Do you have a resolution to learn an instrument? Something popular like Piano, Guitar and Violin? Or maybe something more unique like Ocarina, French Horn or Shamisen!
I’ve always been someone who is very goal oriented and takes my new year resolutions seriously. So let me give you the best tips I can for picking up an instrument and sticking to it.
If you’re interested in my personal story as a musician and a newer guitarist, check out my personal bio on my page.
Before Buying An Instrument
Know Your Goals
Do you want to play in a band one day? Do you want to create music? Or do you just want to be able to play some basic songs by the campfire or for your children? There must be a reason why you’ve decided to pick up an instruments. Whether the goal is big or small, write it down and commit to it.
Be Realistic
The worst thing anyone can do when picking up any hobby is assume it’s going to be easy and that they’ll be great in a couple months.
Going in with confidence is great, but if it’s not based on anything, it will lead to disappointment and discouragement. This is why you need to be realistic.
Regardless of what instrument you pick up, you’re not going to sound that great in your first week, and for some instruments, you won’t sound good in a month or even half a year. Every instrument is different.
Some may have an easy start like keyboard, but take will take years and years of practice to be able to read and play complex classical pieces. Band instruments like flute and trombone may take a while to produce a clear sound, but it is a lot easier to progress and access all the notes within a year or two. Music takes time and patience. Remember that.
Hold On To Your Inspirations
So you have your goals and a realistic mindset, now you have to remember why you want to pick this up in the first place. This may be similar to your goals, but it may also be way different. Perhaps you were inspired to play guitar after playing Guitar Hero and your main goal is to play on stage in a band. Perhaps you really love this artist who plays guitar but you only want to play it for fun in your room.
When things get difficult and you feel like quitting, you can always refer back to what inspired you to relight that spark and push you to try again. If you have no real motivation on inspiration to play, and rather you are being pressured or forced to play it, it will make the journey a lot harder.
Do Your Research
Now that you’re more serious about playing an instrument, it’s time to do research. There are various things you would want to know up front before investing in one. Some questions to ask is:
- What is the average cost of the instrument?
- How much space does it take, and how much does it weigh?
- How loud is the instrument?
- What additional equipment is required for the instrument?
- Should I buy new or are used instruments okay?
- What are the difficulties of playing this instrument?
- What lessons and resources are available for learning this instrument?
If you’re interested in a very popular instrument, like piano, guitar, or saxophone, you will have a lot of options and guides to choose from, which will make learning a lot easier. If you’re choosing an uncommon or obscure instrument, especially those that are from another country, your options will be limited.
One other thing to consider is if you would be able to play the music you enjoy on the instrument. Even if you love it’s sound or find it cool, you may feel less inspired to play if the instrument is limiting.
For example, harmonicas tend to have missing notes and are built to be played in a single key (and their minor). While great for the Blues, you may find trouble if you wanted to play pop or neo soul. Ocarinas can be cool, but the amount of tabs and sheets out there is very little, so until you learn to play by ear, you’re stuck with the songs already written out for you.
When Buying An Instrument
Deciding Between New & Used
There’s nothing more beautiful and inspiring than a new instrument from the shop. This is yours and yours alone. It is your baby. But a used instrument may not only save you time, but it will be set up and prepped just for you.
Cheaper models of guitars from the music store, for example, may require some adjustment to make it more playable. As a beginner, you wouldn’t know it or know how to deal with it. There may also be frets sticking out that need to be sandpapered, and the tension may be too low that it’s buzzing. You usually won’t have to deal with this on a used guitar.
On the other hand, some instruments deteriorate with time, or a used instrument that wasn’t taken care of may cause more trouble for you. For example, you may find may free or cheap grand pianos online, but they don’t sound that great and are really out of tune.
A seller may take advantage of newbies and not tell you that an instrument is missing something vital or that it has a crack/dent that effects it’s playability. Since you bought it used, you don’t have the safety net of a return policy or free assistance from a shop.
Don’t Be Cheap
I’m a cheap person, trust me. If I don’t have to pay more, I won’t. But when it comes to instruments, being cheap can cost you a lot more than you think. I’m saying that from experience.
For one, cheap instruments or starter instruments designed for kids are rarely built to last. They may also be created by random brands that don’t know much about instruments at all and just do the bare basics.
For wind instruments, a cheap instrument may loose a lot of air and be quite flat. I’ve experienced this purchasing harmoinca’s from eBay. For string instruments, they tone may not be the best, and they will go out of tune very quickly. I’ve experienced this when buying a cheap violin on Kijiji. I never cared about brands (which we would talk about next) as I was a broke young adult who just wanted to learn an instrument.
As they say, when you’re cheap, you end up paying more in the end. You risk either the instrument breaking and causing you to buy a new one sooner, or getting frustrated thinking you’re the problem when it’s just the instrument being built poorly. ‘Small’ inconveniences like the instrument regularly going out of tune will drive you insane and you’ll be less inclined to practice.
Buy From A Reputable Brand
Okay, so you can be a little cheap, as long as the model or brand is reputable. For Guitars, Fender is a big well known name, and guitars could go beyond $5000, but they also have a lower level guitars and their sister brand Squier that has many cheap guitars, many even under $500. So while it is cheap, it can still be trusted, and is almost guaranteed to play well. Again, do your research.
I bought my first guitar off Kijiji, a Behringer guitar. It was a black stratocaster and I really loved that style. While it wasn’t a horrible guitar, it was crazy heavy, and needed other adjustments. When it came time for me to buy a better guitar online during the pandemic, I couldn’t find any details on the guitar I had, so there was no way to compare.
Again, do your research. A clarinet on Amazon may have great ratings, but if you can’t find any details about that brand elsewhere, beware.
Make A List Of What You Need To Buy
“..don’t I just need the instrument? What do you mean make a list?” Ahh, if only instruments were that simple.
Some brands offer beginner sets with certain instruments, but if not, you will more likely be buying more than just one thing that day. Cause if you don’t buy it then, you will probably be going back next day, or in a week or two.
As far as I know, the only instrument that really doesn’t require anything else is a keyboard or piano, along with basic percussive instruments like a tamborine or shaker.
For electric guitars, you would need a guitar strap, guitar picks, a cable, an amp, tuner, capo, spare strings, etc. There’s a reason why guitarists always seem to have so much gear.
For drums, you will need sticks, a drum rug and probably some decent headphones so you don’t go deaf.
For woodwind instruments, you may require a reed (and I would highly recommend getting a few spares right off the bat), polishing clothes, and definitely a music stand so they can maintain good posture.
For brass instruments, be sure to buy a mouth piece if it doesn’t come with it (or buy your own if you’re getting this used) and oil. You may also want an instrument stand as well, and a silencer if you plan to practice with family or neighbours near by.
For string instruments, the almighty rosin is a need to keep the strings of the bow healthy and playable. For Violin and Viola, you would definitely want a shoulder rest in the beginning phase as it’s quite hard and uncomfortable to play with the instrument between your jaw and shoulders for long periods. You may also buy a sticker that goes onto the fret board so you know exactly where to put your fingers as you learn. Otherwise, you may be guessing and your notes will always be sharp or flat.
If you are spending a lot on the instrument, you’ll want to make sure you take care of it, so be sure to get the right maintenance materials and a decent case to store your instrument.
After You Have Your Instrument
Set A Time & Place To Practice
You’re probably super eager and excited to play, but now it’s late, you have a lot of house work to do and the instrument is too loud to play while the kids are sleeping.
Finding time could be the hardest part based on your lifestyle, but just remember, you want to play and you want to be good. Maybe you’ll play for a bit before you head to work, or you’ll practice while the kids are playing. If you have a basement or an attic, those are also great places to avoid disturbing others.
If noise is really an issue (though you should have known that through research), some instruments come with muters which dampen the sound quite a bit. You may also opt to go for lessons or rent a rehearsal studio so you can be as loud as you want.
If time is the issue….well it’s never really the issue. We can all find time for the things we truly care about if we cut down on the shows or sacrifice something that is less productive.
Find A Course or Beginner’s Book To Learn From
Youtube is a wonderful place to learn, and there are so many teachers and lessons to find! But this can sometimes cause more trouble than you’d think. Every teacher may have their own methods and tips, and this can be confusing. How do you know who is reputable and who is teaching you good technique?
It’s also very easy to find beginner lessons, but very hard finding lessons on the steps to take after. It can make learning quite confusing and you’ll be making circles or attempting advanced techniques too soon.
Books are made carefully for new students to learn from and each page slowly builds up from there. These books often contain music theory lessons and tips on the way. Courses do the same, and they have more visual output to learn from.
Again, don’t be cheap, and find a reputable teacher. Stick with one or two learning methods and carry it through. It will be worth it.
Learn Basic Music Theory
For every instrument, except band instruments like guitar, bass and drums, there is a high need to know and understand music theory as you will need to read scores and sheet music for songs.
You don’t need to know a whole lot right off the bat…in fact, I could summarize all the basics in a couple paragraphs (and I did initially, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. I’ll save that for another post).
What you definitely need to know is the names of notes (the letters A to G is used and then repeated over and over again. There are 5 flats/sharps between those letters. They represent the black keys on a piano), terminology (treble and/or bass clef, a bar, time signature, scale, key, note, rest), time signature and what it means, and the length of notes/rests (whole note/rest takes up the whole bar, half note/rest takes up half the bar, etc). Anything beyond that will come down to the instrument you have and what you plan to do with it.
All in all, if you get a good beginners book, they would (I assume) walk you through this and you will learn to read music as you learn. And if your instrument doesn’t focus on this (*cough* guitar) I HIGHLY recommend still learning at least the basics. It would help you learn a lot faster, and you’ll be able to do a lot more on your own, such as transpose (change the key) of a song and write your own music. It also allows you to communicate with other musicians if you ever plan to play with them.
Find A Mentor or Teacher
As much as you can progress learning independently, it can be hard to judge for yourself if you are doing things right or if you’re sounding good. The last thing you’d want to do is develop bad habits early on, then spend weeks or months correcting it.
If you aren’t interested or can’t afford a teacher, just having a friend, mentor, or a cool person on Instagram who is willing to answer your questions and review your material can be vital when learning.
There are lots of online self-paced courses as well like GuitarTricks which I used for guitar (and you can get a full 2 week discount with this link!)*
Finally, Praise Yourself Regularly
You are a beginner. Treat yourself like one. It doesn’t matter how good you are at this or that, an instrument is a new experience and you don’t know how quickly you’ll learn or pick things up.
Don’t bash yourself when you mess up or keep forgetting things. You need to be positive and patient with yourself. When you do learn something new, when you can finally play a chord clearly or get through an easy song, praise yourself for it. Get excited and clap for yourself!
Learning an instrument is a life long journey, so don’t focus too much on the end result…cause there is none. Celebrate every success.
And if you’re having doubts or feeling unconfident, perhaps you just can’t help but compare yourself to others, read my other article on how to get over that as a new musician.
Conclusion
I hope this guide has been a wonderful resource for you and your new instrument goal. If you happen to be interested in guitar, I have many useful and insightful articles on my blog.
If you have started but you’re feeling a little insecure about being a great musician in the future, check out my How To Avoid Comparison and Low Confidence as a Newer Musician and Natural Talent vs Hard Work: Don’t Let Prodigies Intimidate You articles.
Feel free to subscribe for other beginner tips, and please let me know what instrument you decide to pick up and/or any progress you made. I would love to hear your stories and give you some encouragement <3