https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarcirclejerk/s/WPQBanGKgG
How can we stave off the effects of age on our playing?
How can some musicians like Horowitz play with virtuosity into their 80s while others start to stumble much earlier?
Can we take preventative steps or is longevity of technique genetic?
How do I remain at the top of my game into my 80s and beyond?
Hmmm that’s just a minor memory slip. I did see another performance in the last few years from him playing Manhatten that was…really bad. BUT!!! I saw another performance even more recently that was just incredible. I’d say he has good and bad days like the rest of us. There’s even a video of him from his absolute peak where he had a TRAINWRECK and stopped and had the band start over.
I’ll always think of him as one the all time GOAT’s and he’s still my very favorite guitarist of players in his class.
He doesn’t have the level of technique that he had in the from the mid 80s to late 90s, but I don’t think the decline is entirely due to aging. He mentioned in interviews back then that he was trying to get away from the fast pentatonics and get into some other types of phrasing, and that he was trying to be less obsessive and develop a healthier relationship with the guitar.
Honestly, I think this was just a bad night. I’ve seen plenty of clips from his last tour where he’s played great.
He had some trainwrecks back in his technical prime, too.
Edit: I knew I wrote about this before:
Do you believe it is possible to maintain high levels of technique into our old age?
Possible, although it’s strange to me to be that inconsistent.
Yes, I do. I had one student who learned efficient picking mechanics in his seventies, after struggling with stringhopping for decades.
However, we play guitar through haptic perception and aural feedback. If we don’t take care of our bodies (maintaining strength, postural integrity, mobility, etc), then physical decline is almost certain unless you’re extremely genetically gifted. If we don’t protect out hearing, we’ll lose the integrity of our feedback loops.
Dude’s not young, and likely dgaf. Age comes for us all, and I’m certain that, beyond that, he just doesn’t sweat putting in the practice needed for maximum chops anymore. Why would he? He’s already famous and peaked.
I saw John McLaughlin perform 16 years ago, he was just about to turn 69 years old. The guy played for 2 hours nonstop, must’ve picked 3 million notes. lol Very accurate and still quite fast then, so I think it’s a matter of luck (having the health to begin with) and then work.
The former has actually been discussed a LOT here, and Troy is certainly of the mindset that age shouldn’t slow you down, in and of itself. I’ll add, on a personal note, that I caught the John McLaughlin/Jimmy Herring tour a few years back and I have NO idea how old McLaughlin is these days, but he is old by any even conservative definition of the term… and he can still tear it up.
Meanwhile, Satriani is… jesus, 69 years old, per Wikipedia, which is crazy to think about. And I think his last three albums are some of his best playing in years. I’m a veritable spring chicken by comparison at 45, but I think I’ve made more progress on my technique since turning 40 than I did though my entire 30s, by a pretty significant amount.
As far as consistency and having off nights, I think what constitutes an off night changes as your playing improves, and Johnson’s off nights are quite a bit better than yours or mine… but we all have them. Part of the point of locking in efficient technique is to minimize the “cost” of just not having it one night, but there are definitely days where my chops just aren’t really there, and that just happens.
That’s encouraging to hear that you had a septuagenarian student being able to shred.
I want to do everything I can to preserve my abilities as I age.
If you dont mind me asking, how old are you?
Possible but the idea of Eric Johnson not giving an eff seems to run almost contrary to the idea of him being an OCD perfectionist of the highest order.
I understand that we’re all human but it made me sad listening to him stumble over the main melody theme of Cliffs of Dover like that and not even the solos.
About 30 years off of Eric Johnson’s age so I know it’s not going to be an issue anytime soon lol.
But I can’t help but to think of it when I watch that video.
John Mclaughin is another example that I’ve observed still retaining much of his abilities into his 80s. Perhaps a little more elbow motion than his younger days but his lines are still great.
I’m wondering if a lot of what goes into long term technique longevity is simply never taking long breaks from playing throughout the decades.
And true we all have off nights, but that video is particuarly bad and he’s not even playing particularly hard passages there.
I want to be 90 years old and still playing Far Beyond The Sun, nomsayin?