Yep, that’s perfect. You got to get those basics down.
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Franz, good luck. I am in the over 50 club as well (closer to 70 actually) and just learning to play. It’s incredible isn’t it, I echo everything you said in your intro. Justin certainly found his calling, he’s an incredible teacher.
I read an interview with john frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers recently that inspired me and cranked my daily practice from 30 minutes to 2 hours. He’s ranked one of the top 20 guitarists in the world by rolling stone.
He was asked what his daily routine was while touring. He said he practices scales and does finger stretching exercises for 2 hours in the morning then practices his playlist for 4 hours in the afternoon before the show! Wow!! I thought those guys just smoked a joint and went up on stage :).
It completely changed my attitude and told me you have to put in the effort if you want to be good.
Even Jeff Beck and John Fogerty practice (d) two hours every day. I’m sure that’s true for most professional guitarists.
Enjoy the journey and welcome to the club.
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Franz, welcome to the community forum. While you are practicing Grade 1, it is good to go back through the Grade 1 lessons on the website and focus on the strumming. Also look at some Grade 1 song lesson videos on the website. Also, it is good to look at the summary at the end of grade 1 on what you need to do before you go on to Grade 2. You’ll actually start to improvise in Grade 2 so be patient and you will meet your goals.
You don’t need to practice more than the recommended 20 minute routines as a Grade 1 beginner. If want to do more, have fun playing songs.
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Ditto. That and F 
One of my favorite guitarists, too. I find his performances insane, e.g., this one:
RHCP - Don’t Forget Me, Live - YouTube
Wow, that’s a lot of effort. You seem to be very motivated.
Quite my humor 
Thanks Roch!
Thanks Steve
Working on it Have I mentioned the C-chord already? 
I’ll go with the flow and keep being curious about anything that might come on my way.
Thanks for confirming. That’s what I have decided to do. When I get home from work, I’m tired anyways. So a 20 minute session works well for me, during the week. I’m surprised that with managable (regular) effort I do see progress. Baby steps, as @NicoleKKB said, but still…
Weekend - time for songs 
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Franz, thanks for sharing, that was insane!
One thing I really like about this course ( I’m also taking music classes at a local community college) is that I am now going back and revisiting a lot of music I took for granted or didn’t fully appreciate, like rhcp. I liked them but now I am rediscovering them with a completely different perspective. It’s like new music to me now.
Btw- I read an interview with flea and he says he has a similar routine, practicing scales every day for about an hour.
Hearing people like that say they still practice the basics really helped me focus on the basics. It doesn’t feel boring anymore.
Good luck,
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Hi Franz and welcome!
It could have been me saying:
I am also a beginner over 50 - more towards 60 actually - and I am from Switzerland. My start was one year ago (after having a go at playing the Ukulele) and I am really happy I found JustinGuitar as there are so many offers of guitar teachers (or people who think they are) on the internet that one could easily lose one’s orientation.
Have fun practising and playing! Anyway, I’m going to grab the guitar now and practice 
All the best to you!
Ursula
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Good to meet you Franz, welcome!
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Hello Franz and welcome to our community.
It is a marathon and not a sprit which is a plus for being an older student. Enjoy.
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Hello Franz and welcome…you seem to have the right mindset…enthusiasm fun and patience, that’s a good mix! Enjoy your journey and don’t hesitate to share with us…we’re all here to support eachother more than anything else!
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Hi Franz - we’re both sharing the same ambition to improvise on the guitar. Here’s to us making it happen.
We’re currently about the same stage - just out of the gates from Grade 1 with a lot familiarisation still to take hold.
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From your introduction in the other thread I rather get the impression that you are far ahead of me I’ll try to catch up 
But yes, we seem to share the same dream, but also the same joy about playing guitar today. Good luck to you 
It’s all good. The best comparison is to ourselves last week and last month.
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Hi Franz, welcome. Keep working on your guitar playing as you are. As you have gotten proficient with previous chords you’ll get with the C chord and later with barre chords and others.
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Hello Franz, welcome to the Community.
If you need any help just ask.
Cheers
Richard
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