Beginner at 52

Hey, guys! I am starting again at 52. I took lessons as a kid, and tried to teach myself out of a book in my 20's. Neither were what I would call successful experiences. Both were on acoustics, and I always had trouble with the neck size and string height (I didn't know then that this was adjustable!).

I learned banjo in my 40's, and had much more success due to the smaller neck and easier playability. I also learned to read tab during that time.

I have recently come into possession of a gorgeous blue flametop Epiphone Les Paul and that has reignited the passion to learn to play blues guitar. So.............I'm off to mark another item off of the "Bucket List". I look forward to learning a lot, and one thing that I have learned thus far in life is that the JOURNEY is more important than the destination!

That sounds like a beautiful guitar. Welcome! I hope you enjoy the site.

Jon,

Thanks very much. I am simply AMAZED at the resources that are available now, compared to when I first tried to learn. We have come a long, long way from the old Chet Atkins songbook!

Another piece of good news is that blues guitar is fairly easy for some people to learn. Learning the techniques is the easy part. But learning the timing and phrasing is something that seems to come natural to some, while others have a harder time. If you're playing lead, you almost have to treat the guitar like a singer. Some of the best blues guitarists are great because of their ability to bend one note. The emotion you can get out of one bend is everything. There's actually an entire lesson about string bending on this site.

So I would start by opening the Scale Finder (top right of your screen), selecting the Blues scale, and learning the notes in a couple positions to start with. There are a bunch of free slow backing tracks on this site or on Youtube. Those should help bring out that blues guitarist who's hiding inside you. ;)

~Rusty