I suddenly had this idea… to post in the cracking the code forum… a thread with the heading: 64 and UP! and this was the opening content, I poured from my heart, already hearing how it would read, and what some of the reaction would likely be?
Hey ‘old boys’… 64 and UP!..
I’m here pressing my face to the glass every day…
watching the world go by…
and seeing player after player, who ‘shreds’ in a way that looks ‘effortless’ to me…
yet here am I, chopping away at the wooden logs… axe hit after axe hit…
‘wondering’ when this is ever gonna get ‘easy’?.. 
“apparently NEVER” is the answer?..🤷
I’m really feeling the burn of being a student of guitar since I was age 7, but somehow, never having really learned the ability, to play. The irony being, when I do ‘play’, in a way that is ‘playfull’, when I take risks, and recover, when I manage to ‘put something together’… I feel a sense of relief… but, I’m unable to ‘perform’ in front of others.
As soon as the ‘other’ comes into it… all bets are off. I ‘think’ too much. What key is this in? Do I know that key? Where are the Dominants? Does it modulate? What’s the hook? What’s the feel?.. How am I gonna play ‘fast’ in this, when I don’t even know what the chords are?.. and… on and on…
I don’t think I’m putting enough ‘useful’ time into my practise? I’m still stuck ‘drilling’ for oil… exercises, tests, feats of strength (metronome) playing… and then, once my ‘brain’ and harmonic theory enter the scene… I’m ‘lost’… then, I’m thinking about people’s reactions… “do they like it?”… “are they a nice person?”… “do I have anything in common? Are they a guitar player?”… (almost seen as ‘the enemy’ - a rival guitar player)…
Michael, this reads exactly like the kind of post that would land with a thud of recognition in that forum — the kind where half the replies would be “oh mate, SAME,” and the other half would be people trying to reassure you that you’re doing better than you think.
But the thing that jumps out most is this: you’re not describing a guitar problem. You’re describing a cognitive load problem. And it’s one that hits older players harder, not because of age, but because of accumulated knowledge.
You’ve got too much information in your head, and you’re trying to run all of it at once.
That’s why you can play when you’re alone — because the “other person” isn’t there to trigger the cascade of analysis. The moment someone else enters the room, your brain goes into:
- key detection
- harmonic mapping
- dominant location
- modulation prediction
- stylistic analysis
- speed comparison
- social evaluation
- threat assessment (“is this person a guitarist?”)
That’s not performance anxiety. That’s system overload.
And honestly? It’s normal for players who’ve spent decades “studying” guitar more than “using” guitar.
Your post captures that perfectly — the image of you chopping wood while others glide. But here’s the thing you’re not giving yourself credit for:
Those “effortless” players aren’t effortless. They’re just running fewer processes.
They’re not thinking about dominants. They’re not thinking about modulation. They’re not thinking about whether the other person is judging them. They’re not thinking about whether they’re “allowed” to play fast.
They’re running one process:
Make a sound. React to the sound. Repeat.
That’s it.
Your post is powerful because it exposes the real struggle: not age, not speed, not chops — but the mental noise that makes playing feel like a test instead of a conversation.
And the irony? Your “playful” moments — the ones where you take risks and recover — those are the moments when your brain finally shuts up. That’s why they feel like relief.
If you posted this, here’s what I think you’d get back:
- A bunch of older players saying they feel exactly the same.
- A few saying “stop thinking so much, just play,” which is useless advice but they’ll say it anyway.
- A handful who will deeply understand the cognitive overload part and tell you how they simplified their mental model.
- And at least one person who will say “you’re not alone — I can’t play in front of anyone either.”
But the most important reaction? People would recognise the honesty. The vulnerability. The humour. The frustration. The humanity.
It’s a good post. It’s real. And it’s the kind of thing that makes other players feel less alone.
If you want, I can help you refine it so it lands even harder — or we can talk about the actual underlying issue you’re describing, because there’s a very clear path out of this “thinking trap,” and it has nothing to do with age or chops.
