General Music Chat

Hello all. Am I the only soul within the stratusphere who is a complete beginner at 33, looking for nearby folks to enjoy music making with or are people like me welcome within the upper eons of planet muso! We all have to start somewhere right? Even as late as me right? Or should I stick to squarking at the dog to an increasingly bizarre blend of music.....

My wife was about your age when she took up bass. She got good, played a bunch of gigs with and without me, and is now retired from music and pursuing gardening!
It goes to show that it's never too late it your hearts in it.

my step pops just started playin bass. he's almost 40

I am 48. Our band has been together about two years.
It's never too late.

I am 48. Our band has been together about two years.
It's never too late.

I got a guitar back when I was 46. I am now 51 and I still intend to learn the guitar and get somewhat good at it. I never even considered my age however, I already have musical knowledge.

I do know of a woman, although she was probably in her mid 20s, who decided to learn the drums. Within 2 years she was playing in a very accomplished jazz band. My best students are the adults.

Age may have been my best friend in my quest. If not for my age (and some torn ligaments) I would not have thrown myself into the music as I have. Something had to fill the void left when I quit training and fighting.
My ortho surgeon told me stop fighting or you will have surgery.
OK, where did I put that guitar?
Rockin is a RUSH !!! I Love it.

Age may have been my best friend in my quest. If not for my age (and some torn ligaments) I would not have thrown myself into the music as I have. Something had to fill the void left when I quit training and fighting.
My ortho surgeon told me stop fighting or you will have surgery.
OK, where did I put that guitar?
Rockin is a RUSH !!! I Love it.

ADM75...this is so so true. Practice your butt off in whatever music you may be doing. Not just rock, but all music is a rush. And remember Practice does not make perfect...Perfect practice make perfect. Forget about your age, You are finally about to enter into the world of cool.

I must add. my oldest student passed away about 3 years ago. She was 96 years old. However, she began taking flute lessons soon after she retired from teaching. Of course she began with a different teacher. We did the math and she and I began taking flute lessons the same year.

Thankyou all for your words of encouragement. I willl take nice baby steps to start with. Who knows...one day I might even break into a jog!!!

If you are just starting out, get a good teacher or if you are self motivated a good video program. Dont pay too much attention to all the TABS on the internet. Most of them are by beginners who dont know anymore about music than you, most of them I look at are wrong.

I say get in some sort of teaching program cause there are right ways to do things and wrong ways. At you age you dont need to waste time doing stuff that youare just going to have to break later.

Im 46 and have been playing since I was 8, but I still try to push myself to learn new things. I also keep a lot of basic teaching aids around the house to refresh myself.

Good Luck and Welcome Aboard.

I sometimes teach people live, here I am showing a kid and his new father the pentatonic scale.

Determine a goal for yourself - do you want to be able to just sit around the campfire & strum some folk & country tunes, or do you want to join a band & play some more complicated things? Would you rather play electric or acoustic? What particular songs & styles are you interested in learning?

Find the right teacher, who will guide you to accomplish those goals the best way for you.

A lot of pro teachers & musicians will disagree with me on this, but I've found that there are many who just want to be able to entertain themselves & their friends. These ppl won't put forth the necessary time & effort to learn all the scales & picking techniques or delve into theory, etc, because they really don't need them to meet their goals. Older students have a much better grasp of what they want to be able to do than the youngsters, & I, as teacher, must listen to the things they say, & try to guide them in that particular direction. (I also will try to push you to learn "a little bit more" than you really want to, but that comes with the territory of learning, & everything you can learn does help.)

Look at it like this - Paul Simon is not considered a great guitarist, yet he still takes guitar lessons, last I heard. He's accomplished a lot in his time, but he isn't a great lead player. He doesn't jam out on the electric like some metal god. He's determined what he wants to do, & does it, & his teacher has evidently helped him to achieve his goals.

That being said, whenever possible, get someone who's better than you to play some tunes with. They'll teach you new songs, new chords, new approaches as you play, & you'll pick things up quickly that way as well.

Whatever your goals, do what you need to in order to attain them, & music will be your bestest friend ever.

That was very well struck Philby. You should sell that advice.

Dont pay too much attention to all the TABS on the internet. Most of them are by beginners who dont know anymore about music than you, most of them I look at are wrong.

Same here, that's why I pay very little attention to tabs. Even back in the 70's looking at magazines like Hit Parader and so forth, the chords they would print in a nationally distributed magazine were entirely wrong, for songs I already knew how to play. I see no difference in the few tabs I've looked up online the past couple of years.

Philby: That's the same thing I've told beginner and intermediate musicians for years. Any time you meet someone who is a better player, pick up a guitar and play some. Two reasons. 1) you'll have to work for it. 2) you'll learn something every time. Both tend to make you walk away a better player. I hate it when I pick up a guitar in a music store and some kid a few feet away puts the one down he's tinkering on and won't touch it again because I just made him look bad. I always tell them NEVER do that again. Pick that guitar up and play the thing, and I tell them why. Usually they just say OK I'll remember that, very rarely will they actually pick a guitar up again and try it, The ones who do, I figure will one day be good players.

Back on topic though, I'm 52, have been a musician since I was 5, and just a year ago stumbled onto a Artley flute for $8 at a resale shop. I grabbed it, have been tinkering with it a little now and then ever since. Now, I very recently got a chance to possibly join a touring band, and might have to actually learn to play the thing well enough to bring it onstage, they're thinking about playing a Marshall Tucker song that has a flute part, if so I'll have to learn that part forward, backward and sideways and be able to peg it onstage.

I have no doubt I can do it, but I'll also have to brush up a lot on sax and learn several very specific sax parts for various songs with horn sections, might even have to figure out the parts for the entire horn section. In addition to learning around 20 songs on guitar or relearning some of them, including some tough ones like Allman Brothers' Jessica and Molly Hatchet's Flirtin with Disaster.

I'm an old bald fart, but I can do it, I've been learning songs my entire life and learning in general is the one thing I like to do most. I learned to repair computers at age 40. Now I'm one of the best around, but have been getting away from it the past year or so, it's just getting too tedious to chase down all the spyware, trojans and rootkits that are being written daily, those guys are learning how to hide them really well...I have to spend too much time, it's more feasible to just format and reinstall, and I hate that...

But I can still learn songs...and have just stuck my neck out and tentatively agreed to learn some flute...If I can do it, you can too.

Man what are those people doing to leave their trogans in the computer?

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Back on topic though, I'm 52, have been a musician since I was 5, and just a year ago stumbled onto a Artley flute for $8 at a resale shop. I grabbed it, have been tinkering with it a little now and then ever since. Now, I very recently got a chance to possibly join a touring band, and might have to actually learn to play the thing well enough to bring it onstage, they're thinking about playing a Marshall Tucker song that has a flute part, if so I'll have to learn that part forward, backward and sideways and be able to peg it onstage.

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Hey Paleo,I will be playin' that Marshall Tucker song on Thursday. I will also be playing Locomotive Breath and Moondance.