I’m going to give you an answer I really stand by – YES! You can learn how to play the guitar in your 50’s, 40’s, 60’s or at any age, really. Your age has nothing to do with learning the instrument; it’s your responsibilities and how crowded your brain is that make learning a new skill challenging.

Younger players have more free time if they choose to get serious about the guitar. Outside of school and perhaps a part-time job, their schedule should be free to pursue anything they choose. They can get better quicker because they have more time to dedicate to practice everyday. For adults, things are little more difficult, perhaps, but I have never met an adult whose fingers were too short or too long, or an adult who wasn’t able to grasp concepts of playing and so on. Adults don’t have as much disposable time as youngsters, but we do have experience in learning which is on our side. I actually strongly recommend learning any new skill throughout your life. If you set your expectations correctly and understand that picking up the guitar takes repeated committment for which you make time for – I say do it.

I often talk to musicians who are stalling in putting their songs or albums out because they don’t think the material will be heard by enough people. Or, they are afraid that upon release they’ll have to take the project to a big time level. Perhaps they think doing something cool is enough, but they feel they’ll be judged by others, for you know, not becoming “successful” with their work.

As a side note, success is relative and personal. If you start a project and stay on course to finish it, that is already a level of success.

But, in regards to the above, it’s a mental trap. The truth is that not every band’s goal is to be the biggest band in the world. There are numerous one or two member groups that put out great music out there through the internet for the sake of being creative. Many of them don’t even play shows.

There is nothing wrong with starting a band to take on the world and become the next Metallica and there is nothing wrong with releasing an EP for the sake of getting the songs out of your head and into the universe. You can set your own goals for success and follow them as much as you care to. Your songs, your band, your life. That’s enough.

Some of my favorite bands never became “big” or mostly went under the radar. There is coolness in being the underdog, too.

You know what’s funny about us humans? We love to give our best advice to others, but we often think we don’t know what to do for ourselves. But, here’s the thing – we usually do know what to do. You know what you’re doing right, what you need to change or where you’re slacking. Generally, if we get quiet, we can figure that stuff out if we are being honest with ourselves.

Here’s the deal – sometimes you gotta talk to yourself, your own voice might be the most intelligent thing you hear all day. What would you tell your best friend who was facing the same challenge as you are? Ok, great. Now, go follow that advice.

Sometimes when things don’t go our way, or we have to do something we don’t want to do, it might seem to us, that we are forever doomed. It’s a loss of perspective. When we are stuck in traffic – it feels like it’ll never end. When we have to learn a new skill – it feels like it’ll take a lifetime. When we get a flat tire – it can feel like we’ll never get back on that road again. We know it’s not true, but our mind exaggerates.

I always remind myself that the success is in outlasting the challenge. Most everything we know has an end. All we have to do is to remind ourselves to outlast the temporary thorn and then all will be ok on the other side.

See if that small shift in mindset can work for you!

They don’t. While the people we look-up to, or even idolize, might have found a way to become admirable at a task be it sports, music, photography, engineering, design, teaching, sales and so on, remember that in order to become exceptionally world-class good at something, we often in the process give up on developing other important parts of life. This varies of course from person to person. The people you admire don’t always have all the answers. This is why I sometimes find it interesting that general public expects sports stars, as an example, to be all around role models. Many genuinely are, and for a good reason. But, careful with your expectations. It takes a certain personality to give up literally everything in order to achieve a task that most only dream of. I’ve met several successful people in their various chosen professions who couldn’t inflate a tire or hold a half-decent conversation. I am not not faulting you, me or anyone else – we are all work in progress. Just take above into consideration.