Anybody start playing the guitar later in life?

I bought a cheap guitar a couple of years ago at 50, played around with it for a while to make sure I was serious, then when I was sure I bought a Les Paul. I'm completely self taught. I learned basic chords and printed out guitar tabs for songs I like and just slowly learn how to play them. I even wrote my first original song the other day.

Ok, one week in and I am progressing. My fingers are killing me, which is. A good sign. I literally can't wait to practice- sometimes twice a day. I have 7 or 8 chords down and am squeaking away. I just love the sound of a guitar.

30's, get past the first 2 years and make sure you practice evry day. this is quite good if you want to learn on your own. http://www.learnandmaster.com/guitar/

I started learning < 2 years ago at age 42. I figured if drunk old guys in bars and 6 year old kids on the internet could do it, then I should at least give it a shot. It took me about 6 months before I felt like I was actually playing a song. Now I have around 40 or so that I have a good handle on.

I play/practice at night mostly when the kids are asleep. I think being a runner helps because you already understand that things take time, you can't rush it, and practice always helps.

I started learning by working through the beginners course on

http://justinguitar.com

and have to say he is a freaking fantastic teacher!

This is probably the coolest thread ever on LRC. Simple, and helpful.

+1 on it helps to play with a band.

Also wanted to add that good local guitar shops are just like good local running shops. The people that work there are knowledgeable and want to help. If you need an absolute basic beginners guitar, just go in and say you have no idea what you need and can they give you some recommendations.

Guitar Center is mostly equivalent to Footlocker at the mall.

Hooray for y'all - music is awesome. I would also recommend learning piano to switch it up once in a while. It helps you grasp music theory more than anything else. Pianists are also usually in-demand for gigging and jamming, which will help you get experience and ideas to put back into playing guitar.

Used electric keys and amps are not that expensive (400-500 total; just make sure you get a keyboard with weighted keys).

Three weeks in and I can play Sloop John B and most of Dead Flowers. This is one of the best things I have ever done - I can't wait to get home and practice. The fun is getting comfortable with a song and really wanging on it.

One of my fears was that I would have to learn how to read music - but as it turns out many songs are just three chords and all over the web you can find tab sheets that tell you which chords to play. A, G, E, etc. Which is awesome - you just wail away and try to hit each one cleanly.

It's nice to see my thread come to life every so often. I enjoy the support and the tips. I am into my 5th week of lessons that I take once a week for a 1/2 hour each time. I got a great and very patient instructor. It's been fun and frustrating at times as my fingers are not very flexible and I am having trouble with some chords..

Wife got me an acoustic guitar for my bday in December. But, I suffered a freak fall and had to have surgery so I can't play it yet. Looking forward to learning how to play and posting updates soon.

Ninetonite wrote:

At 46 I started learning almost a year ago and now I have 4 guitars and, well, I can play maybe 4 chords and one song.

That's like 2 more chords than you could ever possibly need.

I've been playing off-and-on since college, but got more serious recently. I got the courage to go to an acoustic meet-up a few months back. Unlike running, it's hard to evaluate whether you're any good, but I could hold my own. There were folks that were better. I was OK.

I suggest seeing if there are meet-up groups near you. Turns out I'm not so big on the acoustic, folkier stuff, so I've since done things with people through that group on the electric side, with me playing the bass, which I took up maybe three months ago.

I think, though, that even if you go electric, with all that means, you should have an acoustic. I think it gives a different feel to the music, which translates to how you play an electric.

I also don't know how to use a pick. Most importantly, as others have said, have fun.

5ker wrote:

It's nice to see my thread come to life every so often. I enjoy the support and the tips. I am into my 5th week of lessons that I take once a week for a 1/2 hour each time. I got a great and very patient instructor. It's been fun and frustrating at times as my fingers are not very flexible and I am having trouble with some chords..

Good to hear of the progress. Be patient, pick it up every day, and have fun.

I think some simple chromatic exercises are helpful for developing some dexterity - 5 mins a day is fine. Here's a good one:

Go SUPER slowly:

Start at the 5th fret (well, really, anywhere is fine, but the 5th fret region is usually a good place to get started), on the 6th (Low E) string. Your first finger on the 5th fret. Play that note.

Add your 2nd finger to the 6th fret (do NOT lift your first finger), play that note, then the 3rd finger on the 7th, play it, leave those 3 fingers down, then add your 4th finger on the 8th fret and play that note. You should have all 4 fingers still holding their respective frets down (this is the key part of the exercise).

Now, move just your first finger over to the 5th string, playing the note again at the 5th fret (a "D" note). Do NOT lift your 3 fingers still on the 6th string. Play that D note. Then move your 2nd finger over to the 5th string, 5th fret (D#), and do NOT lift any of your other fingers. You should have your first 2 fingers on the 5th string, and your 3rd and 4th fingers on the 6th string. Play that note on the 5th string.

Repeat for the 3rd finger, then finally move your 4th finger over to join them all on the 5th string and play that note.

Now continue on to the 4th string, and repeat. All the way across to the first string. You end up on the 1st string (High E string), with all 4 fingers holding down the 5th, 6th 7th and 8th frets respectively when you play that final note (a "C").

You can now descend across the neck going down the strings, but you have to play the same pattern up each string; 5th fret -> 6th fret -> 7th fret -> 8th fret, then descend to the adjacent lower string with your first finger, keeping the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers on the higher string, etc.

Hopefully that makes sense to you. The key is moving only one finger at a time. Do not lift any of the fingers until it's time to move that particular finger to its new note. So do NOT try to speed up .. play it waaaaay slow. You can't play this one too slow; hold each new note down for a second or 2, play it, let it ring for a second or 2, then move the next finger across.

It's harder than most people think it is, but really a good exercise at developing some dexterity.

I wouldn't spend any more than 5-10 minutes on these kinds of exercises, per day. But I do suggest doing them each day; then, put them aside, work on your chords, and then play some tunes.

Cheers

Carl

I took guitar lessons when I was about 10 but I never practiced so I didn't get anywhere with it. This past December, at 33, I decided that I wanted to learn again. I've taken some time off of running over the past month and that time has been dedicated to practicing so I've had a lot of improvement teaching myself. It's much more fun now than it was when I was younger.

So what? I have 5 guitars and can play 5 chords. And I'm only 20.

Ninetonite wrote:

At 46 I started learning almost a year ago and now I have 4 guitars and, well, I can play maybe 4 chords and one song. I need to spend more time at it for sure. But it is a blast and I enjoy just messing around with it. This year I am planning to take some lessons and devote more time to practice.

My gear is:

1) Fender American Standard Tele

2) Gretsch Special Jet in tobacco sunburst

3) Vox S55 Double Cut with a gold top (very nice guitar)

4) Norman cedar top acoustic

5) amp: Vox AC4C1

I'm not planning to buy any more gear in 2013 but I do have my eye on a Gretsch Power Jet Firebird at some point. And a Strat.

ataglance wrote:

Keith Richards plays in "open G". Thats why he sounds different (and f#cking awesome.)

For those wondering what "open G" tuning is,:

Normal tuning, low to high: E A D G B E

Open G changes the lowest 2 and the highest: D G D G B D

Just playing that chord is G major. Thus if you barre the second fret it's A major. Richards may not have that bottom D so the lowest string is the root.

Also, Richards modifies the chords with a minor7 fingering. This creates a sound immediately identifiable, and unavoidably identifiable, as Richards. So try barring the seventh fret (D) and then hitting the 8th fret on the second string and the 9th fret on the fourth (the m7 shape) and you'll see. Do this and then go to the fifth fret, repeat, and go to the third and you have any number of Stones songs.

It's just a standard I chord -> IV chord pattern .. the chord functions more as a suspended chord. A sus 2 chord, actually. You can approximate this pretty well without the altered tuning he uses.

Just play, for example, a standard open A barre chord (mute the high E):

Open 5th string (A),

Barre (w/ the first finger) 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings at the 2nd fret.

Add your 3rd finger on the 4th string, 4th fret, and 2nd finger, 2nd string, 3rd fret.

= Open5th, 4th string @4thfret, 3rd string @2nd fret, 2nd string @ 3rd fret

It's a D chord over A in the bass (still a D chord, 2nd inversion; usually written as D/A).

The altered tuning Keith uses (typically with no 6th string) would give you an @ note on the high string, played w/ the barre at the 2nd fret; making the chord Dadd2, or Dsus2.

Rocking back between that standard open A chord and the D/A is all those Stones sounds.

Just moving the 4th, 3rd and 2nd string up and down the next, played with a barred 1st finger, muting the 1st, 5th and 6th strings), then adding the 2nd finger/2nd string, and 3rd finger/4th string, works well enough for different chords and keys. Saves from retuning all the time. :)

I've been playing guitar a long time (15+ years) and began when I was 16. However, I do have a few tips that may help late starters stay invigorated and fresh.

One thing I've found is some people have a talented left hand, and some a talented right (insert fap joke here). After learning basic chords etc (Try House of the Rising Sun for a great song with flowing chord changes in that each chord excepting D requires just a few finger movements from the previous chord... Am>C>D>F>Am>C>E), I stalled badly. All my friends seemed to be metal players or blues lead players and I just couldn't get my head around scales etc as it relates to improvisation and my fingers are sloooooow. Put simply, my left hand is a pig.

Then I picked up fingerpicking. It's nowhere near as hard as it sounds and I took to it like a duck to water. Now I play flamenco, and not the beginner stuff either... all while still sucking like an Electrolux at traditional lead. Flamenco has all sorts of left-hand gymnastics but the right hand is the star of the show. Rasgueados (strumming with outward flicks of the fingers), golpes (tapping the soundboard with your fingernails) and picados (basically tremelo picking with alternating fingers of the right hand) all star rightie but once you learn to play any song with four fingers of your left hand and three fingers and the thumb on your right, any song can be given a whole new flavour. Plus you feel like you're REALLY playing the instrument.

For me the biggest breakthrough (prepare yourself), was learning Stairway to Heaven *ducks*. One section of the intro goes Em>Am>Am. You know it when you hear it. I plucked it out, the notes rolled forth and I was hooked. So, so hooked.

Just try and incorporate some basic fingerpicking in early and it'll pay all sorts of dividends later on. Not many people bother as rock/metal/blues nearly always uses a pick. But this is a Western thing. One additional bonus is you will never construct a pick out a bread tie ever again.

I should point out I've never had lessons and can't read music. Never needed either, as fingerpicking is a very natural, intuitive technique and good form emerges the more you play.