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Why we gave up on learning how to play an instrument? (lemm.ee)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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?

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[–] BertramDitore 13 points 3 months ago (6 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

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.

[–] Anticorp 1 points 3 months ago

You forgot number 4, the person who will never develop rhythm regardless of how hard they try.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

your large fonts are obnoxious.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Then I'm in #4 you just suck at it

[–] Jarix 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

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?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpqAz0ZNQaY

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Already finished world tour and warriors of rock 10 years ago. Is a damn toy and not playing for real.

[–] Jarix 3 points 3 months ago

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