Dear Linda

Good Onya - that's Aussie for well done!

I, too was an on-again-off-again player until my late twenties when I picked up my old 3/4 Yamaha and decided I WOULD learn to play it.
As Weelittledrummer said - find a teacher with passion for teaching rather than a passion for playing" brilliant advice (not that I would expect anything other from 'Drummer') - but my suggestion would be "find a teacher with a passion for BOTH (if possible).

I went to a community learning centre one night a week to get the basics in an 8-week course and then sat in with our local head teacher at the Primary (Elementary) school across the road and learned more - - - BOTH were passionate anbout playing and teaching - Terry (the teacher) can literally pick up ANYTHING with strings and play it - and quite a few things without them too. The other guy was a classical-trained pianist.

After several years of playing I was devastated with head injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident which caused me to forget HOW to play and also robbed me of some fine-motor control in my fingers and hands.

Back to the drawing board and I decided that my playing previously might serve to help me remember chord patterns (how to place my fingers to play chords) and started looking through my old 8-week course book I had compiled. The notation exercises were beyond me but I found I could hit MOST of the chords - 'F' was and still is a dead loss! I then started looking for songs whose tunes I was familiar with and accumulated these along with the relevant chords - if they used chords I couldn't play - I transposed them into ones I COULD. I thus compiled about 300 (+ / -) songs in books which I can play (in varying degrees of competence) - my only concession is that I must have the books WITH me to play as I can't remember chord progressions or the chord changes without seeing them in place any more.

Some of the chords I play are 'cheat' or abbreviated - a purist would not use them, but with my limited fine motor control, they're good. They sound very close to the real thing to the layman and that's all that matters. I can now busk - and make a few dollars when I do (worst day about $30 in an hour and a half - best day about $90 in two and a half hours), I play at schools at which I teach - either for fun or as an accompaniment to the lesson I am teaching and I occasionally fill in if the muso's are away at church.

Hang in there, Linda - you've just gotta REALLY want to play - and you will. Time is no obstacle. You'll probably never be another Eric Clapton or Woody Guthrie - but neither are MOST of us. Play for yourself and THEN play for others and most of all - - - - - HAVE FUN !!!

Muttley