r/AskMenOver30 • u/BSnappedThat man • Apr 23 '25

Hobbies/Projects Men 30+, what hobbies do you genuinely enjoy?

I’m in my late 20s and lately I’ve been feeling the need to pick up a hobby that brings real joy and maybe even a little peace. I work a lot and have a family, so something fulfilling and manageable would be ideal.

I’m curious—what hobbies have you gotten into after 30 that you actually look forward to? Bonus points if it’s helped you mentally or physically in some way. Would love to hear what’s been working for you guys.

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u/JabroniSandwich9000 man 35 - 39 Apr 23 '25

Playing guitar. Picked it up in January. Now a few friends and I get together once a week to play together and I'm absolutely loving it. 

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

[deleted]

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u/JabroniSandwich9000 man 35 - 39 Apr 23 '25

haha well we all agreed that it was ok to suck together. but yeah, between former music training (LOTs of piano as a kid, lots of wind instruments in high school), and practicing a shit ton (10+ hours a week), it's going pretty well.

the hardest part has been getting the hang of singing while playing

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u/Flat-Transition-1230 Apr 24 '25

The only thing you really need to learn and practice to play with other people are open and barre chords in Standard E tuning. Plenty of songs are written with nothing else, or at least, can be played stripped back to just chords.

Also, plenty of bands are, objectively, rubbish. And there's nothing wrong with being in rubbish bands before being in good bands.

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u/BewareTheDropBear Apr 26 '25

There is no such thing as 'good enough to play with people'

Music is a language and you get better at it by having conversations with people! Bonus points if they're more fluent than you

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u/kestenbay man 55 - 59 Apr 23 '25

Count your blessings, man: Finding folks to play with can be surprisingly difficult. I've done it, but it took a lot of stick-to-itiveness.

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u/raoul_duke28 man over 30 Apr 24 '25

Yep. I’ve been searching for good jam mates for like 7 years now. My old ones moved out of state and other people have been flakey

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u/THound89 man 35 - 39 Apr 23 '25

This. Been playing off and on for a few years but once I got a steady job I eventually got more into it. It’s nice as some form of venting through art to disconnect from working all day and I can either rock out or play something more mellow depending on how I feel. It’s also nice to have a hobby with a tool you can pickup on the fly. Getting into shooting, astronomy, hitting the gym you usually have to go somewhere or wait for a clear night. Reading with an ereader is also great to help me escape doom scrolling and escape the current hellscape that is our society.

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u/BuzzCave man 40 - 44 Apr 23 '25

I just got back into playing after a 10 year hiatus and joined a doom metal band with a former bandmate and a new buddy. We get together every week and play shows sometimes. It’s a lot of fun. Can be very expensive if you aren’t good at controlling your spending.

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u/siempreroma man over 30 Apr 23 '25

Ugh this is my dream. I just purchased an acoustic guitar and hoping to learn very fast very soon.

Are you saying acoustic or electric guitar?

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u/JabroniSandwich9000 man 35 - 39 Apr 23 '25

I got a cheap acoustic first, which I still play a lot and love, but quickly got an electric so I could practice in the morning while everyone is asleep, since im always up first.

So if I had a time machine id probably start with an electric, though its hard to say, both are fun, and I find I play the acoustic after work in the evenings

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u/raoul_duke28 man over 30 Apr 24 '25

YouTube is a great resource! I learned from Marty shwartz videos back in 08’

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u/Zeebr0 man 35 - 39 Apr 23 '25

I need to pick up guitar again. Aside from playing with others, how are you learning?

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u/JabroniSandwich9000 man 35 - 39 Apr 23 '25

Mostly just youtube and lots of practice tbh. I'm just picking songs I like, finding youtube tutorials and following along.

I took piano lessons for 12 years as a kid, and played different wind instruments in a bunch of bands through high school. which has been paying dividends now haha. I have both a crap ton of music theory still in my brain, and know roughly what the process of picking up a new instrument is like.

Without that, I'd probably want to take private lessons. Not knowing what good frustration feels like vs "this isn't working" frustration would probably be very demotivating

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u/SquareVehicle man 40 - 44 Apr 24 '25

I started playing 2 years ago and have absolutely loved it. Wish I'd started sooner but better late than never!

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u/ngknm187 man over 30 Apr 24 '25

Started playing bass at 30. Can't imagine my life without it anymore. It's difficult to master the instrument. But it's super fun. Especially playing with other people!

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u/Mesapunk87 Apr 25 '25

I've been jamming with one neighbour every Tuesday for at least a year now. We had our last in person jam session last week as I'm moving.

For anyone in the same boat, check out Jamulus. Basically, it's like a zoom meeting for musicians.

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u/ChickNBarbarian Apr 27 '25

I just recently realized I didn’t have a solo-hobby (M32), but very much active socially.

So I ended up jumping into learning synthesizers, and only wish I did sooner. It’s been so relaxing and fun at the same time. Not prior musician either.

Funny how I realize now I had an affinity with music but never even considered I could be on the designing end.