Why do you want to learn music? Is it to impress someone? To fill a void in your life? Or is it an indescribable calling? This article explores the journey of learning music, specifically the guitar, and the determination it takes to improve, even when starting from scratch.
Why do people decide to learn music? Is it to impress others, fill a void, or answer an inner calling? For many, the reasons are deeply personal and varied. According to a study by the National Endowment for the Arts, 54% of adults who play musical instruments do so for personal enjoyment, while 30% do it for social reasons (NEA, 2018).
I always had a fascination with the drums. Maybe it was the aggressive nature of the instrument, the sheer physicality of it. However, fate had other plans. I ended up sharing a house with Dave, a guitar player, and decided to learn the guitar instead. After all, I had a potential teacher living just a room away.
I went out and bought a nylon string classical guitar for $70. I had no idea what I was doing, but that never stopped me before. Excited, I brought my new guitar home, eager to start playing immediately.
I also bought a chord dictionary, one of those that seem to have a thousand chords designed more to confuse than to help. When Dave got home, I asked him to show me how to play. He laughed but eventually agreed to teach me the basic open chords: A, D, E, G, and C.
I spent every spare moment practicing these chords. Dave wouldn’t show me any songs, so I had to make up my own. This forced me to explore each chord deeply, thinking I had to include them all in every song I wrote.
The songs I created were, to put it mildly, strange. Imagine punk music with vocals that sounded like a dying cat, set to an out-of-tune nylon string guitar played at breakneck speed. It was chaotic, but I was proud of my newfound ability.
It took about three months to get the hang of changing between chords and writing a song, if you could call it that. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had the one thing needed to become a good guitar player: sheer determination. The more people told me how bad I sounded, the more determined I became to improve.
It doesn’t matter how good or bad you are at the moment. Play the music of your soul, even if it sounds like a cat being tortured. You will improve as long as you keep trying. Fast forward your mind to four years from now. How good a guitar player will you be? The time will pass regardless of what you do. Are you going to keep at it, or are you going to give up? It's up to you. You will be four years older, but will you be four years wiser?
Learning music is a journey filled with challenges and rewards. Whether you start with a $70 nylon string guitar or a more expensive instrument, the key to success is persistence and passion. So, keep playing, keep improving, and let the music of your soul shine through.
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