Hello, I’m 63 and have never played a guitar. I have a Fender American Professional II Stratocaster being delivered sometime in the next 4 weeks so I guess I better learn to play it! You may be wondering why I would spend so much and not even know how to play, I know I would be! Well for my 25 year service anniversary reward from work I chose it because it’s a nice gift even if I never learn to play it. BUT I really want to so that’s why I chose it. It will be good for my mind to learn something new. So I’m here, wish me luck!
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Welcome to the forum Terry. The strat is a very nice gift. It will be a pleasure learning with it.
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Man, I don’t believe my company would give me that nice of a gift for 25 years. That is a sweet gift to get!
Welcome to the club. Enjoy!
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Hi Terry,
Welcome here and I wish you a lot of fun 
And buying a guitar in terms of quality above your playing level is something everyone wants to do (almost everybody ?) if they have the money
No explanation required, but it is a nice one 
. You have given yourself a wonderful gift, even without playing it, and if you hang around here at Justinguitar, you will receive a gift of playing music and that for a very long time.
Greetings ,Rogier
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Rip it up bro. Never be sorry for what you want.
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Hello Terry & welcome!!!
You have found what most (if not all) of the people here consider to be the best guitar instructor on the web!!! Justin’s lessons are very well done and provide information and structure to learn. Also, when you have questions, this Community really helps!!!
Good luck & enjoy the journey!!!
Tod
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You’ve come to the right place, age isn’t the problem, it’s mindset - don’t put yourself down and remove negative thoughts and words from your vocabulary, replace them with can and will, it may take a bit longer but never loose sight of what you came here for!
That’s a great gift and will give you a great start, make use of it and keep it where you can see it - it will be staring at you asking to be picked up 
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Welcome aboard, it’s a lovely place to learn. I’ve been here for only a couple of weeks. Started from scratch like yourself and you REALLY will learn stuff here. Take it easy, take it slow, follow the course from the beginning and I assure you you’ll have some fun.
Be easy on yourself it won’t happen overnight but check back in and maybe start a log on here and you’ll be amazed at what you pick up I’m sure.
And don’t be shy, everyone I’ve chatted too on here is so supportive and happy to help.
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Thanks for the welcome! Now I just have to wait patiently for delivery. I’m already planning so that’s how I found this place.
Any recommendations for an amp and tuner?
I do! The Boss Katana 50 or 100 are good choices for an amp… solid state with lots of options right out of the box! Any clip-on tuner… I have a Snark & a couple of D’Addarios… all 3 do the job & they’re cheap!
Have fun!!!
Tod
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Thanks much appreciated!
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Welcome! I’m new here too, looks like a cool place to learn loads. Just my thoughts on the Strat… I think it really helps to start with a really good quality guitar. I think many people find it difficult enough and a cheap, badly set up guitar can be way more difficult to play (at any level) than a good well set-up one. I’d be interested to know how many people give up the learning process early because of this, I know I nearly did, my PRS electric was perfectly set-up right out of the box and it was a revelation to play!
So, best of luck, enjoy the journey!
Hey Terry, welcome to the community. A guitar is a wonderful gift and with the lessons you get here for free you can go a long ways. I started with Justin some 13 years ago at the age of 53 and the one thing I’d like to impress on you is the reward is so very worth it. It takes a bit of stick-to-it-iveness at the start, but not really a horrific amount.
Try to make it part of your daily routines, just 15 minutes a day is all I started with and I’m so glad I did. Look forward to hearing more from you.
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ooooohhhh and the fun is just beginning! 
welcome to the community Terry 
You’re in the right place for learning guitar with JG
Congratulations on such a beautiful anniversary reward gift! 
Feel free to post pics of it here 
I second the recommendation for a Boss Katana amp 
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Hi Yojo, 
, welcome to the group.
As for your comment, not really, can’t learn any instrument unless you buy it first lol.
Nice guitar, make sure you post some pics when you get it OK.
R
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Yes I’m gathering that was a silly comment about to much guitar for a beginner! I will post pictures when it finally arrives.
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I had a choice between many nice gifts but I was drawn to the Strat! I just know and feel really good that I chose correctly.
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Welcome Terry what a wonderful gift I am sure you will make good use of it, being here proves that for sure. When I was about to pull the plug at 55 back in 2011, I was browsing an online guitar store and was drooling over a Washburn HB30 TSB, having had an old Squier Affinity for my 40th. Was completed stoked to be presented it on my leaving day and it is still a treasure part of my collection.
Have fun and enjoy the ride.
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Hi Terry, welcome to the community. I am biased, since I own a Fender Mustang amp, but think that you should also consider one of the Fender Mustang line of amps. The Mustang LT-50 (50 watt) amp is similar in price to the Katana. It really depends on your personal preferences. There are a lot guitarists on this site that have a Boss Katana amp and Justin has some tutorials on using the amp. They are both great amps that can give you years of playing fun and they both can be used to play all kind of music. My opinion is that Fender has a better variety of clean and vintage tones since they are based on Fender amp models. Boss specializes in effects pedals used in modern rock music, so if you like harder rock, metal and other modern tones you might prefer the katana. You can go on YouTube and hear demos of the two amps.
Congrats on the great guitar. Have fun learning with Justin’s tutorials.
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A couple of additional thoughts:
Even an expensive guitar can often require some work to get it more “playable”. The action (height of the strings above the fretboard), the neck angle & neck relief (the amount of bowing) and with an electric, the intonation (simply put, how well the guitar stays in tune as you play up the neck) often need adjustments. It’s a good idea for you to take your new baby to a shop that has a luthier or guitar tech to check it out & make any adjustments that may be needed. This is a good time to establish a rapport for the future when you’re going to need help with something.
Secondly, I’m a big advocate of buying a stand or wall mount so you have the guitar handy… after all, it’s a beautiful thing so give it a spot in the house where you can pick it up & play for a few minutes while you’re waiting for something… my case it’s playing a song or some scales while the coffee’s brewing! 
If the guitar is in a case in the closet, it’s going to be played much less.
Hope this helps!!!
Tod
P.S. What part of Texas are you from? I lived in Ft. Worth for a short time many years ago!
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