My son started playing electric guitar about three years ago (his is on the right, its a Les Paul). He was 10 yrs. old and we bought him a guitar package with an amp for Christmas that year. He had been wanting to play ever since my mom bought him guitar hero one Christmas earlier. We finally found a teacher through word of mouth and signed him up.
Much to our surprise, about 9 months after he started playing he came to us one day and told us that there was a school talent show coming up and that tryouts for the talent show were just about 5 weeks away. I was kind of speechless because I had heard him strum his guitar during practice and since he is quite shy I guess I just didnt picture him wanting to do this. He told me that he had found a friend at school who was a drummer and they had talked during lunch and decided that they wanted to get together and come up with a song to play. They were both in 6th grade at the time. So I did the mom thing and asked a million questions about his friend, how long he had been playing, what his parents did etc... The only answer he had for me was "Mom he's been playing as long as me, 9 months". The next day after school he came up to me and said, "Mom, I want to go over to Austins house and practice for the talent show tryouts". I was still surprised he was bringing this up so I called Austins mom on the phone and we arranged a day to get the boys together to practice.
We had arranged with Austins parents to get the boys together and practice 2 times a week until tryouts. Since Austin played drums and they are not easily moveable, we took Caymen over to Austins house twice a week and every time Austins dad brought my son home, he would be so excited telling us how wonderful they played together, he couldnt believe how they were playing. The boys had decided to play "Welcome To Paradise" by Greenday. Well long story short they ended up making tryouts and played in the School Talent show infront of 1000 kids. It was so exciting!! They sounded so good we couldnt believe it, one, that they both had only been playing 9 months, but two, that they had only been playing together about 5 weeks and they were in perfect sync. I remember the anticipation of that night, all of our families had shown up to watch them play and I remember sitting there holding back tears and trying not to cry because I was so proud of him.
Since then, my son played at multiple places, at student showcases, talent shows the next year, a Relay Palooza benefit to raise money for cancer in our town, at our towns farmers market..etc... he is still playing with Austin and they have become very close friends. They are looking for a bass player and are working on a name for their band...
During these last three years I think I have become my sons biggest fan, like most moms would of I suppose. I love listening to him practice and listen to him play. I started realizing that I was really drawn to the guitar though... I had played the piano for a couple of years when I was younger but that was only for a short time and it wasnt something that I had an interest in picking up again. I started getting the urge to play and it kept nagging at me..but I barely have enough time as it is now to do everything I need to do so I kept making excuses until this last July, that is... I took my son to our local Guitar Center to get some new guitar picks and found a guitar that I fell in love with, the Gretch electric guitar, (the one on the left). Since I didnt even know how to play I had me son sit and play songs on it for me so I could see how it sounded and we ended up being in the store for 3 hours. It was a blast! Not only because I had decided to go ahead and get the guitar but because my son was there with me and it was an interest that we both had a passion for. I did it! I bought my guitar!!! Excited and scared, I brought my guitar home but didnt sign up for classes for about 2 or 3 weeks.
One Thursday, my son had something come up and he couldnt go to his lesson, so I called up the music studio and asked if I could take the lesson in his place. His teacher was in shock, my husband was in shock, and my son was so excited that I was really going to do it! And guess what? I love it!! Its been 3 months now and when I sit down to practice, I can actually play recognizable parts of songs!
So about my title to this post....Your never to old to learn something new...It is soo true!
Now guitar playing is in part of my daily schedule so my son and I, set up our guitars and amps in a little area in our living room that is now our little music area. :) We have even played a few song together too! I am so glad I decided to try...I might even play a song or two in the up coming student showcase...when I get better that is :) Oh ya and I just had to get the zebra striped guitar strap! (see above) LOL....
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