When did you start?

Im 16 and i've playing just over a year now. Learning the electric was the best decision i ever made :)

Started at 45 & have been playing for 3 years. Like you, I'm having a grand time. Lately I've even been playing with a band planning a concert for around January. You didn't start late at all!

I just started about 5 weeks ago. I am 45.
I played bass for quite awhile so I am not new to music but guitar is quite different and I am loving it.

Today I started around 5am (couldn't sleep).

But you probably mean the first time... I was a few weeks shy of 16 as I recall, which means my 30th anniversary with it is coming right up.

I've heard a lot of folks say you should start earlier, but it hasn't seemed to bother me any, and I've taught a number of folks in their 50s and 60s. Some of them play quite well now. I've also worked recently with a guitarist who's been playing about 45 years, and his chops seemed at best marginal to me.

I guess the only truth in the statement that it's better to start young is that it gives you more years to perfect your craft, and the young generally have more time to spend on it. But there's no magic age - Wes Montgomery, a truly innovative jazz guitarist, started as an adult, and balanced learning the guitar with his marriage and his factory job. He did well enough to inspire his older brother Monk to take up the bass, and he also enjoyed a long professional career - even though he was 30 when he started.

My Grade 3 teacher, Miss Van Ness, was an old folkie in 1968, and she'd play us songs when she tired of the stuff she should have been teaching. She was just so cool! She was the first adult who ever swore in my presence; she said you had to develop "big bloody callouses" to show that you were practicing enough. Bloody was not a polite word back then. I still play Me and Bobby McGee (which she taught me) for my kids, and still use the finger calesthenics she showed us. I saw her last year at a reunion for my old elementary school. And, I have to say, I got a little teary as I told her what a wonderful musical journey she sent me on. We're going to get together for dinner sometime soon, and I fully intend to play a song or two with her.

I started when I was 18, which I thought was really late. But heh, it doesn't matter when you start, it matters when you finish, and I haven't finished yet. It really doesn't matter how old you are when you start. If you dedicate yourself to the instrument and practice, you will get good.

Started dinkin' around on that iconic 20 year old no-name classical that someone had in their attic (seems everyone must have one!) when I was about 15-16, but I didn't get serious about it till I was around 18. I'm 22 now, and guitar has definitely become one of the biggest parts of my life.

I started when I was 16; that would be in 1970. Or sometimes I remember it being when I was 14, but I'll go with 16. I thought I was waaaay too late and should'a started when I was 6 or something. As it turns out, I wasn't a prodigy anyhow so it didn't matter :)

There was a 14 year period a few years back when I didn't play a single note (wow, talk about taking a 'breather' from music!), but...it actually helped. I got to start all over again but with a completely fresh approach. The main thing was, my technique was 14 years out of place (not 14 hours like some people worry about :) ), but I knew *how* to practice when I came back to it. I also knew *what* to practice so it was kinda neat, like taking a first step down a road you've already been down. Hard to explain.

But right now, for me, it's no longer about technique or theory or learning or 'forgetting' what I learned so I can play. It's just about the music and that's all. Whatever it takes to get it done. It's sort of a strange/nice place to be. Like there's no pressure -- especially from myself -- and the music can just come out on its own, I guess, without much of myself getting in the way. Before it was like, "Man, I just gotta fit this run in there somewhere!" Now it's more like, "I wonder if that'll fit in here? <plays it> Nah...too much...."

I wish I could explain it better. But anyhow, I started when I was 16. :)

Started at 44, a year and a half ago. On one hand, I wish I had started sooner - only because I'd be further along now. But starting later actually gave me more time and patience to enjoy it. Besides, now my grandson is playing and giving me even more motivation to improve.

I started at 19 which was last July, 4 months ago. It was a little late I suppose, but only because some other of my friends have already been playing for about 5 years. It doesn't bother me so much, I'm getting better (at least I'd like to pretend :) ) all the time.

I think the main thing that will effect how good you can be is how much time you are willing to dedicate to practice each day, not when you start playing. Unless you start playing when you are like 5 or 6 or something ridiculous like that.

Like Musenfreund, I started a bit over 3 years ago at 45.

I started playing seriously when I was 11. Next June will mark 37 years of playing.

At a very young age I figured out how to express my inner personality, the more I practiced at it and guitar the easier it became to play with expression. Which in turn gives me new insights into playing. The music you play should reflect your state of mind. This is where the magic power of guitar playing comes from.

That was a long time ago but seems like yesterday. All I can say is its been the best years of my life. hard to believe its been 44, Doesn't seem like it, but I do sound and play like it. You are what you think you are. Everyone has the ability to express themselves musically.

Joe

For most of my life (from about age 4 to 18 ) my life revolved around playing baseball. I was good, but not good enough to play college ball, so it left a bit of a void when I stopped playing and went to college. I became very interested in music, but did not start playing guitar until I was 21, in August of 2003.

I wish I had started younger when I would have had a lot more time to devote to playing, but what are ya gonna do? I'm still a lot better than I was a year ago.