I don't think you truly become a musician till you realize that to be one you must continuously learn to be one.

Sitting on ones laurels creates a sense of inertia and the music loses its magic.

The greatest moment in my career as a guitarist was my first chord progression ... "C,D,G" ...

Since then, all the best moments have been new things working and capturing my imagination.

I went through a period of years believing that i was pretty good and playing the same stuff without developing any further or pushing any of my own boundaries and limitations and found myself feeling obese dissatisfied and bored.

I've recently learned the most valuable lesson of all ... to keep learning!

The magic is back and I've become lean and my playing excites me again with each new discovery.

This is what frustrates me about posts that say "why should I ... " or "why do I need ..."

The reality is that we don't really "need" any of it.

Though of course, paradoxically, we all know that we couldn't survive without it ...

but the point is that closing nes mind to new pastures in music is akin to saying "why do I need to see the world - my village has everything I need"

Fair enough ... until you see the world .. at which point you think "yeah, I love my village, but boy the world is extraordinary"

And sometimes, going away for a while helps us appreciate where we grew up all the more.