When I first decided to start learning guitar after 60, I had exactly the same doubts many people have when they begin something completely new.
Am I too old. Would I be able to co-ordinate my fingers and more importantly was I likely to stick with it.
But very quickly I discovered something interesting. The biggest obstacle wasn’t learning chords and being able to train my fingers to contort into all these weird shapes, it was convincing myself that I could still learn something that was completely new to me.
Learning guitar can also take you down the slipper slope of finding you own unique tone….find out more here
That same lesson has helped me build my first affiliate website. And this is it, Change at Sixty
Today I realise the two journeys are remarkably similar in that I needed to follow certain rules that applied to learning something new. Even though playing guitar and building a website couldn’t be any more different the principals in how to achieve both are very close indeed
I Guarantee You It's Never Too Late to Learn
One of the biggest myths about getting older is that we lose the ability and interest to learn.
From a 60plus year old man for me I just don’t believe that’s true. What does change however, is our level of confidence to start something new.
After spending a lifetime working, raising a family and solving limitless problems, suddenly becoming a beginner and starting something new can feel a bit scary.
When I decided to learn guitar, I had to go and buy one. I had no idea which one to buy. I new nothing about guitars. Lucky for me we have great music store near where I live. They suggested the Yamaha FG800J
You’ll be glad to know my intention wasn’t to become the next Eric Clapton or Mark Knopfler
I’d always loved guitar and listening to bands and great players, so I thought why not challenge myself and enjoy learning something new that I had a passion for.
So, choosing a quality beginner guitar made the experience much more enjoyable because it stayed in tune and was comfortable to play. If you decide to take up guitar as a beginner, the Yamaha FG800J is an ideal first instrument. Not too expensive, pretty good quality and all you need to begin your guitar journey.
I found that the same rationale applied when I wanted decided to build my first affiliate website. I didn’t need the most expensive tools or tech I just needed good, reliable foundations and a desire to want to learn something new
Nobody Plays Perfectly on Day One
Small Improvements Become Big Results
One thing I love about learning guitar is that improvement happens quietly. You don’t notice much from one day to the next. Then one evening you suddenly realise you’re playing a song that seemed impossible a few months earlier. Family and friends suddenly look up and say “wow” that’s…….
One thing that really helped me with learning guitar was working through the Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1.
It breaks learning into simple, achievable steps instead of trying to teach everything at once.
Online business works the same way. Building your first affiliate website works the same way. Your first article attracts no visitors. The next attracts a handful. Months later those articles continue working while you’re asleep.
That’s exactly the philosophy behind my Affiliate Website Roadmap. Download it here!
One step first then the next and the next. Just steady regular progress and no mad panic or hype
Confidence Comes From Doing It
Many people believe you gain confidence first. I’ve found it is exactly the opposite.
Confidence comes after taking action. Trying, failing and achieving
Every note and every chord I learned made me more confident. Every blog post I published made me more confident. Every video I edited and posted made me more confident
Every small success encouraged me to keep going. Waiting until everything feels perfect usually means waiting forever. You’ve heard of the saying paralysis through analysis, well that’s what will happen if you keep analysing, researching and putting it off.
Keep going with that chord progression and those blog posts. Doing will get you far more results
Retirement Isn't the End of Learning
Retirement from your job can be one of the greatest gifts of all time. All of a sudden, you have time. Time to learn something brand new. Time to improve your skills. Time to enjoy the process. Time to amaze yourself at what else you can do.
Learning guitar has given me enormous satisfaction. And it will you to. Not because I’m trying to perform on stage. But it has reminded me I’m still capable of learning.
Building an affiliate website gives me exactly the same feeling. It’s not simply about making money. It’s about creating something meaningful. It’s about proving to yourself that you’re still growing.
Your skills will extend to website design, writing posts about your passions, learning how to make and edit videos and much more that you probably thought was beyond your capability.
Believe me it is what I thought but I built this website, learned how to create blog posts, make videos and promote it all through my socials. I never thought I would be capable, but it is amazing what you can do when you tell yourself you can do this
It Requires Patience
We live in a world that celebrates overnight success. Everyone seems to chase the shiny new object and hope that instant stardom is just around the corner and when it doesn’t happen straight away, they give up
Neither learning guitar nor building an online business works that way. Both reward patience. Both reward consistency and most of all both reward persistency. Don’t give up, success can be just around the corner.
You may need to make some changes to speed up your progress
One small change I made early on was replacing the original strings on my fist guitar with a set of Ernie Ball Super Slinky Guitar Strings.
Your fingers especially the tips will suffer a bit in the short term when you first play guitar.
I tried several different brands of strings, but the Ernie Ball Super Slinkies felt noticeably easier on my fingers, which made practising much more enjoyable.
It’s a small change, but small improvements often make the biggest difference.
That’s true with guitars. It’s also true with websites. I tried several hosting companies but finally settled on Hostinger although Site Ground is also very good
The Joy of Building Something Yourself
One of the greatest feelings you’ll experience in life is creating something that didn’t exist before. That could be a song you’ve composed on guitar (remember you can make a new song out of one chord) or a website you’ve created which focuses on solving problems people have.
A new skill you’ve learned such as making and editing videos for your website. Check out Bigvu and Capcut. I use the free versions of these tools to make my videos for social media promotion.
Learning guitar reminds me that fulfilment doesn’t come trying to be perfect. It comes from steady progress. Every new chord I learn reminds me I can still do something new. Every new blog post reminds me I can still write something that can help my audience.
That feeling is incredibly rewarding
Learning Guitar and My Affiliate Website
I’ve been asked why I write about learning guitar on a website that also teaches affiliate marketing. The answer is simple. Both journeys teach exactly the same lessons.
- Patience
- Consistency
- Confidence
- Resilience
- Neither requires natural talent.
- Neither requires being young.
- Both simply require the willingness to begin.
That’s why I believe learning guitar after 60 and building an online business are similar even though the practical elements may be different the outcome is the same. They both remind us that retirement isn’t the end of learning, it’s just the beginning. The beginning of your new chapter
And Finally
When I first decided to learn guitar, the last thing I wanted to do was become a musician. I simply wanted to challenge myself. To see if I could do it
When I built my affiliate website Change at Sixty, I wasn’t chasing overnight success. I wanted to learn something new. I wanted to stay mentally active and create a small additional income. And I wanted to build something meaningful.
Today I realise those two journeys have taught me exactly the same lesson.
- You don’t need extraordinary talent to learn something new.
- You don’t need perfect timing. Start now don’t wait.
- You don’t need to know everything before you begin.
- You simply need to start.
- One chord at a time.
- One blog post at a time.
- One step at a time.
Because the best years for learning, growing and building something meaningful may still be ahead of you
Ready to Build Something of Your Own
If you’re a man over 60 and you’d like to build your first online income without the tech overwhelm or marketing hype, download my FREE Affiliate Website Roadmap for Men Over 60.
Inside, I’ll show you the same step-by-step process I used to build Change at Sixty.
Because it’s never too late to learn something new. And it’s never too late to build something you’re proud of
Affiliate Disclosure
At Change at Sixty, transparency is important to us. In compliance with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines and Amazon Associates Program requirements, we want you to know that some of the links on this website are affiliate links.
This means that if you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. These commissions help us maintain this site and continue creating valuable content for our readers.
