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Bill here I am new to this and a old guy. Trying to keep my accordion skills up.

yup,lots of older people. That’s not a problem. I know many people in their eighties who start learning an instrument for the first time. Best thing is to be patient,try and find a good teacher and enjoy what you are learning. And please,ignore the incessant remarks that kids learn faster than adults. It’s apple and oranges and irrelevant.
 
yup,lots of older people. That’s not a problem. I know many people in their eighties who start learning an instrument for the first time. Best thing is to be patient,try and find a good teacher and enjoy what you are learning.

I’m one of those - a long time musician experienced with a variety of instruments, but I touched an accordion for the first time at 73.
 
yup,lots of older people.
I'm an older person, old enough to need cataract surgery, the first of which I had yesterday.
Today , the eye patch came off and...
...my left eye which was previously "uncorrectable" for years is now better than 6/6 and sharper than my right (even without glasses ).
...all print is a dark, saturated black.
...colours are much more saturated.
...the "dusty veil that hid the scene" has cleared.
All in 24 hours!
It's a miracle!😀
 
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I'm an older person, old enough to need cataract surgery, the first of which I had yesterday.
Today , the eye patch came off and...
...my left eye which was previously "uncorrectable" for years is now better than 6/6 and sharper than my right (even without glasses ).
...all print is a dark, saturated black.
...colours are much more saturated.
...the "dusty veil that hid the scene" has cleared.
All in 24 hours!
It's a miracle!😀
Wow, that’s great to hear Dingo!
 
I am new to this & am trying to keep up my accordion skills for a old guy.
Welcome Bill!!!! Yeah, another old guy here too. You’re in the right place, all the young guys are watching things jiggle on TikTok. We got it going on with bellows and buttons.
 
yup,lots of older people. That’s not a problem. I know many people in their eighties who start learning an instrument for the first time. Best thing is to be patient,try and find a good teacher and enjoy what you are learning. And please,ignore the incessant remarks that kids learn faster than adults. It’s apple and oranges and irrelevant.

That’s me too. ;)
 
Welcome. Forums are kind of old social media with a certain general topic. You can read the threads in categories at the main page and write to threads if you want to add your thoughts to the thread. A thread is a chain post of a certain topic, started by someone, made by everyone in the end. You can watch the main page for new activities or from notifications. A forum is a knowledge and opinion trade area. You can get, ask or give ideas to everyone. Your account will be fully active in a couple of days. You will have some delays since then. Try to pass the opinions you dont like and stay positive. :giggle:
 
Count me in as well. I am 73 and have been playing again for a couple of years after taking lessons as a kid. My newly learned knowledge and technical skills are already way better after playing for only a couple of years, than they were as a kid. Of course, I'm playing a couple of hours a day now instead of the 1/2 hour way back then. And even that's just now enough to learn all the different styles of music I want to play. I particularly like Latin and Brazilian syncopated rhythms, and really moving toward Jazz, which fits nicely into just about any other kind of music genre. I also play with an accordion band here in Tulsa, but much of the music we play if stuff I was playing as a kid - there's so much more out there.
 
Welcome William!

Glad you joined us!

"Old" can be a relative term.

Ringo Starr sung it.

"It don't come easy.
You know it don't come easy."

It doesn't come so easy as it once did. I turned 67 earlier this month and it's a constant battle to keep playing skills from crumbling around the edges in ways they never used to crumble.

Remaining active helps. Cardio exercise is essential for me after bypass surgery at 60 and helps all areas of my life, accordion playing included. Beyond that foundation of exercise, I must practice daily, for my skills are extremely perishable otherwise. I don't always get to practice daily and it's a discouraging hole to get out of after missing playing time. With attention to punctual, meaningful practice I can still occasionally (sometimes? infrequently?) soar and then I enjoy the undeniable gratification that is accordion playing.

Practicing essentials helps. Scales, chords, and arpeggios bore the socks right off me so I am mostly neglectful in this area of effective practice. I ought to do better.

Maintain enthusiasm by constantly acquiring new sheet music. Always keep a new tune working on a front burner. I recently decided that I wanted to play "The Charleston" so am working on revamping and embellishing a piano transcription of the tune to suit me on the accordion.

You're already way ahead of me in that you're willing to play accordion for others. That's the last great frontier for me because I have always suffered from the torment of stage fright. This cripples my abilities. I've dabbled with playing out in front or with others, but in 60 years of accordion experience I've never successfully overcome the shyness. I once anticipated getting beyond it, but am not so sure at this point. I infrequently venture forth. I am currently demonstrating accordion for prospective band students at the local intermediate school, but I will never be a capable accordion show off. So, I play for personal amusement, personal enrichment, and the challenge of expanding skills.

Playing accordion makes one feel young again and can can stave off feelings of being "an old guy."
 
I'm an older person, old enough to need cataract surgery, the first of which I had yesterday.
Today , the eye patch came off and...
...my left eye which was previously "uncorrectable" for years is now better than 6/6 and sharper than my right (even without glasses ).
...all print is a dark, saturated black.
...colours are much more saturated.
...the "dusty veil that hid the scene" has cleared.
All in 24 hours!
It's a miracle!😀

Yea Dingo!

This is great news! We're glad hear of this.
 
Well, noelekal - that about sums it up for me as well. I definitely need to practice my technical playing side such as scales, chords, arpeggios, etc. I devote about half of my practice time to this, so it really cuts into playing actual songs, but overall, it's improving my playing skills on any of the music I play.
 
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