Motivation to start learning an instrument?

What made you guys start learning the instrument you play? I've been trying to learn piano as an adult for a while. But while I'm pretty good at music theory by now, I can't find enough motivation to just go and practice.
Have you any tricks to share that might help me?

Follow your imagination, play some melodies inside your head and try to play them, imagination is the key

thats crazy i really want to get a piano and learn but im still saving up for the most basic one. i think its about finding your identity as a musician, your influences and artists that you listen to regularly and really inspire you. I used to play the guitar and now im making beats on a computer but when i'm kinda down i look up videos about producers that i look up to just creating music themselves. I'm pretty sure, for example, some good artists you might already like could be using streaming sites like Twitch, where you can watch them work. Thats for me the fastest way to get inspired.

There's this video on youtube (not sure what the rules are about linking) of Elliott Smith playing Southern Belle live in Olympia, Washington. The show was professionally shot to be released I think as a DVD but the project was scrapped. Anyway, he plays this song pretty early in his set. He's a pretty quiet, low key individual, not really a fan of being in the spotlight. You get the idea. And he's getting ready to play this song. He messed up on his first song and so he's feeling a little embarrassed, it's pretty clear. He's kinda looking out at the audience, this sheepish smile plastered on his face, and he kinda mumbles quietly about how he's nervous because he hasn't been playing very much lately. And then he starts playing. And this song is so good, so fast and complex, his fingers flying all up and down the fret. And except for the pained expression that comes over him while he's singing (it's a song about his mom and stepdad, not his favorite topic), he just keeps smiling at the audience in that sheepish way, as if everything he's doing with his fingers on the guitar is a easy for him as breathing. I knew I'd never be able to even remotely do anything like what I was watching him do, but it made me want to try. And I'm still trying, 12 years later.

There's no secret to get motivation to start, or to continue playing. I started to play drums around my 12 years. I started the guitar around my 13. I tried a lot of other instruments (violin, keyboard, trumpet, else...). Almost 20 years after, I'm still playing drum, guitar, bass, and keyboard on a daily basis. I even bought an electronic drum kit last month )

Most of the time, the motivation come when I listen to music, or watching movie/serie/anime. You know, I'm like "Hoo well, this drum rhythm/fill is so nice, let's try to play it!" or "Gosh, this guitar riff is f*cking good, can I nail it?" , and "PAF!*, I found myself plugin my rig and playin'.

Sometimes I just got some inspiration while daydreamin...

About the exercises (cause you know that you have to do sometimes exercises, even if it's not the funniest thing...), I see them as challenges, and I do them everyday. I give myself some objectives and rewards. Example given, when I work my double/triple snare rolls, I give me objectives and duration, let's say "holding my triple snare roll 1 full minute". After that, I allow myself to play something I really like to (a band I really like, some good blast beat, double bass pedal beats, etc.). But you need to do your exercises, it's a mental discipline to establish, some routine.

All that is more about keeping it up than starting an instrument, but these tips are adaptable I think.

No secrets, only discipline. Ho, and the last but not the least advice : "Do or do not, there's no try". Be sure of yourself, of you capacities. And play.

make beats and you will be more creative to makin gmelodies

22-03-2021, 03:04 AM

drewski477 Wrote: make beats and you will be more creative to makin gmelodies

It depends. Beat making is at least as difficult as creating melodies. And some persons don't like beatmaking

For me the best trick is routine. I made a list of basic exercises that I could do even if I don't have a lot of time. Every day practice at least half an hour. I even do it if it makes me cry :D

I've usually not started learning an instrument unless I have music I like listening to that I could play using that instrument.

10-02-2021, 08:09 PM

xcorel Wrote: What made you guys start learning the instrument you play? I've been trying to learn piano as an adult for a while. But while I'm pretty good at music theory by now, I can't find enough motivation to just go and practice.
Have you any tricks to share that might help me?

Honestly.. I feel like if you just keep doing it and put more work into it. You will get more and more involved and it will just naturally be a part of your daily routine. But, I just kept messing with a piano and now it's become a large part of my daily life.