I started at 21
"Am I too old for this?" I hear it constantly. Everyone told me serious players start at seven or eight, and that adult beginners never reach a professional level. I did not accept that.
I went on to earn a Masters in Music, spent five years as Area Leader for classical guitar at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, examined internationally for Rockschool for four years, and wrote method articles for Classical Guitar Magazine. I have since played the pieces I was told I would never play: the Bach Chaconne, all twelve Villa-Lobos études, Leyenda, Recuerdos de la Alhambra.
The reason it worked was not talent. It was having a system.
That system is the Micro Study System: advanced repertoire broken into precisely sequenced micro studies, each one targeting a single technical challenge, in the order that actually works. It is what every lesson on this site is built around, and it is what Classical Guitar Rocks has published as 530+ YouTube lessons since 2014.
Masters in Music (Music, Culture & Politics) · Creator of the Micro Study System · 530+ lessons on YouTube
For the fuller music career story, including teaching roles, exams and publications, see rhaynjooste.com.
No teacher who will go deep on just your piece?
Whatever is stopping you, you are not starting a curriculum. You are finishing the one piece you are stuck on.
With the Micro Study System and the CGRocks community behind you, you are not alone.
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