An Hour A Day
 

I'm sick and tired of reading books on this ****. I want to learn too much, too fast, and be real good at a couple different instruments and so this is my question.

If I was to sit down at a given instrument and just **** around for an hour a day. Would it be reasonable to assume you'd start making decent sounding music in 2 months?

2 months? Well...you won't be where you want to be I can guarantee you that, but you will have made major improvement. Do you actually want to make your own music, or be able to play covers and what not? Because writing your own coming into it with no previous experience will take much longer than 2 months.

Depends on the instrument and your aptitude for picking it up, I guess. For instance, it took me a good 4/5 months before I could play anything I regarded as reasonable on the piano, whereas I picked up a ukulele 3 weeks ago and can strum out and sing quite a few songs (covers - Paolo Nutini, King Blues and anything that requires the chords G,C,Am,F lol) to an agreeable standard. What instruments are you planning on learning?

I found, for me (as I'm incredibley impatient), it was disciplining myself not to go too fast too quickly that was the biggest problem in learning an instrument. I'd start trying to learn something way too complex, get sh*tty because I couldn't do it and give up for a couple of days.

Sometimes you just got to take a step back and start from the beginning, as much as it sucks. Especially if you do plan on doing more than just covers.

The real question is without any aid, can it be done. The time is not that important.

I taught myself guitar with a "guitar for dummies" book and online tabs and was able to play songs decently within a few months (I'm not sure if it was 2 months or closer to a year...but it happens within a few months).

I've been playing now for a few years and am perfectly content with my skill. Never once had a lesson or tried to learn music theory. If you aren't tone deaf and have even a bit of dexterity, you can teach yourself as long as you stick to it.

Sure. I can't read music nor did I ever take any lessons. I taught myself piano (with the help of looking up a few basic chords first). With the Uke, I had a look at some chord charts, learnt where my fingers were meant to go and that's it.

I think that's the most 'unaided' you could probably do it. But it doesn't hurt to have a look at some guides on the internet now and then. Without using anything at all, you'll jut make it more difficult for yourself.

As I said, it depends on your aptitude for picking it up. Having an ear for music can help a lot more than a book teaching you proper methods sometimes.

The main idea is to put the theory into practice. You have to physically change your brain... make new connections in it and solidify them before you'll be proficient at whatever it is you take up. This is done by practice and repetition.

Obviously, if you're practicing shit, you'll get pretty good at shit. What I mean by that is it's a good idea to learn the theory behind the fundamentals of playing a particular instrument and putting that theory to work for as long as it takes for you to become proficient at it. That needs to happen whether you personally have to do it with the help of another person or not. After that point, you can use that fundamental proficiency to build on.
If you break things up into stages and tackle it in that way, you'll find that you'll be more successful. How long it all takes depends on how much work you put into it, but I can tell you as a musician... you never really get to the point where you're completely satisfied with your abilities, so you should really look at this whole thing as a life-long goal punctuated by smaller goals, and just enjoy the journey.

Depending on your musical background and what instrument you're looking to pick up, I think you could just grab it and **** around for a few hours a day for a month, you should be able to come up with at least a good understanding with how it works and be able to play some stuff that works for you (depending if you want world class piano player or someone who can get the job done). My brother plays sax and bass and very quickly picked up guitar, banjo, standup bass played psychobilly, and harmonica with complex guitar parts, and my favorite, the accordian. He grabs the damn thing and starts playing flogging molly from ear. I sat at a piano and figured out 2 songs by ear in like 30 minutes and I plan on picking up the flute. When you pick up a new instrument, you don't have to relearn how to be a musician. You only need to understand the instrument. however, I would do some research on some of the needed techniques.

depends what you consider 'making decent sounding music' to be.

though to be perfectly frank, you seem to make these kind of threads every couple of months and if you feel you need to force yourself to pick up the instrument for a regular modicum of time simply to learn it, then you're not doing it for the right reasons.

personally i think you need to do a little soul searching and figure out why you think you need to be a musician.

Don't exactly **** around, actually practice something. You can't learn something fast... well if you want to sound good. I picked up the guitar, no teacher, no books, nothing, by ear and watching live footage of close-ups. After about a year and a half, I could turn a few heads while playing. I say go for it, but only if you truly want to play. It does depend on the instrument, but hey, life is short, play music.