IJ's Guitar Blog

I teach a lot of kids and over the years I’ve taught a lot of adults, even those up into their 70′s.  One of the main differences between kids and adults learning something new is that kids don’t have that self-consciousness about learning that adults do.  As adults, we more or less expect ourselves to just be able to learn anything and learn it quickly, whereas children don’t have the same expectations of themselves.  As a result, when we try something out for the first time, it’s embarrassing to not be able to do it perfectly!

Kids are like little sponges;  they’re all about learning because that’s pretty much all they do!  It doesn’t deter them to not be able to do something immediately, and therefore they give themselves a lot of room to try and fail.  Their ears aren’t as trained to listen for mistakes, so they don’t get upset if they don’t hit a chord just right or sing a note on key.  The greatest issue I have to deal with is their attention span (i.e. they don’t have much of one ).  However, if they’re having a good time, that is not a problem.

Adults have a much longer attention span, but also higher expectations .  Those two things can work against each other if we don’t learn to balance them.  So if you’re over 50, can you expect to learn to play an instrument fairly competently if you never have before?

The quick answer is yes.  And of course I’m going to say that, but the truth is that I’ve taught many people over 50 and they’ve walked away with a relatively decent set of chords to continue their musical journey with.  Some find that guitar is not their thing, but that can happen at any age.  Some take longer to learn the instrument, but that is true of any age as well.  So the fact is that you pretty much have the same chance of adequately learning the instrument that a child does;  the only thing that could potentially get in your way is you!

So if you are about to learn an instrument, any instrument for the first time and in your later years, here are a few things to consider:

1.  Be patient with yourself!  Adults actually learn more quickly than kids (did you know that?), but expectations are higher and therefore their patience to advancement ratio can go out of whack.  Take it slow and you’ll get there.

2. Ask yourself what you want to accomplish.  Do you want to become a guitar virtuoso?  Probably not.  Do you just want to play for yourself to entertain yourself?  That’s entirely possible.  Even if you simply want to play a couple of songs for your family to sing along with next Christmas, that is a reasonable goal.  Reasonable goals are important.  You are not a 14-year-old male who can lock himself up in his room for 7 hours a day and play, play, play, so you’re not going to become a YouTube sensation .

3. Learning should be fun.  If you’re not enjoying it, then either find another teacher, or let it go.  It’s okay if it’s not your thing, but if you’re practising and becoming nothing but frustrated, then walk away for awhile.  Joy is very important when learning an instrument!  Keep your sense of humour!

Yes, you can learn an instrument when you’re over 50.  In fact, learning an instrument at that age is good for the brain!  So not only will you create a joyful experience for yourself, you’ll be keeping your brain active and healthy.

Go ahead, you can do it

IJ

Related articles

• How Music Benefits People with ADHD (brighthub.com)
• Listening to Music Actually Makes You Smarter (alternet.org)
• List of Christmas Carols on Guitar (socyberty.com)

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