Hi from an old dog

Welcome Vinnie, hope you will learn a few new tricks

Hello Vinnie :grinning:

A very warm welcome to the forum!
Youā€™ve found the perfect place here. The lessons and song tutorials are great and Justin is an awesome teacher.

And with your 24 changes youā€™ve made good progress already in just three weeks. :+1:

Keep up the great work and keep it fun.

Wishing you all the best for your musical journey

Cheers from Germany
Gunhild :lady_beetle:

Welcome Vinnie, and good luck on your guitar journey. I too started a little later in life than I wouldā€™ve liked, but itā€™s never too late to learn, and you wonā€™t go far wrong by following Justinā€™s beginner course.

Hello Vinnie and welcome to our community. :slight_smile:

You can teach an old dog new tricks and youā€™re going to learn some pretty good ones along the way.

Hi Vinnie, welcome to the community. You enjoy playing the guitar, then guitar is for you. Your old ā€œteacherā€ is not around to listen, so go ahead and sing along with your playing when you feel like it. Learn to play guitar first though. It is not easy to play guitar and sing at the same time.

Welcome, Vinnie!

Boy, you are an old dog! I started at the spry young age of 56!

You definitely can teach an old dog new tricks! As a lifetime music lover like you, Iā€™m quite happy to finally be able to play some tunes myself!

Enjoy the journey!

I wouldnā€™t worry too much about your age. I found itā€™s never too late. This is the perfect spot for you to learn if youā€™re willing and have patience to learn. I turned 70 on the November 8th and have been at it for a while. Iā€™m probably slower than most of Justinā€™s students but that isnā€™t important to me. Learning at my own pace is what I enjoy. I have never had a lesson before joining this site but Iā€™m progressing to the point where I can play a number of songs although not ready for prime time. Just take your time and have fun. Keep us all posted on your progress.

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Welcome, Vinnie. AH, to have picked up the guitar at 61, Iā€™d have been into Grade 3 I figure by now (64)!! :sweat_smile: (Iā€™m just sloooooowwwwwwww)

All kidding aside, I am glad you opted to keep on playing! The OMCs are certainly helpful for me especially now that I am trying to master the F chord. Back at the beginning with the OMC between A and D where my first attempt was 12, I never thought Iā€™d get to this point.

Keep having fun!

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Hi Folks,

Just want to say thanks for all the comments and support.

Drum roll please. :drum:

I have finally broken the 30 on the one-minute challenge ā€˜Tah Dahā€™ :champagne:(Yes Mr. Springsteen Iā€™m coming for ya).

Had been stuck at 28 for a while but yesterday 33, not all perfect but am going to take them.

Still amazed that my fingers are starting to co-operate somewhat after the first session, I was convinced that there was no way my banana fingers were ever going to fit into the fret.

So am moving onto module 2.

Once again thanks to all for the great comments and support.

Cheers,

Vinnie

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Way to go, Vinnie!

Hi Vinnie & welcome!!! I found your posts very funny & really admire your newfound attitude/enthusiasm!!! Itā€™s cool how perspectives change as we age, eh? Maybe part of it is the changing attitudes in this world we live inā€¦ when I was younger, I never saw anyone at the grocery store in fuzzy slippers & pajamasā€¦ now itā€™s not that uncommonā€¦ WTF? :crazy_face:

As far as singing goes, keep at itā€¦ before you know it youā€™ll sound like a donkey WITHOUT a hernia!!! :rofl:

The main thing is to keep it fun & keep on going!!! 30 OMCs will be 50 soon & it just keeps getting better!!!

Good luck with your musical journey!!!

Tod

Hey there Vinnie! I do believe we joined the same day. As you are surely noticing improvements every day and to me, my improvements are incredible. A little bit everyday. Sounds like you are having a good time and thatā€™s what matters.

I too canā€™t singā€¦probably canā€™t dance. I just wanna learn something that isnā€™t work related.

Hi Erica,

You are right, I see unbelievable improvements that I never thought possible on the first day. I have the A and D chord fairly well and have just started learning the ā€˜Easy Chordā€™ E.

Took an age and then it just clicked, unfortunately it un-clicked again the next day and has been hit and miss for a while now. It is getting better though. Loving it and having so much fun.

Yes unfortunately the voice is not up to much and I too canā€˜t dance. I sort of do a one foot stomp kinda thing, the elbows are at a ninety degree angle with the arms doing a gentle pumping action backwards and forwards, all with a slow 360 degree rotation on the spot.

Throw a white jacket on me and put the Bee Gees ā€˜night feverā€™ on and you would swear that Tony Manero had just glided out onto the dance floor. :man_dancing:

Enjoy your practice and have fun.

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Moving on too Grade 1, Module 3 after what seems an eternity.

Started Module 2, with the ā€œEasy Chord Eā€.

All went well and I seemed to have it after a few short practice sessions.

The following day things took a turn for the worse, couldnā€™t seem to get the E chord at all. Worryingly the A chord soon started to go wrong, with the D chord following along swiftly behind.

It was like a slow-moving car crash; you could see it happening but just couldnā€™t figure out how to stop it (Iā€™d say that Mr. Springsteen gave a huge sigh of relieve at my misfortune).

I slowed things right down, practiced positive finger placement and anchor finger exercises, but this didnā€™t seem to help (very frustrating :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:).

Then I had a brain wave, pick a couple of songs that use the three chords but were a little above my ability level (not a hard task) and play along with them.

Obviously, it was horrendous, sounded like somebody murdering cats. But little by little I noticed an improvement, so I kept at it.

And lo and behold the next time I tried my one-minute chord changes, there was an improvement, and I was eventually able to hit the magic 30 on each chord change.

So, anyone out there who like myself is a newbie and a complete duffer, there is hope.

Just keep the faith and amazing things can happen for you.

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Howdy!

Regarding the ā€œold dog, new tricksā€ thing, Iā€™ve tried and failed to learn various instruments over the course of my life, an itā€™s only now, in my fifties, that Iā€™ve finally stuck with it (on guitar, almost eight years) and made some progress. ā€œOld dogsā€ actually have some real advantages over the pups, including these Iā€™ve found for myself:
*being semi retired, I have more time and energy
*I understand my own learning style much better
*I have more patience and better tolerate the slow pace of progress
*I can afford better equipment and private lessons
*There are so many musicians my age and older that itā€™s easy to find find jamming buddies and build a social life around music - which has probably been the most important thing for me.

So bark on, old dogs!