I’m new here but super impressed

I am 64 years old and started guitar when I was nine years old . First electric guitar Sears Silvertone . First band 5th grade. Lol . Played off and on but mostly for myself until college then many acoustic solo gigs. Some bands playing clubs ( all over ) literally . I had sold most of my pro stuff and mostly played rhythm guitar and sang. Some basic lead riffs. I quit playing professionally well over a decade ago maybe two , I have a daughter who's an amazing writer and singer . I am pleased to make time to learn to play more lead guitar and learn more about the techniques and technology . It's truly amazing for us baby boomers . I generally have been self taught playing by ear and saw the ad last week and said that's me .. so I'm really happy and excited to be here and want to take my time and follow the lesson plans . I've never learned tabs until now . [br]Thank you.

Welcome jgergeceff,

there are many of us on here getting up in years. It sounds like you have a solid past in music. I do remember those old Sears guitars from the Christmas catalogues. So that dates me lol. I am about to turn 57 this month.

Best of luck with your pursuits.

Thank you for the kind words! [br]I've been blowing out the cobwebs between my brain and pathways to my fingers ! I'm having an amazing time and hope you are too . [br]I'm really trying hard to follow the lesson plan and not ADD all over the place chasing cool riffs . It's still a good sized learning curve for sure ! I wish you the best of luck too ! [br][br]

Originally Posted by: jgergeceff

I am 64 years old and started guitar when I was nine years old . First electric guitar Sears Silvertone . First band 5th grade. Lol . Played off and on but mostly for myself until college then many acoustic solo gigs. Some bands playing clubs ( all over ) literally . I had sold most of my pro stuff and mostly played rhythm guitar and sang. Some basic lead riffs. I quit playing professionally well over a decade ago maybe two , I have a daughter who's an amazing writer and singer . I am pleased to make time to learn to play more lead guitar and learn more about the techniques and technology . It's truly amazing for us baby boomers . I generally have been self taught playing by ear and saw the ad last week and said that's me .. so I'm really happy and excited to be here and want to take my time and follow the lesson plans . I've never learned tabs until now . [br]Thank you.

Hi there! So happy that you're learning after all these years and that you're enjoying our lessons. Let us know if you have any questions!

Funny reading about cheap first guitars of yesteryear.... I am a lead guitarist, 57 years old and have been playing since the age of eleven, I now own over 25 of the most sought after professional guitars on the market today of just about every popular brand. ...my first guitar wasn't even good enough for the Sears catalogue...my parents, who although both worked very hard to support and raise my siblings and myself, were definitely not a family of wealthy means by any stretch...but to nurture their young 11 year olds dreams of becoming a guitarist they bought me a guitar they could afford to pay for, it was a K-Mart Special....literally... bought it from our local KMart store which by the way closed down decades ago...but I remember what it looked like vividly to this day, can't recall the name on the headstock but it was a sunburts Les Paul copy...I played it for hours and hours every day after school and all day on weekends...no amp of course, definitely couldn't afford that..I didn't get my first amp until I was old enough to get a job and buy one for myself , by then I replaced the pick ups with Dimarzios, changed the tuning pegs to grovers, new pots through out... needless to say I got a lot of mileage out of that faithful old Kmart special.

You parents bought you your first guitar?!!! Spoilt rich kids! 😜😜

My first wasn't until was old enough to hold a part time sufficiently well paying casual job in senior high school years to afford to buy my own, and then had to fight with my true passion -which went on to become my lifelong career, for funding.

Even in the early through mid 1970s when the JPY enabled entry into the guitar market of Yamaha, Ibanez, et al rendering decent quality cheaper guitars accessible to we of the non-silver spoon brigade, they weren't inexpensive in relative earning terms compared with what's on offer today. But viewed even from that perspective, I think the biggest factorial element no longer the financial barrier it once was is the primary consumable, tuition, required to effectively learn the instrument.

Great story !