Just for a little perspective, my story comes from the opposite end of this spectrum. My mom has written in my baby book that at the age of 3, I could pick out the melody notes to a tune on my grandma’s piano, and then remember them the next time we visited. I was naturally drawn to instruments of all kinds, but my parents never took the initiative to get me in to lessons… or even buy me an instrument. In their defense, we were very poor.
At age 11, my grandparents bought me a Sears guitar and said “Learn to play that one and we’ll buy you a better one.” I was really excited to start with my Mel Bay book. I learned C and G7, but then came F. It was impossible to play on that guitar. Even 30 years later, I still couldn’t play an F on THAT guitar, but my family took it to mean I just wasn’t interested in music.
It wasn’t until age 13, knowing that I had blown my chance to get guitar lessons, but also knowing my mom loved bluegrass, that I asked her if I could take banjo lessons. They thought it was a waste of money, but agreed as long as I payed for half of everything. We bought a pawn shop banjo, which almost took me down the old Sears guitar path again. Fortunately, my banjo teacher said “He can’t learn on this” and got me hooked up with a decent banjo. I took 6 months worth of lessons and my teacher moved away.
Fast forward to August of 2016, when I finally continued my banjo learning right here with Ben.
So, like Ben says, look for that natural gift, but don’t force it. On the other hand, don’t ignore it, either. The right guitar at age 11 could have literally changed the course of my life.