I agree that the internet has changed the landscape for guitar
players since days of old. I can't say for sure whether it's good or
bad, but it sure is different!
In the old days, your universe as a guitar player trying to find his
way consisted of the handful of players you might know in your
hometown, your teacher (if you had one), the records you owned, and
whatever live jazz you were lucky enough to see. There weren't a lot
of guitar books, and they often were rooted in older "orchestral"
styles (Mickey Baker, wrong as it was, helped a lot of us get
started, and the first "orange" Joe Pass Book was a gift from the
Gods).
You spent an awful lot of time holed up in your room practicing, and
would come up for air occasionally to test your progress. Perhaps
it's wrong to generalize this way, but my recollection was that the
overall mindset of a 60's / 70's guitar player was much more
secretive than the very open sharing that goes on today.
Today, a player, even in a small town (or country) is much less
isolated, as he can tap into a network of players that is huge and
available around the clock. To me, the most fascinating (and
different) thing about the web, compared to those old days is not
just hearing other people play...it's being able to understand how
they think. You just didn't have the opportunity to get inside
people's heads the way you do today.
It's not only listening to and interacting with heavy players that
can help. Through the web, you can also learn an enormous amount by
observing people who are perhaps not moving in the right direction.
Often, it's easier to see the mistake or unhealthy pattern is someone
else than it is in yourself. Once you recognize the problem, you can
take the necessary steps to correct it, or better still, avoid it
altogether.
I agree that there are negatives as well as positives. You can
easily get distracted, and based on what you read, you could probably
convince yourself on a weekly (maybe daily) basis that you need to
change styles, buy a new guitar / amp, play like (insert name here),
move to (insert place here), buy every CD by (...), study with (...)
etc. It's the Flavor of the Month Club gone wild. And as opposed to
the Mickey Baker / Joe Pass days, you've got so many people ready to
show you "the way" that you can get gridlocked trying to listen to
just a small fraction of them.
What we all come to learn eventually is that regardless of how much
free crap you download and collect off the web, video lessons you
take, seminars you attend or musics schools or private lessons you
do, all that really is gonna count is what you can truly internalize,
as that will be what you can execute "in the moment".
The one thing that remains constant, then as now, is that the
process of internalization takes place over time, and requires a lot
of practice, thought and repitition. A LOT of practice (for many of
us, a lifetime).
For the player who recognizes where the web ends and practice starts,
I'd guess that this is a great time to be studying the guitar.
