Although I hate to admit it, I'm at the late end of my forties, have been playing for over 30 years and have never had a 'proper' lesson.

But I wonder if having lessons now would bring a new perspective? Or would it just be frustrating?

If any of you guys have had lessons later in life I'd be intereste to hear about your experiences.

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It depends on what you're hoping to achieve.

WHat would you hope to gain from taking lessons?

Red Paul,
The worst part for me was when we (the teacher and me) had to sort out what I was doing well and what I was doing poorly. That took weeks!

One thing was, that over time, my left had position had gotten horrible. We decided to leave it alone and I'm now working on neck shape changes.

Musically, I am getting lots of great input for how to improve technique, etc.

I am now trying to learn to read music and I'm having to almost unlearn reading for keyboard...sometimes I wish the guitar had keys.....all in all if it's appreached with a smile, it should be a super exeprience.

One final thing, if you're not almost instantly comfortable with the teacher, get another one....life's too short.

I have heard of professional musicians taking lessons just to freshen things up, find something that is missing, or fix bad habits.

It's never too late to take some lessons. Just make sure you let the instructor know what you are wanting to do.

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

'Been considering the same thing for the same reason.

Biggest question seems to be will the required focused practice time commitment and added stress wreck the enjoyment of the small amount of time available for playing?

Best of fortune.

+1 on the sentiment that it's never too late. I'm a 48 year old multi-decade veteran player who took formal lessons for years as a kid, started teaching beginners myself, drifted away from the "educational" aspects of music to start doing the band thing, and then more or less gave up altogether for a good number of years. Just started playing again 10 months ago or there abouts.

I'm seriously considering taking lessons again if I can find a teacher who's willing to work in the direction I want to go, and able to put up with my old fart ways. I've been too long on my own, forgotten a lot, and developed some bad habits.

Red we are about the same age and I know just how you feel.I have a friend who is ten years older than me and a great player, has done a lot of studio work played on a Diana Ross album and is big on jazz.Well I wanted him to give me lessons so he said he would come over and hang out one night.The bottom line he said that unless I wanted to get into jazz or start reading I was pretty much set so we hung out at jammed .I would advise you to do what I do I take a lot of modern techniques like ,sweep picking,string skipping,and other shred ideas and by dvds and get busy.There are so many that are great and keep things fresh and point you in other directions,and unlike a reacher who is gone in an hour you can watch it over and over.The bad habit thing is something that is really hard to break.I tried for a long time not to fan my picking hand out when picking but it becomes a mental hinderance so some thongs you just live with but I would deffinetly look into some dvds if I were you.And dont be thrown by titles that say metal.You might not be into it but the music and techniques used can be applied to your style as the best players today are mostly metal or shred anyway.

Hi Red, I say go for it. I started one on one guitar lessons two years ago at 50. I'm with my third teacher now and he is also like a coach. I tell him what I want to do, where I want to go and he'll guide me toward that goal.
Don't hesitate to change the teacher if you find yourself unhappy with the lessons. Also give yourself a realistic time period before expecting true results. Good luck.
Claude