Inside GuitarZoom Academy: A Real Student’s Experience

A lot of guitarists don’t quit because they stop loving music. They quit because life gets loud and practice gets messy. Steve Stine sits down with Chris Macry, a 62-year-old guitarist who played hard as a kid, stepped away for years while raising children as a single father, and then made a serious return with a new goal: stop feeling stuck and finally grow into the player he always wanted to be.

We talk about the exact spark that made Chris pick up the guitar in the first place, what it was like learning before YouTube guitar lessons existed, and why “just knowing pentatonic boxes” can feel frustrating when you can’t name keys or navigate the fretboard with confidence. Chris also shares the real hurdle he faced when joining an online guitar program: not lack of talent, but overwhelm. Too many lessons can make you feel like you’re always behind, even when you’re improving.

The turning point is practical and repeatable: focus on what matters, build a simple plan, and use a practice log to spot patterns in your playing and your habits. Along the way, we dig into something even bigger than technique: the role of a supportive guitar community, mentorship, and how confidence grows when you stop hiding and start playing with people who challenge you.

If you’re an adult learner, coming back after a long break, or searching for structured online guitar learning that actually sticks, you’ll hear yourself in this conversation. Subscribe, share this with a guitarist who needs a push, and leave a review with the one practice habit you’re committing to next.

Thanks for being here!! I will continue to do my best to bring you the best, most informative guitar discussions to help you along your guitar journey!

The more you share this podcast with others, the more I can continue to grow this channel and offer the best information and advice I can to you.
Thank you!
Steve

Links:

Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
https://academy.guitarzoom.com/

• Steve’s Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus... 
• GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0... 
• Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... . 

Transcript

Welcome And Why Chris Matters

Steve 0:35

Hey Steve Stine here. Thank you for joining me. Today I got a chance to sit down and talk to a gentleman by the name of Chris Maccy. Now, Chris is a Guitar Zoom Academy student, and he's been here for gosh, a couple of years now, I think. And um he is one of our biggest motivators. Like he, you know, he's played in the past, he's done a bunch of different stuff. Um, but he, you know, struggled with getting better and and getting to a place that he felt really good about himself and joined and just became kind of a kind of a pillar of of the community here. People rely on him, they talk to him, ask him questions, things like that. And um, so I wanted to sit down with him and just talk about what his experience has been like both before and in the academy and how it's impacted not only his playing, but just his life in general. So I hope you enjoy this interview. All right, Chris, thanks for joining me today. Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Chris Macry 1:32

Well, let's see. What do you want to know? I'm a 62-year-old man. Um been playing guitar off and on since I was 12, but took a long break in between because I ended up being a single father with two small children and I raised them by myself. And um, then when they were grown and gone, I started so that was about probably a fifth, well, 15, 18 year period of really not playing much guitar at all.

Speaker 1:58

Okay.

The Kiss Album That Sparked It

Chris Macry 1:59

So from the time I was 12 till 19, I was playing a lot and got fairly good, and then took that break. Then several years ago started getting back into it, but not too seriously. Um and then uh bought a few courses from Guitar Zoom, which helped me a lot. Uh connecting with the fretboard, learning the fretboard was a big one for me. And then I kept seeing your ads on um Facebook for the academy, and I figured what the heck? I'll I'll I'll at least apply, and uh here we are. So in a nutshell, that's a quick story.

Steve 2:33

All right. So tell me a little bit, like when you were growing up, what was your first kind of instance where you realized that you really dug music and you wanted to start learning how to play guitar?

Chris Macry 2:44

I can tell you the exact moment. Uh my brother was 17 and I was 12, and he had a 17-year-old girlfriend, and she brought this album over to our house. It was called Kiss Alive, the very first album. And I put that thing on with a set of headphones in my bedroom, and about four days later I had a guitar.

Steve 3:02

Oh, wow.

Chris Macry 3:03

A cheap guitar from Sears. Yeah. You know, 20 bucks, I think it cost, or something like that. You know, and that was it for me. I I was just the biggest Ace Freely fan on the freaking planet, man.

Steve 3:15

That's awesome. It's funny how many of us are out there like that, you know.

Chris Macry 3:18

And I've been told many, many times that I look like Ace Freely. I've even signed some Ace Freely autographs on occasion.

Steve 3:26

That's awesome.

Chris Macry 3:27

Yeah.

Learning Guitar Without YouTube

Steve 3:28

So, okay, so you get your guitar. So so when you first started trying to learn, how did you how did you go about it?

Chris Macry 3:34

Man, I don't even remember. Uh, I didn't take any lessons and there wasn't YouTube. So just books, I guess. A lot of Mel Bay books, um, you know, listening to tunes, um, picking that needle up and moving it back and setting it down. My cousin showed me how to play bar chords one day. I remember that. And uh that was that was huge. That was huge. Yeah.

Steve 3:57

So is everything going pretty smooth for you as far as learning goes? And then life happened. Is that kind of what happened with you?

Chris Macry 4:04

Pretty much, yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. I I got married and um ended up having a couple kids, and my wife wasn't all I thought she actually had a six-month-old daughter when I met my wife, and I ended up adopting her and then having another child, which I ended up getting full custody of all of them. So that kind of I had a book, I had a bike back then, as you can see. I'm a biker. Yes. When I got custody of the kids, I immediately sold the bike, you know, and kind of put the guitar away for a while, working three jobs just to support my my family.

Steve 4:34

Yeah.

Chris Macry 4:35

Yeah.

Steve 4:35

So during that time, when did it happen that all of a sudden you're like, I I'm gonna pick it back up again? Like, were your kids older, or what was the deal? Oh, yeah.

Life Pause Then Guitar Return

Chris Macry 4:45

Yeah, they were uh my youngest daughter was already graduating and now I'm doing her own. So and I just I went, what did I what did I do, man? I I don't remember how I bought it. Oh, I do remember. I bought myself a guitar from Carvin.

Steve 5:01

Oh yeah, direct, you would have to buy them direct, I think, right?

Chris Macry 5:05

Yeah, and I was on my birthday, and I was very depressed. And I said, I'm gonna buy this freaking guitar from Carvin for my birthday, and believe it or not, it showed up on my doorstep on my birthday. Oh, wow, and I still got that guitar, and it's a fantastic instrument, bro.

Speaker 5:20

That's awesome.

Chris Macry 5:21

So, yeah, that's that's kind of how I got back, and then I still didn't do a lot of uh really playing serious just sitting around the house, you know, again doing the same things I did when I was a kid, playing with records and learning and things like that.

Steve 5:34

And then so what made you decide to like do something about that and move to the next level then?

Chris Macry 5:41

Um, I just wanted to go back and do the things now that I'm older that I didn't get to do earlier in my life because of my situations. And you know, I thought, well, I'm too old now, but people kept telling me, dude, dude, you're never too old. Just go back and do it. So I felt like I owed it to myself. I felt like I kind of cheated myself or or got cheated, you know? Not that my kids were cheating. I love my kids.

Steve 6:03

No, no, no, I totally get it, dude.

Chris Macry 6:05

I wouldn't trade a freaking second of it. I mean, we went to bed many nights eating nothing but hot dogs and spaghetti, all that stuff. You know, so but uh I just felt like I owed it to myself to try to go back and and get get where I wanted to be. And I'm having a blast, dude.

Steve 6:20

Yeah, I mean, that's one thing. I mean, w we might as well get into that. I mean, you know, Chris is one of those guys where, you know, he's been with the academy a long time.

Chris Macry 6:30

And uh, 16 months or 16 months.

Steve 6:32

Yeah, yeah. He's he's a motivator, like he's one of those guys that other students look at, look up to, and um, because I hear about it all the time, and they appreciate all of his input. You know, sometimes people think it's just about the the instructors, and it's not, it's about it's about the students as well, and how everybody treats everybody and interacts with each other and helps each other. You're absolutely one of the guys that we talk about as instructors all the time. That's really one of the primary motivators in in the academy. So I thank you for that very much.

Chris Macry 7:04

So I'm glad to hear that, but I I'm just me, man. Yeah, I just do what I do.

Steve 7:08

Yeah. So what what made you connect? How did you get connected with the academy?

Chris Macry 7:13

Uh scrolling through face Facebook and I kept seeing your your ads many, many times. And I to be honest with you, Steve, I was intimidated to even fill out the application because I assumed that when I got in here, there was gonna be all these monster players in here with degrees from Berkeley and all that, you know, and just and I was gonna be, you know, I was just intimidated, and it will, it's nothing like that at all, you know. So, but just your ads scrolling through Facebook over and over and over again. And finally, one day I said, I'm just gonna look into this thing. And uh, that's how how it happened.

Steve 7:49

Well, that's awesome. I'm glad you did. So tell me kind of what's the experience been like for you, you know, anything with the academy. Once you got in and you started doing stuff and you started connecting and your practice, and I mean, dude, you've it's not that you couldn't play before, but I just really enjoy listening to you play. Yeah, all the videos that you post and things like that. Just tell me a little bit about what it's been like here.

Joining The Academy While Intimidated

Chris Macry 8:12

Well, when I first came in, I I um I thought I could play, and I guess I could play, but I mean I I didn't I knew pentatonic scales, and basically that was it. And I really couldn't tell you which pentatonic scale, I was just playing boxes. I couldn't tell you this is a minor pentatonic or C whatever. Um, so when I first came in, to be honest with you, Steve, I was a little overwhelmed at first because there is a lot of freaking material here, and I felt like I had to start from the beginning and take every module of every course, which of course is completely wrong. You know, but I was overwhelmed. I almost quit the first month. Do you remember?

Steve 8:49

Yeah, I took I I know exactly what you're talking about.

Chris Macry 8:52

You know, you said, Well, I got sick for a week, then I went on a week vacation on a cruise, and I felt like I'm never gonna catch up. I'm done. Well, there is no catch up, yeah. There's no catching up. You just got right back to wherever you were and pick it up, man. Yeah, that's right. So um, it's been a great, great experience. My playing has improved 200%. I guarantee you 200. I have learned so much, man. So freaking much.

Steve 9:15

Yeah. Well, I love having you in the classes. I always look forward to seeing you every week in those classes.

Chris Macry 9:20

So sometimes I feel like I talk too much, I ask too many questions.

Steve 9:24

Nope. No, and that's the thing, is people look up to you too. I mean, people are looking for your input. So when you talk, or you know, you you mention something, or Roger mentions something, people use that information just as much as they do for me. That's that's the power of this thing.

Chris Macry 9:38

Right. And I've been trying to do a little more of that. Like I've been posting some some of my practice stuff that I do when I'm just screwing stuff up but just going over it. And this morning I posted a video of something I was working on, and I even put the tabs up if the guys want to somebody wants to look at it and try it, you know. And I and you had said something to me about being a mentor at one point. And that's something I would love to do if you're still looking for those guys.

Steve 9:57

Oh, totally. One million percent. That's as a matter of fact, we just had a a meeting a couple of days ago and we were talking about you. So that's a new thing that we're implementing is making sure that you know, guys like you are are available if somebody else has something on their mind and they don't want to reach out to one of our instructors for like when you first started, you know what it felt like when you got in here, and you're like the the the anticipation of what it was gonna be was different than what it was once you actually started settling in. Right. But that first week or so, people are like really kind of nervous, and it's like, you don't need to be that way. Talk to Chris. Chris will tell you how it is.

Chris Macry 10:32

I was intimidated, bro. I'm lucky a lot. But I got over that shortly. It it I think it took me probably maybe two months to really settle in and figure out how this thing really works and and to just work on what it is I want to work on, not everything that somebody else is doing, you know.

Steve 10:48

Yeah, exactly. That is exactly right.

Chris Macry 10:50

Yep.

From Overwhelmed To Focused Practice

Steve 10:51

So I'm easy to get overwhelmed. And that's that's what yeah, and that's why we try and make sure that you know, when we set up a plan and then we have those Monday check-ins that everybody's actually doing what they should be doing and not just you know, over consuming like you did on YouTube or whatever it might have been.

Chris Macry 11:07

But and the practice log is huge because I I neglected to use it almost my first year. Yeah, and then when I re-upped and you know, Manny really got on me. He's like, dude, you got it. And it's been just doing the practice log has made huge, huge amounts of difference. Because I can go back and see, oh, I've I made a note here, I suck at that. I gotta go back and work on that some more, you know, or whatever. You know, yeah.

Steve 11:27

Right. So, how do you feel as far as like, and again, you were already a player before you got in here, but when you got in here, do you feel like your your confidence in yourself or your in your skill set? Because you had mentioned about your skills getting better. How do you feel about yourself as a player?

Chris Macry 11:43

I'm always looking for people better than me to go play with, brother.

Steve 11:45

That's great, dude.

Chris Macry 11:46

And before I came in here, it was the opposite. I was looking to play with people that were less than me, if that makes any sense.

Speaker 11:52

Yeah, yeah.

Chris Macry 11:53

You know, and now I'm I'm always looking, I'm not in, I'm not intimidated. My my confidence level is high. I don't want to be cocky or arrogant. You know, I get you, but I'm very confident. Yeah, I'm very confident. That's awesome. With you anytime you want, bro.

Steve 12:07

And hopefully we'll be able to do that sometime soon. So yeah, that's the that's the next phase is trying to get us all together and actually hang up the channel. Can't wait. Can't wait.

Chris Macry 12:15

Yeah, yeah. So but it's been great, Steve. I love every freaking second of it, man.

Steve 12:20

Yeah.

Chris Macry 12:20

I'm already trying to plan how to do the third year.

Confidence Grows Through Community

Steve 12:24

Yeah. Well, uh, like I said, I mean, I I what I love is the fact that we we have something here where we can help people learn how to play, but the other thing that I genuinely love is the relationships. Like I I I genuinely look forward to seeing you each week. Um and I just appreciate what you do here, like all the things that you do to make other students feel comfortable and the positive things that you you post in comments and things like that. Because that's that's this what this whole thing's about is is trying to wake up every day and be motivated and you know, feel like I want to check in with everybody and see what everybody's doing and how everybody's doing. And yeah, and it seems like we've got that going, you know.

Chris Macry 13:05

And I watch almost every post that everybody makes, you know. I love looking at that because you can see where you can say, Man, so and so has come a long way in the last three months. Yeah, you know, and I like watching that. So yeah, but I think what I like the best about the whole thing is other than the camaraderie, because that's great, but you guys really care. There's no question. It's not like you guys are just collecting the money and we don't see you again. Yeah, you guys are every day. I you guys are available. I can call you or Manny or whoever every freaking day if I want to. And um, I just think it's it's the most I don't know how you guys put this thing together. I have no freaking idea. It must have taken a lot of planning.

Steve 13:40

It took a while, yeah.

Chris Macry 13:42

Yeah, but I love it.

Steve 13:43

And we're learning all the time. Like, that's the thing, is we have meetings all the time with stuff that you guys will say, you know, what we can do to do something a little bit better, or like you're you're one of the people that there were a few people, but you were definitely involved in our elevation into the improvisation element that we've added in on weekly um, you know, open rooms and that sort of thing. That was I love that too, man. Yeah, yeah. You were you were integral in that part as well. So cool.

Chris Macry 14:08

I'm glad to hear that.

Steve 14:09

Yeah, yeah.

Chris Macry 14:11

It's uh it's the greatest thing ever as far as my musical. Um I don't want to say career, but you know what I'm saying. I gotcha. For my for myself improved, and you know, that's another thing, dude. I've taken some of the stuff I've learned here about discipline and added it to my life. You know what I mean? Outside, like my job, for example, same type of I try to apply the same. I've learned a lot from you guys, just about not only guitar, but just about how to how to be, how to live.

Closing Thoughts And Gratitude

Steve 14:39

That's awesome. Well, Chris, again, thank you for your time and and uh genuinely thank you for being here. You've I love it, you've done a lot for all of us as instructors too. It's it's a real blessing to have you in here, man.

Chris Macry 14:50

Thank you. I appreciate it. And thank you guys for everything you've done for me.