Hi everyone.
Ive just picked up the Electric Guitar at 44 years of age to try and encourage my son to keep up his practice at home. I’m from Poole in Dorset and I have to say, finding Justin Guitar has changed this experience really quickly. I’m not expecting to be great but if i can keep my son inspired and maybe even encourage my daughter, then I’ll consider it a big success. Also, my son and I are lefties which has been an interesting start as well. Looking forward to this.
Matt
Welcome Matt!
Good luck and welcome to the community. I did pretty much the same thing for the same reasons at 43 (a bit over a year ago). Though I had played for a while in my 20’s. Last week I was jamming the blues with my son (10 years old), me on acoustic (rhythm) and him on electric (lead). You can make a lot of progress in a short time, and you don’t need to be “great” to have a great time.
What type of guitar did you pick up?
That does sound very familiar, only my son is 7.
I decided to just get a cheap left-handed guitar to start with. Its an Antiquity ST1 in white. I’m loving it, my fingers not so much, but i am having a whale of a time. Apparently it’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks.
I have a hard time thinking of a 44 year old as an old dog. My kids are older than you. Welcome to the group. Having a son to play with has got to be fun.
I do have a tendency to tell myself I’m too old to learn but you are right, it definitely isn’t old and I should give myself more credit.
It will be fun to learn with him, just need him to learn a bit more with his teacher and hopefully he will be a bit more resilient and enjoy it at home.
Welcome to the forum Matt
Welcome, youngster! 
Hi Matt, welcome to the community forum.
So great you and your kid are making the journey together.
(think of all the music that you’ll introduce each other to)
An option of JustinGuitar is to post a video of yourself as you progress along.
Looking forward to seeing you and your son up on the LED screen.
Also, be prepared to be breathing his dust. Young brains (particularly < 25 years) are a lot more plastic. He is still in the very plastic stage and you are helping him develop a language that he will be able to use his entire life. He can soon be conversant.
Way to go Dad!
Hello Matt,
picking up guitar at any age to motivate kids… is really great thing and one day when I have kids I will try to motivate them too.
Really soon you will see that it is not only about motivating your kids, but finding new way to live and it will bring you joy. Even when you strumm only one chord or string… it can be really relaxing and expressing. 
Wishing you luck on your journey and dont bother (be scared - I am not sure which word is right) to ask us anything. We are here.
Like You I have started at 47 and teaching my 12 year old daughter what I learn. She is good at piano ( level5 trinity) so she is picking up really well. For now she is getting exposure to the guitar. I hope she picks up guitar too. Yesterday she made me a guitar pick holder 
and I cherish it. She also can sing, so she sings and I play the guitar. We intend to make a recording. Here is a pic of the sweetness she made. Wishing you all the best for the fun journey.
Hi Matt ,
welcome here and I wish you a lot of fun 
And about great …well you are at Justinguitar so always expect the unexpected of good things 
Greetings,Rogier
Hi Matt, welcome to the community! You are still a youngster compared to lots of members here, so you’ve got plenty of time ahead to learn and enjoy guitar.
Happy for you, that you probably can start this journey together with your son. Making music together will be a great thing to do! Keep him motivated, he’ll never regret having started early in life. All the best!
Hi Matt, welcome to the forum, enjoy the ride and hope the journey is long and fun filled.
Welcome aboard, Matt, and good on you for being a good parent and wanting to lead your children down the path of worthwhile experiences
However…
You need to make enjoying playing/learning guitar the focus of your endeavour.
Do it for yourself. Your enthusiasm will be infectious and rub off 
see do.
Good luck to all of you
Hy Matt, welcome to the club. It’s fun to play the guitar with the help of Justin. If you start at 44 or at 72, age is not important, pleasure, motivation and playing your favorit songs, is.
Welcome
Haha nice. Welcome to the party. I hope you and your family have a great musical adventure. Maybe we will see a band someday called the Edwards family ripping it up on stage. That would be great.
You might even find you like it more than you child does. Thats how I started. Got my kid a guitar, she never played it. After she left for collage it was sitting in the corner of her room, and I could not let it go to waste.
Nice to meet you Mathew cheers Hec
Hello Matty & Welcome!
Couple of things for you…
Any guitar fresh out of the box, be it a £99 Antiquity or a several thousand pound Gibson can benefit from being “set up” by a guitar tech/luthier. One of the main reasons that causes people to give up on learning guitar is that often the strings are too high which makes them very difficult to press down enough to get a really good sounding note. This is often particularly true for “beginner” guitars that are more affordable.
If you do a google search of Music Store Near Me, you’ll find someplace close by that does repairs. It would benefit you to at least go have someone who’s knowledgeable to look at your guitar 
& advise you on whether it could use a little “help”!
Also, while you’re there, pick up a stand for your guitar if you don’t already have one. I often find myself with just a few minutes on my hands while I’m waiting for something & since my guitar is handy on it’s stand, I can spend 5-10 minutes practicing or playing! Those minutes add up over days & weeks!
The most important thing though is to always keep it FUN!!! It’s called PLAYING GUITAR for a reason! If you’re having fun, you will be way more inclined to play more often & the more you play, the better you get & the more fun it is!!! You can see where this is going, right? 
Good luck to you & your son!!!
Tod from New Mexico USA
