Parked on a platea, indefinitely

[zmf]

Plateaus are OK. I've learned enough to keep myself and others entertained. I like my style of play, and I've earned my permission to mostly wing it.

The only thing that might entice me is if someone showed up and said "how would you like instruction on jazz progressions". Then I'd gladly be back in the woodshed.

[Malcolm Kindnes]

It's important to find your level and be content with it. However, regarding barre chords, they should not present a problem if your guitar is set up correctly. I am in my seventies and just play anything that takes my fancy, no pressure.

[Bluenose]

I'm 66 and consider myself something of a late bloomer as a guitar player. It only been in the last ten years or so that I believe that I've achieved a level where other people can appreciate that yes I can indeed play the guitar.

Back in my 20's I took lessons from various teachers and basically did everything I could do to get better. I bought books and tapes and learned to read tab and standard notation.

With the arrival of the internet everything changed because there was so much more available information. I started buying lessons from Stephen Grossmans' site and watching closely, sometimes at half speed, the many utube videos of the players that I admire. The Ted Greene lesson videos helped me get a handle on theory. I wish I could have had him as a teacher back when he taught in LA.

But looking back at it all now, for years and years I played a lot of mediocre guitar and bored my friends and family endlessly but I enjoyed doing it and I can't explain why except that I just wanted to get keep playing and learning so that someday I would be 'good'.

I should mention that I've never made a nickel playing (not surprising really) never busked, never gave a lesson for pay and made a living primarily as a forestry technician working for the govt. I retired 6 yrs ago.

The pay off is that I enjoy it more than ever now that I have some skills and knowledge. There are many people that due to a combination of good mentoring and talent achieve high skill levels quickly but not in my case. Becoming a 'good' guitar player takes a lot of time and effort but the journey is in itself worth it IMO. Good luck. If it was easy everybody would do it.

[Br1ck]

I can not tell you with enough enthusiasm how polar opposites we are in this matter. I am seventy. At 65 I decided to take up mandolin while also striving to get better on guitar. I practice guitar and mandolin with a fair degree of discipline. I also strive to become a better songwriter, singer, and self accompanist. I'm absorbing theory as it relates to composition, not to make sophisticated compositions but to understand why that one odd chord added to a piece puts it into another category. Along with this is learning what I call my if I were going to play in a bar songs. Firstly so as not to bore whatever audience I'll have, and as a learning aid to what makes good songs.

I'm learning how to improvise over chord progressions, and play instrumental breaks on the fly, on two instruments at the same time. I can't tell you how exciting it is to unintentionally play something, then figure out how to make sense of it so I can finish the break on a high note.

I have my share of age related hand issues, but I still play on with more enthusiasm and joy than ever. I have peers that find joy playing the same songs they've played for years, and that is perfectly fine, but it's the newness and the adventure of being on the ragged edge that gets me off. Especially in front of people.

I hope this sense of adventure never leaves me. The satisfaction of slogging through stretching exercises with my mandolin for a solid two months, then be able to play passages cleanly for the first time, well, nothing beats the feeling. I'll never be close to what I desire to be, but that isn't really the point.

[gr81dorn]

Can the OP update the title of this thread and ad the "u" to "plateau" because I read it like 20 times thinking it was a new exciting word that I was going to start using around my smart friends and then I went googling for "platea" I realized it was a typo ;-)

[musicman1951]

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

In general, people engage in an activity for two reasons. First, because they enjoy that activity. Second, to make a living at that activity. The reasons can be one, the other or both.

In general, there are two kinds of people. There are those who derive "energy" from within: introverts. There are those who derive "energy" from without: extroverts. In general, introverts tend to be their own motivation for practicing/playing or "getting better". In general, extroverts tend to obtain their motivation from playing in front of others. In the absence of audiences, such as in pandemic times, some extroverts find motivation for their activities dwindling.

One should make one's practice/playing whatever best fulfils one's needs. If that means playing one, and only one, song by oneself, so be it. If that means striving to play guitar concerti in front of a filled concert hall, so be it. The voice you hear in your head driving you is yours.

Wow, what a wonderful answer. Bravo!

When I was a HS band director I would have students in my "B" band that were happy with their level of development and didn't want to get any better (or probably didn't want to dedicate the time necessary). They had 6-8 years on their instrument and were having a good time in band. I was fine with that -it was one of the reasons I had a B band - but I always tried to get them to not close the door on their future.

When you're as old as we are it actually seems prudent to spend our time enjoying our music, whatever that means to each player. No excuses necessary - play on.

[Spyvito]

I retired last year and now, freshly 67, my great enjoyment is an evening bedtime concert for Tweety, one of our pet birds. He’s one that isn’t tame enough to come out of his cage-home.

This ritual is something he seems to love and he doesn’t care if I flub through or stop in the middle or just decide to noodle some scales.

I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m just enjoying playing without being critical. Virtuosity isn’t that hard to give up.

[donlyn]

Parked on a plateau, indefinitely


73 years old and not on a plateau yet. Not even close, despite some aches and pains.

Still climbing the mountain, one rock at a time.

Don
.

[wguitar]

I'll be 67 this year and (but for Covid) would have been in my 2nd year of solo gigging. While I played in a gospel band for many years, I was mainly a rhythm player with an OK (but not great) voice who could harmonize well. I am a 49-year amateur player, and never took a lesson until my wife surprised me with lessons on my 65th birthday. Well, I took lessons for about 5-6 months from a professional jazz player who taught me all kinds of cool stuff, jazz chords that to this day I can't play, and he started with basic theory, scales, etc. (Book 1). While I learned a ton, it was tedious and my hands always hurt (carpal tunnel mostly) and cramped. I decided that enough was enough, and that I really wanted guitar playing to be FUN vs tedious and painful. Transposed songs into keys I could sing, put together a songbook, and landed quite a few gigs in local restaurants, breweries, and the like. I try to learn new songs but at my own speed. Life is good -- Play my guitar every day and having a blast -- and view it not as a plateau but rather a subtle learning "trajectory" (learning what I want to learn vs what I have to learn). I'll never be James Taylor or Eric Clapton, but then again they will never be me either!

Life is Good -- ENJOY !

[guitarxan]

I turned 60 late this past year. For the last 12 years I have had the privilege of gigging with a band, an acoustic duo and for the last two years as a solo. All of this I have done as a hobby and have maintained an IT career that allowed me to obtain some really nice guitars and gear.

I have learned a tremendous amount and my guitar playing and singing ability advanced beyond where I thought it would ever be.

Fast forward to 2021 and my regular solo gig has dried up due to COVID and a life change for the owner of the venue I played regularly in. Our community is extremely music friendly and I have a small but loyal following, so the barriers to finding new gigs is fairly low. However, I am not feeling the desire to continue gigging and learning. It just feels like work now and I would rather play between zoom meetings and such. It feels like a waste of what I learned and the gear I have acquired but I think I am ready just to play for myself for a while.

[Goodallboy]

I hope you continue to enjoy the instrument any way you choose.

I also hope I never want to stop getting better. At 68 I’m better than I was at 28 and I’m better this month than I was last month. It’s a passion solely pursued for my own enjoyment.

I don’t consider being able to play a 4 minute song crammed with bar chords, making me a better player. Like you I use Bm and some others as needed but making a major chord barred, isn’t a requirement, and is no indication of the “better” player.

Have fun and keep pickin’!

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by Goodallboy

I don’t consider being able to play a 4 minute song crammed with bar chords, making me a better player. Like you I use Bm and some others as needed but making a major chord barred, isn’t a requirement, and is no indication of the “better” player.

Have fun and keep pickin’!

Imagine a flute or clarinet player saying, “I’ve been playing for years and I’ve always found it very difficult to play a C note, so I just avoid playing any piece that has that note, or, if I can’t avoid it, when I come to that note in a melody I just don’t play it.”

Imagine an artist, a painter, say, who says, “the only paint I have is black” and the limitation that that places on what he or she can express absent of the use of a larger color palette.

Ones technique should allow a sufficient pallet that one isn’t prevented from playing what one wants how one wants. Playing for a prolonged period using only barre chords isn’t a measure of skill. However, barre chords are such a basic tool of guitar playing technique that to not be able to play them can be very limiting, depending on what one wants to play. Keep in mind there is far more utility in the use of a barre than just playing “standard” barre chord fingerings.

[Goat Mick]

I'm a guy that has to have a reason to practice and learn new stuff. That reason is usually an upcoming gig that gets me motivated. I've been gigging steady since 2010 after a long hiatus while we raised our family. During that time I rarely played and didn't learn anything new at all. Now I'm practicing quite a bit learning new material and keeping old material fresh. I've been working from home since March and always have a guitar beside my desk for breaks and down times. I'm a solo performer so I spend the majority of my time in the cowboy chord territory but I'll still throw in a Bm or F#m when needed. But I'm also turning 55 this year and between 2-3 gigs each week and holding down my full time day job, I'm getting tired. The bad thing is every time I take a week off I can't wait to get back out and perform again. People keep telling me that it's what keeps me alive. I would rather them tell me it's keeping me young, but nobody is mentioning that.

[Mr. Jelly]

Originally Posted by Kinda Old

I'm 70 years old, I don't want to grow in my guitar journey anymore. In fact, I've stopped playing bar chords altogether on acoustic guitar. I never liked playing them on an acoustic, (although, I still bar Bm) I'm starting to cut out most of the stuff that I couldn't play well but played anyway because I wanted to keep getting better. So now I'm enjoying playing as never before. I'm thinking what would have been so bad if I had come to that realization when I was 40? Better late than never.

Amen brother! I have been through several styles of guitar music. I appreciate what I have learned. Now at 67 and not actively entertaining I play what I enjoy playing. The realization is that in some ways there was some waisted effort as I don't want to play certain music or styles. I have come full circle to where I started out. Only now it's more sophisticated. I also ran out of things to learn. Not that I know everything thing or that I can do everything but I can do everything I want to do and what I can't do I know that I will never be able to do it. It's kind of like there is no reason to learn a lick I will never use.

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by davidbeinct

What do us old noobs do? I’m 58 and have been at it for a year and a bit. I know my goal is to get a steady thumb and pick cleanly mainly in the first position, with occasional forays into the typical country blues double stops and triads up to the twelfth fret. Can I make it at this ripe old age?

David,

Yes, totally doable based on my experience. I started finger picking at the age you are at now. Four years later it is starting to come together for me.

One problem I now see in looking back is that I spread myself too thin. There are so many great resources and different genres out there, it is easy to jump around all the time.

For the past year I have been working through Hurt's repertoire with my teacher, half an hour a week. We use the Grossman book as a guide, but he only gives you one or two choruses, and frankly there are plenty of inaccuracies. So most of the lesson time is spent listening and transcribing (he does the tab notation, I try to follow along). This has been invaluable, both for my technique and understanding of how these tunes are put together.

Find a teacher who clicks for you (on line or in person), and stick with it, resist the temptation to bounce around. Remember these songs sound pretty good at moderate tempos, no need to play them fast and sloppy. You have laid a good foundation, the rewards are just around the corner!