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I'm about to get out of my first year of playing guitar, and though I had a ton of fun, I must say, it kind of sucked. All of the covers on youtube I watch are by extremely talented guitarists who use difficult techniques. It was like learning a different language, learning to walk again if you will. No one took me seriously when I said I played guitar for *Insert number of months* It made me feel kind of incompetent. I hung in there, and I feel I'm really honing my skills and getting better. I'm not nearly what I want to be as a guitarist, but it's only been a year. At least I got through it! So I ask you two questions:

How was your first year of playing guitar?
In your opinion, how long does one have to play to be taken seriously as a guitarist?

And here's to many more years of playing guitar!

My first year of playing guitar was awesome and filled with lots of neat stuff.
The first week was frustrating, then I quit for about two weeks. After I picked it up again it was awesome learning some of my favourite songs (Raining Blood anyone?) I never did start with the basics, like chords and stuff, I literally jumped right and started playing, after awhile I wanted to learn the basics, so I did. I also watched lots of videos of my favourite artists to see how they did it.
In my opinion, it shouldn't matter how long you've been playing to be taken seriously, what should matter is how serious you are about your playing.
However, not everyone thinks that way, so I think that 1-2 years of playing should suffice in getting people to take you seriously.
Keep playing and getting better, that's all there is to it!

I hear ya on that one loud and clear. About halfway through my first year I stopped goofing off with tabs and started putting all of my time into theory and traditional lessons. If I were to stay with tabs, I might be able to do more than I can now, but I wouldn't understand what I was doing. It's one thing to be able to bust into an intense solo, but it's another to know what's actually going on. You dig?

I have a feeling that by the end of my second year, I'll be much better. By then I'll at least be into the intermediate stuff at least, if not somewhat advanced.

My first year sucked.. Very frustrating and I learned the meaning of patience. The few riffs that I could do were rewarding tho. I was told by a friend of mine at the time who was REALLY good that I didn't know that many songs but what I did know I could play very well. So it was a matter of quality over quantity with me. I took that as a compliment. I don't really think I could take a guitarist seriously unless I heard 3+ years. But thats a trick question anyway because it all depends on how much you practice and the level of seriousness you put on your time with your guitar.
So the reason I say 3 years is because 2 years you're still learning HOW to play where as if you're a fast learner by the 3rd year you're developing your own signature or voice on the guitar which is what really matters....you think anyone wants to listen to a machine play gutiar? No, because its souless and has no depth to its convictions or character (or lack thereof). So all those guys on you tube that can mimic someone else are nice and all but what have they contributed to the guitar?...or more importantly what have they contributed to themselves?

Quality over quantity is all I'm sayin...

The first year was pretty intense. I practiced for hours a day and worked my arse off. For the first half I was just doing tabs and then I started to start to learn some actual theory. All I can say about the first year actually is that apart from teaching me about music and improving my skills, it taught me the meaning of patience. Patience is extremely important, get to frustrated and you might never let your self come back to something and you'll never get anywhere with it. It takes time, like all things.

my first year i sucked horribly.... but i didn't care lol i love being able to run around and say "yeah, i can play guitar" ^__^
but i do get respect from alot of people and i've only been playing for 2 or so years.

I'm sorry, but that was one of the the most ignorant things I've ever read. Why should it matter if you can name every note in a solo? Playing guitar isn't about how intricate, or knowledgeable you are. It's about expressing yourself, and it doesn't matter how you do it, just do it. I hate the guitar "Purist" who think that you need to know everything about the guitar, in order to be good, because 90% of the time those are the guys that can't play worth a s**t anyways. I've actually only been playing about a year, and I can't read sheet music, never had one formal lesson, and can't even name you the strings in order from top to bottom, but I can still play, and improvise better then all but three people I know who have been playing way longer, and taken classes.
Guitar is about music, not theory.

If you think I'm wrong, then you must think that Stevie Ray Vaughn sucks.

Yeah, that guy did come off like a hard a**.

Well, next month will be my first year, and the 2ND year i've owned my guitar. It was really hard for me at first. The first song i tried to learn was FCPREMIX (didnt even know it was on guitar hero then, befor you haters slam me), and i did manage to sound like i knew what i was doing and impress people, but till about 3 weeks ago i didnt learn a single song since then. My playing is getting better out of sheer reppetition. I pick up the guitar and muck around till i hit something that sounds good. I expand upon it to try to make a song (usually i fail), then i start over with the mucking. I know music theory from playing sax for 6 years and piano for aroudn 3, but i havent gotten to applying it to guitarwork.

I think all it takes to get respected is a good sound like stated earlier. It could have nothing but quarter notes and longer, but if the song gets me, i'll respect you at least.

Any suggestions for me?