Older guitar students - can 'old dogs' learn new tricks?

Hello Michael and welcome to our community. :slight_smile:

I’m sure you are being overly hard on yourself there. Remember, you are a little bit better than you were yesterday.

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The short anser is an absolute YES. I’m 55, played off and on over the years. More off than on. Never got to far at all. Now I’ve been playing for two years, every day, and seeing progress. I suppose my head is in the right place and I’m willing to spend the time doing something wonderfully fulfilling and I now share this passion with kids. And I’m not what I’d consder very good, a novice at best. Don’t focus on how much you need to learn or how ‘crappy’ you are. Focus on the sheer enjoyment of this gift. Keep playing and most of all, keep playing, every day. Then share it with others. Right after that, keep playing and repeat.
One other very important detail… follow Justin Sandercores guidance. There are other worthy teachers out there but I can’t say enough of how Justin and his team put this together. One size fits all. Oh, did I mention the most important thing? KEEP PLAYING! Cheers!

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You found the right place to be. Happy playing! Tell others about Justin!

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Good to hear from you, Tim. Those are some good tips. It doesn’t matter what age you are, we can all enjoy learning and make progress if we just keep playing! I’m glad you found your way back to the guitar and to regular practice. :guitar: :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hello and welcome to our community Tim. :slight_smile:

You’ve banged the nail on the head there, it’s all about enjoyment.

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Welcome Michael, so nice to have you here :hugs:. Learning to play an instrument while having young kids is a real challenge. I can very much relate to this. It’s not easy, to find enough practice time on a regular basis. Or maybe you have the time, but are too exhausted for it :sleeping:.
Nevertheless, I wish you lots of fun with your six-string-friend (and your kids) and hope to hear more from you :smiley:.

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, a very warm welcome to all of those who have joined at a certain age, take your time and enjoy your progress, have fun and join in with the community, we’re a happy, crazy and often comical bunch!
I notice a little comment I made induced a bit of a curve ball :joy::joy::joy: it’s all part of the comeradery and banter that exists here, if you don’t like it…… tough, we do!
Ladies, Girls, Chics, whatever if you notice the title is ’old dogs’ which is in parentheses for good reason, it’s just part of a commonly used and accepted phrase for older folks regardless of gender so not intended to offend.

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Ladies, Girls, Chics, whatever if you notice the title is ’old dogs’ which is in parentheses for good reason, it’s just part of a commonly used and accepted phrase for older folks regardless of gender so not intended to offend.

I’m not offended. I think it’s all rather funny as I suspect most everyone here does.

I’m an old dog, too, turning 64 in May. Bought my first guitar at the end of November, about a week after my husband bought his bass. I’ve been wanting to learn for at least 50 years, thwarted by my parents, who, looking back on things now, probably didn’t have the money for lessons. Why I waited this long? I guess the usual reasons, life in general and then spending the last 5.5 years building a house, (still no done and how will be every finish when we need to practice?!!) (oh yeah, plus we live in the boonies/sticks/hinterlands, so no teachers around here and our internet was lousy, all that buffering so YouTubes were impossible.)

So, got my guitar, went poking about the internet, learned 3 E chords from some British guy on YouTube, but wasn’t “feeling it” then found Justin around mid-December, tried the free first Module on the App. Then life broke in again when down for 2 weeks with covid, lost my calluses, then found the website when we got better. I’m really enjoying it here (while my husband learns bass using yousician as Justin doesn’t do bass). I’m thinking i may need to buy the app because I just don’t see myself trying to coordinate my playing with Spotify and the Beginner’s songbook. Any of you old dogs use the app?

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@LunaRocket Hi Rebecca, I’m also an old dog (54) and I’m using the app for play along since the beginning of my guitar journey. It’s a really helpful tool. I’m using the website for lessons, as there is more additional information provided and the app mostly for play along. It’s helpful for timing and rhythm, has a click/metronome function and you can slow down the speed. Sometimes, songs in the app are in a different key and in a msimplified version than in the song books, but it’s a great start into playing. I work with the songbooks as well, but I’m not a great singer and the backing tracks give support to sound better, especially in the beginning. It’s great to get a feeling for the songs. Later, if you progress, you can work on the songs more intense, using Justin’s tutorials or songbooks.

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So what constitutes an “old dog” at 60 I guess I am a young old dog I can sit and play and practice for hours I just have a problem standing up again. Looking to form an old dogs band preferably seated. :rofl: :joy:

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Hi All, Gary from San Diego here. So glad to find so many other life-long learners here.
I learned three chords an a cheap Yamaha I bought used when I was 22. Then paused my guitar journey for 41 busy years until I discovered JustinGuitar a couple years ago. Now that’s all I want to do - just like the song. Anyway it’s great to see so many others experiencing the arc of life in a similar way.

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Welcome, Gary.

You’ve come to the right place.

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Hello and welcome aboard Gary. :slight_smile:

Maybe we are all trying to recapture our youth? :smiley:

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Welcome, Gary. This really is a cool place, isn’t it?

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Yes @LunaRocket this is a cool place. Once I figure out how to use it properly (never had much use for social media until now). I’m really looking forward to sharing my rejuvenated guitar passion with this community.

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I’d like to think we never lost it. Maybe it just went hiding for a bit.

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Greetings from N. E. Pennsylvania.

At 61 and retired, I finally found time to learn guitar. Back in high school some of my friends taught me some barre chords so I could jam along with them but never had time to peruse learning anything more. I’ve been following Justin’s web site course for nearly 2 months, and look forward to practicing every day.

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Hi Joe, welcome to the community! Have a lot of fun and enjoy learning!

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Hello and welcome to our community Joe. :slight_smile:

You’ll be hitting those barre chords again sometime in the future.

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Welcome, Joe. I may get to those barre chords someday, if I ever master D minor and what comes next! Not to mention One Minute Changes going from A minor to D. OUCH! don’t think I’ll ever get past 20-22 a minute.

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