Guitarists over 40...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Trotter
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old guy

i'm 42 and still playing hard rock, although it's getting near impossible for me to find new bandmates that i can relate to personally. the guys that can practice twice a month and gig twice a year are around but that's not my scene. well, off to the drugstore for some more grecian formula.
 
really good thread.
I'm 51 and I've never had more than a week off in my life. Currently I play 3-5 times a week plus I have a day gig.

As for the "Kids don't like old rockers" sentiment........I'm not so sure. Like most of us I've morphed into a blues or jazz or classic rock or anything that we 'old' guys like sort of player. But for the last 6 months, I've been playing in a band with my daughter and her boyfriend. Everyone in the band is early to late 20's except me. We're doing a lot of alternative stuff.............much of it I'd never heard of. :) And I'm getting a very positive reaction from the kids that come to see us. I regularly have young players or just audience members come up and tell me how cool they think it is to see a geezer playing this stuff. I think the key is....you have to be able to approach the music with that same energy and excitement that you had when you were just starting. You can't be thinking about how this compares to the old music that seems so special to us. If you have that kind of attitude about the new stuff, then it comes across because this music is all about energy and how can you have fire for something that you're already thinking isn't as good as the old stuff.
So I think that you can still rock out when you're old but , you have to be good, of course, and you have to be genuine about the music. Young people hate phonies.
 
Interesting thread!!!

Although guitar is not my main axe, I do gigs as a drummer, keyboard player and guitarist. I'm 50 and have gigged steady for 35 years (7 years on the road and the rest of the time semi-pro).

The last two years I'm averaging 3-5 gigs per month - it seems gigs are harder to come by, in part since many of the people I've worked with over the yeras are phasing out.

Prior to 2001/2002 I averaged 2-3 gigs per week. I mostly freelance with 1/2 dozen bands (but in any given year I probably play with a dozen different bands).

I have been trying to book more jazz/blues gigs vs. the rock/pop gigs, in part to play music more appropriate to my advancing years and in part to avoid the dreaded rehashing of Mony Mony, etc. etc.

Although I also dislike loading out at 2:ooam in the rain and snow - I can't imangine not gigging (I think playing with other people, for other people is what music is all about).

I've always pretty much anticipated that eventually I will die at a gig, on the way to a gig or coming home from a gig. - I think that gets you to the front of the line in Rock & Roll Heaven!!!
 
Lt. Bob said:
really good thread.
I've been playing in a band with my daughter and her boyfriend.

smart, smart, smart!! i shoulda started pumping out youngsters at 20, then i'd have my early twenties bassist and singer. my daughter is 20 months and can't keep a beat on the drum kit worth a damn. she sings okay, but barney ain't cool in the clubs around here.
 
Anybody know Pipeline? Walk Don't Run? God, I'm old. Shoot me, please.
 
Don't forget Telstar...........and No Matter What Shape Your Stomach's In.



And Well Respected Man...................and Red Rubber Ball.
 
And Louie Louie.
And Hang On, Sloopy.
And sock hops and line dances, the twist, the Freddie, and the ubiquitous Mashed Potato.

Anybody seen my teeth? I lost my spectacles and can't find them.
 
brother newbie

Wow! someone out there I can relate to! I am well over 40, not giggin' anymore...In fact just gettin back into it after about 15 or so years. I would like to gig again...but what the hell I'll hang out in the home studio(just beginning to put it together) write the occasional tune,and leave the hard stuff to my daughter who seems to have the genetic thread, she has a beautiful voice. I will be content just watchin her career develop. Who knows...maybe the ol' dinosaur can even help her out.
 
inspiration

Buffalo Bob said:
Anybody know Pipeline? Walk Don't Run? God, I'm old. Shoot me, please.
Hey dude...the Ventures were my inspiration to get serious about the guitar!!We must be very close in age.
 
I'm a vinyl collector and I just scored a whole bunch of Ventures albums so I've been listening to them lately. great stuff.
 
The Ventures were THE reason I started playing. I can remember thinking..."Man, if I could just master "Walk, Don't Run", I could get to play in a band. It was a real bitch learning on that old Stella with the 1" action!:D
 
ventures

yeah, it's been a long time but if memory serves me I remember a tune called "Rebel Rouser" sorta sticks in my mind. Sure would like to run across a stash like that!
 
forum

Guys..this forum has been good for me. I read someone's message about gettin the old guy to get his fat ass off the couch and do something, THAT's ME!!! This is bringing back the heart that I once had about playin'. A real inspiration..Thanks
 
The Ventures were THE reason I started playing. I can remember thinking..."Man, if I could just master "Walk, Don't Run", I could get

ME TOO!! Hello, my name is Rick, and I am 58. Started playing guitar when I was 16. Thats 1961 for you youngsters. Not only did I play all the Ventures hits and non hits(I loved stuff that weren't hits), I played on the same bill WITH THEM 3 times in the 60's. Played with a hundred stars of the period. Learned what "sideman" means. Played pro till 1989. Semi pro till 98. Now I am concentrating on recording and building my studio. I have been very fortunate. I bought the first 1962 strat and single showman in Sacramento Ca. At 18, my band was asked to be a house band for some of the largest concerts of the time, to back up all the pathetic pop singers of the time. Talk about paying dues. I'm paid in full. I've played it all-instrumentals, rock, club rock, r&b, blues, country, light club jazz, wedding bullshit--and a lot in between. Once I saw Cream live, all other rock seemed moronic. I came across the 60 chord system when I was 30, and it changed me as a musician forever. I still pursue it, although I have discovered it is a journey, not a destination. My heros are Django, Christian, Pass etc. My mentor is Bill Conners. My fav's are Bill Evans(piano)Miles, etc and would trade my soul to the devil for a voice like John Lee Hooker. Favorite pop instrumental is still "Honky Tonk" by Bill Doggett. I still get togeather with a 45 yr best friend for our once a week listen to old tapes and laugh, play music, work on studio sessions. I have over 150 cassettes of our little get togeathers. Thats home recording. Woudn't trade them for all the CD's at tower. I post regular on the Studio Building forum as I am a CAD draftsman and builder. I am constantly modifying my little home studio and have built everything. I will play till I am dead. I just installed my second Tascam MSR-16 and am a nats ass from being able to record up to 30 trks. I have a disease called ebosity, but it is not contageous :p
Here is my "woom", although it has been added to since this shitty pic was taken.
http://home.rcsis.com/beachchic/studio1.jpg>
fitz:D
PS. Heres an old photo taken from a CD released last year called "Young Sacramento"
We recorded in 1964 at "Bill Rase Studio", and the studio kept the old tapes of all the bands that recorded there during that period. My band was called "The Coachmen"
We were typical "british invasion" wanabes, but had lots of other influences that we used. We were the "punks" of the time.
http://home.rcsis.com/beachchic/ricksbnd.jpg Funny, huh! I am the tall guy oin your left.
 
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Hey Rick - do you remember a band called "The Robbs"? They were a Southern Cali Byrds cover band. 4 piece, and the keyboard guy played the bass parts. They sounded incredible! When I was a whippersnapper, I got a job doing sound & light setup for a DJ in Philly. Got to meet all the Motown people on tour (remember "track acts"?)- those were the days!

By the way - nice studio!
 
Hello Buffalo Bob, thanks, and nice to hear from ya. Say, want to hear something wierd, although we all know it was going on. I think, a lot of the top "bands" really didn't play on their recordings. Harvey Gerst(mic forum mentor)told me he wrote one of the Byrds tunes. This was in a thread about "stars" that weren't, even on their albums. He went on to say, he was there when the Byrds recorded, and there was only one person of the "real" band on the album. I wonder sometimes.....Anyway, hats off to all the old farts. Keep picken and a grinnen!
fitz(ps) I just refreshed the other reply with a pic of the times!
 
Love those bowler hats! Veddy Brittish! I feel sorry for anypne who missed those days. It was a beautiful time.

Bob
 
hey fitz

I'd kill for that studio. I'm just settin mine up. When I quit playin, I sold all my stuff. Bad move! I didn't really expect to play anymore though.
 
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