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Anyone learning an instrument (especially those who have no musical education)?
I’m having a lot of fun learning the recorder (cheap and relatively easy). I have to learn to read music too, and wrap my head around how rhythm works, but I’m finding that so much is just intuitive, even though I’ve never played anything. I like singing for fun, but that’s pretty much the extent of what I can do. (I now play a mean Hot Cross Buns though.)
Anyone else doing something similar?
I love Sarah! Her enthusiasm is so catchy.
I started teaching myself guitar, and though I intend to come back to it, I decided there are too many strings. Now I play bass, and it's so incredibly enjoyable. I lucked out on a 300$ bass that sounds pretty damn good for its price.
My technique is becoming pretty good but I still suck at theory. I can't really think or count while I play, I just have very good musical memory and intuitively play parts when they feel right, which usually works but obviously isn't very versatile. Now that I'm starting to focus less on technique I hope to get better in that regard.
All my life I've loved music, but part of the issue was that I didn't know what to start learning. My dream, one day, is to be able to play enough instruments to make music on my own. Saving up for keys right now.
If you want to add another instrument into the mix I think ukulele makes a great alternative to guitar. It's easier to play and a ton of fun!
I bounced off acoustic guitar a few times and last month went out and picked up an entry level electric guitar and the difference is night and day for me on ease of playing. I'm not a large person and find fretting and strumming far easier on an electric which has easier to press strings and is smaller. I'm also having a blast with rocksmith+ on the PC playing along (badly, for now) to some favourites on the app
Does a DAW count as an instrument? 😅 I know nothing about music production or how to actually play anything, but I love music and I feel like there's music in my soul that's trying to get out.
During the recent Consumerism Day Sale™ on Major Retail Website™, I got a 25 key midi keyboard. It can't play any kind of music on it's own so I need to plug it into my computer, and find software to interpret it.
A lot of this has been blindly feeling my way through things - googling "how to play music on my midi keyboard" only yielded results such as "just plug it in, set it up, and start playing!" Giving no indication as to what "set it up" consists of - what software I would need or where to get it.
So I had at least learned about needing a Digital Audio Workstation, or DAW. And the one I've landed on learning is Cakewalk. I've gotten the program to recognize my keyboard, and I'm able to record and play back different tracks, but I hit a block when it came the to actually make something.
It's not easy, and I have many other things I'm concurrently interested in and doing, but I'm making slow progress!
Absolutely. Working with a DAW is another level on top of playing an instrument: it's arrangement/orchestration, composition and audio engineering. If you use synths, sound design is kind of its own thing too.
I never successfully learned an instrument when I was younger, but in the past few years I really got into music production as a hobby. I picked up a DAW, bought a MIDI controller and even took a basic music theory class in my last year of college. And watched a ton of YouTube videos.
I've had an obsession with synthesizers from a young age, and now I play with them all the time in convenient, virtual form. (I highly recommend Vital as a free all-purpose synth, and the Arturia V Collection is really nice too. It's costly, but it's amazing if you like 80s and 90s synth sounds...)
I'm definitely more comfortable with a piano roll than physically playing a keyboard. I know my way around it, but I don't have the coordination/rhythmic sense to play well, so I tend to work more with MIDI sequencing, or at least play things in and heavily clean them up.
Not learning a new instrument, but I've been playing instruments for about 20 years now and it's one of the most rewarding things I've learned in my life. Keep at it. It can help to go to some kind of teacher, but many instruments are also pretty doable without one. I also don't think music theory and sheet reading is all that important, although it makes things easier. I think training the ear is more important and also imo a lot more rewarding. Because picking up a melody and just being able to play it more or less instantly feels super good lol
I’ll echo this. I played through high school, then took 10 years off until I found volunteer bands. A couple years in a corporate band, couple year break with a cross-country move, and now a community band since 2019.
Sheet music reading is more important for my band experience, but I agree on the importance of ear training. It helps to be able to hear a melody played by someone else and pickup on it yourself.
I love the recorder! Once you get the hang of it you can pretty easily pick up playing the penny whistle or even a practice chanter for bagpipes if you're feeling feisty. I do have a musical background (saxophone mostly) but I recently decided to learn the clarinet so that I can do more doubling. It's a bit fiddly and I'm realizing just how much I benefit from the more ergonomic design of the saxophone, but it is very rewarding (also way more portable than my usual bari sax!). Reading music is pretty simple if you can wrap your head around the fact that the rhythm part is just fractions. Good luck on your musical journey and have fun!
In college a roommate and I decided to do rent to own programs for string instruments. He did violin and I did cello. His musical background was much deeper, having played piano for years at a respectable hobbyist level. I hadn't played an instrument since 4th grade recorder.
My motivation was wanting to learn an instrument and not wait until I'm retired to try and regret the missed opportunity. I took private lesson with an instructor who was fine but said (probably right at the time) that I was tone deaf. I played in a recital where I was the oldest person by at least 10 years and felt super humbled by 5 year olds playing the same music but much better.
I had to return the cello for a bit as I was away from the area for grad school, but I missed it the whole time and buying a cello was the first thing I did when coming back. I signed up for lessons again and have been going constantly for probably 8 years now.
Like any long term life skill its all about consistency. I don't practice all the time but it helps to have a great instructor that I get along with which motivates me a lot.
Just sticking with it for a long period of time helps with reflection on how far you've come too. I watch some video recordings from years past and cringe hard, but knowing that I've come a long way since feels good and helps to reinforce continuing to go to lessons.
I think adults playing in recitals for studios is also a good thing since it sets an end goal for the season to work towards. You get over the stage fright eventually, as the kids don't care and the parents are even more scared of doing it themselves. Working towards that goal is quite motivating and I could totally see how other adults lose interest in it if they are too timid to play with middle schoolers.
I started learning guitar in 2017, and I've never been confident enough to play in front of anyone, so that's amazing you've taken that step. Also, string instruments without frets seem impossible! On guitar the worst you can do is play the wrong notes, but they're still valid notes because of the frets. On cello and violin you have an infinity of ways to mess up. 😅
When I started with violin, my instructor put colored tape where my fingers should go. After a while you hear when it's wrong
0 musical education. I bought a ukulele 2 years ago because I wanted to try an instrument, and ukuleles are cheap and easier to learn than guitar. I'm not good at it but it's easy enough that I can play a few simple songs and entertain myself.
I also briefly tried LSDJ, a tracker (actually the tracker) for gameboy, composed 2 tracks, and never went back to it.
If you ever get the itch to go back there are plenty of PC-based tools for free that have only gotten better.
Trackers you mean? I passively follow what's happening, but if you have a few personal recommendations and resources, I'll gladly take them :)
It depends on what you want to do, but for chiptune you could use furnace.
For something more DAW-like you could use OpenMPT, which supports VSTs, as well as Protracker, Impulse and FastTracker modules.
And SunVox, a pretty great modular tracker.
As well as LittleGPT, and you can set up a headless DirtyWave M8 for $45, all you need is a USB Micro cable and a Teensy 3.1.
I took choir in middle school and a year of band but didn't really learn music. I learned to read scores in high school for the baritone/euphonium, after not learning in choir, and was able to build on that, but it was like dropping out of school in the first grade and getting yourself up to a fourth-grade reading level. Basic literacy helped immensely, but I had to learn on my own, largely.
I taught myself guitar with tabs and covers with the express goal of getting to a point where I can improvise and have it sound good. I went on to pick up mandolin, violin (for a month lol) ukulele, and banjo. Violin and Banjo are the only two that are fundamentally different, since you bow one, and the other has a drone string and various different methods of playing.
The biggest help conceptually was electronic music, in which I had to learn theory for composition, then passed to guitar. To take music theory in high school you needed to be high enough in Band or Choir, and I dropped out of music programs in my freshman year due to bullying and grades (I burned out hard in middle school and it continued into high school).
I play piano, accordion, and melodica. I recommend melodica as a good beginner’s instrument. Easy to buy and fun to play.
Learning to play by ear is great. Some methods of instruction (Suzuki method) start out with just ear training before learning to read later. But learning to read music is also important.
Good for you! I love music, but as a hobby, I love reading more. I learned violin growing up and have attempted guitar and ukelele a few times, but persistence is needed.
I'm terrible at music, and can't really read sheet music. I got an old Omnichord (the OM-84), and am having an absolute blast with it. I just press the right chord button and tap or strum on the strum pad however I feel, and by my own low standards for myself, it sounds great.
Suzuki will be showing off a fancy new model at some event on January. I can't wait to be jealous of the folks who buy it. They've released some audio teasers that sound gorgeous.