Hello everyone......I am 17 and almost going on 18, am i too old to learn guitar. I wanted to form a band, but i see all the great guitarists(like Petrucci, Satriani, Hammett, Gilbert) learning guitar very young, like 13 or so discourages me, as i think you have to start very early too get good and start a band after you finish highschool or so. So is 17 too old?

you are now at the age where you know what you want to do and can go after it. you could dedicate the next ten years of your life to guitar and become quite rrespectable ( or disrespectable as you want to be in that time.

Are you KIDDING ME!!!!!!  I'm 60 years old and just started about 9 months ago.  The only problem you have is deciding WHY you want to play guitar.  I'm doing it for FUN and for the love of music.  I will probably NEVER play outside my own home.  My coach/instructor has been playing for over 40 years and he started at 18 and is an EXCELLENT guitarist.  He's played in some very good bands in the Milwaukee, WI area over the years.  You're NEVER tooooooo oooooold to learn something new.  I suggest you get started and see where it leads you.  Once you gain proficiency,  there are always bands looking to take on good musicians.

You'll find a lot of encouragement and help on this site.  The people here are great.

Get Going and Keep it FUN,

Dean

Slayer_569 wrote:

Hello everyone......I am 17 and almost going on 18, am i too old to learn guitar. I wanted to form a band, but i see all the great guitarists(like Petrucci, Satriani, Hammett, Gilbert) learning guitar very young, like 13 or so discourages me, as i think you have to start very early too get good and start a band after you finish highschool or so. So is 17 too old?

you are never to old music is for every one.you got a beer

THanks everyone for the encouragement, i get discouraged when i see all the greats learning music from such a young age. Music is a hobby, but i was hoping to start a band and make a career out of it, thats why i am concerned about starting so young...

Slayer, you are never too old for starting.  If this is your career choice then approach it like any other job work hard at it.  Some of the great guitarists practiced 10- 12 hours a day.  Scientists, engineers, doctors, ceos etc. all have dedicated their lives to being good at what they do and in most cases success has followed.  in your case practice, practice, practice, and when your done practicing then practice some more you will get good at it.  And if some 13 year old kid throws down some sick riff then don't get mad or discouraged use it as something to learn from.  There is no failure in trying you only fail by not trying.  Just my .02
Buzz  (53 yo lefty beginner)

I'm 15 and I started playing when I was 12, and I'm just now learning music theory and scales. So, it doesn't matter what age or how long it takes to get the hang of it, if you're good enough you can eventually make it I think. Just look at how many bands and people there are alone on THIS SITE! (Not by force, but because I go to an online school, I literally do that and play the guitar and record ALL DAY LONG EVERY SINGLE DAY UNTIL MIDNIGHT! Except on weekends when I'm with my band, because we have a female lead singer, and parents will be parents when it comes to letting a pretty girl sleep over Generally though my bassist Daniel can stay and since I can kind of sing we get stuff demo demoed for demoing, haha.

17, I have  under wear older than that! Music has no date stamp on the bottom of your foot, I'm 66, still play every day, there's a lady in the building here that is 87 years old , blind and still plays steel guitar, and plays it well.It's up to you how and when, if you have the want-to You can do it like a lot of us, and use it for a second job,or, you can make it  your career choice. Remember this, only a few make a living in the business. but it's a helluva ride.It's been fun, and it's still putting a few bucks in my pocket every month.

Besides, if you can't make a career out of it, it doesn't make you a bad musican. Granted, there are some people who just cannot play, but those are generally people who give up or don't have arms But if one band fails, go solo or try again. It's obviously a hard business to get into, even if you're the spotlight of Youtube or Larry Platt! There are many more options in playing guitar and making money at it then just making a band. You can sell lessons, rock out solo for tips, or heck even work at Guitar Center! And if one genre (let's say for example rock) doesn't work out, maybe that's not your thing. There's R&B, Rap, Folk, Polka, Country, Bluegrass, Jazz, Blues, Metal, Heavy Metal, Nu-Metal, Alternitive, Grundge, Pop, Southern Rock, Acoustic Rock, Rap-Rock, Rap-Metal, Glam Rock, Glam Pop, or even combine Country lyrics to rap to metal to a beautiful piano piece! Music is whatever, Mr. Cobain created Grundge is less time than it takes me to get dressed, and MJ made Pop music his peasant! Elvis rocked out rock, and of course the Beatles made music history period. So many genres, so many bands, so many options. Probably to greatest creation of man kind, because music can never trully be terriable. What is "blah" to some may be "Awing" to others. Lots of people hate U2, tons more love them. Some people can't stand "I am The Walrus", some people can't get enough. So, like i said, music is whatever you make it to be.

Hey Craz, check this out.........


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eTRs2bPN2Y


J

69 jaguar wrote:

Hey Craz, check this out.........


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eTRs2bPN2Y


J

awesome!

Haha ok so only people who actually give up will fail. Seems like my concern about playing scales is a lot less than this guy. How do you even train yourself to do that?! I want to see him play Freebird....

Wouldnt surprize me if he could.

That'd be amazing. I can barely even play the ending solo; let alone with my feet! Not with my feet of course, but on 2/6/10 I will be covering the acoustic version of "Sweet Child O' Mine" by G'N'R, and 2 Greeday songs "21 Guns" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", both acoustic. They're all my own versions, I played around 'til I figured them out, so please rate and tell me how I did. They're played in the key of C mainly, except 21 guns, which has a Bb chord in it. Other than that it's mostly G, C, A, and D chords. Some arpeggios were used for "Sweet Child O' Mine"; however, most of the songs revolve around chord progression, especially "21 Guns". Hope you enjoy and please visit my Youtube 2/6/10! Rate & comment! Thanks!

...hmmmmmm, this question got ME thinking back to just when DID I begin to play?

...I was 15 and learned quickly how to play chords BADLY.

...about 10 years later, I finally realized my BAD ways, and began to take an earnest interest in learning both RIGHT way of making chords as well as how to understand music notation...and, even later, how to actually sight-READ music notation.

...all total, I probably spent about 20 years SLOWLY re-learning what I'd QUICKLY learned wrong.

...51 years years later, I'm still learning.

...so, the short answer is: "...you're NEVER too old to learn!"

So great I can play wrong fast and wait 20 years until I'm sitting at home finally realizing all my mistakes.

crazsim8 wrote:

So great I can play wrong fast and wait 20 years until I'm sitting at home finally realizing all my mistakes.

...nah, the "moral-of-the-story" is: learn it right the FIRST time and you'll get 'there' much, much FASTER!"

Well, I'm pretty sure all the ways I'm playing are right, and if not....then this site is evil....

I am 69 and am teaching myself.  I won't be starting or joining a band but I go to a Jam session here in town and it is great.  People come from all over to play and sing  I hop in a few months I will be joining in the jam.  Good luck to you.

Welcome to the board Topgator, you might have noticed the chat feature....come on in when you see some of the gang in there...ask questions if you have them. Oh, and yer not the only...how to say...fortunate one, yeah, that's it...there's more of us in the 60's.

Cheers,

GuitarZen