41 and just starting

With golf, you hit the ball and it's waaaaay over there, and then you have to go walk over there to get it. :)
One of the reasons I chose softball over golf. Atleast with softball if you hit the ball someone else goes to get it.

Hi,

Iam 47 and started about 2 years ago. First started from books and downloaded lesson but I found I reached a plateau. I found a teacher and started taking lessons. Thats when my playing really started to progress. I found that in my case I really needed the direction and guidance. Using books only I tendend to just wander around from technique to technique, topic to topic, and not really learning much. Chord changes come withn practice. Do them in front of the TV or anywhere else, you don't necessariy have to strum. Just ingraine those motions into your muscle memory. I am in a guitar school now that has ensembles based on level of ability. We have sessions with an instuctor who plays base and a drummer. We then perform a couple of songs at a local club once every 3 months. I have found that playing with others is invaluable especially if the others are more experienced than you. You will learn timing, structure, and feel (getting in the groove) which is something you will never learn from a book. Besides its a lot of fun!

Good luck and hang in there.

I agree with you 100% with what you said about learning from books and the Internet. I too need guidance to progress in my playing. I've found a teacher in my area and begin lessons this month so I'm pretty excited.
Dan

I'm 36, started playing 2 years ago. I agree with almost everything already posted so i won't restate. However, I think that it is important to write your goals down and occasionally go back over them, change them if you must (and you most likely will). Also, playing with others can't be stressed enough. I have played a grand total of 4 times with others. Each time I have walked away having learned more in a few hours than months at home by myself. Lastly, never give up. You will reach plateaus in your learning, going for what seems like forever, not improving, even falling back, keep plugging away. Eventually, you will rocket past that plateau and your playing (and learning) will improve exponentially. At least it has been that way for me and others that I have spoke to.

Good luck, and keep rockin'.

Before I bought a guitar and was thinking of trying to learn I thought I was too old. I'm currently 19. Oh well, shows you what kind of preceptions we have about music before we get involved. Though, my musical tastes probably fit in with you guys more than people my age.

Currently listening to "Tuesdays' Gone".

Great thread!

Ten months ago, right after my 40th birthday, I bought an accoustic guitar. I signed up for lessons immediately. My teacher took the first month to show me the basic chords: E,F,C,D,G,A,E7,A7,D7, etc. He would give me a couple from each key and I'd spend a week just strumming from one to another. He told me not to worry about the buzzing and occasional dead string.

After the first month, he had me bring in some CD's with songs that I wanted to learn to play. He then would sketch out the chords to each song. He had me practice the changes for the song without the recording for a couple of days and then practice along with the recording the rest of the week.

In ten months, I've done about 20 songs that way (along with two books and some fingerstyle). I've picked up additional chords as the songs required and some strumming patterns. At first I played like crap, but playing along with songs really helped me learn the chord changes. A funny thing was that my very first song had only three chords but it took me months and months to play it reasonably well (it had an A to Bm change). Sometimes I still have trouble with it. However, there are songs we did after a few months that only took me a couple of days to play fairly well. It's like someone earlier in this thread said, once you get some changes down, new changes come faster.

So after months of practicing, the buzzing subsided (but not always), I could play that partially barred F, and the changes grew smoother. I don't think I ever hit the 500 mark, but I've definitely had to play those songs so many times I'd get sick of them. And then I'd have to play them some more. In fact, I can honestly say I've practice an average of three hours a day since I've started and I don't think it's enough. Unfortunately, it seems that my forty-year-old left hand has about a three hour limit.

Anyway, I'm not sure why I went into all that. I could have just said try playing along with some songs- it helped me.

...Unfortunately, it seems that my forty-year-old left hand has about a three hour limit.

Anyway, I'm not sure why I went into all that. I could have just said try playing along with some songs- it helped me.

Everybody's story is important, man. :)

Oh by the way? Your 40 year old hand is doing the equivalent of 3 full sets in those three hours - look at it that way :)

I'm just beginning at 57 years old and to add insult to injury I bought a Dobro. The nice thing though is I can really make some neat sounds with the steel slide when my left hand gets to shaking!! :lol:

It's really hard to find much beginners info for the Dobro, don't guess there's many around. Good luck to everyone.

I'm just beginning at 57 years old and to add insult to injury I bought a Dobro. The nice thing though is I can really make some neat sounds with the steel slide when my left hand gets to shaking!! :lol:

It's really hard to find much beginners info for the Dobro, don't guess there's many around. Good luck to everyone.

Big Road Blues

Try looking over there for information on slide, etc. :D

Thanks TwistedFingers, looks promising.

I was gonna post the same suggestion.