I really should clock back in and do some work, but funnily enough I'd rather post on Mudcat. Go figure.

Two years really isn't a very long time. I started learning to play the guitar when I was 20 and I am now 47. I didn't play very well after 2 years. Of course, it isn't the years that count, it's the hours, but you are putting in the hours. So, don't worry. Sure, one learns better when one is younger and you've got physical problems with your hands and arms. These are things we can't do much about. I have nearly constant pain in my hands but it's manageable at present and I expect that I'll be able to keep playing the guitar. We all just have to learn to work within our limitations and see where we can maybe do a bit more than we think we can.

Learning the fingerboard is hard work. There are some places where I know without thinking what the note is and places where I have to stop and figure it out. I play a classical guitar without dots on the fretboard, which makes things more difficult. I think dots are great. Some people may look down on fretboard dots, but looking back, I don't really believe that learning to play without them has made me a better person.

When I'm playing by ear or improvising (which are really just two sides of the same coin), I often don't know what notes I'm playing, but I do know what sounds I'm trying to make and (when I'm playing well), these are the ones that I'm playing. One's different skills work together, motor memory, having played from the written music and remembering it partially, knowing scales and arpeggios, music theory, whatever. It's like having a bag of tricks and being able to pick the one you need at any given moment. So, you don't have to perfect in any one discipline.

Anyway, I hope these long postings of mine are of some use to you (and possibly others). Please try not to be frustrated. It's easier to get fast results with a guitar than with many other instruments, but when one tries to play more than just simple accompaniments it's not an easy instrument.