe]

A guitar player is someone who picks, strums, bleeds, and keeps going.

[clefless]

Until the strangled cat sounds stop coming out of my amp (or that particular tone comes into style) and I can safely play without embarrasing myself, I will not be a guitar player.

[Europa]

Originally Posted by jackmonroe

A guitar player is someone who picks, strums, bleeds, and keeps going.

I'll second that, great description.

[coldethyl]

Originally Posted by WitchyWoman

But when Eric Clapton comes round for tea, I tend to leave the guitars locked up <Eric Clapton's reaction to my playing

Next time he comes for a visit, could I come too?

[skinnybloke]

It's called the Domino effect, WW, after he's had his cream bun he gets some ginger from the baker......then it's all just blind faith!

[juslikeplayin]

I agree with RB as well.In relation to this subject,I am an auto painter by trade.There good painters and bad painters, but we're all painters.