Robert and Ted, thanks for your insight. I would love to be able to jam with someone. I had a situation a few years back where it seemed like that was going to become a reality, and then that person moved and it all fell apart. That would have kept me going--definite goal and definite amount of time to accomplish it.

The issue is precisely realistic goals. Previously mine weren't. They were well-intentioned and I made a good-faith effort to meet them.They were just beyond my ability. When I was going through the Metal Method materials years ago, that was all divided up nicely into manageable chunks. Since then, I haven't been able to come up with anything. I think I need to make a list of songs to learn and try to set some dates for it.

In my line of work, everything can change in a heartbeat, but that doesn't mean that I can't set goals and try to achieve them. I thought the guitar might be a good "carrot on a stick" thing in lieu of being able to play with others or anything.