When Your Kids Leave Home? Break Out the Guitar!

Leah and her Gretsch.

Over the past week or so, a couple of women guitar players have joined the Music After 50 forum. I was thrilled to see them there, as there are too few women guitar players – both amateur and professional.

One of the women didn’t take up the guitar until mid-life; it’s a great story. It’s posted today in the Share Your Story section.

I’ve played the guitar since childhood, but, for years, was bothered by my lack of skill on the guitar. My skill level was fine for playing folk music, but I longed to play solos and really gain an understanding of the instrument.

For nearly five years, I’ve studied jazz guitar. I always loved to listen to jazz, and even sang it for awhile, and so I thought, why not jazz guitar? Studying jazz guitar is nothing short of attending guitar boot camp. There is no other form of guitar that requires the breadth of music theory as jazz. Rock players who know their way around a guitar likely have had at least a little background in jazz, whether they play it or not.

This is a long way of saying that, I was acutely aware that as a “girl” I was a decent player, but I wanted to learn how to be a great player! And I still do…even if that means I don’t reach my “goal” until I’m…well, old!

There are certainly as many theories as to why there aren’t many great female guitar players as there are people to come up with them. Here are two popular ones we’ve all heard: Boys play guitar mainly to impress girls; guitars are sexual and appeal only to boys and men.

Yet, I think a teengage girl would love to impress boys with her guitar skills! And the second one applies to everyone: Guitars are beautiful, and they’re generically sexy. They appeal to both men and women.

So why the lack of female players?

I found a board where people were debating this, and this man’s response (below) was interesting. He didn’t indicate his name, so I can’t credit him, but here is his comment:

“My take is that, in general, men have dominated the arts for a long time. Not because women aren’t talented or creative. That’s not the case… It’s inherent in [women's] nature to love and care about others above themselves. The problem there is that the arts take a lot of time away from your families. Women, in general,  are more likely to sacrifice a lot of their desires to give to their families’ needs where as men are more willing to sacrifice time with family and work on their projects (cars, composition, musical techniques, writing, yards, painting, photography, etc.) So, a lot of time those virtuosos like John Petrucci, Van Halen, Marty Friedman, etc., probably sacrificed just about everything…Sacrifice for the arts I guess is the best way to put it.”

I think he’s probably right. And that’s why I think the Music After 50 concept is so important for women. So, to all the women reading this: now that your children are likely older or no longer at home, do a little window shopping at a music store and see what catches your eye. Piano, guitar, saxophone, bass, drums…? There are so many instruments to explore. Join the fun!