GuitarZero2Hero

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Afraid you’re too late in life to learn guitar? Here’s why you’re wrong

Dave Tran

As a guitar player, you have a different kind of “ear” that non-musicians don’t have.

You hear something they don’t. And that “something” enables you to enjoy music in a whole new way… on a deeper kind of level.

Here’s what that is: you’re hearing the individual pieces of songs, not just the whole. You’re hearing the technical side of music.

(In just a minute you’ll see why this isn’t just a blessing… it’s also a curse).

As you learn to play guitar and learn more techniques and you figure out the “how” of everything, you start “hearing” those different pieces in the songs you’ve been listening to for years.

Things that you never used to hear (or that you couldn’t “put your finger on”) and therefore couldn’t fully appreciate.

It’s like when you’re interested in buying a certain model of car: you start noticing that same kind of car everywhere, right?

And that truly is a blessing. Because now you can enjoy music on a much deeper level. But it’s also a curse, because...

...at the same time now you start to compare your skills to everything you hear, right?

In a way, the songs you love listening to most almost become agonizing because you find yourself feeling envious of those artists’ skills.

And I’d hate to admit it, but doesn’t it make it that much more irritating when it’s some 13 year old kid whose guitar skills make you feel insanely jealous?

Ugh, it’s like adding insult to injury.

But why does that bother us “older dudes” (I’m talking ages ~20 and up… adults)?

I think it’s because it makes us feel like we’re at a disadvantage.

Because we don’t have tons of freetime on our hands to get insanely good at guitar in one summer.

Because most of our attention and energy is devoted to work and family and that leaves very little left over for practicing guitar.

Because we feel like our “prime guitar years” are running out and it’s too late to ever catch up to other amazing guitar players’ skill.

And, well, to be honest, those things are true!

But here’s the good news:

We “older” guitar players also have some serious advantages that young kids don’t.

And time, energy, and youth aren’t everything. And they’re certainly not prerequisites to being a great guitar player.

So what are these supposed advantages that we’ve got?

I call this special edge the “Sage Stage”.

And it consists of 2 unique advantages that adults have when it comes to learning guitar–and getting to a point where you’re truly satisfied with your guitar playing...

...where you’re secure with your skills–not constantly feeling irritated or bummed because someone will always be better than you (hint: there will always be someone better than you–but that doesn’t have to bother you… more on that later).

I’ll go into the details of the Sage Stage on the next page.

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