Is it Worth Learning Music from Scratch in Adult Years?
Some people believe that everything we learn before adolescence, we learn much more easily. Yes, it might take more time and effort for adults to learn new skills compared to youngsters. But you can’t beat the fact that some people in their older years become much more motivated when it comes down to learning. Eventually, this motivation helps them to stay more consistent during the learning process and make progress faster. Does it work the same for learning music? Let’s find out!
In this blog post, we’ll talk about different approaches that work well for older students if they learn music from scratch. You’ll find 8 effective tips and hints that should help you to learn music faster and more correctly.
Who Learn Music Faster, Kids or Adults?
Many school teachers admit that most children really get into learning and start dedicating their time to studies, only if something strongly motivates them. But once kids find someone who inspires them, they instinctively imitate this person’s style without caring much about how silly they may look. Well, having fun is what really matters! For example, if a kid loves a particular musician who is very inspirational to him/her, odds are this child will get into playing the same musical instrument as his/her music idol.
As for adults, they are more about what kind of musical instrument they’d want to play in particular. This is not about following another pop or rock star, it’s about playing music for the sake of music itself. Also, adults know better than kids that it’s okay to be forgiving whenever you take a wrong note. Well, it just takes some practice and everything gets better with time. This approach definitely helps to maintain consistency in music practice. Realizing that nobody is perfect right from the start helps not to fall into frustration and keep on mastering music skills day by day.
Even despite the fact that kids obviously have much more hours to spend on their hobbies (including music) compared to working adults, most youngsters wouldn’t spend more than two hours a day (unless they become really obsessed). Meanwhile, an older person would carve out his/her music skills whenever they get a chance and whenever they get a spare minute to practice. And that’s what makes a difference. But are there any helpful tips for starters? Absolutely! Let’s go over them and start playing music even better!
What are the useful tips for learning music from scratch?
Tip 1. Getting a teacher would be the best way to learn the mechanical skills required to play correctly. An experienced teacher can point out what things to focus on to get ahead in learning music techniques. Also, a good instructor should help you to set your priorities straight to speed up the learning process.
If you don’t have any prior experience in music and never played scales, start your learning journey today with awesome music courses on the Grinfer platform! These courses will help you to learn music from scratch and advance fast and easily with well-structured music lessons created by experienced musicians and songwriters. There are plenty of courses to learn from on all kinds of topics: how to compose music, how to record music in either home or professional studio, how to play an acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electronic guitar, piano, drums, keyboard, ukulele, and more!
Start exploring music with great online video tutorials on music theory, songwriting, audio engineering, recording! With music courses on Grinfer, you’ll improve your singing, beat-making, composing melodies/lyrics writing, etc. Or get all ins and outs of music production, master audio recording skills, as well as skills in composition software, and start using it like a pro!
Tip 2. Go with what you really want to play. For example, since guitar, basses, and keyboards are visual instruments, you should be able to find your way around them with a little work. The keyboard/piano is the easiest instrument for beginners because the keys move in a straight line from right to left and left to right. The same notes on the guitar zigzag across the strings and many notes of the same pitch are found in different locations.
Some aspects of the guitar make playing easy. That depends on how you approach the instrument. You can learn how to tune your guitar and learn a few chords to get you going. Once you create sounds that sound like music, you are on your way. The other benefits are: guitars are portable, they can be very quiet or very loud as needed. So, pick whatever you like and start practicing to succeed.
Tip 3. Stick to the routine and make your music practice consistent. Here are just a few basic steps that help new learners to practice better:
- Small, precise movements. Only moving the fingers you need to move, as far as they need to move without any extra movement.
- Lift your fingers as far as they need to be lifted from the instrument. But no further than that.
- Make sure the fingers are hitting in the right position to get a clear sound at the correct volume without using any more force than what is needed.
- Make sure both hands and your entire body are free of tension. This means no involuntary movements from unused fingers or other unused body parts.
- Work on a mixture of exercises to help build the correct technique.
- Make sure that your instrument is always accessible. Place it where you spend the most time.
Tip 4. Arrange a time frame for your practice sessions that will be the most beneficial for you. The truth is that you don’t have to practice for 5 hours a day straight. One of the things that help students is using 5-10 minutes of spare time to fit a quick practice session in. If this is done often on a regular basis you’ll be surprised at the progress you make. Some students use shorter periods of time to work on technical exercises starting with simple finger exercises and moving to scales and chord changes. This tends to improve faster than the students that work on just pieces or songs.
Even though working on technique might sound boring, it will help you learn to play better in a shorter time frame. Also, it will keep you from ending up with cramps or pain in your hands or arms all the time.
Tip 5. Don’t omit breaks while practicing. Another habit that works very well is making sure that no matter how long or short your practice session is, having a break once and a while every time you are on your instrument will contribute to faster improvement. Try and have a break every 5-10 minutes for beginners or every 20 minutes for more experienced players.
Also, a break can be a 5-minute change of exercise or a song. The reason for the break is to make sure that you can remain focused on your technique and form. The sooner you can play music employing the correct technique the easier it will become to play. And you will improve a lot faster.
Tip 6. Stay fully committed and absolutely cold-minded in your determination to mastering music skills. Practicing initial lessons with repetitive practice exercises and trying to master the basics of theory and notation can be the most soul-destroying at times. Not surprisingly, many people would give up after just a few lessons as they simply cannot summon up the will to practice consistently and stick to a daily routine.
If you overcome this initial hurdle and put in the hard yards, you will be rewarded! Once the building blocks are in place, you should then progress relatively easily to the more complex stuff. It also helps if you are practicing with a view to mastering a particular favorite set of songs or a genre that appeals to you, as that will provide extra motivation.
Tip 7. Keep your music gear of good quality. Learn music theory (sheet music). Not tabs. Always play along with a metronome. Play at different tempos. And develop your ear listening to all kinds of music. Along with playing an instrument, you should also try to brush up on your vocals, it makes a lot of things easier!
Tip 8. Accelerate your theoretical knowledge by learning music theory. Learn the basic areas that make up the music theory, like:
- The musical alphabet. The musical alphabet goes up to G in the English alphabet. Music is just a repeating and slightly extrapolating sequence, so start by learning general phrases, and then you’ll start to understand the entire field of work.
- Scales. Every song is based on a scale. Learn the scale, and you have mastered the song. This is because we figure out what notes belong where in scales in which we are playing.
- Intervals. The way we create certain feelings with music is by combining, isolating, switching, etc, combinations of notes. A chord progression that goes from the 1 chord (the first note in the scale made into a chord) to the 2nd chord (the second note in the scale made into a chord), it sounds completely different if the 2nd chord is played, say, an octave lower.
It’s so easy, today, to learn music with all those specially created apps, websites, blogs, social media like this, to help you learn what these basic elements are. Knowledge is everywhere on the Internet today. Here is our top-ten list of best free online resources for learning music theory for beginners:
- One Minute Music Lesson.com
- Music Theory.net
- Dolmetsch Music Theory
- eMusicTheory.com
- Jazzguitar.be
- Teoria.com
- Music Theory on 8notes.com
- Tonalcentre.org
- Mugglinworks.com (Music Theory for Songwriters)
- Online.berklee.edu (BerkleeShares)
Remember, there are endless possibilities in music! And even the slightest change can alter the mood drastically. Everything can be combined, isolated, extrapolated, etc. Whatever is needed to move forward!
Summing-up
In conclusion, the person who learns music the fastest, whether a child or an adult, is the person who absolutely needs to: play the notes in time, play chords in harmony, play the same notes and chords over and over. Play through a mistake after a mistake until they blend into a musical piece, whether a song or a symphony.
Since music is a fundamental language that uses means of expression, you need to treat it as a language that you want to get better at and consequently speak fluently. There is also a need to have a thirst for finding new ways to express your evolving thoughts. So, keep your brain wired to absorb music like a sponge. And don’t omit the significance of the emotional aspect.
Even though you might’ve gone through so many challenges in your life, as well as emotionally laden experiences. Even though you think your identity has been already defined and solidified for the rest of your life, recall all these vivid emotions you had during your teenage years that were connected to music. Open up to these emotions all over again while you are playing music! And even though it’s most likely you’re not going to be able to play professionally, you can be in a band and have lots of fun!
Or you can start improving your music skills much more effectively with online music courses on the Grinfer platform. All music sessions are broken down into shorter and learn-at-your-own-pace lessons. Also, most of our music instructors offer 1-1 consultations to provide students with an opportunity to get face-to-face attention from their favorite music instructor. So, just head out on Grinfer’s website and don’t miss a chance to tap into our music community!
