Taking up an instrument as an adult

[Kenny'sID]

Less Paul had to fight against arthritis in his fingers in his later years.

Guitar Legend Les Paul, 76 And With Arthritis, Still Playing Clubs
Legendary Les Paul Lets Two Fingers Do Work Of 10
Guitar Man
April 12, 1992|By ROGER CATLIN; Courant Rock Critic
NEW YORK — Among the many, many inventions of Les Paul, who single-handedly changed the sound of popular music with the solid body electric guitar and multitrack recording, was something called the multiplier.

As introduced on his folksy radio shows from the late '30s to the early '50s when he and his singing wife Mary Ford were the king and queen of pop music, the multiplier could make one guitar sound like several; or one voice sound like a chorus.

And who was it that after going deaf, wrote some of their best stuff?

 

[Radrook]

And who was it that after going deaf, wrote some of their best stuff?

Beethoven
Around 1801, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. He suffered a severe form of tinnitus, a "roar" in his ears that made it hard for him to appreciate music and he would avoid conversation.
http://www.beethoven.ws/loss_of_hearing.html

 

[Kenny'sID]

That's the one.

 

[Tull]

A fan I see.

Oh yes,i havea few people who inspire me and Anderson is one,Leo Kottke,Steve Howe and Stevie Ray Vaughn and others

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

Leo Kottke

legend
love bottleneck sound
Ry Cooder of course too

 

[Aino]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Maybe I do need to start. I've been thinking about it for some time now and something's been holding me back. Maybe it's just the fear of being bad at it, but so what? That's a goof reason to practice. I suppose you guys wouldn't know what brand of flutes would be best for a beginner?

 

[Dave-W]

Don't you people know that music other than that played by blue haired old ladies on the piano is evil.

I do know that any music played by blue haired old ladies is evil, no matter what instrument it is played on.

 

[Dave-W]

As to the flute - woodwinds are very touchy on embouchure. (lip and mouth use) Not everyone's mouth is structured to be able to play flute.

I would start on a recorder.

 

[bill5]

Hi!
So I've been pondering on starting to play the flute sometime soon. I'm 25 and I don't have much of a musical background so I don't think I'll have a chance to become super good anymore.

Well not with that attitude you won't. It's all about motivation and dedication. With enough, most people can become at least competent if not good, given time. And there's the kicker that stops most people I think: unless you're really gifted, this will take a LOT of time. Precious few people just pick up an instrument and start playing.

I will say shop around for a teacher, if you go that route. A lot of them to this day have a horrifically myopic and purist approach, which has caused many a student (including talented ones) to quit. Try to find one who balances teaching you the necessary basics with some "fun" in their approach. My .02

 

[bill5]

Too simple and no range. I play both guitar and the keyboard. Believe me. What it would take years to do on the guitar, if ever you actually manage to do it, will only take you mere weeks to do on the keyboard. An identical effect of one finger on the keyboard would require all ten on the guitar-five to make the chord and the other five to pick an arpeggio, and with great difficulty even after years of practice. Sweep a finger across the keys. Try that on the guitar. See the point?

There is also the finger pain factor. You NEED callouses on your fingertips and it is agony to get them. Especially if you buy a cheap acoustic with too high action or distance between fingerboard and strings. So instead of clear chords you will initially produce garbled buzzing noises for a long annoying time. This doesn't happen on the keyboard. No pain! No buzzing! No callouses! No waiting.

Then there is the infernal tuning.
Yes, there is a technique to tune the guitar. The problem is that you need to tune it to concert pitch and strings tuned that high on some guitars tend to pop. Also, if the machine heads or tuning pegs aren't of too good quality, you will need to be constantly retune. Electrics aren't that bad in that area but acoustics can be a hassle. The electric keyboard needs no constant tuning and retuning.

Playing the classical guitar in the traditional manner requires constant trimming and careful care of the fingernails. Too long and you dig in too far. Too short and the sound becomes different than it was before you trimmed. A nail breaks and their goes your sound.

You state some things as fact when actually it is either just your opinion and/or experience. For ex: yes for some, guitar is harder for sure (in fact I'm very much in that camp...how anyone gets proficient amazes me), but not all by any means. Some take to a guitar better. Also "you have to get callouses" is simply untrue, as is "you will initially produce garbled buzzing noises for a long annoying time."

 

[Cimorene]

Go for it. I teach piano & cello at a music centre and have students who are old enough to be my grandparents! 1 lady had paid for all her kids to learn the piano when they were growing up but she didn't want to spend the $ on herself. Now that the kids are all grown, she's taking lessons from me to learn. She's doing so great. I think she's more motivated bc it's something she really wants to do & it's something she's paying for herself. I'm still in HS & that doesn't put her off at all, bc I have my music certifications. We're helping each other & we like that, bc I'm teaching her, & her being my student helps me to get more adult students. So if you take lessons don't mind if somebody is younger than you, they still might be really good at their job! You can also just learn a lot of stuff from YouTube & from software if you don't want to spend the money on lessons.

 

[Radrook]

You state some things as fact when actually it is either just your opinion and/or experience. For ex: yes for some, guitar is harder for sure (in fact I'm very much in that camp...how anyone gets proficient amazes me), but not all by any means. Some take to a guitar better. Also "you have to get callouses" is simply untrue, as is "you will initially produce garbled buzzing noises for a long annoying time."

So these are lying as well-right?

Best Way to Build Calluses for Guitar - TheGuitarLesson.com

Building Guitar Calluses

By Shawn Bradshaw

One very common complaint made by new guitar players is that the tips of their fingers get sore when playing. In this guitar lesson I’m going to give you some tips on developing guitar calluses. Building calluses for guitar is going to be important because everything you play will be easier once you have developed calluses on your finger tips.

Building Guitar Calluses

The garbled sounds comes from not being able to press solidly due to finger pain or because your guitar is a piece of junk that was made with the action too high.

BTW
I've been playing the guitar for fifty five years and played professionally once.
Unfamiliarity with such basic things as the necessity of getting callouses on the fingertips casts serious doubts on any claims of being a guitar player..

 

[bill5]

OK, you've been playing a long time (or so you claim). And? Experience does not equate to expertise. Further, bragging yourself up and/or putting me down doesn't prove your point.

Maybe you just define some of your words/terms differently than I do. Regardless, you can believe whatever you wish. Still doesn't necessarily make them some absolute fact (or fact at all), FYI.

And ALL of that aside, your grossly negative and discouraging attitude is another reason many never get far and why I felt it worth pointing out that it's a house of cards. They assume you know what you're talking about and go (for example) "ohhh guitar is so hard, so painful, the callouses etc, forget that!"

But hopefully most know better.

 

[Dave-W]

So these are lying as well-right?
Best Way to Build Calluses for Guitar - TheGuitarLesson.com

Sounds pretty good to me. I have done some of those things myself.

 

[Dave-W]

The garbled sounds comes from not being able to press solidly due to finger pain or because your guitar is a piece of junk that was made with the action too high.

Another reason is insufficient strength in the fingers to keep the strings pressed down.

I have my students take a pair of glass coke bottles and do gripping exercises with them. Coke bottles have a rounded shape that fits the palm better than some others.

 

[Radrook]

Sounds pretty good to me. I have done some of those things myself.

There was this fellow who wanted to be our band manager and was always coming around when we were practicing with the same story about his being able to play many instruments such as the piano, flute, drums and accordion etcetera. Then he would say that the only one he didn't play was the guitar because he didn't like the way his fingers hurt and had quit each time. I considered that a lame excuse because I personally was given a guitar by my parents that was a virtual finger-torturing device that would have been excellent for inquisitional purposes where a forced confession of wrongdoing was the goal.

Its action was so ridiculously high that the strings would dig deep into my callouses and inflict pain anyway. So I had to play my songs while grimacing and then shake my hand and rub my fingers to alleviate the burning agony. Even a year after with thick fingertip callouses the strings were still inflicting pain. Singing "Old Mac Donald had a farm" was more like singing "God Have Mercy! No more harm!" but I persisted.

When I purchased a properly constructed guitar, I could finally play in peace. Maybe the fellow had a similar guitar and didn't have the fanatical desire to learn that I had. So a defective instrument could make a great difference.

 

[Dave-W]

Its action was so ridiculously high that the strings would dig deep into my callouses and inflict pain anyway. So I had to play my songs while grimacing and then shake my hand and rub my fingers to alleviate the burning agony. Even a year after with thick fingertip callouses the strings were still inflicting pain. Singing "Old Mac Donald had a farm" was more like singing "God Have Mercy! No more harm!" but I persisted.

When I was in college (mid 1970s) I lived in a house with several other single men. One of them, DM, played guitar and was always going thru strings. He played a LOT but the action on his axe was so high that after about 10 minutes of playing, his fingers were bleeding on the strings.

I asked him why he did not use lighter strings and he said it played out of tune. I also asked why he did not take it to the music store and have the action lowered. He either did not have the $$ to do so or he was afraid it would change the sound of the instrument. (Imo it was not that great anyway) So he played on with bloody fingers for as long as I knew him.

 

[Radrook]

When I was in college (mid 1970s) I lived in a house with several other single men. One of them, DM, played guitar and was always going thru strings. He played a LOT but the action on his axe was so high that after about 10 minutes of playing, his fingers were bleeding on the strings.

I asked him why he did not use lighter strings and he said it played out of tune. I also asked why he did not take it to the music store and have the action lowered. He either did not have the $$ to do so or he was afraid it would change the sound of the instrument. (Imo it was not that great anyway) So he played on with bloody fingers for as long as I knew him.

Now THAT is definitely weird! Did he show any other extreme behavior apart from playing the axe with bloodied mangled fingertips? Had I seen one drop of blood I would have stopped.

 

[Dave-W]

Did he show any other extreme behavior apart from playing the axe with bloodied mangled fingertips?

Not really. He was quiet, shy and rather clean cut. He did not smoke, take drugs, and drank very little. If anything, he seemed like he was kind of depressed.

 

[disciple1]

Hi!
So I've been pondering on starting to play the flute sometime soon. I'm 25 and I don't have much of a musical background so I don't think I'll have a chance to become super good anymore. But I still want to learn to play somehow. Does anyone have experience of starting to learn an instrument as an adult? How was it like? Did you learn fast? And what kind of music do you play now? Did you ever take lessons and do you think they were useful? A lot of questions! Well, respond as many as you want

I started trying to play the harmonica at 30, but didn't stick to it until I was 37 when I started playing only old hymns, before that I tried country, blues.
But wasn't interested until I started playing hymns.
On youtube you can learn to read music, on learn music theory workshop, by pebber brown.