I Wanna Play Guitar

The ability to play the guitar... or the piano... or the violin... is something desired by almost everyone. There aren't many people who would argue with that. But when contemplating the notion of actually learning, many folks begin to back away and start listing reasons why it's skill they will never gain!

I earn my living in a business where teaching people to make music is our everyday work. During the fifteen years or so I've been at it, I've seen hundreds of people put down their dreams of playing a musical instrument after a very brief effort at learning. It's a sad thing to see and it's totally unnecessary.

Most people walk away when they realize how much work is required. The basic skills for most musical instruments can take weeks, if not months, to learn. That's a discouraging thing to discover when the expectation is to be playing by Christmas, or Mom's birthday, or the campfire season this summer.

I often caution folks about starting formal lessons if they are coming in with short-term expectations. It's a tough business decision for me and it's a disappointment for the would-be student. However, I feel strongly that people who take a gentler road at the beginning are more likely to enjoy the journey and more likely to arrive at a happy place in the end.

I should point out here that I'm speaking to adults. The benefits of music lessons for children are many and they go far beyond those gained from simply learning to play a musical instrument. A number of magazine and news articles have been written on the subject and I have nothing to say in contadiction.

The gentler road to playing a musical instrument involves getting acquainted with technology. (When I make that suggestion in the real world, I'm often met by a glazed and disappointed stare. I expect the initial reaction to be similar here.) Many artistic folks balk at the notion of mixing soul material with technology. But a little patience, coupled with a little openness of mind, just might be rewarded with exciting possibilities that didn't exist before!

Bringing technology into music studies keeps us in the game mentally. It allow us to back away from the individual trees, so to speak, and to keep our eyes on the shape of the forest.

One of the problems in trying to master an instrument is that we get bogged down in the physical mechanics of producing basic sounds. In doing so, we lose sight of the greater musical concepts.

For instance, it gets difficult to remember the beautiful melody of "Autumn Leaves" when we can't get our fingers to hold down the guitar strings behind the third fret! "Fur Elise" loses its charm when our right and left hands keep running into each other on the piano keys. And Grandpa's love for "On Top Of Old Smokey" pales when every sound coming out of that violin sounds like the wailing of a sick cat!

Sadly, many people never get past those first stumbling steps. And, carrying the memory of the failure, they spend the rest of their lives thinking they're not musical, that they have no talent, and that they only thing they'll ever play is the radio.

All people have their own unique music inside them; all people have a desire to express their own music. (Consider the importance of singing in both our private and our collective lives.) And doors for expression are opening like never before because of the technology capabilites around us. People just need to begin believing in the possibilities.

There are many compter-based music programs out there in our internet world. Each one, properly applied, can make life truly exciting for musicians at all levels of skill. Introductory programs, theory programs, notation programs, recording programs, virtual instrument programs, are all in ready abundance. With a little guidance, anyone with a desire can learn to produce music at a quality close to that of the pros.

There'll be more of this in later posts.