5 Tips on Picking Up Guitar Later in Life

In the hustle and bustle of raising a family, working a job, climbing the corporate ladder and making ends meet, there are natural casualties. Things that get “swept under” the carpet or “put off” until later.

Quite often those casualties are dreams. Things we have “dreamed” of doing since we were kids. Funny how life has a nasty habit of getting between us and the things we’d really like to be doing.

For some, that dream is to write a novel, or to learn to paint, or take up sailing, or learn gourmet cooking. Others still carry the dream of learning how to play guitar.

If you’re a “little ways down” the road of life and are contemplating “finally” picking up the guitar, here are some tips on getting started.

1. Buy a Guitar – This sounds like a duh! statement but choosing the right guitar is not always easy. Guitars are very personal in nature, and they all have a different “feel”. Even several guitars of the same model and manufacturer will all be slightly different. Best advice – visit your local music store and actually “lay hands” on some models before buying.

2. Get Lessons – Too many fledgling guitarists nowadays try to learn how to play by hopping around the net and gathering bits and pieces of free guitar lessons. We call these “Google” guitarists. The problem is, without a solid step by step lesson program to go by, most of these net bouncers typically make very little progress on truly learning how to play and understanding what they are doing on guitar.

3. Set up a “My Space” area – No, we are not talking about social networking here. A My Space area is somewhere in your home that you can call your own, at least while you are practicing guitar. A spare room, basement, garage or office where you can close the door and turn off the outside world. The ability to focus 100% of your energies on learning guitar will take you a long way. A My Space area should also be void of cell phones, pagers and email. Ouch!

4. Prepare for Pain – Stock up on the Advil because there is a certain amount of physical discomfort to expect early on. Not debilitating emergency room pain, but there will be some soreness in the fingers, hands and forearms in the beginning, as well as the dreaded blisters on the finger tips. Don’t worry, all of these conditions improve fairly quickly, if you keep practicing.

5. Adjust Your “Head” – Adapting the right mindset from day one will be key to how far you progress. Younger minds, free of clutter, are able to “soak up” new information and concepts quickly. As we get older it can take longer for new things to sift through, and we also often have less patience with ourselves. Prepare for a “head adjustment” by taking a long term approach to learning guitar, and bask in the small accomplishments as you go. Understand right up front that it won’t happen over night!

The great thing (if there is one) about getting older is we often reach a point where we are in a position to chase some of the dreams we have been storing away like a shoebox on a shelf.

Learning how to play guitar can be an extremely rewarding and satisfying experience, so take the time to do a little advance preparation and you will reap the rewards for many years to come!