# Guitar teachers..your comments please.



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

I'm interested in your comments related to teaching "older" students (let's define "older" as 50+ years).

I'm concerned that learning new chords, scales, progressions, etc. that require reasonalbly significant eye-hand co-ordination (although speed of playing is a not going to be introduced as a major factor) could be a frustrating task, given age alone. 

Having interest, motivation and experience will certainly help....I hope (LOL). And...... I know the old saying "One is never too old to learn" (at this point, I am beginning to hate the word "old" with a passion).

I'd like to consider taking some more lessons, but I'd like to be realistic and well informed as to what guitar teachers have to say about this.

My last guitar teacher said "Don't ever quit" ...and I have kept his comment as my commitment to myself and to him (he passed away, very unexpectedly).

Maybe I'm rambling to some extent...but I'm sure others have similar questions.

Hope this makes some sense. 

Thanks for your comments.

Cheers

Dave


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

When I taught, it was mostly kids, but I had students from 6 to 60.

More than any physical barriers, the biggest barrier I saw with adult students was just life being busy with responsibilities to not be able to practice as much as they wanted to. I also had one student that travelled with his job, and so he missed at least one lesson a month. Then I had another who missed a month or so because he was in jail. Hopefully you won't be that last one. :smile:

Physical limitations will vary from student to student-whether a kid or an adult.
I wouldn't get hung up on it. Even if you have something that way you can work around it. Your attitude seems good.

Another thing is to find a suitable teacher. I'd stay away from the hotshot young guitarist with an attitude (actually the attitude part goes for all ages.) But if the young hotshot has a good attitude and is patient-they could be good. Usually the best teachers are the ones that had to work at it as a student themselves.

Best wishes in your endeavours--I say Go for it!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks Zontar...interesting comments. 

I appreciate your encouragement.

I will certainly try to avoid incarceration, as that would interfere with more than just enhancing my limited guitar skills.

Thanks again.

Dave


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## snacker (Jun 26, 2008)

i've had many older students and i've never found they had any problems learning anything that i was teaching them, in fact, many aspects of theory and the mechanics of the instrument made more sense to them than it does to younger students - adults have much better logic skills than kids and as long as you're looking at the instrument in a logical fashion, they can learn as fast or faster

physically, it can be a bit trickier for older students since the ol' hands aren't as flexible as they once were - i had an 82 year old student for a while who was doing really well, but found some days he couldn't play de to his arthritis flairing up - bummer!!


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Dave...If you're looking for lessons, just do it. Any capable and sympathetic instructor should be able to teach to your needs and abilities. 

With the obvious exceptions of disability and disease, I tend to agree with snacker and zontar about this. I don't consider age a barrier, never mind a disease or disability.

It does depend on whether the adult student is a rank beginner or has some prior experience. The extremes would be myself, an almost 51 year old guitar teacher who has little trouble learning new things with the mind or the hands, to a mid 60s beginning student who is frustrated, though he's doing quite well, because he believes it should be easier and his hands aren't as fast and agile as he thought. The exception is a disease ridden disabled 60 year old fellow who once had some abilities but now has slow clumsy hands, poor eyesight, little stamina, but he tries to make up for it with enthusiasm and determination. Everyone should be as committed. 

I have a friend in his 80s who still plays the pipe organ and piano, professionally. He's a little slower due to arthritis, but he's still got the goods. There's an old time jam across the county packed with older guys playing well, many of them didn't start (or re-start) until retirement.

Go for it.

Peace, Mooh.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks for all the responses. 

I have plenty of enthusiasm, and my hands are fine so far. 

I have managed to wrap my fingers around a few jazz chords recently...didn't think that was going to ever happen ....LOL

My konwledge base (music theory) has a lot of rather large holes in it.

If the speed thing doesn,t happen, I'm not that worried.

My biggest frustration, at the moment, is TIME (lack thereof).

BTW...snacker..did you ever meet Steve. His teaching studio was on Lancaster St. A fine and gentle man. We had a lot of laughs. 

Thanks again.

Dave


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## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

I've had a few different experiences with teaching adults. Arthritis can be an issue but not the only one. I'm going to make some really general points that may or may not apply to you.

Patience - Adults (anyone past 20ish really) usually haven't learned a new skill from scratch in a long time so they forget how hard it can be. They hear a lot of people who know how to play guitar and get frustrated easily. In contrast most kids are learning new stuff every day so everything they do is hard for them and they can deal with that. If you can keep trying even when it doesn't sound good then eventually it will sound better.

Time - Adults are usually quite busy. Some make it worse by deciding that if they can't sit down for a half-hour then they won't practice at all. Then if they miss a day they think they need to do an hour to catch up and end up not practicing again because they don't have an hour free. If they can get in the habit of picking up the guitar every time they have five minutes free then those five minute chunks can stretch into longer times quite easily. 

Choosing a teacher - I've had two students who just couldn't handle taking instruction from a female who was half their age. Male friends have commented that some older folks don't do as well with anyone young. Sometimes it's a stylistic difference and sometimes it's just a comfort thing. I have to admit I love it when folks don't judge me on my age since I started out playing a bunch of 50s stuff from my mom and grandpa's record collection. Right now I'm having a blast teaching a Duane Eddy song to an older guy who doesn't have any issues with my age or gender.

Summary - As long as arthritis and senility aren't issues then older students are just students with better CD collections.


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

I have a friend who's been around music his whole life. He's the guy I bought my PR amp off of. He has a beautiful old Gibson acoustic guitar. His mother was a regular on the Ottawa Valley folk circuit. His wife bought him some lessons a few years ago and I've shown him countless songs. He's always going on about having no time, but he's up on all the latest TV shows and new DVD releases. I'm not saying everyone who's claiming to have little time for practice are making excuses......but. His playing has always been of the 3 chord strum variety, but he's let what he had under his belt get away from him. And now when he calls me up to "jam", we spend most of the time stumbling through stuff he used to have down pat. If you spend your spare time playing Xbox and watching TV, you can't lament not having your chops up to scratch.

Shawn :smile:


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks Kat_

I'll keep a watch out for the senility issue....that is, if I can remember to 

Cheers

Dave


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Rugburn said:


> If you spend your spare time playing Xbox and watching TV, you can't lament not having your chops up to scratch.
> 
> Shawn :smile:


Shawn...Apart from time spent on this forum ( which can add up...no doubt about it), I am often working in the evenings and part of the time on weekends. Ya , I know....way out of balance.

Cheers

Dave


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## RIFF WRATH (Jan 22, 2007)

Dave.........never to old to learn some more.........my first year anniversary is coming up soon............I am where I want to be , progress wise.........I am sure my teacher allows (us) older dudes some leeway............but, neverthe less.....................lessons are normally a specific time committment........and I sure can't get away with any BS.........don't know why, but that 12 bar blues riff remains just out of reach..........lol


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## snacker (Jun 26, 2008)

hey dave,
i figured it was steve that was your teacher - i don't think we ever met, but i knew him by reputation.....a very highly regarded teacher

over the last couple years, i've had a few of his old students study with me and they've all had great things to say about him and his approach.....and they were all solid players (for the level that they were playing at)

cheers!
adrian


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

My suggestion is make a list of some of the stuff you want to learn (ex: sight reading, understanding intervals, etc..) Then scout out some teachers and interview them.....

it's a difficult process to find the right teacher...check out their influences/interests, schooling, and experience.

The other point is that technology is great. I recently started taking lessons from an instructor in NYC via Skype. Most lap top/computers come with built in video camera's and Skype is free from computer to computer.

It's worked out great...the teacher has similar influences and music interests, about the same age and has a solid knowledge of theory.It ends up being a fun session for the both of us.

Good luck.


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