Too old, or young, to learn guitar?
Grammy Award winner and Judas Priest lead guitarist Glenn Tipton didn’t start learning to play guitar until he was 19. Legendary Jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery was 20 when he took up the six string guitar. Pat Martino, another jazz great (whom I saw perform in NYC a few years ago) had a stroke at age 36 and lost his memory of the guitar – he succeeded in relearning to play to a virtuoso level. Bluesman T-Model Ford started on a guitar given to him by his fifth wife.
There are thousands of professional guitarists who started “late” – in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and beyond., And many thousands more who started at all ages who are getting tremendous enjoyment from playing music for themselves and with family and friends.
The point is – it’s never too late to start playing the guitar. It’s entirely up to you: the instant you decide so you will be a guitarist – you will make music the very first time you pick up a guitar. The journey will begin. There will be many paths to take and many challenges to meet along the way.
I recommend you take some private lessons from a professional teacher – particularly at critical stages in your development such as when you are first starting out, when you are moving from beginner to immediate level and when you are making the challenging breakthrough to advanced playing.
For parents – if your child is keen and has the necessary physical development then they can start as young as five or six.
[Image: By Takkk (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html, via Wikimedia Commons]
