Am I Too Old

Hey Your never to old to play music, I started at 13, quit for a long time an picked it back up at 63. I love this site an even tho I'll never be a rock star, I will keep thinking I will,lol. Music is such a great thing an playing the guitar can be very fullfilling. Keep at it ,with this site who knows, maybe you wil be the rock star. lindap

UK Rocker, you are never too old to practice and get to playing guitar well. I am 63 and just picked up a new guitar two months ago. Although I played guitar back in the 60's I hadn't touched a guitar in almost 50 years, and yet I practiced for two months or so, and got to where I could play the chords again, and got the callouses on my fingers. As a result, I completed guitar fundamentals one in five days. That being said, try this: Give yourself at least 3 months to practice and develop the skills needed. Take your time and go through fundamentals slowly, and before you know it, the fingers will start working right and you will be playing chords. Lisa is a great instructor for beginners and there is a lot of good advice in there on chord changes, strumming techniques etc. You can do it!! You are NEVER TOO OLD!!

I want to thank all of you with your posts, I'm 61 and always wanted to play the guitar but my life was to busy with work and family until now. I ran across this post and thought the same way,"AM I TO OLD". After reading all the posts here I realize I'm not to old, so once again, THANK YOU.

Originally Posted by: myphoto5461I want to thank all of you with your posts, I'm 61 and always wanted to play the guitar but my life was to busy with work and family until now. I ran across this post and thought the same way,"AM I TO OLD". After reading all the posts here I realize I'm not to old, so once again, THANK YOU.

55 now. My playing is improving dramatically via GT lessons and Guitar Principles principles. And, I sucked bad until I found Guitar Principles first, the course goes way deep into the body and how it relates to the guitar, and then GT, they go way deep into the lessons, amazing teachers, every single one!

62 Today.. I believe I'm one step upon my fellow Ole Want To Be Rockers. I live in Sacramento Ca and there's a Music Store that has a excellent program for guitar player. It called the weekend warriors http://www.skipsmusic.com/ww.html and also Stairway to Stardom http://www.skipsmusic.com/s2s.html
Which allow former guitar player to dust their ole strats. telecast.. or Gibson off and join a few other oldies and perform Live at local tavern...
I'm working up to that point.. What's really nice is that the lessons taken here (if needed) is catering to be able to work within a band..learning the basic and position parts that makes up a band... Check it out..

PAST WARRIOR TESTAMONIALS

“My guitar was sitting in the closet for 15 years. Weekend Warriors got me motivated to dust it off
and plug it in again. I forgot just how much fun playing is. Once again, music has changed my life!”
- Mark H., District Manager

“Nothing can beat playing with other musicians. That’s the real deal of Weekend Warriors!”
- Steve D., Public Affairs Specialist

The other guys in the band and myself have become great friends over the past weeks and we plan to
continue to practice and play as a group. This time I’m back into music to stay.”
- Bob L., Investment Counselor

My car is parked in the driveway again because I’m turning my garage into a music room.”
- Ted G., Exhibition Contractor

“The last time my daughter saw me play in a band, she was a year old. When she and her fiancee heard
me play at the Weekend Warriors concert, they were amazed at how hip I’d become over the last 22 years!”
- Allen S., Mgr. State Dept. of Aging

Hi,
You have a 70yr old who is envious of a 52yr old remember me Lisa your 84 yr old stiltwanging away no Mark Knopfler but having fun! Bit late with this comment but been practicing.... :)

I've been playing (self taught) for 52 years. Learning any song has meant trying to reproduce the sound without any thought for the "correct" or "easiest" technique. Now, in my 73rd year, I'd like to practice basic finger exercises and expand my very limited range. This isn't false modesty; the songs I know, I play reasonably well. But I want to improve.

Hi All,
I am within a week of being 61 and just picked up the guitar after a 46 year layoff. Thanks to GT I am making progress and enjoying practice and playing. Fingers are almost to the pain free point so I can practice for longer periods more often. I now own three guitars and my wife get real concerned when I stop by Guitar Center. I may never be great but I sure enjoy learning. Glad to learn there are so many of us Older beginners here.

I found out that it really depends on the width of the strings next to each other and the size of the frets on the fretboard. for an example Fender's and Gibson's are a great guitar if you have long skinny fingers. , but because of my fingers are kinda fat it is really hard to play bar chords on without the other strings getting muted so i chord sound dosen't ring out right. So i Bought a ESP guitar with wider space between the strings and wider frets because of my fingers spread out span. and i can play much easier. So basically it really depends on the guitar and the price for the quality and the comfort of playing the guitar right and reducing alot of mutes on bar chords and mistakes that can happen on other guitars.

Just my opinion, hope it helps out:P

Ipass

I love this!

I just think there is tremendous 'good' in pursuing your love of music, at whatever age you get to it.

If it took this many years to clear the time and space to do it, so be it.

You are here now, and it is good for your heart and soul, and for the world in general.

And yes, Guitar Center can be a dangerous place! ;)

Best wishes and bravo!
-Lisa

You are NEVER too old to play guitar!

Don't be discouraged! We have members of all ages here and are excited to encourage learning throughout all stages of life. From students to retirees Guitar Tricks caters to everyone!

Feel free to engage our members in our forums for tips and to learn from their experiences! Our community is super supportive!

I started playing Bluegrass banjo 42 years ago.I started playing Rock & Blues on an electric guitar 16 month ago.I'm 59 yeaes old now.Both insturments gave me the same problem,I could not get my finger to form good sounding chords.I got good results using this method .Whenever I watched TV. read a book or just relaxing on a chair. I place my fingers making a chord on the guitar and held them in that poaition. An hour or so later my finger are stuck in that position.This is the fastes way to get muscle memory with little effert.Try it you'll like it, It works.

I just joined GuitarTricks and really enjoying this thread, it is the first thing I looked for in the forum to get some encouragement. I wouldn't mind telling a little bit about my story, it may be a little "too much" information, but maybe somebody may identify with it. For the record I am now 51.

I come from a musical family and have always loved music, and I have always had instruments around that I was going to learn how to play "some day". As with a lot of people, those good intentions just never materialized into prolonged practicing. I got into the IT industry at a young age, the nature of which was to work long hours, week-ends, holidays, etc. Then came marriage and a baby and the sudden realization that I was an idiot for EVER saying "I just don't have the time". So the years went on and the guitars just stayed in the closet, but I was going to get serious about it when things slowed down.

At 49 years old I went out with my daughter for the day and started feeling very funny. By the end of the day I was in the emergency room and would not leave the hospital for 7 weeks. I was diagnosed with Acute Myloid Leukemia, a pretty grim diagnosis that left a fairly slim chance of survival. I will leave out the details, but when I was going through treatment I wasn't thinking I wished I would have worked more, or made one more promotion. I was wishing things like, "I wished I would have taken the damn guitar out of the closet!"

So here I am two years later. Thanks to some pretty amazing doctors, nurses, and modern treatments I am in remission and starting to have pretty good odds of making it long term! There are no more excuses, I make a point to concentrate on family and doing those things I was always going to do "some day". I bought my daughter a nice guitar setup for her birthday and we have been practicing every night. It takes me a lot longer to learn new things than she, but that is okay. The point is to make progress on the things you truly want to do each and every day and not wait on that "some day" you might not be lucky enough to see. Sorry for the novel, but I hope this settles the "Am I too old" question for me and everyone else.

Was a drummer back in the early 70's....not GOOD but OK..always envied those who could make music on their own..When I turned 58..ON MY BUCKET LIST...was the guitar..Now understand...still workin with the metronome..BUT LOVE WHERE I HAVE GONE.It's been a year...but just lately... found this site,have LESSONS...from VERY GOOD people.But I am a little slow on learning I guess..Now Writing a song to my Wife....(MARRIED AN OLD BIKER)..THAT MAKES ME PROUD. Keep with it!WE don't want to be with ERIC...JUST have a good time and a whole lotta fun.

Hi. I turned 60 this year. Always loved music but never had the time and money in my youth to learn the guitar. But in the age of internet, really no excuse not to pursue it. With Guitar Tricks, it's simply amazing to have instruction at my fingertips any time I want it! I'm going to retire in 3 years, never had an interest in gardening, but I intend to play guitar as well as I can.

Welcome aboard, MTBKR (I assume you're a mountain biker? Mainly just touring for me on carbon fiber) :)
I'm 63 and just started GT last June. I'm amazed at how far I've come with Lisa's help; and, although I've got a LONG way to go, I'm having a blast...they say that it's not about the destination...it's the journey.
Good luck and keep at it. Great way to lose track of time. (Yeah, I'm mostly retired. LOL)

All the best to you. I say age is 90% mental anyway. I hope I keep learning til the day I kick it, cause I believe there are some things we actually CAN take with us and music, being "of the spheres," may well be one of those things.

I've been watching this go by for about a month now. All I can say is stay in there and continue to play as much as you can. I'm 59. I picked up my first guitar (a used Seagull Cedar Maritime 6 string) about three years ago. I have 4 kinds of arthritis and my hands hurt like a 4x4 with chains went over them and then backed up to make sure the job was done, just about most of the time. In the past three years, I've yet to learn ONE freakin' song, beginning to end. Maybe I'm stoopid. Maybe I'm not. I need to keep my joints moving since if I don't I'm told they'll fuse together. F that. So I work on chords, scales and even songs, then any given morning, I can't use one hand or the other for a week to a month, setting me back to ground ZERO. Know what? I still want to play guitar! In the words of Chumbawamba " I get knocked down, but I get up again, and they're never gonna keep me down!" I've got three used guitars now, love trying to learn on them and making them the best used guitars they can be - I love to tinker. The mags I subscribe to (print and digital) plus the catalogs I get, my wife and I have come to call guitar porn. It IS discouraging at times, but WTF, I've gotta do something. Mark my words, a year from now I'll have at least 4 songs under my belt. I hope. :D

I'll be 51 in a few months. I've played drums for 39 of those years, semi-pro for most of my adult life. I've finally decided to dust off the acoustic I've had in the corner of my studio for years and learn to actually play it. Not only to communicate better with the other musicians I play with, but for my own personal sense of accomplishment, and to get chicks (lol!)
I'm chipping away at Fundamentals 1 and really enjoying it so far!
BTW, my fingertips are killing me!
Good luck to everyone here. Stick with it!