Whenever anyone joins my courses, I always encourage the student to leave an introduction about themselves in the comments.
One thing I hear a lot is how the student is hopeful I can teach “an old dog new tricks”.
It’s a funny phrase really.
I’m no whippersnapper these days, so I understand this feeling.
…And after having taught many students learning the guitar later on in life, I know it is common.
In fact, I was reading the other day about an old college professor.
He talked about how many books he loves to read, even to this day.
…Yet most of his colleagues pretty much stopped reading the day they left grad school.
…And how most of us in society are taught to learn, learn, learn all our lives.
…But only till we hit 18 or 21 or that sort of age where school, college, and university ends.
It’s like slamming the brakes, and suddenly our learning stops.
This phenomenon impacts how well people learn guitar in my opinion/experience.
Like others, you may wonder why do “kids seem to learn things so much faster”.
Is it because they are smarter, sharper, or they have more “grey matter”?
I’ve often said one reason kids learn quickly is because they are “primed for learning”.
Their brains are constantly being expanded by new knowledge at school.
…They’re always taking on new info and reacting and adapting and changing along with this new info.
As we get older, we don’t tend to have this as much.
Our brains tend to settle into “cruise control”.
That’s why taking on a new hobby like the guitar can be daunting or overwhelming, especially if it’s been a long time since you’ve acquired a big skill like this.
Anyway, the point of all this really is to say, yes kids do learn quite fast (as long as they are dedicated), but we can all learn the guitar.
…And yes, it takes time in the beginning, but the guitar fires up the brain like nothing else.
It’s like brain training, artistic creativity, maths, poetry, and an almost spiritual, peaceful joy, all in one.
(I do admit though, in the beginning, learning guitar can be like trying to solve a cryptic crossword in Latin while blindfolded!)
…But once you get the ball rolling, it can be like taking the car out of neutral and going through the gears smoothly.
…Then you can be on the highway to enjoying every moment of your playing.
Take Cheryl, for instance.
This is what she said in a comment on my course page recently:
“Wow Cheryl here.! What a “light bulb” moment. I have learned more today that I have in the past 40 years! Very excited! Couldn’t thank you enough for this course. To me it is a billion-dollar learning session. Wow is all I can say and thank you!”
Cheryl is living proof that we can all keep learning and improving no matter where we are in life or how long we’ve been playing or trying to learn guitar.
The course she was talking about, by the way, is the 7-Day Transformation / Breakthrough Beginner course.
As it’s a billion-dollar lesson in Cheryl’s eyes, this now costs 1 billion doll–
Kidding…
It costs just $27 for both, and you can check it out below if you like.
Find out more about the 7-Day Transformation / Breakthrough Beginner Courses
Just remember if you’ve played for 4 weeks or 40 years, there are a whole lot of exciting things to learn and play on the guitar.
…And endless fun on this wonderful instrument of ours.
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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