Had you played any guitar before picking up the banjo? I’ve been taking guitar lessons (started in my 40s) and I’m thinking of switching to banjo. I wonder how the playing is different physically? Fewer strings, and more finger picking I’d guess. You don’t strum a banjo right?
I’ve been told that improvisation is very difficult to learn as an adult.
And to the OP-I hope you took the plunge! If there’s one thing my practicing has taught me it’s that you can’t fret about your problems while you’re focused on learning a new song. heh…fret. Learning an instrument is a great way to step away from the hassles of the day.
Not in my experience. It can be hard for someone to open up and allow the improve to come through, but I have yet to spend time with anyone (classically trained or otherwise) who wasn’t able to open up. Given the, uh, ‘circles’ I travel in, I’ve introduced improv to a lot of people. Note that ‘spending time’ means more than five minutes and the person was already interested in playing. It can be hard to get over, but it’s a primarily a mental block of the ‘teacher always said to colour within the lines and in the same direction’, not a difficulty in learning per se.
Get an electric, have it strung with 008 or 009 (light) gauge strings. If you can afford to, get it set up by a pro. Make it as easy on yourself as possible in the beginning and you will be more likely to stick with it. Don’t worry about an amp until you’ve been at it a while. An unamplified electric is plenty loud to hear yourself when you’re starting out.
I started in my late twenties, had a good job and minimal other responsibilities so I bought a really nice first guitar. That worked out well for me because it played easily, sounded good and I loved spending time with it.
I’m not a “good” player but 20+ years later I’m still at it. Swapped guitars many times over the years though.
When a similar question was asked on a mandolin website, several posters picked up the instrument after age 50, some having never played any other instrument.
I was almost 50 with no experience when I started. Within in a few weeks I had taught myself both how to play and how to read music. Whether it was the time, age or inherent ability, I quickly progressed to a point of being able to play recongizable melodies and pretty much plateaued there. Maybe when I’m retired and can devote more practice time…
Good question – never thought about that. I don’t know very many people personally who play completely free-improvisation, as their main thing, but those few people can certainly play other tunes as well. I’ll go with easier – if you don’t have pretty sharp ears, you won’t be able to improvise freely (at least with any intention), and without at least decent ears, you could never play anyone else’s music, except as a technical exercise.
I’d guess if your ears can hear a “new direction” in an improvised line, they can hear just as well something dimly remembered from the past, and play it more or less however one wants.
My spouse used to specialize in teaching adults to play musical instruments. Several of them later joined bands and a couple wound up in international-level competitions.
Of course, quite a few simply learned to play well enough to entertain themselves, if not always others.
His oldest student started at 56. He’s still playing in his early 80’s.
DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!
You’re still young compared to a lot of my spouses’ former students. No reason you can’t pick it up.
I picked up the guitar about 3 years ago, at age 44. I’ve become at least somewhat competent at it, though I know I’d be better if I practiced more.
(Disclosure: I had actually played the guitar as a kid, for about 2 years, but I stopped playing when I was 10, and I consider myself to have re-started from “scratch”, as it were.)