I am in my late 20's and have thought for some time it was probably too late to learn how to play music well. I don't have any experience from when I was younger and I can't even read music. I would need to learn how to do that. Nevertheless, I think I will at least give it a shot so I can at least say I tried. What's to lose right? I would be willing to try and learn any of the following instruments: Guitar - acoustic or electric Piano / keyboard Drums I need to pick one and go out and buy the instrument. I am leaning keyboard. Does anyone have any advice?
Get a keyboard that has built-in lessons. I got one for my son to learn piano and I've learned how to play some cool songs through it. I did play music growing up though, but I don't think that would be too big a deal.
I got a Yamaha. It was about $350 new but I'm sure you could find a good deal on CraigsList, which is where I started looking. But we were in a hurry so I just bought a new one. It doesn't have weighted keys or all the keys a full piano has, but it's more than enough to learn. And you can download more songs to put into it to learn (at a cost of course).
You wouldn't necessarily have to learn how to read music in order to play guitar or drums. It's more necessary for piano. You can get away with learning to read tablature for guitar and letting your ear take you the rest of the way. I play 6 instruments, including piano and guitar, and I can read music for all of them except for guitar. I can read better for Bass (even though it's the only instrument I play that's solely in bass clef) than I can for guitar. I taught myself guitar through a Mel Bay publication. I taught myself piano through some Alfred publication but later had formal piano training.
It's really easy, if you know your ABCs you can read music. It's just repetition on matching notes to the letters and lines really. (I play Violin, Piano, Guitar and Bass Guitar, if you're just beginning I think piano is the best starter instrument).
I think a keyboard is easiest to learn... I have one if you're interested, I just don't have the power cord. lol
I'm 23 and felt like you, I bought an acoustic guitar and have been playing, taking lessons which cost 22.50 a week. I love it though and glad i started
I've played trumpet for over 20 years, though not nearly as much as I used to. I actually started out playing piano when I was really young, and it gave me a good foundation for other instruments. I'd say you start with a keyboard and go from there. It's a good instrument to learn the basics of rhythm on and after a couple years you'd be able to move onto another instrument with more ease.
great information from everyone who posted. Thanks. Sounds like I'll go with a low-end keyboard. This should be interesting.
I would start with Rock Band. That should give you a pretty solid foundation in guitar, bass, and drums.
Good choice. Learning keyboard/piano gives the best foundation for basic music theory, and is the most universally applicable to other instruments. Knowing keyboard/piano will make you a better guitarist/singer/drummer/tuba player/whatever. And it will help you write music (trust me, at some point, you'll probably want to do some writing). I'm a professional music teacher, and I know we have some other very high-level professional musicians on this board (Cannonball and ima_drummer2k come to mind), so don't be afraid to ask questions.
Good luck with your new hobby. Piano is a great choice indeed. Instruments I have played: Bongos, tubular bells(chimes), crash cymbals, suspended cymbal, piano, guitar, clarinet.
good to know.. clutchfans has some talent! will definitely use this thread any follow up questions which may arise while I learn. thanks again to everyone else that threw in their .02 cents.
Best advice I received and Im passing it on to you: "Learn as many songs as possible." From my mentor, Eddie Van Halen
Its NEVER too late. I'm considerably older, and its not going to stop me. Babes are still babes who hear it whether you're young or old
i first learned keyboard, then guitar, then drums, then bass. Keys are by far the best to start on. You get rhythm and music down at once, its a percussion instrument!
I'm glad someone brought this thread up, because I've always wanted to play acoustic guitar. I'm 21 and haven't had the opportunity to learn. Even when my brother had his electric guitar I couldn't learn because I'm a lefty. Which brings me to another question...for an acoustic guitar, are there left-handed specific guitars or can I simply flip the strings?
There are, indeed, left-handed guitars out there (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=left+handed+guitar). Stringing a right-handed guitar upside down is generally not recommended. It can do some awful things for the action and intonation of the instrument. There are pros and cons to learning to play lefty, but I highly recommend learning to play on a right handed instrument. Learning to play lefty is a bit like being BETAMAX in a VHS world. Yeah, you'll be able to play well on your own instrument. But you won't be able to play the gagillion other guitars out there that are strung for right-handers. You can't borrow an instrument from a friend for a quick jam, because they're probably right handed. You can't buy whichever model of whichever manufacturer you want, because they probably don't make a left-handed version. It can be quite limiting.
