Will it be a stressful experience? Should one have tuition? Anyone started and then found they didn’t have the time or commitment?

Thanks. 🙂

Will it be a stressful experience?

Sometimes. You’ll learn to feed off the stress, or it will inhibit you.

Should one have tuition?

You’ll almost certainly find it helpful at some point. Depends on the instrument and on how well you know yourself.

In answer to the questions – I guess it very much depends on what sort of personality you have, and what you want to achieve.
I am learning to play the guitar (as I have been for several years now). Objectively the results are fairly terrible, but I don’t really care. I know I have neither the aptitude or commitment to ever reach the level of mediocre, but I get enough pleasure just from making a variety of plinky plonky noises on it to keep me entertained.

unless you’re very talented and already play other instruments then you’ll get on a lot better with tuition. It shouldn’t be stressful but you do need to put the work in if you want to improve. For me, it was a lot more enjoyable when I got good enough that it sounded like music.

are you thinking about a specific instrument?

What are you thinking of learning?

I had guitar lessons years ago, got frustrated because I couldn’t do it straight away & gave up… Picked a guitar up again about 6-months ago & have stuck at it, I seem to have got a lot more patience as I’ve aged! Can string a few chords together & play a couple of songs (badly). The internet is a big help & there are some great apps too.

I’ve been learning to play guitar for about 20 years 😳 I think tuition would have been a brilliant idea, I’ve worked out a lot from vids and magazines and that but I’ve also got more bad habits than good, and some of them work fine for basic stuff then stop me dead when I want to learn anything new.

no it wont be stressful, yes i think you should have lessons. if you want to be any good you really need to dedicate about 30 minutes a day to it.

Ooh, what are you thinking of learning? 😀

I’d say, get/find a teacher that you get on with, and practice practice practice, and don’t skimp on the practice.

Thing with music is that bits of it are well dull, scales and arpeggios spring to mind!! 😆 but I think to actually learn/play/enjoy it it’s always better to have a good understanding of what you’re doing. It doesn’t make it easier, just makes more sense! I know loads of really good guitarists who would be even better if they knew just the bog standard stuff. (where the notes are, chord progression, etc etc.), yes dad I’m looking at you 😈

Thing with music is that bits of it are well dull, scales and arpeggios spring to mind!!

Music would be immeasurably more dull without them. Plunk, plunk, plunk…

Will it be stressful?
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DbUPjEbIvA[/video]

those vids always crack me up. 😆

feel like that learning new stuff.

Joking aside, practice, practice, practice and more practice.

If you can’t read music a tutor will be of great benefit, if you can you might be as well off learning from books/YouTube.

Having said that, I can read music from years of brass banding and started to learn the piano with a tutor. He spent more time on music theory than how to play, so I knocked it on the head and haven’t really progressed much in the last 2 years. If you’re slightly lazy, a tutor might give you a much-needed kick up the arse to keep playing/practising even if you can read music.

Started off learning guitar in my teens, got frustrated, sold the guitar to help finance a drum kit. Been playing for 25 years.

Will it be a stressful experience?

Not with drums, because YOU CAN HIT THEM.

It can be frustrating learning instruments, I’ve recently taken up guitar again, and I’m now making solid, if unspectacular progress. As said before, lots of stuff online like Justin guitar, But I do think tuition is a good way to go, particularly one to one tuition.

I only wish I had taken up the offer of free Cello lessons when I was at school. 😥

Learning something you’re meant to enjoy shouldn’t be stressful. If it is, you’re not enjoying it, and should stop, walk away from it and come back later.

Learning an instrument is a lifelong pursuit. You can wonder about it. But you’ll never know till you pick something up and start. After a few weeks or months then ask yourself if you need lessons. Some people do some don’t.

It’s not stressful, the exact opposite really. Can be frustrating though. Secret to that is try something else(on the instrument) and go back to it after a while.

Think to yourself. If I wanted to spend 10,000 hours doing something what would it be. If it’s not learning an instrument then do something else

I probably spent twice that on guitar and it’s the most fulfilling thing I’ve done with my life

ah,am interested in what you would like to play also cinnamon girl 🙂

have been trying to teach myself guitar for over 20 odd years (on and off),had a few lessons also,but my last tutor was a bit of an arrogant idiot (who also forgot that he had a lesson with me too 😡

am bloody awful at the guitar still tbh,but can fumble my way through a couple of rush tunes (and motorcycle emptiness/nothing else matters).

have on more than one occasion felt like chucking the guitaar out of my bedroom window (and did once 😳 but when you can finally attempt the song you have been trying to learn for ages,you do feel a sense of accomplishment.

i will never be much cop at playing guitar,but will never give up the instrument now (no matter how much people beg me to do so 😉

good luck c_g and report back as to how you are faring 🙂

I’m a guitar teacher, so I’d definitely say get lessons 🙂

Becoming a musician is the single most worthwhile thing that I’ve done with my life, so I’d definitely recommend it…..however, I started learning when I was 10 a pretty much from the off did a minimum 3 hours a day practice…..there’s no way at all that I’d ever have the patience to learn another instrument now mind, I’d imagine finding the time as a working adult to practice can be pretty tough!

If it is guitar that you are wanting to learn, the justin guitar stuff online gets rave reviews.

I always tell people who want to learn guitar to have a look at justinguitar first. It’s a way cool site (and free!)

started learning when I was 8, so pleased my mum and dad ignored my whining about not wanting to go to lessons!! 😆

I decided to learn to play a musical instrument, I picked the onei wanted, I spent endless hours practicing practicing practicing, reading books, watching how to videos, practicing some more, and more, and more til it was all I thought about all the time for every waking minute,
I gave up work for more practice time, my wife left me, the kids no longer want to know me, even the dog growls at me..
But I persevered, I kept on practicing endlessly, even when my fingers bled I carried on practicepracticepractice..
And now.. after all those years of toil and angst, I’m still not very good… 🙁
They’re a right bastard those Triangles..

😆

There was an interesting program on radio 4 extra at the crack of dawn this morning about older types learning the piano and a teacher who specialises in teaching adults – probably on catch up.

Will it be a stressful experience?

No, partly because

t’s the most fulfilling thing I’ve done with my life

and partly because

if you want to be any good you really need to dedicate about 30 minutes a day to it.

*although I’d have said an hour would be closer to the mark. And for that hour, you need to put everything else out of your head and concentrate on your music. So it’s like meditation.
Theory seems like a pain but just learn one scale – don’t bother trying to understand what it’s about – and play about with it. When you do, you’ll start inventing riffs and get the picture.
Don’t bother with bagpipes unless you live in the country or have a soundproof house.

I would say it depends on the instrument and your aims for what you want to achieve. For example learning to play the violin is a swine and you can sound utter tosh without lessons and never know the best way to play it as there are techniques. I got sick of it after grade 6, has to be one of the hardest instruments to play.

Also before considering starting I’d contemplate if you have enough time to learn, which means practice, again depends on the instrument but if you’re learning a brass instrument IMO you have to play practically everyday to keep your lip in. You’ll also generally not get better without committing the appropriate time to practice, when I was younger it was 20 mins per instrument at a basic level which when I played 3 kind of got time consuming along with any bands etc I went to and people wonder why I know practically anything about ‘popular music’. Once you get to a more advanced level you’ll need even more time upwards of half an hour.

Most important of all is that it stays fun which given the aforementioned seems hard but is vitally important to bear in mind. I spent my youth learning instruments as mum was a music teacher, I struggled for years on n off the double decker bus carrying two instruments at a time, I have two grade 8’s plaus other lower grades and a music degree from leeds college of music and once I left uni I put the instruments down and havent touched them since, two still live in the loft waiting to see if I can face it again. I stopped because I spent so much of my life and time committed to it that it wasn’t fun anymore and it was all a huge waste or at least it seems it now. Even though it takes a lot to get better once it because tedious just stop and give yourself a break IMO!

Been playing guitar for about 14 years now, I had lessons for the first few years and they helped a lot, would definitely recommend them to start with. Playing with other people makes you a better musician. Just need to find a teacher you get on with.

The vast majority of self taught players I’ve jammed with have been difficult to play with as they aren’t used to playing with others – band dynamics, giving each other space etc.

this is worth a look
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Play-Piano-despite-Years-Lessons/dp/0385142633

If it’s something you really want to do, then no, not stressful. Difficult yes. Time consuming certainly. Tuition is definitely worthwhile, especially at the beginning. What instrument/type of music have you got in mind?

Thanks for such helpful replies with plenty to think about. Had guitar lessons as a teenager and realised I would rather listen to a guitar god.

There’s actually two instruments I’m interested in namely the sax and harmonica. I’m not sure how much time I could devote to playing anything, kinda how long is a piece of string. Patience is not my strong point either.

Will keep pondering some more.

Cheers all. 🙂

Time and patience are pretty important as with developing any skill (like riding a bike). But, if you fancy a crack at harmonica, they are cheap and something you can do fairly well with without “formal” tuition. It’s a good idea to see if you can find someone who plays to give you some pointers though.

A lot depends on whether it fits into your current lifestyle. I waited many years before finding enough time to devote to learning to play something properly. I just had too many other things on previously.

Sax – definitely lessons. They’re quite loud and sound horrible till you get the hang of it.

Harmonica? I got a book, and it wasn’t too hard. I used to practice while sitting in the car in traffic jams because I’m weird and cool. At least, I think that’s right

Alto/Soprano Sax, one of my grade 8 and degree instruments and the sop sax is one still in the loft. I personally learned the sax without formal instruction til it got to really advanced level but I didnt start sax til GCSEs and already had a grade 8 at that point. I certainly think the best thing would be to be taught the technique of playing one and how to read music (Im assuming you cant because guitar is generally different I believe, especially so long ago) and then perhaps go away and have a crack at it through some beginners books til you get to the point you feel you would like more help. I’d offer my help if I get to bore you with my local trails but no doubt you’re miiiiiiles away but any questions about it gimme a shout.

There’s actually two instruments I’m interested in namely the sax and harmonica. I’m not sure how much time I could devote to playing anything, kinda how long is a piece of string. Patience is not my strong point either.

I tried the harmonica before the guitar. I found the guitar far easier to get non painful noises out of.
Also you don’t get covered in dribble 🙂

i had a go at the harp. it literally only took about 10 mins until i could draw bend a note. i think it would take me about 25 years to sound good though