I was a decent 10 year old tennis player in the 1960’s growing up in Skokie, IL USA.
How a Ten Year Old Learned Tennis in Skokie, IL in the 1960’s
At 9 or 10 years of age, I started playing tennis with my mother’s old tennis racket and some old tennis balls I found. I banged them against a wooden wall at a tennis court in Skokie, IL USA. Then I went to a Wisconsin summer camp and beat other kids my age playing tennis.
Then high school came, I beat my friend Alan on the tennis court regularly. Then he grew 2 inches taller than me and could do 20 pull-ups without breaking a sweat. Maybe (?) he received some coaching? All I know is that Alan started beating the daylights out of me playing tennis.
That’s when I realized I was just an average tennis player without any coaching to help me. I stopped playing tennis in high school.
What Learning Tennis Taught Me about Learning Any Physical Activity
You cannot become good at tennis learning alone. You need to play tennis with better players and get some tennis instruction. Otherwise, just bang the tennis ball against the wooden wall by yourself.
And guess what, playing guitar or bass is a physical activity, similar to tennis.
How to go from Advanced Beginner Guitarist to an Intermediate Guitarist
You need a goal, you need guitar/bass training, and you need to PLAY WITH PLAYERS BETTER THAN YOU.
A New Guitar Friend is Teaching Me About Guitars
I made a new guitar friend recently. I met him through Facebook Market Place. We have hung out twice, each time he taught me new things I didn’t know about guitars.
Imagine that, you meet a guitarist much better than you, and you immediately learn things from them.
What my Tennis Mistakes are Teaching me About Learning Guitar
- Play with Guitar Players Better than you.
- Chat with Guitar or Bass Players more Knowledgeable than you
- Take structured lessons, again; preferably in person.
Guitar Autodidacts Don’t Really Exist
Don’t just bang your head against a wooden wall practicing by yourself in a basement room. Find a community, seek out players who challenge you, and watch how fast your playing transforms.