Is it possible to teach an old dog new tricks?
I am now 65 years old and I decided three years ago to take up the guitar. It all started when I was in London, taking a stroll down Charingcross Road. this is a famous street in London where many music shops reside. Tons of guitar stores all with stunning equipment in the windows. Old Fender Stratocaster guitars, just waiting for someone like me to come in and make a purchase.
Looking at this gear made me decide then and there I was going to learn. A big achievement for an old guy right? Anyway, I came back to New Zealand and phoned a friend in Christchurch by the name of John Campbell. He is a sensational guitarist, very interested in the same style of music as me. I ended up bying a Hank B Marvin custom strat from John and proceed to get started.
Next I phoned an old school mate “Shade Smith” whom I remember was in a New Zealand band called “The Rumour”.
Shade Smith was also a guitar teacher and when we finally made contact I was surprised to hear he had guitar courses for seniors.
Shade told me there was a course from “The London school of music”, a guitar course specifically structured in such a way it was easy for seniors to learn. Next I booked in with Shade and started the course. At this point in time my understanding of playing the guitar was very basic. I had learned a few chords when I was 19 years old, and left for London when I was twenty one. I had strummed a few songs up until that time but that was it.
Here I was now at the age of sixty three ready to have another crack at it. I got started in grade three, only because I knew the odd chord and a minimal knowledge of the fretboard. The first year went like a rocket and I sat the grade three exam and just managed a pass. The same thing happened the following year and I passed the grade four exam. All of a sudden I was up and running, not being able to play anything specific, but I was managing the course OK. Grade five came a long and I found that tough. However I ended up with a pass and a “Merit” pass at that.
I bought some more equipment, such as a Vox AC15 amplifier. I now had two Alesis Q20 rack mounted digital delay units. Both were programed with the famous Charlie Hall patches from the UK. What a sound, I could now reproduce the same sound as Hank Marvin of “The Shadows” my all time idols.
I am now on Grade six, struggling like crazy but still making headway. I have made some great new friends, such as Gib Williamson and also now have a total of six guitars to my name.
A Fender Telecaster, Antigua. A USA made black Stratocaster with a rosewood neck. An Ibanez Les Paul copy, A cutaway Takamine, an old Gibson J160e 1969 vintage and of course the Hank Marvin custom stratocaster.
Hopefully I will get some photos of them up here soon
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