This is an timely write up, bought a brand guitar way back 1 years back and still thinking if this is the right age to learn. This write up changed my prescriptive.
Thanks a lot. Start. Now!
It's Never Too Late to Learn Guitar
171–180 of 239 posts
Re: It's Never Too Late to Learn Guitar
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Don't try to learn on a crap guitar! If it has high action and truly hurts to play, or if it has bad tone, it'll drive you away. Learn on a good instrument. This x1000 Far too often I've seen people try to learn on a ghastly cheap acoustic because they were "building up to" an electric, the thing they wanted to play in the first place. There's a weird kind of asceticism around the notion of paying-ones-dues on an a…
There's often an unwillingness to make the financial commitment to a good instrument when "I don't know if I'll stick with it" (or much worse, parents saying that about the child getting their first guitar!). So you're supposed to learn on a "beginner guitar" (i.e. a shitty guitar). It's so much easier to learn on a good instrument. And good instruments don't have to cost a fortune, either. If someone wanted to learn…
The higher end squiers are very solid.
Used mexi strat is a pretty great option too.
Re: It's Never Too Late to Learn Guitar
#173I've been a professional guitarist since I was a teenager, and switched to upright bass about 3 years ago (I'm 40). The biggest advantages to learning as an adult is on average you are going to have money to pay for lessons and a decent instrument, and are probably going to be more organized in terms of practicing and all that. The disadvantages are that it's harder to network and find others at your level to play wi…
Yeah it's been a real struggle for me to find people to play with as an adult. It's hard to find adults who aren't either
A. really good, B. really bad, or C. too busy
Re: It's Never Too Late to Learn Guitar
#174As someone who has been playing for 35 years or so, here are some observations... First and foremost, guitar is a pretty straightforward instrument for beginners. There's a reason it's the most popular instrument in the world. If you put in the effort, you can be playing something musical in a few months, and proficient in basic folk/rock music in a couple of years. It doesn't take "talent". It just takes effort. Som…
"If you're playing rock guitar, there's a real temptation to use way too much distortion to get what you think is the sound on records. Most great rock guitar tones are much cleaner than they sound. When in doubt, use less gain." So true it hurts. I'm a guitarist of three decades and I worked as a recording engineer through college and occasionally as a hobby since then (I went to school for audio engineering). The n…
mosquito tone?
Re: It's Never Too Late to Learn Guitar
#175Warning! If you're middle-aged and thinking of picking up the guitar, you should realize that the public image of guitarists has shifted from "sexy gods" to "annoying hobos" sometime in the last two decades. If you are at least partly motivated by popularity (and who isn't), maybe pick another hobby that actually helps people be popular now, not in your imagined past. So in a sense, yes, it is sometimes too late :-(
Eh, I've been playing guitar for a decade and I have no desire to perform. I largely play on my own, and occasionally with friends. So any semblance of public persona or what I look like playing guitar has zero relevance to a hobby that I greatly enjoy. But I guess I'm somewhat opposed to picking hobbies based on "how cool" they are. Hobbies should be fun.
Also, "sexy gods" generally applied to 20 year old guitarists anyways. The middle aged guitar gods didn't _start_ as middle-aged. Their fame carried them.
Re: It's Never Too Late to Learn Guitar
#176I'm 29 and have been playing guitar for at least half my life at this point. It's a great stress reliever and just fun in general. I'm not good by any stretch of the imagination, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying myself. These are some of my personal recommendations for starting out: - Use an acoustic, you don't want to have to carry an amp around with you. - Learn to sing while you play early on. I think it's h…
is classical guitar a good beginner choice? I heard most people recommend electric guitar, but I want to learn to play fingerstyle.
If you want to play finger-picking in the folk style, you would be better off picking up a steel string guitar and learning on it, I think. Classical guitars have wider necks and higher action (more space between the strings and the fret board), so you would be acquainting yourself to differently configured guitar if you went with a classical. The only advantage to a beginner on a classical guitar is that there is less tension on the strings, so they are easier to press down. I think it is better to develop the finger strength on a steel string, and doing so is certainly not detrimental. With regular practice you adapt to it in a few weeks.
That said, playing any guitar is great when you are starting, as opposed to no guitar at all.
If you want a great guitar for the price, check out Monoprice.com. I have been playing for years and recently picked up a steel string cut-away for less than $100 (on sale) and it plays like a dream.
Re: It's Never Too Late to Learn Guitar
#177Warning! If you're middle-aged and thinking of picking up the guitar, you should realize that the public image of guitarists has shifted from "sexy gods" to "annoying hobos" sometime in the last two decades. If you are at least partly motivated by popularity (and who isn't), maybe pick another hobby that actually helps people be popular now, not in your imagined past. So in a sense, yes, it is sometimes too late :-(
If you're middle-aged, and still all that "motivated by popularity", then you're not doing middle-age right. A 50-year old playing guitar is 1,000x cooler than a 50-year old mixing EDM tracks on Ableton, because he thinks it'll help him score 20-year old chicks or impress HN. No matter what age you are, "adulthood" is pretty much another word for finally having enough self-confidence to do your own thing. It's pretty…
Tell that to EOTO[0]! Two of the guys from String Cheese Incident have a pretty killer EDM band that I've seen melt the face off 20 year olds.
[0] - http://eotomusic.com/
Re: It's Never Too Late to Learn Guitar
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Don't try to learn on a crap guitar! If it has high action and truly hurts to play, or if it has bad tone, it'll drive you away. Learn on a good instrument. This x1000 Far too often I've seen people try to learn on a ghastly cheap acoustic because they were "building up to" an electric, the thing they wanted to play in the first place. There's a weird kind of asceticism around the notion of paying-ones-dues on an a…
There's often an unwillingness to make the financial commitment to a good instrument when "I don't know if I'll stick with it" (or much worse, parents saying that about the child getting their first guitar!). So you're supposed to learn on a "beginner guitar" (i.e. a shitty guitar). It's so much easier to learn on a good instrument. And good instruments don't have to cost a fortune, either. If someone wanted to learn…
> I'd say just buy a new Squier (by Fender).
I second this, a buddy of mine ended up selling his American Strat because he was playing his custom vibe so much.
Re: It's Never Too Late to Learn Guitar
#179Isn't that a guittaron (fretless guitar/bass combo) in the image at the top of the post. I've been wanting to get one of those but have too many instruments already...
Re: It's Never Too Late to Learn Guitar
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Picking is much harder than fretting. Is it? I've been playing classical and folk for a long time and I think picking is far, far easier. Maybe picking is harder in other styles, like electric guitar?
It definitely is. Classical picking is hard, too. It's about generating a good tone and keeping good time, and also about muting to control rhythm and tone as well as unwanted notes. Picking is an endlessly deep well. Chords and scales are quite straightforward by comparison.
Very strange to hear that. Fretting is far, far harder in my experience, especially the more sophisticated chord formations.
I guess for different people it's different.