A thread for musical instrument students

[Rapier]

I was originally going to make a topic for keyboard students, but I found it very limiting.

My intention for this topic is to share experiences, tips, useful apps/links/tutorials and general talk about musical instruments.

I started learning how to play a keyboard a month ago, and so far I'm still an amateur (also because I only got a keyboard two weeks ago, so practice was limited to once per week until then). I found Synthesia very useful for practice (as well as for recommending instruments for those with little technical knowledge about them) and for playing other songs whose sheet you couldn't find or can't read yet. Flowkey is also good as far as I saw, although I only did the free tutorials (only the basics are free, the rest is paid).

If anyone knows recommendable apps or links, feel free to share them.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Rapier

[Captain Karnage]

advise for any one who reads this, 

don't go to college to get a degree in music, it's not worth it, the jobs are rare and pay in peanuts.

I'm in Phi Mu Alpha, and most of us will tell you to not get into music education

as for musical instruments, tryplaying with your non-dominate hand, it provides a fun challenge and prepairs you incase something happens to your main hand

[Slumber]

I've been playing guitar off and on for about 13 years, really only got more serious about it in the last 2/3 years, and I picked up piano about a year ago.

I was mostly self-taught in guitar, but I got took a class in high school from a teacher who didn't know how to play guitar, which really didn't do me much good beyond learning how to read music(Which I forgot pretty quickly). Then, my last year of college, I took private guitar lessons since I know how to play the guitar, and I took class piano for learning piano, then went to private lessons. Needed something to take my mind off of biology/biochemistry.

I've kinda fallen off piano, since I'm not on campus, and I don't own a piano. I HAD a keyboard, but no more.

If you want to learn guitar, I'd really recommend Rocksmith. It does a poor job at teaching guitar and music theory, but it's essentially progressive, interactive tablature, which is more than you need to actually motivate yourself how to play the instrument. I've played more guitar with it than without, so it's an AMAZING tool for practice. Just know that you'll need more than it if you want to learn more about how music actually works. UltimateGuitar also has a cheap app for tabs. Pay once(It's like $2 or $3), and you basically all of their pro tab pieces.

OH, and for people who know music notation and composition, MuseScore is a good, free program for PC that you can use to compose music. I mostly used it to convert guitar tabs to sheet music so I could play songs on the piano.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Slumber

[Rapier]

3 hours ago, Captain Karnage said:

as for musical instruments, tryplaying with your non-dominate hand, it provides a fun challenge and prepairs you incase something happens to your main hand

It's funny how my dominant hand should be my left-hand (I write with my left-hand), but I do mostly everything with my right-hand, so I don't know which is the dominant hand anymore. I have a tougher time playing with the left, so I should focus on that (and playing with both hands, which seems almost impossible to me right now).

[Blade]

I don't have the chops to play the piano well, but I do have some experience with the instrument. I mainly play keyboard percussion specifically vibraphone so it's kinda related. I'm also experienced in the clarinet (my first instrument actually) so I have a music background.

When I was super interested to be in the front ensemble during my freshmen year of high school, I reached out to the pit members and learned from them. Nothing easily comes in life and success won't come to you often. The saying "practice makes perfect" is painfully true. No one can be quote unquote "good" with an instrument with no practice. I dedicated so many after school hours practicing on some mallet instrument whether it be a xylophone, vibraphone, or marimba. Vibraphones may be loud, but it sounds magical? It sounds really pretty which is why I like it (it's so in treble clef so that's a plus).

For musical practice tips, practicing at slower tempos than the intended tempo given will help you immensely. It allows you to play better in time and see whatever errors you make. If you still struggle playing slow, play slower. Counting out the rhythm and clapping with your hands is a great way to understand the music. This avoids bad habits from becoming muscle memory.

[locard]

I can play rythm guitar but I'm not great by any means

I can still impress people who knows even less than me lol