Let me give you some good advice young man - you better learn to play guitar

I have decided to have a mid-life crisis.

Well, that's not strictly true. I turned 30 earlier this year and while Scotland's life expectancy may be a rich source of humour for comedians, I'd like to think I'm not quite at the mid-point in my life. So let's start again.

I have decided to have an early mid-life crisis. And what has led me down this path? Simple. I got a guitar for Christmas.

I had the notion that getting a guitar is a sign of a mid-life crisis but any doubts were dispelled the Sunday before Christmas (by which point I already knew I was getting a guitar) when watching The Simpsons. In this episode, Homer gets a guitar (a bass, as opposed to my normal electric one) and the implication is it's part of a mid-life crisis.

He's having a mid-life crisis too!

If it's good enough for Homer, it's good enough for me - although thankfully I have a lot more hair and a lot less fat.

I've reached this point in my life without having any proper, grown-up hobbies. Watching sport - particularly football and motor racing - can be classed as a hobby but doesn't really require me to do much. Likewise playing video games or messing about online. Walking requires more effort although it's a bit boring.

However, walking is partly responsible for me getting a guitar. In October or November I was out for a walk in the sun and decided to listen to Oasis' "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" album. It's a great record, one of my favourites, and I love most of the tracks on it. For some reason, "Roll With It" really stuck in my head that day and I was addicted to listening to it over the next few weeks - even though it's hardly a recent song. And that got me thinking: "Wouldn't it be able to play that on the guitar?"

The idea is a bit ridiculous. It's the best part of 15 years since I last played an instrument and that was the keyboard. At school we played guitar a bit a but that was mainly acoustic, with only about two classes all year where I played electric. And if I did get a guitar I didn't want to make the financial and time commitment to getting lessons to play it.

But trying to learn an instrument - any instrument - is different now to about 15 or 20 years ago thanks to the internet. YouTube is full of educational videos and you can find the music for just about any song with a few minutes Googling. You're not limited to what's in a book or what school decide you can play.

However, just because the resources are there doesn't mean it's easy so I did what I always do in these situations - I asked on Facebook and Twitter if it was doable. And the answer was yes, so I went for it.

On the left is a picture of my new guitar. It's not flashy or expensive, which is ideal as if I get frustrated or give up in six months at least it won't have cost someone a fortune and I won't feel guilty about this ridiculous idea I had that I could play the guitar. But hopefully that won't happen.

That's why partly why I've started this blog. If I feel I have to post once or twice a week on here then that might force me to keeping up with my learning and practicing and lead to me getting better. If I don't, I'll have nothing to post. I'm not expecting too many people (if anyone) to read this but it would be rather embarrassing having to make my weekly post with no progress to report.

Who knows what is a realistic aim? To be able to play a song - any song (preferably one I know) - by the end of 2015 would be great but I've no idea if that is a realistic target or a wildly optimistic one. And who knows if I'll ever be able to play even the first part of "Roll With It"?

But I'm willing to give it a go and if I don't try it now I probably never will. So the long journey begins here and I know it will take a while. As Liam Gallagher once said, you gotta take your time with these things - and not let anybody stand in your way.