Hello there! I am new to this forum and wanted to introduce myself. I started playing guitar when I was in High school at about 16 years of age. I purchased an acoustic guitar in 1980 and still have it today. (it still sounds great by the way) Anyway I did learn to play quite a few tunes back then mostly Neil Young, Bob Seger, Jimmy Buffet and various other campfire type music. (open Chord stuff) Although I was able to learn a few things that were a bit more interesting from the greatest band in the history of R&R, Led Zeppelin. Well, by my mid 20's I was no longer playing regularly and definitely wasnt learning anything. Then marriage and family took center stage for a little more than 20 years until we reach today and I am a VERY YOUNG 49 years old and I finally saved up enough for an electric guitar and an amp.

It was my Christmas gift to myself. I have been loving every minute of it. I have been learning new stuff and practicing my butt off. I have aspirations of a garage band of sorts but man do I have a LOOOONG way to go to get there. It seems at almost the half century mark we don't absorb things as rapidly as we do in our teens.

I cant really say how much time I will spend here but I would like to have this as a resource to try and understand all these electronics and settings involved in getting different tones. But again there is a way to go with my skills before I worry about tone.

I do have a question of sorts, I don't believe I am banging my head against the wall but has anybody ever seen a middle aged adult succeed in becoming a proficient guitarist? If not I guess I am hoping to be the first, If you have seen this then words of encouragement are welcome!

Welcome back to the fold, young man.

There's a lot of knowledge available here, hope you enjoy the forum.

Rawk on!



Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Welcome to the Forum Carzan. Great 1st post. You wrote "I do have a question of sorts, I don't believe I am banging my head against the wall but has anybody ever seen a middle aged adult succeed in becoming a proficient guitarist?" tag, you're it
Man. You have a a few symphony's from life to play, musical history, family and responsibility, to come full circle on your journey musically.We love pic's. A musical journey that has brought you to the Fender Lounge Forum. Did I metion that we love photo's of gear, especially Fender gear. Enjoy!

_________________
you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Why not?? I'm working on it!
Well, I don't believe in having a world wide carreer but I would already be satisfied to get some local reputation as guitarist and some local reputation with my friends as a band.
We're just starting right now but I'd say a local reputation is well within reach even at our age (I'm 47).

We better forget about being "discovered" and being employed with Iron Maiden, Metallica, Rolling Stones, Status Quo or whatever Band you like!

_________________
Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

Welcome to the fold. I imagine you can become as proficient as you allow yourself to be. Good people here, you will likely get the answers you seek. Keep at it.

_________________
"Where would rock and roll be without feedback?"

Welcome!

In a direct answer to your question, most adults who do pick up the guitar are serious about it and follow through quite well. In other words, they approach it with a realistic, committed attitude and like any other commitment, they persevere. Seeing that you have experience (albeit, a while ago), this gives you a goodly head start. Just don't try to compete with yourself. Rather, simply go with the flow and sooner than later, you'll start seeing dividends for your efforts.

_________________
You dig?

Thanks for all the warm replies!

I am indeed a rather tenacious person so I am hopeful that personality trait keeps me forging the trail forward! Also in re-reading my OP, I realize it almost sounds as if I have recently been through major life changes. This is not the case. I have a son who is a collegiate athlete at Texas A&M and a Daughter who is a senior in high school and will be leaving to attend college in the fall. My wife and I have been married for almost 21 years and continue to enjoy each other and our life journey together. Also, I am not going through some sort of mid-life crisis. I am a solid citizen but my whole life I have enjoyed a slightly different perspective on life from most of the crowd.

Anyway, Again thanks for the warm welcome!!! I'm sure this forum will be an invaluable resource for me in the future.

Oh yeah, Gear, I have an american Strat, Black with maple fretboard and a fender Mustang V which is the Half stack version of the mustang amps. I also have a mustang 1 that I carry with me various places and my favorite amp I own is a VOX headphone amp in the lead configuration.

Welcome!
Many of us have a similar story... For me, picking up again much later in life has been better! I have plenty of patience for it now, and am having the time of my life playing the music that I love!
Good luck with your journey

Bill

_________________
Hey, Boy Blue is back!

Welcome aboard! Sounds to me like you came to the right place. I myself and I think many more on this forum did not start playing at a really early age or like you made an attempt at it when young and then backed away for a while. I didn't start playing until one of my sons at about the age of 20 brought home an acoustic and said he was learning to play. I picked it up and strummed it and have been hooked ever since. I won't tell you how old I am now but only that it was about 30 years ago. I now own a few electric guitars and amps and play every day and it's been one of the great pleasures of my life. I have three sons and a couple of grandsons who play and we get together and play when possible. In short I think you made a good choice and you certainly came to a good place to pick up tons of valuable info.

_________________
OK, I'll hum a little bit, got it now?

Hey there, welcome aboard!



^Nailed it. At our age it's a passion rather than a career, but that means having the artistic freedom to play whatever we want.

_________________
"Today Atlantis, tomorrow the world!"

Welcome to the Fender Forum!

Well, you may not make the cover of Teen Beat magazine,
but don't forget with age comes wisdom and a depth (well, for some, anyway )
that most younger folks don't have, so you have that going for you.
And it sounds like you got some good gear, as well.

Plus, you'll see there are all kinds of avenues for musicians that we just don't see
in the mainstream media. Not all musicians are young and pretty and "baby boomers"
are in their 60's, 70's now and still like to rock and hear rock bands!

Just keep at it, keep playing and most of all, enjoy yourself!

Mary!

_________________
Visit my ReverbNation page @ http://www.reverbnation.com/mcampbell
Thank you!

After having taught many guys in your situation I think since you already have some know how from years gone by, you might be a bit ahead of the game from someone who's just now getting the desire and never having touched a guitar before.

Also one thing to consider, is to take a realistic look at your daily routine, and available free time. I say this based on experience from years spent teaching people from all ages.

The lack of free time has been the biggest problem I've seen with people who are in our age group. I should maybe clarify, because I honestly don't think it's not that they don't have the time, it's always seemed to me that these people have not developed the routine to make sure they put that time for practice in everyday. (gotta play everyday, at least 20/30 minutes.)

With all the stuff out on Youtube, you've got a ton of resources to look into.

The only other advice is to set easy goals for yourself right now, and have patience. It takes time to get the hands to behave.

Glad to have you aboard, Carzan.

It is absolutely possible for anyone of any age to become proficient on the guitar. Granted kids do have a much faster learning curve as their brains are still developing and working full throttle, but people tend to forget that adults are smarter. Practice the right material correctly from the start and you'll be surprised how fast it will come to you.

And becoming a rock star with lightning quick hands is not a priority. Don't get me wrong- You can gain the lightning quick hands and all the technique you'd like if you want it badly enough, but most musicians chose their craft purely out of enjoyment. It's the best feeling knowing that after work, if time permits, that the guitar is around should you like to unwind. Enjoyment leads to more practice, which leads to results, which leads to encouragement, which leads you to trying even more new things while you practice (while enjoying).

carzan- welcome aboard!

i started playing as a youth, and in bands from 1966 to around 1977. after that i took some time off for family and other things.

when i picked up again in 2002, i had a lot to re-learn. i watched videos, read some music books, and worked hard to get it back.

keep plugging away- you'll get where you want before you know it, but enjoy the ride along the way

WOW!


Like I said before, Thanks for the warm welcome! I have been looking around and doing a few searches and have already found that there is a wealth of information just in some of the past conversations. I believe I can comfortably assume this will be a valuable resource for me and others to aid in steepening the learning curve.

My practice regimen is currently a fairly rigid thing. As I said earlier I can play chords and have no problem keeping a rhythm and changing chords appropriately. I can even pick a little and do know a couple of short solos for accoustic guitar such as Gilmore's opening to wish you were here. But I learned to play my guitar with a turntable and a pocket chord book. I would listen to the songs I wanted to play over and over and over until I found the correct chords and just kind of go from there. I never really learned much about what I was doing. I knew the chord names for example but i had no idea about the key of any song I was playing. Oh, and I did take guitar class when I was a senior in high school. But it was basically just an elective class for the kids they really didnt want to deal with at that time. I made an A by default because I was literally the only one in the class who could play!
I am approaching it a bit differently this time and also want to learn how to really solo. I have been doing some internet classes, (guitar tricks.com) and learning some licks - Justinguitars on youtube, and working on a few scales ( minor pentatonic, extended pentatonic scale etc.) and have also been working on improvising with some very basic (and slow) blues backing tracks. And lastly I have been taking lessons from a guy at my local guitar shop. He can really play but the jury is still out on his ability to transfer those skills to a student.
There is one other place in my area that does lessons but I spoke with them and it sounds like it will be very similar to what I am seeing currently. My current leader really just wants to transcribe songs and learn songs together and also do some improvising and just jam together. that's fine I guess but I'm just not that comfortable from a soloing perspective yet to really enjoy that nor do I want to spend any of my valuable lesson time just jamming. I have a very strong drive to learn this instrument and I have to get through the struggle to reach a certain plateau and then progress begins to come exponentially.

Sorry for the rambling post I really just wanted to say Thanks for being nice to the new guy!