too old

[slowesthand]

I had to throw this in the mix here. I'm turning 65 soon and have been thinking I'm too old for bar room open mics. Last Sat. my local pub had a open mic ,there was a guy who was 89 years old , he had to be led up to the mic...he was also blind! His voice was amazingly strong, probably stronger than most of the players there, including mine.

Moral of the story, Just keep doing what you are doing if you enjoy it!

Now back to your regularly scheduled program....

[gfa]

OP - I'm unsure whether you're saying you just don't want to learn any newer songs, or that you think newer songs aren't any good. If the former, sure, play whatever you want to play. If the latter, that's just being lazy. There's a ton of good new & recent acoustic music out there, and it's never been easier or cheaper to explore it. I'm not harshing on you, just nudging.

[DESERTRAT1]

I'm 67. I've gone through my periods of Folk, Pop, Rock, Southern Rock, and Blues. Frankly I think I might look a bit silly performing a lot of the current stuff that the 20 somethings do so my formula is to play songs that are so old and obscure that everyone thinks they're new. Seems to be working.

[beachbum205]

Originally Posted by RedJoker

As a side note, if you go into a nursing home, the music you hear playing is the music that the residents love. Typically, folks love the music of their youth. That means sometime in the future, you will walk into a nursing home and hear the quaint, old-timey music of Justin Beiber and maybe some gangster rap.

I work in a nursing home, and this is so true. I'm thinking that one day I'll be in one, slurping up my oatmeal and hearing some CSN&Y or Stones over the speakers.... "Almost cut my french toast today..."

The day I hear Beiber or Rap there (neither of which qualify as music IMHO) is the day I hope they pull the plug on me.

[Von Beerhofen]

Hoping to make it to 62 in 4 weeks I can't imagine having to live a life without new tunes. Listening to the old tunes can be nice at times but not day in day out, week in week out.
I still occasionally hear some great new tunes I know I can play if I put some effort into it and besides that there's still a lot of old stuff I've not even tried yet. It's not that I'm as vigourous as I used to be in learning but now I'm not working I'm playing much more. Just trying to make up for lost time, still trying to understand more and stay lubricated.
I'd play for any audience in any situation, even though I know I nowadays have plenty of shortcomings, it hasn't changed my attitude to perform to the best of my abillaty with the stuff I'm comfortable with.
If I have fun the audience usually also has fun and that's just a great feeling I wouldn't want to go without.
Rock till you drop!

Ludwig

[Br1ck]

You should just be like Johnny Cash and own any song you want to sing.

I just got an all hog OO and it just wants to play depression era classics, so go retro my friend.

[ADK]

Originally Posted by eyesore

I feel too old to play acoustic music in bars anymore. I don't wanna try and stay current.just saw some friends tonight playin newer tunes. it just seems wrong.....I like to play what I like to play.guess i'll stick to the farmers markets and wait out the winter months. ...just raggin! ha!

I got tired of trying to stay current (i.e. popular) when I was only 30. It felt like I was chasing after the 'perfect' set list, but I ended up doing enough songs that I didn't like, and that took all the fun out of it. In the 15 years since then, I've done a few open mics, which I like because I don't feel the pressure to entertain for 2 hours, and I can do exactly what I want.

[redir]

Originally Posted by Long Jon

I sometimes wondered if , at 63, it was worth persevering. . .

About a month ago I met a lovely fellah called Ian, who jams with a jazz trio on Sunday afternoons, at my local pub .

He revealed to me , over a beer and a ciggie, outside, during their interval, that he is 83 !

He plays guitar AND sings on pitch. A shining inspiration to me.

Still drinkin' and smokin' at 83 he's gotta be doing something right

[billgennaro]

Originally Posted by eyesore

I feel too old to play acoustic music in bars anymore. I don't wanna try and stay current.just saw some friends tonight playin newer tunes. it just seems wrong.....I like to play what I like to play.guess i'll stick to the farmers markets and wait out the winter months. ...just raggin! ha!

You're not too old! They're too young!

[The Bard Rocks]

A couple of years ago, a fellow started making the Open Mike rounds in our area. His face was unwrinkled, but you could tell he was old. His wife sort of led him. But when he sang! He loved Perry Como songs (imagine that?) and he definitely outsang Perry - and most anyone else. His wife told me that he was 90 and sings several hours each day.

Last year he started having more and more trouble getting around on his own two feet and then, later yet, his voice started going. I was recently told that he'd died. And I am SO glad he was able to show us what he could do and to take so much pleasure from it. People like him are an inspiration to those of us who feel we are "too old" to do something we still want to do.

[Silly Moustache]

I am 66 and 8/12ths and I still singing and picking.

Sometime ago I decided that it was inappropriate for an old duffer like me to sing love songs.

Then I was invited to join a scratch band at a bluegrass seminar by a lady who sang almost exclusively Hank Williams songs and she wanted me to sing close harmony with her. She dismissed my concept with a kiss and told me I was talking crap. ..... I've now changed my mind.

Do I sing modern songs ? Pop songs - no, but if modern combos like Cahalen and Eli, Stray Birds, the Romeros or Steeldrivers, Steve Earle, Jeff Foucault write a good new song - yes I will - even love songs!

[Hoyt]

Saw Tony Joe White last night doing Polk Salad Annie with the Foo Fighters on Letterman. That's old, but he was quite hip if you ask me.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by ADK

I got tired of trying to stay current (i.e. popular) when I was only 30. It felt like I was chasing after the 'perfect' set list, but I ended up doing enough songs that I didn't like, and that took all the fun out of it...

Same thing happened to me in the early-80's - kept the fires burning by starting a doo-wop group, playing everything but guitar with a neo-trad acoustic trio, and working with my wife as hired guns for a few CCM/P&W teams over the next three decades. The older I get, though, the more I find myself going back to my roots - pre-1967 R&R/R&B, first-wave Brit-Invasion, Motown, guitar instrumentals - and the more I find myself reaching for an electric and plugging in, rather than settling down with an acoustic as I would have done even two or three years ago...

Originally Posted by slowesthand

I had to throw this in the mix here. I'm turning 65 soon and have been thinking I'm too old for bar room open mics. Last Sat. my local pub had a open mic; there was a guy who was 89 years old...His voice was amazingly strong, probably stronger than most of the players there, including mine...Moral of the story, Just keep doing what you are doing if you enjoy it!...

A few years back when I was working with a praise band, a 96-year-old WW II vet approached me after the service and asked me to do some old gospel tunes with him. Couple weeks later he stepped up to the mike and sang "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," while I pulled out my archtop and did my best Freddie Green imitation; just guitar and voice - and the sheer musical and spiritual power was palpable...

"It's never too late to be who you might have been"
- attributed to George Eliot

[justjazz77]

I am 60 and have been playing semi-pro for 40 years. I got arthritis in both thumbs now and I don't play in public anymore, though I still jam a bit with friends. I no longer have fancy instruments and get by with three sub $1000.00 guitars. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to play gigs all those years. But now I enjoy the simplicity and stress-less musical life as I rest on my laurels and let the young ones take over.

[Eldergreene]

Originally Posted by DESERTRAT1

I'm 67. I've gone through my periods of Folk, Pop, Rock, Southern Rock, and Blues. Frankly I think I might look a bit silly performing a lot of the current stuff that the 20 somethings do so my formula is to play songs that are so old and obscure that everyone thinks they're new. Seems to be working.

+1 - nothing later than 1940 - it works for Leon Redbone, & it works for me; also, many of the 20s/30s songs are so chordally complex that mastering them is a very satisfying thing, tho I still ain't no Eddie Lang..