Originally Posted by: guitar1916

Is it possible for someone in their 40s to become an intermediate-to-above player?

I realise that people can learn to play the guitar at any age, but I'm wondering as a 48-year-old person, who has been playing for around two years, whether the mountain to being more than passable is too steep to climb in your 40s.

I have improved over the past two years, but it's dispiriting to think that I might never be able to play a more complex song to a good standard.

I`ll pretty much echo mjgodin here and just add the following : There are a lot of awesome guitar players in their 20`s and 30`s. If they were able to get that good that early in life, why not , at least theoretically, someone who starts later in life be able to do the same ? I`m not saying any of us have any real chance at becoming the next EVH or SRV, but why put limits on what we could possible achieve ? That`s part of the excitement of learning; who knows where it could take us ? Enjoy the journey and dream. I`m 62 and I would like to ( hopefully) be good enough where I could join a local classic rock type band after I retire. It`s a bit of a "reach" goal but one that drives me to keep working at it and practicing. It`s like anything else; it depends on how much time and effort one is willing to put in. Good luck.