The Old Folks' Beginners Thread

Originally Posted by: Ddancer

The problem I may have, is I like the 50s, 60s, and some 70’s but I don’t see a big selection in that time period (R. Nelson, Elvis, R Orbison Everly Brothers etc.), still there’s a lot, and I will continue checking out songs and the beginners lessons to see what can help me get to the next stage.

I don't mean to take anything away from GT, I love it for the lesssons and the song library, but if you can't find a song here, I recommend Ultimate Guitar Tabs (the app and the site). For a small annual fee, you will have access to tons of songs. It won't teach you "HOW to play guitar", it doesn't have the lesson videos that GT has (which are awesome), but it has some great tools that, when mixed with all of the knowledge and basics that you will learn on GT, will allow you to teach yourself almost any song out there.

My two cents - use GT to learn everything that you need to know to learn "how" to play anything and to understand music theory and the design of the instrument itself, then you can use apps like Ultimate Guitar Tab to find sheet music, chord progressions and strumming patterns for a particular song.

[br]Just about qualify for this thread so here goes. Just started the beginners course after starting to learn the guitar 8 months ago at the age of 77 and loving it. The family allowed me to choose my Birthday present and I bought a nice Fender Squire Classic 70's Strat, as per my avatar, with a Boss Katana 50 Amp & a Reecho Mooer mini pedal. After buying all these new toys the family said in future they will decide what I get for my next Birthday lol. For the last 8 months I have been learning to play solo, Hank Marvings Shadows tunes , (Sleepwalk, Theme for young lovers, the Young ones & Apache ) using tabs and also learning a few chords. Decided I needed a structured course and after joining G.T realised Lisa McCormick's beginners lessons are excellent & motivating ( thank you Lisa ). I love the challenge of learning the guitar and get great satisfaction every time I progress a little at a time. I have a desire to go out on gigs ,( only joking, gigs are nearly always held past my bedtime anyway lol.) this is all obviously for pure personel enjoyment. One question regarding the chords I have already learnt, should I carry on playing them as per the Essential chords down load from G.T and learn new chords the same or should I do the simple chords as per Lisa's lessons ?

Hi John,

Yup, you definitely belong in this thread. Good to have you here. Those Squires are very nice guitars, I have a couple. The sunburst is one of my favorite color schemes, yours is very similar to my Squire Tele.

Regarding your question on chords, my response needs to be tempered with the fact I have been at this about the same amount of time as yourself. So I am not an expert. I went through Lisa’s course and learned the chords as they were taught, but at the same time I was learning songs and sometimes the two won’t overlap. Which is fine. I tend to retain the chords I need to know for songs I am learning to play. I never had a very good memory and tend to retain only the chords I need to play the songs I want to play. I have no intention of trying to learn every chord. As I am typing this I just finished my practice which included the 12 Bar Blues with Anders Mouridsen and he is introducing new chords to me in his tutorial. But since I really enjoy the Blues and will spend lots of time in it, I will likely hold onto these new chords through repetition.

Good luck.

Hi William, thanks for the welcome. Yes very pleased with my guitar & the sunburst looks great. Will probably start with the chords I do not know with Lisa's simple chords until later on in the course. I am lucky to have learnt piano in the past so I can read music and also know chord structures which will come in handy once I have learnt where all the notes are on the guitar, still have to get those fingers in those awkward positions though, much easier to play chords on the piano. You sound like you are doing very well for the short time you have been learning. Oh well off to practice now, at my my age I need all the practice I can get.

Cheers John.

I'm 57. I took some lessons when I was in my early 20's. I was never particularly good but apparently learned more than I thought because most everything in GF1 was familiar. I'm not advancing terribly fast but fast enough and I am sure I would be advancing much more slowly had it not been for my earlier lessons. I still have problems going through a song without lot's of mistakes (missed finger placements, buzzy strings, forgetting what comes next, etc.) though. I assume if I keep practicing (and practicing right) I will get better, but I'm good enough to enjoy what I'm doing.

I've completed GF1. For redundancy I also did the discontinued GF1 course by Chris. I now have a set of maybe a dozen or so songs I'm trying to learn before moving on to GF2. I don't have aspirations to be in a band or anything. I anticipate that I will always be a bedroom player. I really think it helps to enjoy the journey and not think too much about the destination. I like the tone of my acoustic. I can just play a slow arpegiated chord and derive satisfaction from the sound of that. I also enjoy learning theory for theory's sake. I'll lay in bed and watch youtube videos on chord progressions or key modulation strategies and so on. I suspect as I add more gear (which I think a great deal about), I will enjoy that as well just for the sake of playing with and exploring the capabilities of new toys. I think I'm enjoying this time around more than the first, in large measure because I'm not so much trying to be something but am just enjoying the process and my baby steps forwards.

Hey dl,

Recognize some of me in there lol.

Buzzy chords, YouTube videos on everything guitar and gear.

It's all great fun!

Looks like about a month since any of us "Old Folks" added anything, so thought I would jump back in and say Hello. Been working on Blues, Country and Rock "1" series in each and mixing them up, but I have been working more on a handful of songs (strumming) with some friends. We now have a threesome (not the 4 guys in my avatar) that gets together to strum and sing (all poorly) every other Tuesday - great fun.

Loving the Blues class, BUT some of the lessons on variations get confusing very quickly. When he starts talking about where the IV and V are on a minor 7 variation or how to find the right notes to make up an abbrieviated chord and I'm watching the video and my brain is going "WHAT????" I want to be able to follow along with the logic of his music theory, but it can take 20-30 minutes on some lessons, just to figure out what he is talking about.

Is there a separate "music theory" class that we should be watching?

Originally Posted by: ccangia

So far as near as I can tell I am the oldest here at 71...

Nope.

Keep practicing, have fun.

john

I’m 50. I started two years ago this month. It’s been very rewarding. Learned from a book the first year. Then found this sight when I wanted to learn songs.

How long it takes depends on the person. I only know 3 complete songs. House of the Rising Sun, Ed Kings guitar on Sweet Home Alabama, minus the solos, and She Talks to Angels. The later two songs took me 8 months to learn. Not easy song though. I’ve also researched a lot about practice and how the brain learns. The first year and a half I went to fast. Had a lot mistakes to clean up. And playing it perfectly every time, I’m not sure is possible. Though I have heard of a few musicians who got a song right the first time while recording it. Mistakes happen. Get it perfect 5 times in a row is possible though. But more frustrating at the start.

As far as practice, I learn much faster now after all the research. Start slow. For the majority of time that’s been 20 bpm for me. I can start some things as high as 60 bmp now. I stay at my starting speed until I get it right 5 times in a row. It takes patience but pays off. Once your fingers learn exactly what to do, speed comes easier. Then I move the metronome up 5 bpm. Play there until I get it right 5 times in a row, etc.

Also I don’t work on the same thing for 30 minutes anymore. I take 3 things and work on them 5 minutes each. Repeating it 3 times. Right now I’m working on 3 songs. So I’ll do a 45 minute practice using that method. The brain retains more information that way. Though you won’t advance as much that day. But you will loose way less the next day.

Before I’d get better at something that day, the next day I couldn’t do it that speed. It’s a common thing. One step forward and 3 back. By doing 5 minutes at a time the brain stays focused and constantly updates the info you give it within going into autopilot. Which causes the loss of learning the next day. Studies say blocked practiced only retains about half of what is learned compared to the interleaved practice that I do now.

And for me it also keeps things fresh alternating them. Versus the boredom of repeating one thing over and over for 45 minutes. I also practice at work during breaks and lunch. But still do the 5 minutes sets even if I only have 15 minutes.

I was very intersted in reading this mnbryant2001. Your systems and the learning.

Good stuff!

More tales..... so I've just completed "Kissed by a Rose" by SEAL on my acoustic. I practice a song until I think it's good enough to commit to video, I record the performance, file it, and then move on. That way I hope to build up a record of my long-term progress over the year/s.

Have just started "Li'l Red Rooster" as recorded by Howlin' Wolf. This is different for me as it involves slide on my electric. I'm enjoying it, about half way through now.

Problem is, I fear I have forgotten more songs than I know!! I look back on my previous videos and realise I couldn't play through a certain song like I have done before.

I guess I need to dedicate part of my practice to new songs, and part of my practice to "learnt" songs. Trouble is, I have very limited practice time, and I LOVE to learn new songs!!

Maybe one day I'll be in a position to spend more time practicing, and so will be able to dedicate sections of practice to retaining "old" songs in their entirety. It's a bit of a bummer to have to re-learn "from scratch almost" a song that you had down pat only a month or two previous.

Originally Posted by: alffvdh

Maybe one day I'll be in a position to spend more time practicing, and so will be able to dedicate sections of practice to retaining "old" songs in their entirety. It's a bit of a bummer to have to re-learn "from scratch almost" a song that you had down pat only a month or two previous.

If only we could devote our days to playing guitar instead of working for "the man" !

Originally Posted by: sgautier8th

Is there a separate "music theory" class that we should be watching?

LOL !! There IS a whole "Music Theory" class on GuitarTricks - just found it and will start my studies!

Hi there .

I'm 63 now and started playing guitar 2 years ago.

So I purchased an electric guitar.

The last time I touched this sort of instrument I was 16 !

I started looking at some videos on YT then I suscribed to GT.

That was great at first and helped me a lot especialy learning with Lisa's beginner's course.

But as I'm french I had some trouble to understand everything explained.

After 2 years of "sterile internet wandering", I was not able to fix on a precise goal, so I tried blues, rock, soloing, and so on, total mess.

At the end I went with a french guitar teacher, and restart all from scratch.

Back to the basic, I learned a few chords well and I'm now learning only rhythm wich I think is the foundation of playing guitar.

I've read your posts and I find that we most all share same troubles at start.

I think the most difficult thing in playing an instrument is to find a goal to acheive before going any further.

I wish you all the success you diserve in your learning.

Regards form France

Patrick

(sorry for my strange english).

Bonjour Patrick,

je ma pelle William... and now my french is leaving me and before I make a fool of myself I will have to switch to English. I was once somewhat bilingual as French language lessons are part of our school cirriculum here (Canada). If I spoke French as well as you speak English I would be much better for it.

Best of luck on your journey!

Hello, my name is John. I've made a few attempts in the past to learn to play with little success. I'm 67 years old with fairly severe arthritis in my hands. I just bought an electric guitar because it's easier to play with my troubled hands. I have a real desire to learn how to play for enjoyment and as therapy. I have never encountered a method of learning like Guitar Tricks offers. Finally a course that goes step-by-step and gets me playing songs right away. That is huge motivation for me to keep going. Do you think I am too old to start now?

I don't believe you are too old John if the desire is there and there is still some physical capacity.

You will need to do the best with what you have to work with (arthritis I mean). Do what you can and get your enjoyment from what you can accomplish.

almost to 100 posts/replies!!!! Are there that many of us geezers on here?!?!?!?

48 Years of age.

Picked up the guitar 4 days ago. I've never played guitar in my life but when I listen to some of the great guitarists like David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Joe Walsh to name a few, it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. That is inspiration alone :)

I purchased my first guitar 4 days ago and google searched lessons online and GuitarTricks was number 1 by reviews.

I'm a truck driver so I have to fit in the time I practice when I get home after a long day driving. However I have put time aside purely for practice, even if it's on 20 minutes.

Thought I would share my story with some of you other old folks.

I am not a real beginner because I played when I was younger. However, I got back into guitar about a year ago and found GT site. For christmas I bought myself an Epiphone ES 335 electric and a line 6 modelling amp (even though I didn't really know what a modelling amp could do until I started to use it). First Electric I played for around 40 Years

Last Saturday I had a party for my 60th birthday and played a 30 minute set that had 100 people dancing and singing along. My first real live performance. It was something I had set as a goal when I got my electric and it was great. I had a ball - and so did everyone else.

The Set I played - learnt mostly from GT:

Satisfaction

Jesus is Just alright

No Rain

Day Tripper

TIme is Tight

Surfing Safari

Are you gonna be my girl

Revolution

TNT and

Tequila

I used guitar backing tracks with vocals that I purchased for a few dollars from the site Custom Backing Tracks and the modelling amp allowed me to preset the tones I wanted with a footswitch to change when needed. I am still amazed at what my little amp can do. For example, in Satisfaction I switched between a high gain setting on a Marshall 1958 Plexi and a Clean 1964 Fender Blackface!