Possible to become good at 40-plus?

Originally Posted by: faith83I feel the need to jump in here and say that it's a myth that adult brains learn more slowlly than teenage brains. That's been disproven many times over by now.

Don't let all this stuff keep you from your aspirations. Everyone who ever did anything worthwhile did it in the face of a whole bunch of people telling them why it couldn't be done.

So I renew my advice: don't ask for permission. Just practice, get amazing, and prove the naysayers wrong.

You should practice, get amazing but you also need to be realistic that teenager has a much higher ceiling of improvement than adult.

The one thing that teenage has that someone at 40-plus does not is "time". Let say a 12 years old teenager and a 40 years old person both start playing guitar at the same time, and that both of them practice two hours everyday. Assuming that both of them have the same level of IQ, motivation and determination, who do you think will be a better guitar player after five years?

If you start playing guitar in your 40+, what is your probability of playing the guitar like John Mayer? I would say less than 0.1%.

If you start playing guitar at the age of 10, what is your probability of playing the guitar like John Mayer? I would say a lot higher that 0.1%.

Like I've said before, you can be "good" with your ability at 40-plus. You just can't compare yourself to someone who have been playing guitar since teenager and expect to be just as good as that person. That's my point.

Originally Posted by: martintaylor2002

If you start playing guitar in your 40+, what is your probability of playing the guitar like John Mayer? I would say less than 0.1%.

If you start playing guitar at the age of 10, what is your probability of playing the guitar like John Mayer? I would say a lot higher that 0.1%.

Like I've said before, you can be "good" with your ability at 40-plus. You just can't compare yourself to someone who have been playing guitar since teenager and expect to be just as good as that person. That's my point.

I hear what you're saying in terms of the time (or runway) that different age groups have to improve. However, I might've mentioned in my initial post that my ambition is not to equal a pro-player: that would be unlikely no matter what age you started at if playing the guitar wasn't a full-time endeavour. I would, however, hope to be able to play to an objectively good standard and be able to tackle more complex songs.

When I say "objectively" I mean what most people would consider being an intermediate player, rather than just "in my opinion". Part of the joy of learning to play is being able to play for others, I think.

I hope none of this sounds at all snarky because I don't intend it to be. It's difficult to inject tone into the written word. It's just that some people will find it dispiriting that they might never break the "beginner" ceiling because they started later in life.

If it helps you, I am happy if a) people say "hey I know that tune and b) I can sit in with friends and not embarrass myself by not being able to contribute and of course pretending I am something I am not.

Have fun,keep practicing, you will get better a little at a time.

There's little here in this thread that hasn't already been said. Brass tacks is that you can become a reasonably good player and it should not take an enormous amount of time. A few years? Sure. But not like you will hit some magic marker at 10 years and a light goes on. I realize that's not what you're thinking.

Priority one with playing is just to enjoy it. No matter how great or terrible you may be at that moment. Attitude is important. Sure, you will have moments where you're not getting something and it can be frustrating. Don't let the momentary take over the long term. Always remember your ultimate goal is to enjoy.

With that said and that attitude engaged, the greatest progress is made working on your weak points. While the seems like such a basic thing to say, people often play the stuff they like to play and gloss over that which they don't.

One of the benefits of targeted practice is to overcome your shortcomings. Many people structure their lessons around a warm up (playing 'easy stuff'), then a targeted practice on the tough stuff followed with just general noodling to wrap it up. Something like that. If you're goal is to become capable, you do have to target specifically your weaknesses. Just don't forget that you should never become so frustrated that you want to give it up. Many folks do that.

For as long as I've been playing, the players that make it past the stage where you're not seen as a beginner skill level all posessed the ability to not be afraid of their weaknesses and further, learned that you will always have another weakness as a player and that you'lll need to overcome it. The players that flourish are the players that embrace that challenge and even enjoy it.

I've been taking on a little more chicken pickin' lately. I'm not great at it so I find that each time I pick up the guitar, I want to try a little more pickin'. I don't have structure practices but I've been playing a long time and have a solid set if skills so I'm able to really just go to the skills I want to build. At your stage, you're still likely to need the baseline skills, but I'd also guess you have more than you give yourself credit for.

So, there ya go. My thoughts.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.

I think that I'll just continue to practise and let things take their course.