started when i was 17, ill be 19 in september, people ive met who have been playing for 10+ years say im better than them. i really dont find the instrument that hard or anything, its just with a metronome and a thirst for knowledge you can get awesome REAL FAST.
I take 3 guitar lessons a week also. It helps when youve had 5 great teachers, you soak it in better and get different outlooks on the instrument(1 teacher is the lead guitarist for DAATH, emil werstler, another was an old dude into classic rock, another was a big time blues player, another is an insane jazz guitarist, and the last one is a straight up 80s shred head all the way down to the scalloped fretboards and purple guitars.).
im not trying to sound arrogant if im coming off that way, ill be the first to say i suck. i just dont think its that hard to get into the instrument. scales and modes came easy, same with chords and theory and anything else related to the instrument.
i just got into shredding real soon and just started using a metronome and killed my social life, and bam! you get mad chops. playing from 3 in the afternoon after school till 1-2 in the morning every day helps a lot also. i dont think years of playing has much to do with it, of course it never hurts, i think of it more as hours of playing instead of years.
ive played the least probably of all the ppl on here, and a lot of you guys are still better than me in my opinion, ive matured out of the shredding thing, i still think its a phase you need to go thru to get your technique up, im focusing more on melody now.
my teachers throw around the word prodigy but i hate that, it sounds gay, makes me think of some little japanese kid that kills everyone at the viola or something.
