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

I’m a woman in my mid-50’s trying, for the first time, to learn guitar. I grew up with a brother who was quite a good guitar player, He used to set up his huge speakers and amp outdoors and “serenade” the entire neighborhood. He must have been pretty decent, because there were no complaints. Back to me, I picked up a Fender acoustic guitar about a month ago and I’ve been going through Justin Guitar beginner course. I practice about 30 minutes per day and started Module 5 yesterday.

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Welcome to the community Laurie.
I’ve been learning the guitar now for 6 months so am still very much a beginner and this is where I come to find motivation when I encounter the inevitable frustrations along the way. It’s good you’re not alone in the struggle.
I’m having the time of my life now and hopefully you do too.

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I am 52 and have always wanted to learn guitar, but never made it a priority. I picked up an electric guitar about 20 years ago, but with small kids and life getting in the way, it just sat in the corner. Now, I seem to have more time for things like this. I picked up a Yamaha FG800 acoustic a week ago and have practiced every day. I can see the small improvements each day and that is good enough for me. Just the fact that I can pick up a guitar and play several different chords without having to look at a cheat sheet is amazing to me. I work on the chord change exercises every day and while I am only getting 28-30 changes in a minute (A to D), I can see the progress and incremental growth in my playing.

Patience is a virtue and I have more of that now. I don’t get frustrated by what I can’t do, I find joy in what I can do. I am just enjoying the process.

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Absolutely. Enjoy. :slightly_smiling_face:

Welcome.

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There is mental age then there is physical, and i dare say Spiritual age… Lets just say

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Hi, I am a similar age, 72, and making music is an amazing pleasure and gift. Guitar for me but music in general, without which we would all be the poorer.
Keep on rocking
Mal

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I hear you Griff. Share the same question "why did I stop and where would i be today if i had kept playing. Making up for list time is so much fun! I’m 76 and having a blast! Never too late.

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Very good to hear Barry. There’s no time for regrets, we just need to keep learning and keep playing!

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Hello and welcome to all the newbies that have arrived. :slight_smile:

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Hi from Oregon, just getting started with guitar, finding the lessons and the tools are working great for me so far.

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Hello Qua and welcome to the community. :slight_smile:

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I first got myself a guitar about 35 years ago when I was a student. I worked at it enough that I could play the basic open and barre chords, but I was never quite able to put together anything that anyone else would recognise as a song, so I gave up.

Now the kids have started learning instruments. We got my 5 yr old a cheap ukukele and I found myself sitting picking out Smoke on the Water late at night when everyone else was in bed. That led to Justin’s channel and lots of Anderton’s videos and now I’m waiting on a delivery of a new Squier Classic Vibe.

I’m 54 now, but there’s still an inner teenage me that is super excited and can’t wait to crank it up. I’m not sure how the wife and kids will react! I’m hoping I’ll progress better this time with courses like this and youtube vids.

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@AndyMcG2
Andy
Welcome to the community.

You are never too old to learn, I am 69 on Wednesday and I only started again at the beginning of the year after doing a bit when I was a teenager.
Cheers
Michael :guitar::guitar::guitar:

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Hi Andy, @AndyMcG2
Although I am a youngster here in this topic with my 48 years young,…still I wish you welcom, and wish you a Happy NGD in advance…start as much as possible at the beginning here and there will be great things await with your renewed guitar journey.
And, when your guitar comes in it’s not uncommon here to take a picture of it and just show it of :sunglasses:… in fact, we’re disappointed if you don’t :joy:
Greetings and a lot of fun, Rogier

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Thanks Roger. I didn’t know about the tradition of posting new guitar pics, but that makes sense. Will do so, if my fingers aren’t too sore from playing to press the shutter.

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Hello Andy and welcome to the community. :slight_smile:

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Hello to all fellow old dogs. It’s a pleasant surprise to see, at the age of 63 and two months into my guitar learning journey, that there are guitarists on here even older, but enjoying the experience just as much as I am. I’m also a left-hander, but made the decision to begin the process right-handed because it just seemed less complicated. It also avoided the bloodshed that would have followed when my wife discovered I’d restrung her guitar! The guitar in question is at least 45 years old and very much a school-issue classical. I’ve only recently discovered that modern acoustics tend to have narrower necks and string spacings so I don’t want to leave it too long before investing in one because a certain amount of re-learning is sure to follow. Apart from that, this forum looks very much the place to be and I’ve already had some very helpful advice and direction. Good luck, everyone.

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Turning 53 in a few weeks and always wanted to learn guitar and perform with some mates. So glad I discovered JustinGuitar. So beginner grade 1 for me it is. Trying to do a module a week. Also teaching myself bass at the same time with another website so lets see how this goes.

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Welcome Brendan ! And a fine age to start for sure.

I would offer some advice, in that a module a week is pushing it, as there is a lot of content. I say that mainly as you need to be able to apply and consolidate what you learn in each module. Based on experience I think you will be rushing things with that objective and risk building a weak foundation. OK we all learn in different ways and different speeds but this is a slow and steady race, which I frequently compared to a marathon rather than a sprint. The more I have learned and the more experience I’ve gained, these days I refer to it being more as an ultrathon and its never ending. But building the foundations is the most important stage and needs to be taken slowly and methodically.

A wealth of experience here, so make sure you utilise folk on the forum, if you help or advice.

Cheers

Toby
:sunglasses:

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Thanks for the welcome and the advice.
Quick question for you and anyone else, and yes, this will be a how long is a piece of string type question but…
Beginner Guitar Course Grade 1 is made up of 7 modules. Now I assume some modules will be easier than others depending upon many things including how much time one can devote to practicing. So my question is, roughly how long are people taking to complete the Grade 1 course?

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