I regret buying a guitar, I can’t even do the simplest shit on it according to YouTube… I dunno if it’s laziness or just being tired of sucking so much and not being able to play the music that I like… Maybe a mix of both?
The most important part about learning a musical instrument is consistent practice.
1 hour twice per week is not as good as 20 minutes every single day. And you do have to play every day if you want to improve. Work on one thing at a time and most importantly: use a metronome.
Guitar is a meditation exercise: you have to learn to love the process. If you aren’t having fun, maybe it just isn’t for you.
This. Except the metronome part, which is optional.
It isn’t for me according to you.
Yep. If you are not having fun, probably pick something else… Although you have to know that sometimes you have struggling stages and you should persist.
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I’m exactly the same. Hobbies just don’t stick, and I can’t commit to the grind of getting better at them.
Have you been diagnosed with adhd by chance? I haven’t, but I suspect it’s one symptom.
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That’s a cool take on it. I feel like I just haven’t found a solid hobby that’s fun to me. I’ve tried several, the only things that have partially stuck are video games, programming, and DND, but they still feel like a chore to keep learning.
Guitar is hard. It takes months or years of practice to even develop the finger strength and speed to play some things. I always had fun learning in my early teens, because I wanted to, even though I was terrible. Then after 2 or so years of playing every day it became really fun and I was able to get the ideas from my imagination to my fingers.
It’s like a lot of things worth learning - you have to really want it, and it’s never as easy as it appears.
trying to start any kind of art as an adult sucks because inevitably by that point, you’ve got a fair head start on your art appreciation skill, which makes you perceive your initial attempts at art creation as particularly heinous. if you start as a kid, you’re less capable of recognizing how bad you are, and you aren’t having to compare yourself against peers who’ve got twenty years of experience on you.
I believe there are 3 kinds of musicians. Keep in mind I have no evidence for this, it’s just what I’ve experienced through a life of playing music and being around lots of musicians.
#1 is someone with natural ability, these are the people who seem to be able to pick up any instrument and intuitively understand how to make it sound like music. This is the rarest kind of musician.
#2 is someone with a little bit of #1’s natural ability, but like 70% of their skill comes from honing it through sustained, long-term practice. It’s hard, and can be incredibly frustrating, but also very rewarding. I’d say many if not most successful musicians fall into this category.
#3 is someone with none of #1’s natural ability, but a passionate desire to learn. With grueling long hours of practicing the basics, studying some theory, and intentional instruction, #3 is perfectly capable of playing an instrument beautifully, but it will be a lot more work for them than it would be for #’s 1 and 2.
It’s probably pretty similar to sports. Some people are naturals, but almost anyone can learn to be really good at them, it just takes a shitload of work.
I’m a #4 then. The one who knows all the theory but don’t care about practicing. I can play a lot of different instruments badly.
Now this is not necessarily a bad role, because if you want to perform live it’s absolutely necessary to simplify things in order to ensure that you can actually deliver something and not get thrown off by imperfections or getting bored with certain parts.
It’s probably pretty similar to sports. Some people are naturals, but almost anyone can learn to be really good at them, it just takes a shitload of work.
Being a natural at something is being good at pattern recognition, whether it is music, sports, cooking, writing, or pretty much anything prople can be good at. While the vast majority of people can get good at things through practice, there are people on the opposite end from the people where it comes naturally that won’t be able to do better than a beginnger even with a lot of practice.
There are the equivalents of being tone deaf for pretty much everything humans do.
There are people who have natural ability at every instrument, but it’s much more common for it to be with one or two types of instruments. Them a little (enjoyable) practice will get them to whatever level of mastery they’re happy with. They can be totally hopeless at other instruments, and average at others. The ones that will blow your mind are those who are total naturals at one, but choose to pursue an instrument they have no natural ability at.
You forgot number 4, the person who will never develop rhythm regardless of how hard they try.
your large fonts are obnoxious.
Then I’m in #4 you just suck at it
Honestly. Start playing guitar hero and rock band. Not even joking.
They teach help you coordinate your two hands together in a very fun way… Assuming you enjoy the music in those games.
More importantly though is what are you trying to do by learning guitar? Are you just wanting to sing a few songs around a campfire? So you want to be a lead guitarist leading those wicked solos or a classical virtuoso with amazing technique?
Musicians come in many forms what is your purpose? What does success look like to YOU?
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=OpqAz0ZNQaY
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Already finished world tour and warriors of rock 10 years ago. Is a damn toy and not playing for real.
Ahh no i didn’t mean as a substitute. If you already played them then they arent going to help you.
If you enjoyed them, you might then want to check out rocksmith as it uses your real guitar. I however cant wrap my head around the UI in that one so its rough for me, but you might have a way better experience with it than me
Also a friend who is an amazing musician did a lot of content on yousician but i havent used that personally so cant attest to it
Yesterday there was another AskLemmy about what was the easiest instrument to learn and I felt like anyone asking that question without already having a clear vision in their head of what they wanted to be playing as far as instruments and music was just going to waste their time and money, but even trying to be very polite I thought it was too negative so I didn’t post it.
I think people think music will be a fun relaxing hobby, but it’s really like training to be an athlete. You won’t get any good unless it’s something you truly want to do because it’s a ton of work and a good instrument is expensive and I feel you should really start by taking lessons so you didn’t waste time on trial and error figuring out what to learn instead of learning how to do it.
Craigslist and eBay are full of gear that was barely touched because music is hard. It can be very rewarding, but you will still hate it at times. I tell my teacher all the time that I hate her 3/4 of the time because she constantly challenges me, but by the end of that week, I’ve put in enough time to master the lesson, and then I’m so happy and feel the rest of the time was worth it. It’s like some people love going to the gym and getting those endorphins or runners getting a runners high. Some people live for that, but for others, it’s just hell.
It sounds like you don’t enjoy the time and money you’ve spent. Just live and learn. Maybe come back to it later in life and see if things change. But don’t force yourself into hating it.
I think name people have a thought similar to “it would be cool to know a instrument” but they just don’t actually enjoy it when they sit down with it.
Kinda
Reading your replies to comments here, it’s definitely your attitude that prevented you from learning guitar. Put it down and learn piano or keyboard. However, this time, try to somehow have a positive outlook.
The distance from picking up the guitar to being able to play music is so far that most people give up before making it through. Building muscle memory and being able to finger those chords without fat fingering the other strings takes longer than you expect. You’re talking about trying to play a song when really you probably need a month on the open chords.
If you are over it then no shame in moving on. If you want to take one more crack at it you’ll have to slow down and just hyper focus on the basics. Or try ukulele! Ukulele is awesome because the cords are a lot easier and you’ll become a strumming master since you won’t be concentrating so hard on the chords. And then later down the line it would give you a good foundation if you take a crack at guitar again
In my opinion there is no such thing as natural talent. There is only practice and muscle memory. Once you’re up and running with robotic hands (Being able to play the chords without thinking about them, being able to strum a few patterns without thinking about them) It opens up the whole world of music and songs
Or try ukulele! Ukulele is awesome because the cords are a lot easier and you’ll become a strumming master since you won’t be concentrating so hard on the chords. And then later down the line it would give you a good foundation if you take a crack at guitar again
You are not kidding. IMO, everyone should start out with a four stringed instrument, they are fantastic. Move on to greater complexity later if you want to.
I failed out on my first attempt at guitar, it was just to much… then I lucked into a tenor guitar, and entered the four-string world of tons of one and two finger chords. Suddenly I could focus on rhythm and musicality, rather than making sure my fingers were doing half a bajillion gymnastic tricks per minute.
Four stringers are so much fun, doesn’t matter if it’s a ukulele, a cigar box guitar, a tenor guitar, whatever. Go get one and start having fun!
Yeah you explained it much better, They are so much fun! The five string banjo is also 4 strings when it comes to chords, a huge percentage of the skills you learn with these instruments translates to guitar
I really don’t care about ukulele though
Tenor guitar strung in a fourths-based tuning (DGBE, ADGC) and not fifths sounds much more like six string guitar, it’s how I usually tune mine. You can go full electric on them too.
Cigar box guitars can sound pretty damn good amped up as well, and are often much cheaper to get. I picked one up from this ebay seller almost a decade ago, and still enjoy playing it. He might only make three stringers now, but those are even easier to play. Or if you’re handy, you can even make them yourself.
Already bought 2 cheap Amazon guitars ACOUSTIC and electric plus another amp plus a pedal that I used twice. I’m not going to buy anything else
Trade one of your guitars for ukulele ha
Unfortunately I hate how that sounds plus my type of music isn’t compatible with it
I think I’m one of the lucky ones with a natural aptitude for music, but I don’t quite take it seriously enough to really hone my skills and become an expert at it. Whenever I’ve tried, I’ve found it to be more stressful than it is fun. I’m not trying to make it a side hustle, so if it stops feeling fun, I back off of it.
I guess it also depends on the instrument a bit. I mostly play solo, and some instruments don’t seem to lend themselves well to that for me. Piano is my instrument of choice these days.
Maybe the destination was more important than the journey
How many hours did you practice? What did you practice? These are fundamental questions for any new instrumental hobby.
If you are doing everything solo, it’s easy to have misplaced expectations or a bad practice menu, or even worse, no solid practice menu at all. Screwing around is cool once you have a basic level of proficiency.
But also, it’s OK to try it and later realize that you don’t like it.
Guitar is the only hobby I acquired that never took. I wanted it to take, but did not have the funds to pursue lessons.
I could not get over the beginner hurdles of how to strum, how to really hold the pick, and so forth. If I could have taken lessons or gotten past that I might have learned and still be playing today instead of seeing the case just sitting there collecting dust.
The strumming is a nightmare I agree, but even the simplest songs that only require 2 strings without wide strumming are impossible, accidentally muting the strings, not pressing enough, moving the fingers fast, using your pinky… Is such an impossible instrument
Dude it’s just practice… Id suggest spending 50 bux on a classical guitar, the nylon strings and far enough apart and gentle on your hands. You’ll be amazed.
I have both guitars. Both are just dust holders
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Months. Not years, I would NEVER try anything that take that long, not even videogames
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The typical “hur dur videogames are for childs” in what decade are you living, the 80s?
Sucking for months isn’t fun, that’s it. Also bands are literally doing THEIR JOB. Of course they can’t be doing and practicing that for just months.
I found a more intuitive instrument (my voice)
I’ve been learning traditional art for nearly 2 years now. I suck constantly.
Then very rarely I paint something I like.
I find I paint things I like more often now than previously.
This stuff takes time. Stick with it.
