All men should learn to play an instrument. It makes you smarter and more attractive, in addition to being more skillful. It would be hard to imagine life without music – you hear it in your car, in a bar, watching your favorite band at a show, or dancing to it in a club. You may work out to music or have it on in the background when you are chilling out at home, no matter the occasion or situation, there is music out there to cater to any mood and provide the soundtrack to your day.
There is a famous quote about music being the food of love, which is nice, but more accurately I would say it is the food of life. It provides a flavour to our day to day existence that makes it more palatable, when your favourite song comes on the radio or the DJ plays it in the club it can turn your day around and lift your mood.
What I have just described is music as an enjoyable spectator experience, but what happens when your imagination is captured to the point where you feel a desire to start participating in music instead of just spectating? How does one go about picking up an instrument and making it sing?
As someone who has had to learn to plan an instrument 6 times from the bedroom to the stage over 15 years, I am going to share with you a few pearls of wisdom that can help you on your own journey – starting with the very first step…
Inspiration to Action
Inspiration is one of the most powerful energies on the planet, when it strikes it fills a person with a fervour that they have to act on in order to turn that inspiration from energy to action – this is the lifeblood of the music. Musicians thrive or dry out depending on how inspired they are to keep picking up their chosen weapon, it is also this inspiration that has many desire to pick up an instrument for the first time.
Maybe you have a favorite band or musician and you want to follow in their footsteps. Perhaps you go to a gig and see someone with incredible talent and presence owning the stage and decide you would like to be on the receiving ends of the cheers from the crowd. Some people just want an outlet and see music as a place where they can express themselves. Then there are those who want to do it so they can start a band with their friends, party, and have fun. These are just a few of the millions of potential contributing factors to a person wanting to play music. For me, it was all of the above!
You will find yourself leaning towards a certain instrument depending on what music you like and who your heroes are. You might be pining after a guitar so you can be the next Jimi Hendrix or a drum kit so you can lay down a beat like Travis Barker, just think carefully about which instrument you choose because these things can get pretty expensive and chances are that you will be stuck with it for a little while.
Overcoming the Dunning-Kruger Effect
When you first go to pick up and learn an instrument, your expectations of how you will do might be in stark contrast to how you will really fare in reality. Such is the nature of the human mind: the less we know about a subject, the less we think there is to know about a subject. This is a shining example of The Dunning-Kruger Effect. Someone may think they are a great singer from their experience of singing in the shower along to their favourite songs, but in the cold light of day they may be far worse than they think when they step up to ruin a song in a karaoke bar or at an America’s Got Talent audition, you only need to consult You tube to find examples of this. The truth is statistically there are a very small amount of medically tone deaf people out there – so it is more likely that a person sucks at singing because they have never learned properly and as such, put in the practice! When you first plug in your first Electric guitar, you will not sound like Eddie Van Halen. Accept that you know nothing when you first start out and keep an open mind.
Another fallacy is the notion of god given talent. No one is born an amazing musician; your central nervous system may be hardwired to give you better reaction times or perhaps there is a chance you may have perfect pitch, but no one is born with talent. You have to earn it with practice and hard work. Every great whom ever picked up an instrument, sucked in the beginning. That is a fact. Their mother probably screamed at them to cease that infernal racket as they plodded through the basics – I know mine did! So I would feel slightly annoyed years and years up the line when someone would hear me play and tell me I had a natural talent for what I did and they wish they had that talent too. I always would turn around and tell people they could if they put the time in.
No one sees a musician put in hour after hour of practice every day in order to master their craft so many assume they must have been born with these abilities or didn’t have to work for them.
If you are prepared to practice and learn with an open mind and accept that you will suck in the beginning just like the all the talented greats did, you will overcome a psychological hurdle that often has would be musicians stumbling at the offset with the result being not getting back up. This is the reason so many barely used instruments sit in their case or in the corner gathering dust.
Walk Before You Run
No matter what you are trying to learn whether it is skateboarding, carving mahogany bedposts, knitting or even music, it is crucial that you start with the basics and work your way up. It is human nature to attempt something a little too advanced for your current skill level because it can be a little under-stimulating to have to keep slogging away at basic scales or beats. A crucial thing to remember is that music is like a language, you need to learn how to say Hello, yes and no before you start trying to recite Shakespeare otherwise there is a good chance you may tell someone their mother looks like an alligator you once saw stuck in a toilet by mistake.
To be blunt, what you play will sound like clumsy nonsense.
The world is full of idiot’s guides to your chosen instrument whether its books, you tube videos or DVDS if you want to try teaching yourself. There are also a lot of good teachers out there who can take you through the basics and teach you enough to empower you. Just remember that whatever method you intend to learn by, try and find a method or teacher that you understand and that keeps you hungry to keep learning and keep practicing.
Timing is Everything
Rhythm is the engine that drives music, the heart-beat – it is constant and always arrives on time. It is the very reason why you can dance to a song or get your feet in time with a beat when you are running. It is the prime mover that takes a piece of music from A to B and you will need it in order to play your instrument.
Whether you are playing guitar, drums, singing, or scratching a record you will need this in order to make everything snap together and flow. If you intend to perform with other musicians then your rhythm, tempo and timing are essential and need to be nurtured.
There just so happens to be a device as old as the hills that can help you get your timing on lock like an atomic clock, the humble metronome. You can find these in all good music stores and even electronic versions online or as apps for your smartphone. Practicing with one of these will help you polish your performing to slick new levels.
Try using a metronome to practice your chops, starting at a low speed like 60 beats per minute and gradually work your way up 5 bpm at a time until you hit failure point. Concentrate on getting as tight to the click as possible. Do this every day for a week and you will notice a remarkable improvement in your timing. This is another example of a fundamental musical skill that is learned and perfected through practice and not given.
Practice, Practice, Practice
During this article you may have noticed some recurring comments about the virtues and importance of practicing. This is crucial to progress with anything in life, including music.
When you hit the gym with regularity and make it a part of your lifestyle you get fitter, you progress and start to get in good shape. Then for some reason you stop going, you lose your gains and you get out of shape. When you decide to have a gym session again you find you cannot lift as big or run as fast. This is the result of you being in a deconditioned state.
With playing an instrument you will have similar cycles. You will play every day for a month, your timing and dexterity will improve and you will have confidence to match that. Then for whatever reason you have a break, when you come back to it you are not as sharp. The longer you have away, the more blunt your skills will potentially get.
As such, practicing regularly will keep your skills sharp and keep you in a state of maintenance. Gradually ingraining these hard learned and ever improving abilities into your muscle memory with diligent practice is an essential part of playing an instrument. Try and find at least 15 minutes a day practice time to keep you fresh and aim for quality in this time by warming up, drilling what you know, trying something new and of course staying on lock with that metronome.
Challenge Yourself
Just like running before you can walk can cause you to stumble; staying in the same place when you should be moving along can cause you to stagnate. We have all heard of plateauing in the gym environment but this can actually happen when it comes to your progress as a musician as well.
That original spark that caused you to want to learn an instrument started a fire and every time you practice, learn and play you throw wood on that fire. It is easy for that fire to burnout if you do not keep throwing new things at it by learning new things and then putting those things into practice.
Learning new songs or getting creative with what you know and creating your own musical masterpieces is a great way to keep the fires of inspiration burning. You can do this by yourself or get like-minded people to jam with you. Making music is a really organic process and you will really see that in action when you start performing with other people. It is going to test your skill when playing as well as your ability to communicate with other people but can be really rewarding.
You can aim for a different type of challenge and take grading exams in your chosen instrument in order to improve your theory knowledge and measure your progress in a more academic way.
Some challenges can seem daunting like going to your first band practice or playing at your first gig but just like with practicing a scale or drum pattern, the more you do it – the more natural it feels. However you decide to challenge yourself, the most important thing is that you do! So get out of your comfort zone from time to time and raise the bar for yourself.
Learn to Play an Instrument & Have a Blast
The most important reason for playing music or learning an instrument is because it will bring you enjoyment. When you have had a hard day you might just want to lose yourself in the meditative escape of playing a song or working on some exercises, it can lift your mood – a positive cause having a positive effect. You know you might have a hard week ahead but in your mind you are hopeful because you have band practice at the weekend and you know the fun of playing songs with your friends is something to look forward to. Music and the playing of it can enrich your life and give you a sense of purpose, even help define who you are.
What with music being such a positive and empowering part of you, it is your duty to protect it from the number one thing that can cause anything fun to lose its very essence – that thing is bullshit.
Bullshit can take many forms like being in a band you are not passionate about or when the music becomes about money or sleeping with women instead, suddenly the buzz is not as clean and pure as it once was and is tainted with ulterior motives. Remember that turning a band into a job is the quickest way to turn it into a job! Jobs involve stress and monotony generally speaking, and if you are really unlucky – burnout. This is a basic fact of trying to turn something fun into something that makes you money.
Try and hold onto the reasons why you picked up an instrument in the first place and always remember to enjoy yourself, that’s what music is for after all!