Ask HN: am I too old to learn the guitar/music? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: am I too old to learn the guitar/music?

8 pointscallmeed13 comments

Sorry if this isn't very hacker-related. I know there are a good amount of musicians here, so I thought I'd ask.

I'm 34. Quit 5th grade music (teacher was a jerk) and haven't really touched an instrument since. But I've always wanted to learn some guitar.

Is it too late?

My wife is a decent musician so we have a few guitars and keyboards in the house. Always been good with math and languages–not sure if that helps or determines how I should try and learn.

Anyway, any suggestions from musicians is much appreciated. Should I take some lessons? Watch some videos?

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No limits. Before I switched to software development I paid my bills as a Jazz guitar -player and -teacher. Observation: the "too old" only applies indirectly when you're "grown up" schedule is already very full with everyday activities. Even then I watched people with no time to spare but with lots of enthusiasm and determination making progress. Some physical learning gets slower with age, but the speed of learning is not important at all IMO/E.

I line up with others here in recommending private lessons, at least for the beginning. Getting quick feedback in what you are doing is essential, especially for the motoric part.

I picked up viola da gamba with 39 and might have lacked some physical abilities to do the bowing well from the beginning but thanks to my teachers I got smoothly over these problems.

Another thing: start playing with others early. It's like chatting away in a new language. You learn best/have the most fun when you have to make sentences and express yourself.

Get yourself an axe and enjoy!

hell no you're not! And if you are a programmer/math inclined you will probably actually do really well once you get a few fundamentals down and start to see the patterns/logic in the tuning. (learn to play a power chord and then realize that the same finger pattern applies all the way down the fret board for the first two top strings and you're on your way to writing some ramones-esque songs!)

For the record I am a drummer but I understand guitar well enough to write songs that other people can then play better haha.

Ok, thanks. So how would you recommend I learn the fundamentals?

Well one very HN approach would be to upload one of your favorite (ideally relatively simple/slower) songs to http://chords.fm/online/web/ and start from there!

You aren't too old to learn.

It is hard (though probably not impossible, given sufficient motivation and practice) to get good enough to play professionally with a late start), but if you plan to learn for the joy of music and playing songs at parties and so on it is very doable. If you practice (guitar) for 20 -30 minutes daily for a year, you should be good enough to play some popular songs at parties and so on, ideally with people playing other instruments.

The key is to regularity (don't miss practice) and focus (be aware of what you are doing when you practice) and not so much short bursts of intense practice.

As mentioned above if you can get good private lessons , go for it. You can teach yourself with books and an electronic tuner and so on, but it is way harder than getting a good teacher. Since your wife is a musician she (or her friends) should be able to find you a good teacher.

Good Luck!

Never too old! If your wife is a decent muso, then why won't she give you shove in the right direction. I play many instruments, and with your background, I'd suggest learning to read music and playing a keyboard would be an easier start. Guitar is harder than it looks. Assuming that you type reasonably well, then you already have the finger dexterity to play a keyboard reasonably well.

Once you can play some bass lines, the two of you should be able to jam. That in turn speeds up your learning and increases the motivation.

Good Luck!

There is no age limit to learning. In fact, I bought a guitar at the age of 19 and began teaching myself chords, strumming, and scales with no previous experience. I am 23 now, wrote and recorded a full length music album 2 years ago, have played numerous live shows as a solo artist, and continue to learn guitar everyday. My suggestions for learning guitar: Find a tab for a song you enjoy on http://ultimate-guitar.com, and practice it daily.

Sounds just like our situation.

I've been playing guitar for 15 years now. My 30 year-old wife just picked up the guitar. She's doing quite well. I spend about 15 minutes per day helping her with her technique and giving her a new exercise to try.

When we picked out her guitar, they offered us a month of free group lessons. Maybe you can swing the same deal? Guitar is not a difficult instrument, relative to piano, trombone, or violin. A little spousal assistance is probably good enough if you can't wrangle a professional.

My grandfather started learning how to play the violin in his 70s.

I don't think you have much of an excuse.

There is no such thing as "too old for music." Rather, picking up something new helps keep your brain nimble. You have no reason at all NOT to do it - and, hey, you even have a free tutor!

There's no replacement for good private lessons.

No.

That's the template response for questions of the form:

/^Am I too old to learn .*\?$/i

My 62 year old father just took up Piano and is loving it.

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