I assume most people begin playing an instrument at an early age, such as their early teen years. I'm 18 and in college now and was wondering how difficult it would be for me to pick up guitar? I have a very basic background in music theory; I took piano lessons for a year when I was 16.

Anyway, any tips to get started (if I still even can) would be appreciated, as well as what would be good for a beginning guitar.

It's never too late (cliché, but true). It might be helpful just to get a guitar and a beginner book, depending on your theory & background, and just learn from there. Once you get a feel for the instrument, you can choose to buy more books (maybe take lessons?) or just pick up techniques as needed (learn the songs you like and such). It all depends on how serious you are about it, though, I guess.

Also, just from a pianist's perspective, you might consider sticking with that as well. I'd say that, from experience, playing piano massively develops your musical intuition--obviously, I've got some bias, but I'd say that knowing piano (and a lot of theory from it) sort of cracked open the doors to learning many more instruments.

It's never too late (cliché, but true). It might be helpful just to get a guitar and a beginner book, depending on your theory & background, and just learn from there. Once you get a feel for the instrument, you can choose to buy more books (maybe take lessons?) or just pick up techniques as needed (learn the songs you like and such). It all depends on how serious you are about it, though, I guess.

Also, just from a pianist's perspective, you might consider sticking with that as well. I'd say that, from experience, playing piano massively develops your musical intuition--obviously, I've got some bias, but I'd say that knowing piano (and a lot of theory from it) sort of cracked open the doors to learning many more instruments.

Thanks for the tips. As far as piano goes, I brought my keyboard to college, but I honestly don't feel like playing it after going to class and doing work all day. I don't know...I didn't get much enjoyment out of it either. I wasn't getting the results I wanted as fast as I wanted. I guess it comes down to patience. So I'm not sure if this scenario will happen again with the guitar, but it seems to me that you can pick it up faster (or at least play stuff you like) than piano.

Well, I did the classical training route with piano. A good teacher and a lot of patience will make it pay off. Learning an instrument won't come with instant gratification (neither does getting a degree, eh?). With guitar, the upside is that a good deal of the music out there is very easy to play once you have a feel for the instrument (rock riffs are generally pretty simple). Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you know it can get complicated (maybe AlucardXIX can play you something), but guitar is an "easy" instrument to start.

Again, though--real results come with patience. Also, don't whine. College just isn't that taxing.

18 isn't a late age. Assuming you have time there are no problems.

Such a late age... guffaw, guffaw.

My father took up guitar when he was in his mid-fifties, and is now a competent classical player.

[swervedriver]

Within a week you should be able to play the entire Green Day discography.

[djskrimp]

Within a week you should be able to play the entire Green Day discography.

Heh. Green Day is exactly what I used to teach my beginner students!




Green Day, AC/DC and Metallica. The girl wanted to learn Paramour after she got pretty good. The boy...well. He's already way better than me, now.
[youtube]3yJV41SEBf4[/youtube][youtube]nN_XN84fVeU[/youtube]

I didn't start till I was 17 1/2. It's never too late.

I have started ~2 months ago and I am 24years old :/

Glenn Tipton didn't start till he was 20, nor did Wes Montgomery.

I'm pretty sure Tom Morello didn't start till around that age either.

Nope, the maximum age to start playing guitar is 16 years old. After that age you are DOOMED my friend, dooooomed!

Just kidding of course anything is possible.

I'd suggest to take lessons anyway. My personal history with guitar is as follows :
-Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit) looks really cool jumping around with his face paint, I'm starting digging the guitar
-Well, nu metal kinda sucks, that Children of Bodom stuff is much more better, let's buy a guitar damn it ! And rock out to Bodom at half the speed !
-Well, Bodom sucks now that their songs are just chugga chugga and boring solos with no atmosphere, but SYL destroys everything ! And it's much more simple than Bodom... but my hands are as slow as ever, fuck I can't even play Detox
-Wow, SYL still owns, but there's so much dust on that guitar.

So yup', I don't know if being motivated by Bodom then SYL wasn't a great idea to start playing, some guys probably picked up a guitar when they heard Steve Vai and were successful at mastering the damn thing so I guess it's not the root of the problem, or if I always lacked stamina, didn't play enough, or regularly enough, or if I just sucked, whatever, but I think a few lessons would've helped back then, just so you're not wondering what the fingering every 2 bars.
Also having a band, even to play green day, RHCP and nirvana probably helps a lot. Playing basic riffs in your bedroom is really annoying, and melodies get boring too when there's no rhythm.

You just gotta stick with it. If you're teaching yourself how to play, the main thing (at least for me) is finding songs to play that you enjoy a lot that are challenging but not discouraging. Learning chords and scales makes learning songs so much easier as well.

Also, I agree with the above post about playing with a band. As soon as you're comfortable enough with your guitar, start playing with other people. I found this really helpful to get re-interested in playing more. Right as I was heading downhill and not picking up my guitar as much, I started jamming with a couple friends and re-fueled my motivational gas tank.

I don't think it matters what age you play, just look at Les Paul he was still playing in his old years, look where that could take you. I've been playing for about 2 1/2 years and already focused in the songwriting process and lead techniques and solos.

In fact I started when I was 15, from seeing an acoustic guitar in the house without anyone telling me and after hearing AC/DC and Green Day too much. I was obsessed with Green Day back then, the first song I learned was Brain Stew. I mean its the same damn riff through the whole thing haha. Heck, I wanted a bass guitar so badly after listening to Green Day and Offspring. Funny, heavy metal just managed to save me from looking at basses. No disrespect though, basses are cool too.

And to djskrimp, you teach any lefties? I happen to be a lefty. It can be hard, specifically looking for a guitar that is jizz tastic. So far schecter and fender strats seem to be good enough for me on a left handed guitar range. Sometimes I wonder If I should start playing right hand and go MAB style.

Sorry for the long post, hehe.

firstly: 18 is not late, you're still very young
secondly: go for it. NOW. if you want to learn, then do it. It might be hard, because playing guitar IS hard. But stick with it and you will love it.