When did you hang up the dream?

[Burn]

I know from the time I picked up a guitar on my 13th birthday, I wanted to be a big rockstar and live the dream. But, I'll be 24 this year, still pretty young, and still play daily. But alot of things have changed and I feel like I have to put all that behind me. Sometimes I still think I'll hook up with a good singer(finally) and make a real album, but I wouldn't bet the farm I'll be finishing college this year, and picking up a real job. I guess feel like the time to really make it has come and went. How about you guys? I know some of ya are much older than me and still dreaming big, I envy the hell outta that! But for the rest of you, when did you hang up the towel and why?

[horns666]

Umm ..when I realized my singer bud was much too busy for me. He must make money to support his homelife which doesn't leave time to continue writing with me. It's too bad, we're a hellava team..it's a very natural thing really. He makes it really easy for me to string riffs together to make songs.

There's no way I'm going to continue with any less of a singer than him..why bother. Unless >I < sing cookie monsta vox! That's not what I wanna do..

I don't want some "opera man" metal singer either..it just doesn't fit my style...fuggit.

[Cygnus X1]

My dream was to be able to play whatever I heard.
I'm still chasing it after 30 some years.
Keeps it real, and alive.

[SEEGERMANY]

I keep dreaming that one day Cyg will finally learn the proper usage of the comma. I'm about ready to throw in the towel!

[hunter8]

don't you know you can still make it when you're 57 and suck. hell look at nickleback

[broken_fusion]

I had big dreams when i was a kid.Still do I guess. i'd say i let it go when after playing in an original band for five years, playing shitty gigs for no money,driving all over in a crappy van and getting home at 4 am and having to be at work by 8, I realized we kinda sucked,we were not making any real progress and didn't have a chance in hell at ever getting signed by anybody. It was a hell a lot of fun though. but after five or so years the fun wore off and it became a grind. One day I said fuck it guys i quit. That was it.I guess i figured out how hard it would be to make the dream happen i just gave up on it. I didn't touch the guitar for more than five minutes a month for a good five years. I just picked it back up in the past few months and really have the fire again. Thing is now I'm 36 and have a wife and little boy. I'm going to get in a band again but this time just for fun.

[Rsmacker]

Sounds like my story. I was 24 when I realised I wasn't going to make it, was pissed off with band politics, and needed to try and make something of my life.
I started my own business, and due to that being music-related, didn't pick up a guitar properly for nearly 10 years, guitars had stopped giving me a boner.

Thanks to sites like this, my passion for guitars has been re-kindled, I have been playing more and more, and this year, before I'm 40, I WILL get my shit together with a band. Covers only though, I'm never going to be the rockstar I once was certain I would be. Sniff.

[jacksoncsplayer]

Man, I had the dream bug bad in the late 80s. So bad that I sold everything I had, packed my guitars and clothes in my car and left Woodbine Md for Hollywood Ca. I left behind my dream girl, family, and good friends with no notice, but I had to do it. When I got there I knew a guy, and he put me up for a bit, I got a job, met some people and and I wound up working at the guitar center in Lawndale. One day one of my heroes walks in, buys some gear and asks a buddy and I if we would come to his studio and hook the stuff up, so we did. After hanging with this guy for a couple weeks (doing odd shit in the studio) setting up guitars, playing drum tech for a monster drummer. I got the nod for an audition one day when this guy walked in and heard me playing, at that time I was 25 and a monster player,I knew if it was going to happen this was the only chance I was going to get! So I went to the studio that night did some live jamming with the band, and then a little recording. Later on that night he called me over to his house and began to explain to me what the X-Factor was, and although he loved my playing I wasn't the guy to fill the slot and asked if I wanted a job, he also asked me if I knew some other players. I said yes and went back to md and hooked up with a cat named Kevin Burnes whom I had known for a long time (who is fucking amazing). We sent out a tape to the guy and he flew Kevin out for two weeks to rehearse and record with the guys, and he got the gig! I realized then that I had reached for the heavens dream wise, and I made it to the stars! It was the greatest time of my life, but it wasn't to be. I went on to work for the guy for 3 more years before I got burnt on the L.A. scene and moved back to the East coast. I put the guitar down for ten years after that, and only started back playing about 2 years ago thanks to an old member here named stratomaster. Kevin stayed out there for a while but lost the gig because the original guitarist came back due to an obscene amount of money for a record deal, he never got album credits or live play, but he has the memories of a lifetime. I'm 44 now and still chuckle when I think about it.

[Cleveland Metal]

Dreams?

[triplehold]

Burn- you are only 24 man, you've got a long way to go. Forget that rockstar stuff and find yourself some dudes to jam with. Keep your thoughts high and your expectations realistic and you never know what might come about.

[Alvin_Wilson]

I'm 39 and I'm trying to put together a band now. My vision of the so-called "making it" is just playing out live no matter the size of the venue, just having friends come and enjoy the music that I make. I'm perfectly happy with my life as it is now...husband, father, friend to many.

[jgcable]

Officially.. I tried to make it from 16-26. I lived and breathed for the band, gigging, writing, recording, I worked at Power Play Studios, I gave guitar lessons, I auditioned and toured and made as many connections as I could.
I am still chasing the dream at the ripe old age of 47 but its really a dream now.. more like a fantasy.
I started playing classical piano when I was 3 and was a child prodigy on the piano at the age of 10. I started playing guitar at the age of 13. I also play the clarinet, drums, banjo, mandolin, bass, harmonica, violin and I sing pretty good too.
I was supposed to be a pro musician and music was supposed to be my career and my life. Instead.. it distracted me from getting a proper education and I am paying the price now. I probably could have been anything I wanted. Doctor, lawyer... whatever.. I chose rock star and like most others... I never got discovered.

[Cleveland Metal]

Instead.. it distracted me from getting a proper education and I am paying the price now. I probably could have been anything I wanted. Doctor, lawyer... whatever..

The echo of my own despair...

[jgcable]

The echo of my own despair...

This is exactly the reason why I never pushed or even encouraged any of my 3 kids to be musicians. They all have the ability but I never encouraged them the way my parents encouraged me. We never talked about college in my house. Instead.. we talked about gigs and my band and how proud they were of me regarding music.
If I could only do it again....

[Cleveland Metal]

My parents fought me all the way and have never even seen me play one moment of a show out of the hundreds I've played.

Moved out on my own at 16, and I of course persisted and boy I showed them... Just look at me now... Yeah... Nice...

Plan B??? There was sposed to be a Plan B?????