heyhey,
this here might contain two questions actually.
- got an idea, what instrument might suit me?
- how, actually learn?
background
i am not new to learng stuff by myself, mostly languages in the widest sense. the only thing i can’t really get my head around is music. i know rudimentary how to read notes, but ofc don’t really grasp what they mean. when i learned a bit about electronics, that explained a lot more about music for me. i tried to learn the recorder (bc its was there) and keyboard (bc super versatile). by now, that all didn’t work. i am a beginner.
i guess that is abt how these are played. i am used to grab a book sit down in a comfy position and read. keyboards need setup and are relatively large. the recorder is small and portable, but you need a decent body position, to control your breath.
i was thinking about some kind of ukulele, maybe? how do i build a habit, that works for practice?
update
ty all! all your comments really helped a lot to think clearer abt the why qnd what. i am a little overwhelmed and can’t answer each of you. but tyvm! in some cases i feel like there is an answer that needs to get out. in others i don’t know what to say other than “ty for sharing!”
i grabbed a guitar from a friend, now my fingies hurt. but i am also surprised of how quick you can get interesting results from such an instrument. i will try it out a bit longer and then maybe try a ukulele. i know they are quite different, but more similar to each other tgan to flute or keys.
maybe there’s a journey starting. :)
Holy shit. Stop it right now.
DO NOT LISTEN TO THE “you need to learn music theory first” crowd.
GO OUT. FIND A MUSIC INSTRUMENT SHOP (if there still is one where you live)
TOUCH THE INSTRUMENTS. MAKE THEM MAKE SOUNDS.
BUY ONE YOU LIKE AND FIND A TEACHER YOU ALSO LIKE!
WATCH LEARNING TO PLAY <instrument> ON YOUTUBE.
PLAY WITH YOUR INSTRUMENT! AND I DON"T MEAN PLAY MUSIC! JUST PLAY WITH IT! GO TO YOUR TEACHERS LESSONS< AND PRACTICE.
THATS IT.
Please. Do not overthink music. just do it and have fun.
I agree and disagree. Some people are drawn to music intellectually. For people that, who see music as a language or as a type of math, music theory is THE thing. For folk like that, I simply recommend a DAW where they can assemble their music through midi and electronic instruments (sampled or synthesized).
For most folk though, I agree with you.
I enjoyed harmonica and tried ukulele, but played the banjo more. Borrowing instruments from friends or testing out at the music store can be a way to see what feels natural.
if your local music store lets you try before you buy, i’d try everything they let you. different instruments are more or less intuitive to different people, and it’s hard to know unless you try. in your case, digging languages, i would for sure also learn basic music theory so you know "what* you’re saying instead of just how. it’s not neccisary to know theory to play but it’s fun for it’s own sake and hey! you might be inspired to write something! back when i was in school, the free exercises on tonesavvy (used to be called emusictheory) were the recommended way to get started
for habit building, you just gotta carve out the time and do it. once the novelty wears off, there are gonna be days when you don’t want to practice, and a habit forms when you push through that. you don’t need to practice for a long time every day, ten minutes is plenty as long as you’re doing it consistently. a weird thing about playing music also is that it works kind of like muscle where you exercise to get stronger but you get actually get stronger when you’re resting. if you find yourself getting frustrated, you can just put it down, and you might be suprised to find whatever you were stuck on today is easy tomorrow. but that only happens if you play today and tomorrow. it’s also always better to practice slow and then speed things up once it’s under your fingers. that ensures you have good form and you’ll ironically get things up to speed faster than if you just tried to go fast from the start. the metronome is your friend
good luck and have fun!
that’s a great idea, i’ll ask for a trial. :)
i guess once i found an instrument that i can play comfortably enough, i could practice before or after work. i’ll see where this goes.
You seem to be more interested and or inclined towards music theory. You are also on Lemmy, which means you are not technology averse. My last assumption is that you might be older (40+).
With all of those assumptions in tow, I would recommend something slightly different. I would recommend electronic music on a DAW like Abelton. Electronic music doesn’t necessarily mean “club music”. A lot of orchestral and acoustic sounding music today was mostly, if not fully, composed and performed electronically through a DAW.
So, why this approach? Put simply, you can learn it mostly from books and performing it does not require you to train your body, only your mind. Itbis also incredibly accessible. If you have a modern computer, and invest in small and new midi controller, you have all you need. I recommend an Arturia Keystep MK2. It runs for $169 and it comes bundled with all the software you will need to get started, including Abelton Live Lite, a slimmed down version of one of the world’s most popular DAWs. The Keystep is tiny and it has a ton of features you might benefit from later (sequencer, arpeggiator, chord lock, etc).
As you learn music theory, you can literally draw and adjust the musical notes with your mouse on the DAW. Music theory and a DAW is the most intellectual way to create and perform music.
If you prefer a more tactile and acoustic approach to music, then a Ukulele is a great choice. I recommend the “Enya Tenor Ukulele 26 Inch Carbon Fiber Travel Ukelele”. It looks cool, sounds good enough, and is weather resistant so you can take it with you anywhere. The damned thing is nearly indestructible by the elements (except extreme heat).
EDIT: The Arturia Keystep or any midi controller is not necessary on day one, or ever. Abelton Live Lite is free or nearly free and it is all that you need to get going. I still highly recommend the Keystep purchase though.
First you’re going to want to read up on music theory. You’ll want to know about the various scales, time signatures, measures, note subdivision, etc
Once you have that done, you’ll want to start practicing scales. Start with the major scales, then work on whatever scales are common for the genre of music you want to play.
Then it’s time to get a practice book of short training exercises. You’ll want to look for a book of etudes which are only a few measures long.
The way you practice those is you play the first measure over and over until you can do it 20 times in a row without mistake. Then you move to the second one. Once you’ve done every measure individually, start again with 2x measure blocks. Then keep increasing the block size until you can play the whole thing 20x without a mistake.
This is true for most sheet music you’ll use, but it’s slightly different if the music has any codas (but you don’t want to start with those).
Learning a musical instrument is basically just a ton of repetition.
i gotta say, reading music theory is hard for me bc i do genuinly not know what ‘a note’ is. rather than ‘a concept of music theory’. 440 hz is something of meaning to me but “a” is not and i don’t really get why 880 hz should be a again. (i know. its super ‘harmonical’ bc the intervalls fit perfectly. but phenomenologically, in terms of hearing, i do not get, why tradition considers these two different frequencies to be ‘the same note’.)
— in short i feel like i need to know the thing music theory refers to before that can start to make sense for me.
i consider taking lessons, so i guess they will push etudes on me? ;)
I am going to get back to you on this, I’ve just been a bit busy to type out a lengthy response.
But briefly, the logic behind the octaves is that the same note in each octave is twice the frequency of the previous octave’s note. There are musical systems other than the 12 equal temperament we’re familiar with, though.
Also, which instrument are you wanting to pick up? I can give more advice on piano than anything, but I also know French horn, trumpet, baritone, and tube (same scale and fingerings for all 4).
One of these days I’m going to finally buy a saxophone because that’s what I wanted to play in band, but the band director looked at my grades and tested me for perfect pitch and made me play the French horn.
yup i’ve read about the math behind this. thing is i do not know what any of that refers to in reality. it seems totally arbitrary to me. yet i am supposed to hear a 5th. (note that i studied the most abstract shit for years. abstraction is not my enemy.) my plan is to expose myself to this using any instrument, that’s easy enough to learn, until i understand.
i tried guitar now for a few days. rn i doubt this is gonna work out. my ellbow and shoulder hurt and i still get no fingerposition that works (i.e. enough pressure, on only one string per finger).
keys are maybe the better choice since you can at least see the relations, and i dont have to wrap my arm around a stick but i doubt, that i will sit in front of a keyboard regularly after 8 hours of work …
idk i need to cry maybe.
It’s definitely arbitrary. A=440Hz is a relatively new standard (it’s actually an ISO standard). We didn’t even try to define pitch before like the 19th century, but it has ranged from 390-455.4Hz.
See Concert Pitch on Wikipedia
But with a guitar it’s pretty easy to use a tuner to mess with the pitch and hear why we settled on it.
I can’t find the right term for it now, but there’s a phenomenon in music where slightly off key notes will smack into each other and have a subtractive effect while on key notes have an additive effect. You can see this in a large choir. Not everyone in the choir is going to be a phenomenal singer, but when you get dozens of people singing at once it can sound incredible.
It might help to think of notes as kinda sorta being like wifi channels. They’re the frequencies that don’t interfere with each other.
And yeah, the guitar definitely takes some getting used to. You’ll have to develop finger calluses and strengthen your fingers to be able to compress the strings properly. But learning any musical instrument requires some sort of physical stamina building.
If you opted for an acoustic, I’d recommend buying the cheapest electric you can find. It doesn’t have to sound good, but it’s much easier to press the strings on one. You can also buy a practice guitar neck to work on it when having a full guitar would be a pain.
Honestly, the piano is the best starter instrument. The keys are easy to learn, the keys are easy to press, and you get practice using your hands independently. The biggest drawback is that pianos are big and take up space. But, if you have a college around you, there’s a chance that there’s a piano lab that they’ll let you use.
But there’s one instrument you have on you at all times that’s completely free: your voice. Like any other musical instrument, basically anyone can get good at it with enough practice. And you can practice while doing other stuff.
I’m not really a classically trained vocalist, although I was in choir in highschool (it was the class you got stuck in if nothing else you needed was offered at that time), but I practice in the shower daily and have improved to the point where I’m close to being able to intentionally polyphonically sing (people have a second set of vocal chords, see throat singing).
Based on what you said about viewing music as a kind of language that can be written down and understood, I actually want to suggest something maybe a little less conventional: Making music in a DAW (digital audio workstation - basically software to make music) on a computer. Depending on the keyboard you have, you may be able to plug it in and use it to control instruments in the DAW.
The reason I think you might actually enjoy getting started there is because it’s a great way to dip your toes in different areas of music without much experience.
Your very first song attempt will likely have you learning about creating melodies, scales, chords, bass, effects, song structure, etc. You won’t necessarily learn a LOT during that first song, but you’ll learn a tiny little bit about many different musical things. And you’ll get to experiment and make something fun in the process. Your first songs will probably sound a little goofy, but they’ll be your very own creation - rather than just someone else’s song you’ve learned to play.
As you make songs, you can search up tutorials on each of the things you want to learn, like “drum patterns for [genre]” or “how to make a catchy melody for [genre]”, or “how to use reverb properly” or “how to structure a song”, just search up things as you run into the need for them. Or even follow complete tutorials for making a song from start to finish, and then experiment and add your own spin on things.
With each song you’ll get progressively better, and learn more about music, and all of these lessons can translate into learning musical instruments too. You’ll get understandings of things like scales, and chords, and basic music theory. Then if you learn any instrument you can even record it and incorporate it into one of your tracks!
Just thought I’d suggest this because like you I very much view music as like a language to learn, and I struggled to learn various instruments with little initial success - but then found myself drawn to making music on my computer and have fallen in love with it!
Pick up a Ukulele, the chords are easy, plenty of modern songs can be translated over, and you’ll build the fundamentals for guitar.
You won’t need to read music, just chord diagrams and tabs. Loads of chord websites and YouTube videos to play along with.
Music lessons for uke tend to be as cheap as guitar and bass. You can get a good uke under $100 at a pawn shop or you can even get a brand new one (don’t recommend) for less than that.
They also come in different sizes. Concert size is a great start. Just don’t get a baritone, different tuning.
I did this, not quite a year ago. Light and easy to carry. Can play it anywhere. It’s been super fun. I’m a 60+ year old man and never able to play anything before.
If you have big hands consider a tenor. I had a concert for a long while until I tried a tenor and it get much better for me.
Yep, I went with a concert for my hands. Just gotta try a few out and see what feels best to hold
learn the major scale. learn twinkle twinkle Little Star. learn in the hall of the mountain King. learn any other song
just do it? true. you forgot to say popcorn tho. ;)
i don’t know popcorn. but i believe you will be able to find a major scale for any instrument with only rudimentary searching.
after that, twinkle twinkle is 1-1-5-5-6-6-5 4-4-3-3-2-2-1 5-5-4-4-3-3-2 5-5-4-4-3-3-2 1-1-5-5-6-6-5 4-4-3-3-2-2-1. sometimes i get fancy and end the last phrase with 2-3-1 instead but if you get comfortable enough with the scale, twinkle twinkle is a breeze.
then in the hall of the mountain king is a great way to work on precision and speed. and i truly believe if you can do that, you can buckle down and learn anything else.
i play trumpet, harmonica, ocarina, penny whistle, glockenspiel (and all other mallet percussion), and guitar. i found piano to be daunting, so maybe this advice specifically is not good for that instrument, and diatonic harmonica and penny whistle both lack some notes that might make in the hall of the mountain king difficult. i don’t know. i didn’t actually learn that tune on those instruments.
but, basically, yes. just do it.
here are some other standards: when the saints go marching in, and somewhere over the rainbow. that one’s fun because it has both an octave jump in it and a phrase with accidentals.
I played a brass instrument for 9 years and was good enough that I could’ve probably made a career of it, but it’d have been a struggle for sure.
I’ve dabbled in guitar for close to 30 years now and highly suggest that it’s a better instrument, especially for solo play than anything that is going to make single tones. Chords of any type allow for much richer music when you’re alone.
I did have a parent that made me take a year of piano lessons as my first instrument, but I quit that for the brass. I do wish I had kept after piano/keyboard as it’s much more versatile.
Any musical instrument I know needs a relatively active body position and you cannot learn playing music by reading a book. Let’s start by why you want to learn to play music, is it only for bragging rights? do you want to play with others at some point? Do you actually enjoy listening to/playing the music with a certain instrument? Perhaps start by listening to some performances on different instruments and see what you like. I think the main driver in learning an instrument is that you actually enjoy the sounds you can produce with it. Then second, find some beginner sheet music, preferably with associated tips and tricks. The impsl database is amazing for free resources, but an actual guidebook from the library or music store might be better for beginners. And finally, you learn to play by just doing it a little every day. Find out how you can produce the most beautiful sounds, record yourself to spot errors and use a metronome to make sure you have rhythms and tempo right. There are many youtube videos to watch as well. In the end, getting lessons is way easier than self-teaching, but if that is not available to you this might work. Piano and guitar are usually seen as easier to selfteach than violin-type or flute-type instruments as the technique for beginners is more straightforward, but you run the risk of teaching yourself bad technique that is hard to unlearn at a later stage in all instruments.
thx a lot, for pointingout these ressources!
as for the why: i just realised that i really do view music as a kind of language, something that can be written down, realised acoustically and (with practice) be understood. that might be a big misconception. but my primary driver is to get a better understanding of what’s happening in music in general. just like speaking helps in learning a language, i thought, imitating music should help to learn music. that’s maybe why i don’t really care for the specific instrument … it’s rather instrumental.
i wouldn’t play with others, or for others. there’s not even a style i’d prefer, its just the basic understanding outside of a vague emotional reaction. i can’t tell the difference between a chord and a single note. in many cases not even what note is higher. and i feel like that’s failure? or at least a shame.
maybe i need some elementary school level lessons.
Kazoo for the meme videos
