“How old is too old to learn to play guitar?” Its a question that is asked countless times in Internet forums and its asked by all kinds of people who range in age from seventeen to 78 years old.
The answer is, of course, if you think your’e too old to learn to play guitar, you need to change your thinking if you ever want to become a good player. Age is very rarely a factor in whether you have the ability to pick up a new skill and a guitar has the added benefit of being relatively easy to start learning. Within a couple of weeks, you will have already picked up a few chords and be able to play a simple tune or two.
Even ages physical limitations, like arthritis, shouldn’t dissuade you. Famously jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt lost the use of two fingers on his left hand after a fire and he developed his own fingering system to compensate. Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath`s lead guitarist, chopped the end off his middle and ring fingers on his right hand (he plays left handed) and had to completely change the way he played.
Surprisingly, most people think, to be a guitar player you have to learn young, but there are also some advantages in learning to play when you’re an adult. You will probably have more desire and focus to learn than a child, self-motivation will also make regular practicing easier too. Older people are less in a rush to do things and appreciate that learning can take time, time that they now have to devote to that learning.
Studies have also shown learning to play a guitar, or any musical instrument for that matter, improves memory and can even slow down diseases like dementia and Alzheimer`s in more mature players.
Really the only thing that stops you learning to play guitar when you’re older, is you. Give up waiting for the right time because there will never be a right time, there is only now. Most of all learn to accept that to learn to play, you must start at the beginning and spend time to get to the end (not that there ever really is an end to learning).
So how do you start to learn guitar when you’re older? Well, the same way anyone else at any age does. Buy yourself a guitar, book some lessons and practice. Browse for guitars on-line and if you dont know where to start www.dawsons.co.uk have a number of retail stores across the country to visit and try before you buy.
Give guitar a go. What’s the worst that could happen?