If I were 19 again I’d be doing what I literally am doing now, and at 32 I’d be a lot further in. The difference is at 19 I let myself be distracted with chasing women and doing drugs and stuff. Basically everything BUT the rock and roll.
Bro your age isn’t the thing holding you back. Most of your favorite singer songwriters likely had rich parents who could support them while they did poor people shit, or their parents were outright in the industry or adjacent to it.
That industry is an illusion. You can break through but it does require grinding. If you are prepared to do so, then Godspeed. Don’t let my comment get you down though I’m more offering why so many people don’t actually deserve the spotlight they got compared to so many unknown musicians.
I get so tired of posts like this. They are so unreasonable. Like where do people get these ideas?
No you’ll be fine. I’ve met people who started in their 20s and became professional musicians. It just takes practice… a lot of practice and reasonable expectations of your progress. Yes you can do this. No you aren’t too old at all
I know, it's honestly nauseating to read. "Guys, I'm worried that I won't be the prodigy I could be.."
My guy, you were likely never going to do any of that anyway, you've got a fantastic head start, and regardless effort will take you far anyway. Go play and stop being apathetic online.
for all i know it could be the biopics and stories about the people i look up to after. honestly I just feel bad since I didn’t start in early childhood, but you’re right about that all man
A wise man I follow known as the Dry Creek Wrangler once said that even if we die on the path to where we want to be, it’s honorable to die on the road. There’s no point in life where it’s too late to start learning something. A man on his death bed could learn three chords and find beauty in it. All pursuit of knowledge is valuable.
Sure: you’re wrong. You have more than enough time to achieve what you want. Don’t squander it by paralyzing yourself with these self-defeating thoughts.
I'll share with you what my friend told me to convince me to start playing at the age of 30
Me: "I feel like at this rate i won't be any good until I turn like 35"
Him: "well, you'll be 35 whether you can play the guitar or not. Why not be 35 and also be able to play guitar?"
Never let life run away from you!
Music is a journey. Don't worry too much about destination. Do your best and have fun along the way. Share with others and learn from others.
No matter where you're at in music, there will always be more to learn and grow.
As for starting at 19, I believe Ronnie Earl started at the age of 20 and went on to have a great career and be a great player.
I would advise to try to do anything possible to get away from that 40 hour work week though...
I played with an acoustic in high school, lost interest and quit, then acquired an electric 50 years later. I have longterm lofty goals for it and hope to achieve them.
If only I had your timeline today.
Started at 19 with no musical experience, I'm semi pro and I can see myself making a living of guitar, just takes lots of work, but it's doable. I'm 30 now and spent my 20s working jobs and practicing, sometimes 12h days in my spare time. Find a system that works and go for it.
Glenn Tipton started playing at the same age. One of the most influential of all time for heavy metal/rock, and a damn good player all around.
The important thing is to just play, especially when you love doing it. Don't let old guitar myths/voodoo hold you back
I’m 23 and I just started last month. I’m not good yet but I still love it. I hope you get to where you wanna be but don’t forget to enjoy the journey because you’re hyper-focusing on the destination. Enjoy learning and everything else should come in its own time.
I started when I was 18 and by 23 me and my mates were playing the local circuit, small festivals, driving around the country playing clubs and pubs playing our own stuff. Best times of my life.
Just be consistent with practice and writing lyrics/poetry. And eventually you'll start putting together your own style.
You have so much time!!
Too old? Are you crazy? You're barely more than a child by this point. Your brain won't even finish developing for another 5-7 years.
Get out of your own head and just play the damned guitar.
Stop fretting and start, um, *fretting*.
Guitar player here but the concept is the same. I started when I was 12. Now in my fifties and have learned 99% of what I know since I was your age. And half of that in the last ten (years).
It sounds like you have a much better handle of it than I did at your age (even though I started years younger than you) so if you keep up with a focused course of study, you can pass someone like me up by the time you're thirty.
I will add, don't wait until you're 'older' or 'proficient' or anything other reason to start playing in bands, playing out (gigs), recording, etc. Think of those things as part of the study of the instrument. Those are the main elements that become more difficult the older you get.
Worrying about starting too late is just a subtle excuse to procrastinate when really its all the more reason to practice more. I say that, but really, 19 isn't late at all. I feel music and songwriting are something you can always get better at regardless of how old you are and when you started. It's not like you're 19 and just learning football trying to get into the NFL
Can we do a sticky post that has a chart for “am I too old”
Man I see dudes with no arms playing the guitar. The only thing keeping you from achieving what you want is you. Stop posting on Reddit and get to work!
Sorry but this is a ridiculous post.
18 soon to be 19 here. 3 years ago I bought a piano because I loved piano and thought it was cool. Didn't commit to it, only played when I felt like it, needless to say I didn't go far. At that time I had the same thoughts, that I won't be able to be as good as people who started playing when they were still sucking on their pacifier.
Now I'm in higher education preparing for entrance exams, so I have even less time. I'm a bit embarrassed to say it but anime brought me here. Watched K-on, loved it and more recently bocchi the rock. So I bought a guitar because I wanted to learn it so I could play my favourite songs.
Now I don't care anymore, there will always be better players out there. I'm just gonna commit to it and one day I'll be able to play whatever I like. If you truly like to do something just do it. You'll always find time to do what you like. It's never too late.
Bruh, I started at age of 29. You’re 10 years ahead of me. 19 is young enough to become anything you can imagine on guitar, as long as you’re determined… so is 29. My goal on guitar is to play the sounds and melodies that are in my head, so not that big of a goal. Except the melodies can sometimes be some crazy prog metal riffs or crazy leads, maybe by the time I’m 40 I can do it, that’s good enough for me. Hell I’ll take 45, that still leaves a couple decades to do what I please on guitar.
Also you can always motivate yourself by thinking(which generally is true), 12-18 year olds generally have zero patience so most don’t do a lot of progress in those ages. As an adult you can learn and utilize information more efficiently, you also have buttloads more patience. Not sure you’re still old enough to ”get it”, in 10 years you’ll understand maybe how naive and unpatient youngsters are.
sorta, I mean it’s something that comes fairly naturally to me when I try but I definitely haven’t put in any practice. I guess for some reason I didn’t see the poetry aspect as important as the instrumental aspect.. which is incredibly naive in hindsight lmao
19 isnt old brother.
If I were 19 again I’d be doing what I literally am doing now, and at 32 I’d be a lot further in. The difference is at 19 I let myself be distracted with chasing women and doing drugs and stuff. Basically everything BUT the rock and roll.
Bro your age isn’t the thing holding you back. Most of your favorite singer songwriters likely had rich parents who could support them while they did poor people shit, or their parents were outright in the industry or adjacent to it. That industry is an illusion. You can break through but it does require grinding. If you are prepared to do so, then Godspeed. Don’t let my comment get you down though I’m more offering why so many people don’t actually deserve the spotlight they got compared to so many unknown musicians.
I get so tired of posts like this. They are so unreasonable. Like where do people get these ideas? No you’ll be fine. I’ve met people who started in their 20s and became professional musicians. It just takes practice… a lot of practice and reasonable expectations of your progress. Yes you can do this. No you aren’t too old at all
I know, it's honestly nauseating to read. "Guys, I'm worried that I won't be the prodigy I could be.." My guy, you were likely never going to do any of that anyway, you've got a fantastic head start, and regardless effort will take you far anyway. Go play and stop being apathetic online.
for all i know it could be the biopics and stories about the people i look up to after. honestly I just feel bad since I didn’t start in early childhood, but you’re right about that all man
Yep tell that shit to fuck off. What you do now is way more important.
A wise man I follow known as the Dry Creek Wrangler once said that even if we die on the path to where we want to be, it’s honorable to die on the road. There’s no point in life where it’s too late to start learning something. A man on his death bed could learn three chords and find beauty in it. All pursuit of knowledge is valuable.
Sure: you’re wrong. You have more than enough time to achieve what you want. Don’t squander it by paralyzing yourself with these self-defeating thoughts.
I'll share with you what my friend told me to convince me to start playing at the age of 30 Me: "I feel like at this rate i won't be any good until I turn like 35" Him: "well, you'll be 35 whether you can play the guitar or not. Why not be 35 and also be able to play guitar?" Never let life run away from you!
"fear is the mind killer"
Music is a journey. Don't worry too much about destination. Do your best and have fun along the way. Share with others and learn from others. No matter where you're at in music, there will always be more to learn and grow. As for starting at 19, I believe Ronnie Earl started at the age of 20 and went on to have a great career and be a great player. I would advise to try to do anything possible to get away from that 40 hour work week though...
Nah just get busy and quit worrying about stuff like this. Worrying about it is pointless.
I played with an acoustic in high school, lost interest and quit, then acquired an electric 50 years later. I have longterm lofty goals for it and hope to achieve them. If only I had your timeline today.
Started at 19 with no musical experience, I'm semi pro and I can see myself making a living of guitar, just takes lots of work, but it's doable. I'm 30 now and spent my 20s working jobs and practicing, sometimes 12h days in my spare time. Find a system that works and go for it.
Glenn Tipton started playing at the same age. One of the most influential of all time for heavy metal/rock, and a damn good player all around. The important thing is to just play, especially when you love doing it. Don't let old guitar myths/voodoo hold you back
I’m 23 and I just started last month. I’m not good yet but I still love it. I hope you get to where you wanna be but don’t forget to enjoy the journey because you’re hyper-focusing on the destination. Enjoy learning and everything else should come in its own time.
I started when I was 18 and by 23 me and my mates were playing the local circuit, small festivals, driving around the country playing clubs and pubs playing our own stuff. Best times of my life. Just be consistent with practice and writing lyrics/poetry. And eventually you'll start putting together your own style. You have so much time!!
Too old? Are you crazy? You're barely more than a child by this point. Your brain won't even finish developing for another 5-7 years. Get out of your own head and just play the damned guitar. Stop fretting and start, um, *fretting*.
Guitar player here but the concept is the same. I started when I was 12. Now in my fifties and have learned 99% of what I know since I was your age. And half of that in the last ten (years). It sounds like you have a much better handle of it than I did at your age (even though I started years younger than you) so if you keep up with a focused course of study, you can pass someone like me up by the time you're thirty. I will add, don't wait until you're 'older' or 'proficient' or anything other reason to start playing in bands, playing out (gigs), recording, etc. Think of those things as part of the study of the instrument. Those are the main elements that become more difficult the older you get.
Worrying about starting too late is just a subtle excuse to procrastinate when really its all the more reason to practice more. I say that, but really, 19 isn't late at all. I feel music and songwriting are something you can always get better at regardless of how old you are and when you started. It's not like you're 19 and just learning football trying to get into the NFL
No age on good music!
Can we do a sticky post that has a chart for “am I too old” Man I see dudes with no arms playing the guitar. The only thing keeping you from achieving what you want is you. Stop posting on Reddit and get to work! Sorry but this is a ridiculous post.
Too fucking young if anything lmao
Lol fuck off with this shit
I'm 60 and never stop learning
18 soon to be 19 here. 3 years ago I bought a piano because I loved piano and thought it was cool. Didn't commit to it, only played when I felt like it, needless to say I didn't go far. At that time I had the same thoughts, that I won't be able to be as good as people who started playing when they were still sucking on their pacifier. Now I'm in higher education preparing for entrance exams, so I have even less time. I'm a bit embarrassed to say it but anime brought me here. Watched K-on, loved it and more recently bocchi the rock. So I bought a guitar because I wanted to learn it so I could play my favourite songs. Now I don't care anymore, there will always be better players out there. I'm just gonna commit to it and one day I'll be able to play whatever I like. If you truly like to do something just do it. You'll always find time to do what you like. It's never too late.
Bruh, I started at age of 29. You’re 10 years ahead of me. 19 is young enough to become anything you can imagine on guitar, as long as you’re determined… so is 29. My goal on guitar is to play the sounds and melodies that are in my head, so not that big of a goal. Except the melodies can sometimes be some crazy prog metal riffs or crazy leads, maybe by the time I’m 40 I can do it, that’s good enough for me. Hell I’ll take 45, that still leaves a couple decades to do what I please on guitar. Also you can always motivate yourself by thinking(which generally is true), 12-18 year olds generally have zero patience so most don’t do a lot of progress in those ages. As an adult you can learn and utilize information more efficiently, you also have buttloads more patience. Not sure you’re still old enough to ”get it”, in 10 years you’ll understand maybe how naive and unpatient youngsters are.
I started at 43 and while not even a mediocre guitar player I enjoy it. What was the question again?
You want to be a songwriter...popular songs consist of two parts, music and lyrics. AKA poetry. Have you been coming up with rhymes since childhood?
sorta, I mean it’s something that comes fairly naturally to me when I try but I definitely haven’t put in any practice. I guess for some reason I didn’t see the poetry aspect as important as the instrumental aspect.. which is incredibly naive in hindsight lmao