Am I too old to learn to play the guitar?
I hear this question often. It’s even worse when someone doesn’t dare to learn guitar because they’re not sure if it’s even possible anymore.
The simplest answer:
No! You’re definitely not too old for that!
It doesn’t matter at all when you start something new. Whether it’s skiing, golfing, or playing the guitar, it doesn’t depend on age, but on motivation.
My Personal Example
I was too young to know how hard it was to start playing guitar.
But I was also very ambitious and practiced regularly.
My advantage was clearly that I was a child, had more than enough time, financial possibilities through my parents, and I hated going outside.
So being grounded was always very convenient for me. 😛
But I didn’t really start until I was 13 years old. On weekends and during holidays, it wasn’t uncommon for me to play guitar for 10 hours a day.
I always had a goal in mind (back then it was still DVDs and YouTube videos in miserable quality) and once I reached that goal, I chased the next one.
My idols changed from year to year. I found an even better guitarist or band that I liked even more and started playing their songs.
I was also always encouraged at school. We were almost forced to start a student band and play concerts at school.
That’s why I can only poorly understand what it’s like to still be considered a guitar beginner at the age of 70.
But what I can do is tell you about my experiences as a guitar teacher and what I’ve found out so far.
The Time Problem
Often 30–50 year olds have their hands full. Family, work, maybe even hobbies (I’ve heard there are people with hobbies), and meeting friends.
Children rarely have these time problems. Of course, they have school, have to do homework, and pursue other hobbies that their parents have forced them to do. However, there are still many holidays, weekends, and even time during the day to learn guitar.
The solution for this (applies to young and “old”): Regularity.
15 minutes a day is much better than an hour every Sunday.
The Questioning
What I particularly notice in adults is that they question a lot of things. Logically, who doesn’t? I do it very often too.
Children, on the other hand, don’t question why they should play a song they don’t like. Or why they should play this scale up and down even though they can’t use it right now.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what you learn. The main thing is that it is learned correctly.
If you personally don’t like an artist, that doesn’t mean that all of his songs are automatically stupid too. In general, songs are very instructive and you can learn a lot from them.
You should definitely take an example from the kids in the future and just do it instead of asking why you have to do it now.
Very often the solution arises by itself after a few weeks.
By the way, the movie Karate Kid is a very good example here. The student constantly has to wax on, wax off and quasi-dodge the air. At some point, he doesn’t feel like it anymore and the teacher tries to hit him. Almost magically, he can dodge the blows and counter.
Yes, of course, there are better examples, but it answers exactly the questioning problem. A scale doesn’t have to make sense right now. But maybe you’ll play in a band and they’ll play in C major and you’re supposed to play a solo over it. What are you going to do then? Think of me when it comes to that! 😛
Another reason for this could be the lifetime. By that I don’t mean how much time you have to practice per day, but the fear that you won’t be able to experience what you would like to.
Even if that sounds extremely macabre, I’ve often noticed that children let it come to them. “Why should I stress, I’m only 10 years old and have another 100 years if things go well”.
The 70-year-old can no longer necessarily say that. That’s why it’s possible that certain things are simply omitted because you no longer have enough time for the important things.
I wouldn’t sign that either. For this short time that you learn guitar, it doesn’t matter whether you do it half-heartedly or right away. 🙂
Learning ability
I think we all know that children are much more capable of learning than we adults.
But this argument can easily be countered by saying that there are also very talented and less talented people.
Anyone familiar with multiple intelligences knows that everyone has their talent somewhere. If it’s not in music, it’s usually somewhere else.
That’s why it’s important that you don’t use this “I’m too old to learn something new” argument as a reason not to start.
You don’t say “I’m too untalented to drive a car” either. I think every second person on the street is untalented and should definitely not be in a vehicle (I include myself). Still, they do it because they have to.
The Financial Problem
Children often have no financial difficulties. At least not directly. That’s why they don’t have to think for a second about how their guitar lessons are paid for. They just take it for granted.
As an adult, you have to spend a lot of money to get started.
But here, too, you can set a budget and say that once this amount of money has been spent, I have to be able to do it.
Or you can try to negotiate a monthly plan with your teacher instead of paying 10 lessons at once.
My experience
In the many years that I have been teaching, I have not noticed any serious differences between the age groups.
There are very talented and ambitious students who progress extremely quickly, but there is also the opposite.
My youngest student was 5 years old, my oldest student was 70 years old. The important thing is that you have fun.
It is also important to respond to the student and not to their age. The 70-year-old student whose goal it was to be able to play AC/DC in 2 years cannot be treated the same as the 15-year-old student who wants to play womanizer songs.
So remember:
It doesn’t depend on age, but on:
- Your time that you have and can invest
- Your financial possibilities that you have and want to invest
- last but not least, the motivation and the goals you are pursuing
