A great untapped market: if you want to grow your business, start by looking beyond the teenage demographic. You may be surprised by how many new customers you find.

Over the past few weeks I have felt like a second-class citizen when it comes to learning to play. I will try to explain how people like me are slighted in music stores; but first, let me give you my demographics: I am in my 60s, feel like I'm 40, have some free time, have a couple of bucks saved up, not a whole lot of bills, kids who are grown and on their own, and I have a lot of friends who are like me, looking for fun things to do. We look for interesting/new things to try, and we find new experiences to share. We go on cruises, try new hobbies, and play golf. My neighbor Joe doesn't play golf, so he thought he'd learn to play a musical instrument. He called a few music stores last year that didn't have teachers available during the day, and they kind of talked him out of trying to learn to play because of his age. He settled on garden trains for a hobby instead, because (as he put it), "you get to go to meetings every week, share the same enthusiasm, and talk about your hobby." He told me I should do the same.

Frankly, I thought he gave up a little too easily about learning to play an instrument, because lately I have been getting the urge to play something different. I am a keyboard player who always wanted to play electric bass, so I thought that now would be the time to give it a try. How hard can it be? I decided I would call a few music stores, pick up a bass from one that has a teacher I could relate to, use the Peavey amp from my keyboard, and I would be off and running. Not so easy.

The first music store I called, I asked about lessons in the late morning or early afternoon. They said, "we only teach after school when kids can come." Another store I called said, "we don't have any teachers at our store, but if you come in we will give you a list of phone numbers of all the ones we work with in the area."

I tried another store. I asked about Saturday lessons (they had nothing before 5 P.M. during the week) and the person answering the phone said "most of our teachers sleep late on Saturdays because they play out, so you don't want to book anything before noon. Also, they might have a wedding job on Saturday afternoon and cancel a lot." I refused to give up, so I called another store. This gum-chewing adolescent said, "aren't you a little old? ... our bass and guitar teachers are rockers."

Not being one to quit, I finally settled for an independent music studio with many teachers, not affiliated with a music store. My friends at Yamaha (Dennis Webster is a big proponent of recreational music making) helped me get an electric bass. I thought I was set. I was excited. I took my first bass lesson yesterday at 4:30. I got there at 4:15 and sat in a small waiting room with several 10 and 11 year old kids. One mother came over to me and asked if I was an instructor. I told her I was a student. She said "realllly??" and walked away. (The kids just pretended I wasn't there).

My teacher was a young man much younger than my youngest daughter. He asked me what I wanted to accomplish. I told him "I want to play bass well enough to play with a country group within the next 90 days ... maybe back up Toby Keith." That didn't seem to faze him at all, and he asked (get this) "what bass players do you know, or have heard of?." I told him I knew Charlie Mingus, Trigger Alpert, and Mike Huckabee. He said he hadn't heard of any of them, whereby I told him to check the paper because the last one is running for President.

Actually my teacher was a very congenial, talented young man who taught music in one of the public schools during the day. He seemed to be able to put up with my sense of humor and he also played incredibly well. That of course, made me very nervous. I don't want to look stupid in front of someone 40 years younger than me.

When I got home my buddies asked me how I did. The answer is "not really well, but I will figure out the mechanics of playing the bass no matter how long it takes me. I lack dexterity and coordination and hate having someone much younger kind of talk down to me." (That's not your first finger, that's your thumb ... think about it and try it again ... your pointy finger is your first finger.") Telling my friends of my experience did not make them want to jump on the bandwagon and learn a musical instrument themselves.

Now, here is where the story takes a little different turn. I ran into one of my older friends who is an AFM union musician/teacher and lives about 25 miles away. He says he teaches adults, and instead of a half hour lesson, he teaches four pupils with different instruments for two hours in the morning, and gets them playing together. He has his own book on "How To Play Electric Bass" for adults. He wrote one for guitar as well. He is trying to find an opening for me. He is not affiliated with any music store. I told him it was a good thing that he wasn't, because they wouldn't be able to keep enough instruments in stock to keep up with the demand of him teaching the adult market. He even gets a government grant to do adult classes in the evenings at the local museum. Students can come for free. Have you ever thought about this market? Do you even care about adults wanting to play for fun? Us older mature adults are not going away. Our market segment keeps growing by leaps and bounds.

I live in an area where there is a shopping population of about 250,000. There are a lot of music stores here. And in this radius there are a lot of older people like myself who would like to play a new instrument, another instrument, or any kind of instrument. However, everyone seems to be after the kids, the rockers, and the school band members. Maybe I just didn't find the right store.

Have you ever thought about classes for adults? Do you have special lesson sessions during the day with an instrument to rent to see if the adult likes it? Do you talk about all the medical benefits of learning to play? Do you mention how learning to play a musical instrument can sharpen your memory? (I figure once I learn to play all the scales on my bass, it will be easier to find my keys in the morning).

Once I get started with the other teacher (I may still keep the same local teacher too because if I do a good job I get a free juice box after my lesson), I will tell you about it in this column. I will also help him get more adult students since he has a program for people like me. Imagine, being able to play with other people like myself, after just a few lessons! People over the age of 15. Even 50 and 60 year olds. How cool is that?

We are a great market to go after. And I will learn to play even if Toby Keith doesn't want me. (It's just root-fifth you know). Will tell you more of this adventure in this column ... after a few more lessons.

By the way, if you are not offering the Making Music magazine for recreational music hobbyists, check it out at MakingMusicMag.com or call (800) 724-9700 xll0. It's a great way to get hobbyists into your store.

Bob Popyk is the founder and CEO of Bentley-Hall, Inc., a marketing firm specializing in creative sales and marketing strategies. His sales meetings and seminars are presented internationally to major companies and industries. For more information on Bob or his company, email rpopyk@aol.com, write to: Bentley-Hall, Inc., 120 Walton Street, Suite 201, Syracuse, NY 13202, or visit his website at www.bentley-hall.com.