as we get older...

[Kevin Fix]

Hey Irv!!! I let grouchy sleep also!!!!

[Chris Templeton]

If you're finding you have to restructure your playing, forget the chord grips and play one string, with feeling.

[Jeff Evans]

Once more, with feeling . . . if the numbness tapers off.

[Tom Vollmer]

I find it interesting about how much attention is put on age slowing down playing speeds. I am 82 and am playing 3 to 6 gigs a month.i feel like I am playing now as good as I ever was thinking all those years of playing have build up my knowledge of music and of taste to add and compliment a band.
My part of playing has always been backing up the vocals or playing lead or fills as needed.It would be great to be able to play Orange Blossom Spl. at 90 MPH but on a average gig would anyone be impressed but another musician.
More than how fast can you play is how to cut down weight.I have a 1970 Emmons D-10 with killer tone but I also have an Lashley SD 10 that does not sound quite as good as my PP but is 14 Lbs lighter, guess which one goes to the job. Also for years I had to have my Webb or Evans with 15" speakers. I now have an Evans with a 12" speaker that has a slightly thinner tone than my other amps with 15" speakers.
My 12" amp is 36 Lbs to the 15" over 50 lbs again you know what I am using. In other words I think the biggest age factor is the weight of equipment over how fast can you move your fingers. Just sharing some of my opiions.

[David Mason]

I am unfortunately ruled by my spinal discs. I can still play, (except when I zoink myself) but good lord GETTING SOMEWHERE with all the stuff I like... by the time I got somewhere and set up, I was REALLY ready to leave, go home and take a nap. That, combined with driving home on dark two-lane roads on Sunday mornings at 3am was just gonna wipe me out.

On the East coast the standard starting time in clubs is 9pm then play till 2am. The only other sober peeps out on the roads then are the cops, and while I sure support any effort to keep drunks from killing me, the police kept pulling ME over, mostly just to laugh at me and warn me not to get killed by a drunk.(?) HA, Ha... ha. It took a couple of years and a number of zoinks, but even I can take a hint eventually. I have to be super-careful not to zoink up my back just taking showers, carrying groceries and all.

I need a roadie, a robot, or an angel (muscular), accepting applications now - the pay's crappy but I'm lots of fun! After my nap....

[Floyd Lowery]

David, I could not have said it better. I'm 83 now and these are the reasons I stopped playing out 6 or 7 years ago. What I could add is that all I was playing was one nighters, and they sure did not pay enough to risk my life on those 2 lane roads. I sure have enjoyed being able to watch college football on Saturday nights.