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Comment by cousin_it | Hacker News Reader

Warning! 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 :-(

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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 much always better than "childhood", which is the lack thereof.

Agreed. My dad (70) says he's too old to be "young at heart" any more. He says he's going to try "immature at heart" for a bit.

Hah, your dad sounds like a cool guy. Taking everything dead serious and weighing it on the outcome and effort required is a quick way to a boring existence.

>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 chicks.

Corollary: A 50 year old mixing EDM tracks on Ableton because he likes it is just as cool as the first guy.

A 50 year old mixing vinyl with turntables and an analog mixer is cooler.

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/

Honestly, I think if you're looking for popularity, you won't keep up with guitar. It is too hard for that. I think the main motivator needs to be an inherent interest in guitar.

If you're worried about being unpopular at all, my advice would be to not start trying to learn.

^This exactly

>If you are at least partly motivated by popularity (and who isn't), maybe pick another hobby that actually helps people be popular now

There's a hell of a lot of people doing a hell of a lot of things for hobbies that aren't motivated by popularity at all.

For example, reading for fun wasn't a way to be popular growing up - your peers expected you to be involved in sports, or be doing the garage band thing. Being a bookworm was like hanging a "bully me" sign on your back. But I'd wager that many on HN did (and still do) read for fun.

I've learned to play a few instruments, although I was never successful with the guitar (no one wants to teach what I want to learn - they all assume I want to play rock or gospel and are incapable of teaching anything else, and I want to learn flamenco guitar). The only people who have ever heard me play anything are my teachers, and my immediate family.

I suppose, if I decide to give the bagpipes a try, that the neighbors might have to hear me as well. I expect that won't improve my popularity, but I don't, and never have cared about that.

Great! Now I can feel less guilty about not having picked up any guitar in the last 10+ years after playing for 15 years as a youth. Although it was never about external adoration as much as one possible tool for music creation.

Much like programming, or any form of writing, it's not as much what language or style you choose, but enabling you to express or create something in a space.

If you're middle-aged and picking up the guitar for the first time in the hopes of getting chix, you've got other issues that need to be addressed first. You can still learn the guitar, but hopefully your therapist can help steer you such that you're learning it for the right reasons.

If you are at least partly motivated by popularity (and who isn't)

Umm, me? I picked up the mandolin in my 50s because I wanted to learn how to play it. To date, I've not had one woman throw herself at me as a result. I'm perfectly okay with that. That brief flirting with the hammer dulcimer wasn't any better. Perhaps I'll try accordion next.

I only think this applies if you start playing at social gatherings unprompted.

"pick another hobby that actually helps people be popular now"

For example?

The most obvious examples are becoming a star on youtube or instagram.

By playing what instrument?

Electric Triangle

I googled Electric Triangle. Urban Dictionary did not leave me dissapointed.

MicroKorg, probably. Maybe an Ableton Push.

The Theremin is probably really Instagram friendly (not sarcastic).

That's not a hobby -- that's a job that requires you to shill out to brands while being as loud and obnoxious as possible...

A hobby isn't usually about being popular, it's just something you like doing on your spare time. I'm fairly sure nobody on here who codes in their spare time does it to get laid, but because it's just an interesting way to fill out spare time to them.

Rock music is profoundly uncool, but the guitar is having something of a resurgence amongst young people thanks to Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. Their signature model guitars are selling like hotcakes.

Far from annoying, I am reminded of Seasick Steve.

href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a33sB3ck28A'

Edit: url

My guitarist's 14 year old daughter refers to his heavy metal as "old man music".

"maybe pick another hobby that actually helps people be popular now"

I'm trying to learn to unicycle, so I'm definitely doing this wrong.

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.

what an odd comment.

It's never too late to not give a fuck what people think

Or too early!

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