For the average person, is it too late when they reach a certain age to become a great instrumentalist and make their own well-received music?

not sure what you mean. obviously if you're in the hospital dying of cancer it's probably too late. if you're asking if you have to be a young child, then no.

if by "well-received" you mean famous, then that has more to do with factors other than skill.

Well, I don't want to be famous. I just want to write and play great music. I'm not a teenager, but I'm not a middle aged man. Am I at a disadvantage?

For example I want to make as beautiful music as MF:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6vC1cSwFLc

This post was edited by CrystalSouls on Aug 5 2014 10:31pm

You're not going anywhere if you wanna make as beautiful music as someone, you should want to make music, and that's it, eventually something nice could come up.

I would have to say no.

Going off of what Lensherr said, it should be a want and not something you're forcing yourself to do.

Once you learn an instrument or learn how to use a music studio (such as FL Studio or Ableton Live), mess around with chords and notes and what not.

Find what sounds good to you, and experiment a bunch.

~Should be able to come up with something pretty awesome

Young people generally learn things faster because their brains are more plastic. However plasticity of the brains doesent stop, it just slows down a bit, thats why learning things in older age is generally more difficult than it is for adults. But the thing is that if you have been into music for long time, you probably have some understanding of music that kids often doesent have, this can help you to learn some stuff easier than it is for kids.

So the answer to the topic is that it depends, i wouldnt say that its better for anyone to learn music at older age, but experiences with music can help to get over the lower amount of plasticity in adults.

Pro touring bands often won't let kids in. Even if they are good. Anyone under 30 has issues. And lots less experience gigging too. Age is better if you have pro skills.

no