I too am 54 and just got my very first acoustic last week. I have a lot of free time on my hands. My kids are grown and out of the house and I have a job that keeps me in hotels more than I am home. My passion is to learn electric guitar but that's not very condusive to hotel room playing. LOL. I still love acoustic as well and I can travel with it and play it anywhere. I can't wait to start learning. BTW. Big 80's hairband fanatic. Just watched Crue biopic this weekend and loved it. Peace.