Anybody learn to play when you were middle aged?

tomkatzz · #1 04-14-2007, 11:01 PM

I'm just learing to play the guitar. I'm 55 and have been learning since January. I practice about an hour a day and it's not going as fast as I wish it were.

Right now I'm trying to learn Eric Clapton's version of "Crossroads" as taught in the Song Xpress series CD. My fingers don't move fast enough and I'm hitting a lot of sour notes. Plus I have a really hard time remembering the song.

Did anyone else here wait until you were middle aged before you picked up the guitar? And are you now proficient?

I sure could use a success story.

**elcid** · #2 04-14-2007, 11:25 PM

No, but I have had students that were middle aged.
You've only been playing for 4 months, what do you expect? You are using muscles you've probably never had to use.
I started when I was 12 but it was still a challenge for me. One of the best guitar players I know is in his 60s, granted he's been playing for a long time, but he can still play incredibly well, and he plays Chet Atkins type stuff. Something I'm willing to bet a good percentage of the younger people cant do.

tomkatzz · #3 04-14-2007, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcid

No, but I have had students that were middle aged.

Any success stories in that group?

**elcid** · #4 04-14-2007, 11:37 PM

Honestly?
No, not for lack of ability though just lack of trying. Just like kids they would have a hundred excuses for why they didnt practice or couldnt do something. If they stuck with it they could have. It just takes time and patience.
In the grand scheme of things, 4 months is nothing, even at an hour a day.
You just have to stick with it man.

**elcid** · #5 04-14-2007, 11:49 PM

Also, how much of your time is spent doing excersizes and how much is just trying to learn the song. If you dont do any excersizes, your fingers will take longer to develope the strength and coordination you need.
Are you taking formal lessons?

tomkatzz · #6 04-15-2007, 12:14 AM

I was. But my teacher, who was half my age, felt intimidated. He teaches children, but is himself a fantastic guitar player.

Anyway, his teaching was as follows. You bring in a CD of a song you like. He listens to it and writes the TAB.

You then try to learn the song.

At the price I was paying, I wanted to learn songs, plus theory.

So I've taken the money and bought numerous books, DVDs, CDs and teaching aids.

I do exercises. A pentatonic scale. A blues scale. C scale.

**Ayrton** · #7 04-15-2007, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomkatzz

Anyway, his teaching was as follows. You bring in a CD of a song you like. He listens to it and writes the TAB.

You then try to learn the song.

Find a new teacher.

You will be amazed at how well your fingers will respond to doing exercises. Spend the next two weeks (hour a day) doing nothing but strength building, and then tackle the same song. You will notice a difference.

**elcid** · #8 04-15-2007, 03:55 AM

Yeah, you need a new teacher. 3 scales are not an excersize.
I never teach scales until the student is ready to actually use them.

tomkatzz · #9 04-15-2007, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcid

Yeah, you need a new teacher. 3 scales are not an excersize.
I never teach scales until the student is ready to actually use them.

What do you teach your beginning students?

**elcid** · #10 04-15-2007, 09:48 AM

First week is parts of the guitar, tuning with a tuner, reading tab and basic excersizes. Second and third weeks more excersizes. Fourth week, usually we get into open chords (A, Am, C, Cadd9, D, Dm, D7, E, Em, G, G7)then when they have those chords memorized I'll teach an open chord song. Usually Wish You Were Here, or You Shook Me. Then generally after that I do different things depending on the student and what they want to learn

tomkatzz · #11 04-15-2007, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcid

basic excersizes. Second and third weeks more excersizes.

What kind of exercises?

**elcid** · #12 04-15-2007, 01:12 PM

PM me your address and I'll send you my curriculum

Hikey Mikey · #13 04-15-2007, 02:51 PM

Hey tomkatzz,

I began playing last year at age 35 and since then nine months have passed. I'm not "proficient" by any means, but I can now play several songs (strumming chords, not single-note solos).

I had some basic music theory under my belt from playing the harmonica. I knew how simple chord progressions worked. I got a Mey Bay chord book and just did C-G-F and A-E-D over and over and over again. When I got tired of the progression I was playing, I just mixed up the order or threw in a minor chord or whatever.

Like cid says, it just takes time and practice. Another thing I've noticed about musical learning is that it seems to happen in plateaus. I'll work on a particular technique for a long time with no success, but then one day, I can do it like I've been doing it all my life. It's a "darkest before the dawn" type of phenomenon. Stick with it and don't get discouraged.

rufes · #14 04-16-2007, 08:28 PM

I would say the key is TIME

I started at 9 y.o. and by 14 I was spending like 5-7 hours every single day playing the thing. Now I do not have all that time anymore with the job, wife, kids... and your brain is not so open anymore.

I am not the kind of guy who has spent all his life with exercises but I have spent it with the guitar becoming a very important part of myself and developing my own vocabulary. And yes, I have done a lot of technique and exercises too.

How many hours have I played in the last 23 years? don't know... many thousands and mainly because I started when I had A LOT of time.

Now I try my best to play every day. Usually 1 hour.

However it is great to start at any age and the thing is to have fun so, go and play!!!!

ken_r152 · #15 04-16-2007, 08:52 PM

Every bit of everything that you do, musically, counts. You'd be surprised. I'm sure that you can hear songs in your mind very well, and you probably have developed some good "pitch memory" as well. It's just a matter of making your fingers play what you hear in your head.

Don't feel pressured by other people. Move at your own pace. Music is a hobby and a lifelong pursuit. It's for you to work at and enjoy, and continue to develop new goals.

Sometimes it helps to play just single note lines of the melody, or the vocal part that you recognize. Then when you've got the recognizable part of the song down, you can go back and learn the more detailed parts.