Six Tips To Learning A New Instrument

 Are you looking to learn a new instrument this year? It often is the case that a new instrument or learning a new language appears regularly on the new year's resolutions for many people around the world. While not every person will stick to this new year’s resolution, why not take it seriously this time around?

Learning a new instrument can be extremely rewarding, especially when it comes to potential career opportunities and more than just a hobby. Here are six tips for learning a new instrument and for finding success in the learning process.

Image Source

Focus on an instrument you enjoy playing

When it comes to the instrument itself, it’s important to find an instrument you enjoy playing. That’s the whole point of learning an instrument - you need to be able to enjoy it. There’s no point in learning the guitar if you can’t stand to play it. If you dislike drums because they’re too loud and brash, don’t go learning the drums!

Focusing on an instrument that you enjoy is important and it’s something that will make the learning process easier and more fun-filled. Consider how you feel when you’re strumming a guitar or trying out a bow on a violin. Once you’ve tried them all out, you’ll likely have more clarity on which one is best for your needs.

Practice, practice, practice

In order to learn a new instrument, it takes time and a lot of practice. For those musicians who are successful, they eat, sleep, and breathe music. Practicing day in and day out is something that will certainly help quicken up the process of learning an instrument. Just like learning a language, the same is said for instruments.

If you feel like you’ve done enough practicing for one day - do some more. Chances are, you’re not doing enough for it to permanently embed into your brain and become second nature. Invest in the practice and commit more time to it where possible. There are plenty of hours in the day to utilize so sacrifice some sleep if you’re committed to learning the instrument.  

Choose song choices wisely

There are lots of songs to help practice learning a new instrument. There may be one or two that are certainly more helpful when it comes to learning the instrument in question. For example, A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton is a great one for those first few piano notes.

Finding the right songs to practice with is important because you don’t want to take your favorites and butcher them in the early days of your learning process. Instead, try to pick songs that will help in picking up the chords or notes easier depending on what you’re playing.

Find a selection of songs that you can use and work through regularly. You may find that some are more effective than others. This will help to also build your repertoire of song knowledge too!

Have patience with your progress

Having patience is an important one when it comes to learning an instrument. Learning something so complex and time-consuming is often the reason why many people end up giving up. However, patience can be found in those little moments when progress is made. 

It’s typically the very beginning of learning an instrument that a person keeps messing up that can be most frustrating.

However, if you’re able to stick at it, the payoff is going to be hugely beneficial. Patience is something that not everyone has in abundance and as a result, it can make it more challenging to successfully learn an instrument. Give it time though and you’ll certainly find progress is made.

Start a group for jamming together

For those that find collaborating with others to be more effective, you may want to start a group to jam with. These individuals may also help to introduce you to a variety of tools and equipment that will make practicing and learning more fun. From a drum looper to various tech kit that changes the sound and effect the instrument makes, there are lots out there.

Find those who are like-minded in their wants to learn and be successful. 

Take professional lessons

Finally, if you’re really struggling then taking professional lessons might be just what you need. Not everyone can learn an instrument or learn a skill by just doing it on their own. Some may find a mentor to be a lot more fruitful. Take a look at what’s out there for professional lessons and consider investing in some.

Learning an instrument is definitely something to put on your to-do list for this year!