41 and just starting

WOW

what a reponse does every post get such responses ?

thank-you one and all I thought it was just me trying to live my youth again but seems like there are a lot of 40 + people trying to the same thing as me , thank-you , thank - you , I was thinking I was crazy trying to learn the guitar at 41 .

Oh well back to my practise strum , strum strum

G C
When ever I chance to meet, some old friends on the street

thanks again people

see ya's

Charly Pride :D

You youngsters better be carefull; you might be tacking shots at your grandpa without knowing it. :? We were buying Lead Zepplin records (no CDs in those days) when they first came out.

I just started at 50.....I guess it shouldn't be that surprizing. I grew up with the beatles, stones, led zepelin, not to mention all those great 70's groups, and that music is still going strong

I'm sorry if this has been mentioned, I'm not about to read three pages. As well I'm sorry if this isn't good advice, I'm not a good guitarist.

First of all, I'm not sure if I personally had any trouble changing from simple chords to another at about four months, but I think it is very natural that some peope learn things faster than others. Me: I am not able to do a chnage to a full barre-chord in any reasonable amount of time.

Ways to change your struggle: practice. That, and keep your strumming hand working constantlly. In complicated pieces you have to find a medium ebtween having your hand do an automated pattern your ahnd have practiceed to do and conciously giving it instructions, if that makes much sense. If that alone doesn't help: seperate your fretting hand and your strumming hand, thing of each differently and then put them together. Guitar World Acoustic says that when fingerpicking it may help beginners to conciously only think of the bass notes your thumb plays and the melody your fingers play seperately, and jsut kind of combine it. I guess this could work in your case in a different way. Think of the chord changes, and think of the strumming, and make it happen at once.

What I mean is that you might be apt to thinking: I should be playing pattern on the A chord, and now I should be playing this pattern on a D chord. You might have to be thinking "what is my right hand supposed to be doing right now" and "what is my left hand supposed to be doing." Think of strumming patterns and chord changes, rather than what needs to be played.

I just started at 50.....I guess it shouldn't be that surprizing. I grew up with the beatles, stones, led zepelin, not to mention all those great 70's groups, and that music is still going strong

Yep. It is still going strong. I just taught an intro freshman seminar on the Beatles and the Stones. Younger people are still listening to our music. Of course, back in our day, it wasn't called "classic" rock.

As someone else said in the thread, the amazing thing is that all ages come together in this thing called music and guitar. So it really doesn't matter if you're 14 or 49.

Just thought that I would add my 2 cents - I am 58 and have had 3 lessons now - boy, I find it hard - both on the fingers and the brain (trying to remember the finger placements).

If I only get as far as strumming that is fine -- as I have always wanted to learn guitar and now have the time to do so.

There are truly a bunch of the "old fogeys" here -- " good for us"
Take care all, and a very Happy New Year

I have been playing many years, but I am 50 years old and I have no intention of ever quitting. Age has nothing to do with enjoying music. And there are many ways an older player can apply their music. You can simply enjoy playing at home, you can record, you can play at church, you can play at open mics, or you can join a band. You are NEVER too old to start or play guitar.

Changing chords is difficult for everyone at first. But if you stay at it and practice regular, I promise it will become easy in time. That really is the only secret to guitar. Just practice, practice, practice, and practice some more.

I think all of you older players who have decided to play guitar should be commended. Guitar is a great instrument that will give you countless hours of enjoyment. Just never give up. You WILL get good.

Oh, I almost forgot (Senior moment :D ). In my current band, our bass player Dom is 57 years old and started just 3 years ago for the first time. And he's pretty good too!

Hi,

I'm 51 and been learning for about two years now. Reading this thread tells me that all us begineers go through the same problems learning this beautiful instrument.

This might help though,

My brother Rodders told me about recording yourself using a program called `Audacity'. A freebee download from Audacity.com He even gave me a small clip on mic so I could plug my acoustic into my soundcard.

I tried it out yesterday by playing snatches of songs I've learnt. It was encouraging to me when I played back my own stuff and it didn't sound that bad. (Well at least I recognized the tune) Also I could hear my mistakes better. A good thing is it adds a new dimension to the learning process

I'm no lead guitarist, just a strummer at the moment but I love it.
I might even join in the `Guess The Riff' forum in Games and Trivia. God help you all if I do. Got your ear plugs?

So don't give up enjoy it. Age is a reason to go for it. And thanks Rodders for the mic etc.

All the best

Chris

hey all, 45 here just drug home my new acoustic yesterday, fingers are big time sore. know the D E chord now,gotta work on my fingers keep muteing out other strings.but i love it.

I dont know why people like Avril Lavuirne and all those fake pop-punk bands cuz all they are is lip-synching and finger-synking. The probably didnt have lip synching in the days of buddy holly and hendrix.

I'm realy going to age myself with this one.

Lip-sync started back on the Dick Clark American Band Stand show back in the fifties. By using a pre-recorded cut it let the engineers feed the right levels to the broadcast equipment. That equipment was a lot "pickier" about levels that modern equipmnt is.

Ain't nothing new under the sun.

It looks like I've ran smack into the censor. Who would have thought the host of American Bandstand and Times Square New Years Rockin' Eve would be a dirty word. Ahhh PC.

better?

:D

Will this really help ?

Have been doing this for two days now and it seems to be getting better
( my fingers ) will this really help with speed of changes chords ?

Exercise 2: Speed Builder #1

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Place your hand on the 6th string with your fingers on frets 1- 4. Now go through the fingerings below (1=index finger, 2=middle finger, etc.) Go through them one time on each string. Do this as a daily exercise to build strength and speed. To increase the challenge, play it in the opposite direction after you played it in the normal fashion. Then you can try this on each string to increase the drill's challenge even more. To go even farther, you can try it on another set of 4 adjacent strings.

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1. 1-2-3-4
2. 1-2-4-3
3. 1-3-2-4
4. 1-3-4-2
5. 1-4-2-3
6. 1-4-3-2

7. 2-1-3-4
8. 2-1-4-3
9. 2-3-1-4
10. 2-3-4-1
11. 2-4-1-3
12. 2-4-3-1

13. 3-1-2-4
14. 3-1-4-2
15. 3-2-1-4
16. 3-2-4-1
17. 3-4-1-2
18. 3-4-2-1

19. 4-1-2-3
20. 4-1-3-2
21. 4-2-1-3
22. 4-2-3-1
23. 4-3-1-2
24. 4-3-2-1

my friends tell me this is what I need to be doin

happy new year all

It will help with finger strength and independence of movement. Especially the latter will help with the chord changes.

I just want to add my two Pesos here guys, having just turned 47 myself and having played for about a year now. I think taking up the guitar at our age is commendable. Not only is it a difficult undertaking, the only way to reap the rewards is through serious dedication. I guess we could just vegetate or go for other pastimes considered more “appropriate” for our age group, but instead have opted for a challenge.

Besides there is the added benefit that playing the guitar WILL get you laid. My wife thinks it's sexy when I play.
:D