these guys were stuck in the fame that they built and now they were nothing more than a living jukebox of past hits.

That has to suck so bad.

I'm not much of a player, really. I spend most of my evenings noodling on my easy chair. I'll probably never be in a band. "Playing out" for me is getting together once in a great while with some guys my wife knows for a sit-down. They seem to think I'm OK.

When we play, they generally call out songs and I play along. They'll ask me if there's anything I want to play and most of the time I can't think of anything. "Nah. I'm good. I'll just play along." I can't think of anything because I can't just throw some song out that I've practised the shit out of and expect that everyone there will know it. Say "How about 'I, Zimbra'?" or "Yeah - how about 'Neal & Jack & Me'?" just once and see how far you get.

So, we sit around strumming out old Eagles or Beatles hits, maybe throw in some Tom Petty or Al Green or something. We give other old people a few minutes to reminisce. The reason I go is to try to make some kind of link w/ other people who play - if only to get that momentary communication that goes on between musicians. You know what I mean? That thing that happens between them when everyone knows where it's going, some people are stepping out of their comfort zones and it's sounding fucking fantastic.

I don't bother learning too much popular stuff because it bores the shit out of me. Christ, I hate that three chord sing along stuff. Really, the only time I devote any time to it is when there's a technique I want to learn. An example of that is learning "Behind Blue Eyes" because I wanted to work on my alternate picking.

When pushed, I tell people that I didn't get into playing guitar to impress them, or myself for that matter. I got into it to express that which is within me. It's a creative outlet and a way to pass an evening that beats smoking crack in an alley. It allows me to express something that I don't have any other mechanism through which I can express it.

Basically (very, very basically), it's like taking a shit. We all do it in the same basic way. Nobody wants an audience telling them how they can do it better.

TL:DR; I can understand how a musician changes over time. I'd hate doing the same songs night after night. Take away the creativity of it, the exploration of it, and it's just another job. Although if you're the Eagles, it's just another job that pays very, very well.