No matter where you are at life right now, if you are a young kid, a teenager, a young adult or reaching your sixties, learning guitar will benefit your life.
And here’s why.
Let’s take it by age.
6-12
As a kid at that age, you go through big changes in your body, physically and mentally. You discover your ability to touch, hold and move things gently, your ability to focus for longer periods, many of your interests in life, social skills and many others.
At that age, you can learn and integrate new information rapidly and that information will stay with you for a very long time. And that is why learning to play the guitar at that age can be one of the best things you can do.
Motor skills
Learning guitar can be a huge help in developing your fine motor skills. The pressing of the left-hand finger on the strings and the picking of the right-hand fingers help you learn to move your fingers separately and how to use the right amount of force.
Focus
Guitar classes at that age can move from 30 minutes to one hour long. And for a kid, that one hour of concentrating on something specific is a big deal.
Guitar classes help you develop the ability to keep focus for longer periods on things you like and also things you don’t like as much, such as practicing without your teacher.
Multitasking
When playing the guitar you are asked to hold the guitar correctly, navigate your left-hand fingers to press different strings on different locations, know what string to pick with your right-hand fingers, read what is the next note in the song and listen to the teacher playing with you. And by this enhancing your multitasking ability.
13–23
These are very difficult years for all of us. Being a teenager is not easy. But playing guitar can help those years go by a bit easier.
Socially
The guitar is a social instrument and you can bring it anywhere you go. To the beach, a party with some friends, a late-night jam, to school, basically everywhere.
Playing is a great way to make new friends and connect with other friends who share the same passion for playing.
Rhythm and motion
As written above, playing the guitar can be a big help to develop your motor and rhythm skills. Most of us learn to control these functions when we are younger, but some of us can have a bit more trouble with that process and the guitar can help you sharpen those skills to the maximum.
Self-esteem
One of the biggest issues that teenagers go through is self-esteem problems. Learning and successfully play the guitar can boost your self-esteem to new levels.
Discovering your passion
In our teenage years, we sometimes discover our real passions in life, and if you won’t try then you will never know if the guitar is one of yours.
24-50
Sometimes in your life, you can find yourself a bit stuck. Bored from the routine of life, wanting to try something new, dreaming of a new job, the urge to go on a new adventure or a new hobby. And the guitar could be exactly that.
A new hobby
A new musical hobby can make a big difference in your life. You are not only learning a new ability but you are opening yourself to the world of music, by being available to meet new people and experiencing new things, like playing with other musicians, performing, writing your music or developing the ability to listen to other people’s music in a different, more in-depth way.
Around the world
Playing the guitar can take you around the world: to the jazzy New York in the fifties, to bossa nova in Brazil, to the blues that started in the early 20th century and still keeps going until this day or to the rocking sounds of the seventies, eighties and nineties, and it can help you connect with your favorite artists by learning to play their songs.
Escaping the digital world
As adults, we often spend our time on the computer or phone, if for work or on social media. That could be very tiring and sometimes could let us feel less connected with ourselves and with our loved ones. Starting to learn the guitar could give you the opportunity to practice mindfulness, to connect again with yourself by discovering a new ability and to connect with your family and friends when playing to them and with them.
51+
Many of my more mature students come to their first class and immediately say “I am afraid I am too old to start playing the guitar”, which I replay that it is never too late to start. Unfortunately, many people still believe that it is too late for them to start doing so, but the truth is that learning how to play the guitar at a later age can only improve your quality of life.
Memory
Many people say that, with age, the memory starts to get weaker, but learning an instrument has shown to have a big influence on our memory. When learning the guitar, you are reteaching your brain to memorize new information and by that improving your memory.
Strengthen the fingers
As we get older so do our muscles. The legs are heavier, we tend to have more trouble running and our hands and fingers are not as flexible as they once were.
And although playing the guitar could not fix all of your problems, it could help by training your arms, hands and fingers, and making them stronger, more responsive and flexible. When you learn to play you teach your fingers to move in a way they never moved before, keeping them warm and ready for any challenge.
Coordination
When playing the guitar you will need to move your fingers separately and press different strings at different places with your left hand; you will have to pick several strings with your right hand and all the time keeping in rhythm and listening to others. All this will improve your coordination abilities.
I believe that there is no wrong age to start guitar. It’s never too late or too early and there are always good reasons to just start playing.
For more information and to clear any doubts you may have about starting to learn guitar, contact me today.
Gal Dornay
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