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

Hey Bon_Jon_Bovi! I first started learning guitar at the tender age of 62! Three years on and I’m loving it. I practice/play about 5 hours a day. Best thing I could’ve done. Justin is an integral part of my journey. I have all his apps and I am doing his theory course. He is the best online teacher there is!

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I’ve now had a couple of lessons with a local guy, and I’ve found that going along with questions, and having someone actually there to pick up my technique errors, and to be able to demonstrate stuff, is really helpful.

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Hi every1 , I’m Colin from sunny Scotland , 54yo , 6 months in2 my journey , I’ve got an epiphone sg standard , and recently bought a positive grid spark amp , it’s been a game changer for me , saves flaffing about trying to make tones that sound like anything with a normal amp, I’ve been following the learning path on the app , on the blues module in level 2 at the moment, loving my guitar journey so far :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hi all. I’m generally Liz or Lizzy IRL but also Beth because of my user name, I don’t mind. I am soon to be 65, and planning on requesting an electric guitar amp for my birthday :grinning: I am 2 weeks into my guitar journey with Justinguitar.
I have an old acoustic guitar which has been in a cupboard for 30 years and is causing me problems which I am tackling with the help of @Jamolay .
I am looking at buying an electric which Justin says is better for beginners, and have had a load of useful advice in the gear topic.
I have an additional complication in that I am left handed and wondering if I should really be learning on a lefty guitar, I think I’m early enough in the learning process to switch. Going to talk to a friend’s husband next weekend about that as he plays left handed.
I did teach myself to play guitar when I was a teenager, last century. I would have considered myself a competent beginner. I thought it might come back, but it really hasn’t.

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We surely do have some woofers and barkers and howlers in here - a right hotch-potch kennel of grizzled growlies.
:wink:

Don’t forget y’all … pop by and also introduce yourselves individually here: Introduce yourself ... - JustinGuitar Community

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I am a left playing righty. A bit over a year now. I chose to do this for reasons specific to me, it may not be the right choice for everyone.

Interestingly, when I first started I looked at “Guitar Tricks” and they recommended all lefties play righty. I don’t think I agree with that in this day and age.

I do think most lefties can learn righty. After all, that means our strong, coordinated hand is fretting.

But I also think I might slow some people down. I definitely think it has slowed me down. I spend a lot of time with remedial and repetitive practice to teach my strumming appendage rhythm. But it is not like my left has much rhythm either…

I think it was Toby, in another thread (could be wrong on who) who suggested that you really stop any think about where your sense of rhythm lives and what feel most comfortable (I am sure I am terribly miss quoting him) and go that way.

I think it is a great idea to speak to a left player and hopefully fart around with a lefty guitar, maybe even borrow it for a while. Definitely get a good idea before a new guitar purchase!

I am sure you can and will succeed whichever handedness you choose, it has more to do white where you want to put energy. I seem to be putting a lot in trying to bring my right hand up to speed.

Part of my reasoning to play righty was to train cross brain tasks. I am a neurologist and have some Alzheimer’s disease in my family. One of the best things we can do to keep our minds strong throughout our older years is to challenge ourselves with complex cognitive motor tasks. Playing and learning to play music is a wonderful way to do this, super powerful, and I chose to push one step further by going opposite handed. But I am just demented that way…

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Richard :rofl: ARRROOOOOOOOOOOO :dog2: :bat:

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An opportunity to post this barking Bozzo again. Thank you Richard. :sunglasses:

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That’s really interesting to hear. Learning a musical instrument is also part of my masterplan to stave off Alzheimers, which runs in my family too.
TBH for me I don’t think it probably matters that much which way I go. I was going with learning right handed because that’s the instrument I have, but if I’m going to buy a new one I thought I might as well consider the alternative.

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I think do what you think!

The arguments for playing right handed mostly revolve around there being lots more cool guitars to buy. It’s true, but nowadays probably a bit less important.

Trying it out is a good idea.

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My husband is also left-handed but learned to play right-handed over 30 years ago. He is really good.

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I absolutely love this entire thread Richard! I may not be the same age as some of these fine folks here, as I’m only 34, but there Is still a copious amount of pressure on guitarists to be this absolute prodigy by the time you’re 20 years old. At least in the genre of metal which is where I primarily place my feet. There’s a lot of people that tell me to pack it up because I’m past my prime. I’m not past my prime until I’m gone. Until then i will learn everyday! I loved reading everybody’s stories and I love the fact that that people are still learning because that’s what makes guitar so fun, the journey never ends. And guitar’s for everybody regardless of age!

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Grizzled growlies OMG I love it​:rofl::rofl::rofl: this whole post reminded me of how my dad talks about his dogs :rofl:

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My only complaint is the 20 character minimum that makes it hard to be an old curmudgeon and grunt a one word witty reply…

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That’s the whole idea
Now get off my lawn :grinning:

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Hi You are all young chickens . I turn 71 in April I wish I had started many years ago but it was not to be. I am enjoying it so much . I know I will never be as good as you guys but I am having so much fun. Not sure how this forum works but hopefully I will catch on

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Well, you’ll be as good as some of us if you give yourself a fair chance!

But of course the right response is for me to reassure you that it’s not a contest and no one will be judging you, and this is all something you are doing for yourself, right?

Yeah, well who am I kidding? It’s definitely a contest to see who can learn the mostest the fastest! :smirk_cat:

Now that we have that out of the way, welcome! What brings you to Justin’s site? What kind of guitar do you play? What’s your favorite thing you have learned so far?

The way this place works is you come here for moral support, to get questions answered and advice, and to help others by sharing your own experience. I am finding the community here to be as important for my learning at this point as Justin’s classes are. Hopefully you will find the same!

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You’re better than people who have not tried, already!

I dont think the objective is to be better than anyone other than your previous self.

As a creative outlet us older folk have a bunch more experience and history to call upon :smiley:

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@scoobie1 Welcome to the Community, Dianne.

A good place to start is introducing yourself here: #community-hub:introduce-yourself Then you can follow people’s progress in the #community-hub:learning-logs and share progress recordings here: #all-about-your-music:audio-video-of-you-playing.

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I’ll be 42 in a couple of weeks. I played drums in high school and learned a few chords on a guitar but didn’t stick with it at all.

I figured now was as good a time as any to learn. I’m not getting any younger. I’m into death metal and I had a “friend” tell me I was too old to learn that style and I’d never be that good at it, so I’m here to prove them wrong.

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