These days it’s more common than ever for people to pick up guitar in their 40s, 50s, 60s, or even later. I think that’s a wonderful thing, and it’s probably a trend that will continue in the foreseeable future.

So, here are 5 guitar tips for older beginners!
 

One of the great things about being an older beginner is that you probably already have (or had) some kind of career. That means you know what it’s like to manage your time and energy in an effective way.

As it turns out, almost regardless of your given career path, you can channel much of what you’ve learned into your guitar playing. Done right, this can give you a huge boost.

The key thing is to acknowledge that learning guitar well is much like doing anything else well. It requires discipline, patience, and an intelligent method.

How Planning Weddings Can Help You Learn Guitar
 
Let’s suppose you work (or worked) as a wedding planner. That would mean you’re resourceful, organized, good with people, and you can stay on a budget. Each of these skills can also help you learn guitar.

For starters, being resourceful means you’re willing to take advantage of everything around you to get better. As a guitarist, you might take lessons, use a method book, or watch tutorials.

Organizational skills will help you prioritize what to work on—a crucial skill for beginners. It’s a common mistake to spend too much time on the easy things and too little time on the hard things.

Although being good with people isn’t singularly important for learning guitar, it can make a big difference when you take lessons. Many students don’t communicate very well with their teachers, leading to all sorts of problems and wasted time. Plus, people-pleasing is great for performers!

Finally, being able to budget is useful because you can extend that skill-set to manage your practice time. I highly recommend beginner guitarists practice in short, frequent sessions. This means you can budget your hours in a smart way to optimize guitar progress.
 

If you’re an older beginner on the guitar, you should spend a good deal of time developing your technique. This means you should isolate and drill all the key physical motions relevant to your style of guitar.

Technical exercises are usually simple, but if you do them enough, they yield amazing results. For instance, if you need to improve your picking, one great exercise is to pick up and down every string in succession.

I realize that technical practice is often seen as hard or boring, but it’s well worth the time. In fact, it’s arguably the most time-efficient type of practice. Once you’ve got technical chops, anything you play will sound better and come easier to you.

Fingerstyle Training

If you’re especially interested in learning fingerstyle, you should definitely check out my new ebook, Fingerstyle Fitness. It’s the technical training system I’ve spent years developing for myself and my students.

It’s great for players who want to streamline their progress with 10 simple technical exercises. Work on them a little every day and you’ll be in great shape.

Be assured, it’s remarkable how quickly you can improve if you just follow a good method!
 

Time is a funny thing. Sometimes it flies, and sometimes it drags. But if we’re smart, we can sort of manipulate it to our advantage. How could we do such a powerful thing? By insisting on slow practice basically every time we sit down to play.

Slow practice works because it gives you the extra time you need to optimize your movements. When you play fast, you’re a lot more likely to fret the wrong note, buzz strings, or use awkward fingerings.

The idea is to choreograph perfect playing using slow practice, then gradually speed up. This way, your finished product will be fast and accurate, not fast and sloppy.

As you might guess, the hardest part of slow playing is actually playing slowly. Most people have a lot of trouble disciplining themselves to do this. I’ll offer two simple tricks to help you slow down in the practice room.

Two Methods to Slow Yourself Down

The first method I like to use is to make a mental game of slowing down. One concept that works for me is to pretend I’m “trapped in slow motion.” Pretend you can’t help but play at half- or even quarter-speed, and you’ll definitely practice better as a result.

The second method I recommend is to view guitar practice as a kind of meditation. Before you sit down to play, try to get in a peaceful frame of mind. You’ll find that playing slowly is itself much more peaceful than fast playing, so you won’t regret it!

If you find yourself attracted to the idea of practice-as-meditation, I highly recommend you get a hold of the Natural Classical Guitar. It advocates a meditative approach to the guitar in general.

This book really changed my life, and it’s useful even if you don’t play classical music.
 

Mental practice is an underrated tool for older guitarists. It’s a great way to add to your practice time without endangering your arms, hands, or fingers.

The best way to start is to simply listen to the music you’re learning while following along with your notation. And in case you’re wondering, it really doesn’t matter if you’re using chord progressions, tabs, or sheet music. Just “read” along with the music!

Does this actually work? I challenge you to try it for yourself, but the short answer, of course, is yes! Learning songs isn’t just about the finger dance. It’s also about knowing the song by heart and holding all the nuances of its sound in your mind.

That’s exactly why this type of mental practice works so well. Read along with your music a few times a day and you’ll be shocked at the difference in the practice room.

So trust me when I say that mental practice can be as effective as physical practice. And if you want to learn more about mental practice, head to my post on How to Practice Mentally.

 

We often think of being older as a liability when it comes to learning guitar. But I don’t think that’s completely true. In fact, my view is that older folks have certain advantages when it comes to picking up the guitar.

For one, you’re more likely to have money to put into guitar. If you’re a kid, you basically need to rely on your parents to buy you gear, lessons, or music books. Not so if you’re all grown up! And making good investments in your guitar life can really pay dividends.

Another advantage of being older is that you’re probably a lot wiser than you were as a kid. I would see this wisdom as a tool at your disposal. You can use it to practice more, manage your emotions around guitar playing, seek out resources, and isolate a method that works for you.

Wisdom can also help you get your priorities straight. Do you want to spend two hours scrolling through social media, or do you want to spend that time with your guitar?
 

At the end of the day, you should try to capitalize on the stage of life you’re in rather than seeing it as a hinderance. In fact, I strongly encourage you to break out of any frame of mind that isn’t conducive to musical progress.

Hopefully at least one of these guitar tips for older beginners resonates with you. And, as always, happy practicing!

Are you looking to upgrade your gear or browse some awesome guitar learning materials? Check out my recommendations page to see all my favorite stuff. 

Want to streamline your fingerstyle guitar progress? I just released my new ebook, Fingerstyle Fitness, which presents 10 easy exercises to quickly develop your fingerstyle chops. Grab it today!