Best way to learn an instrument without a teacher?

Hey all, I've got a violin and a guitar that have been handed down to me and I've had em for years but never bothered to learn them. Was wondering if anyone here knew the best way to teach myself how to play these instruments or had any advice / tips ? Thanks for any help.

Internet, picking up one of those How-to-read music books help.

AND PRACTICE!

It's pretty inadvisable if you hope to get anywhere fast with an instrument. Depends on your goals. If you just want to muck around, search for "guitar lessons" or "violin lessons" on Youtube or something. But if you want to become good at what you do, get a job so you can afford lessons. Don't be fooled by the few success stories where a self-taught person managed to reach a high level of proficiency. For each success, there are thousands of failures, and even in the case of eventual success, it simply can't be denied that progress would have occurred more quickly with a competent teacher.

Simply put, learning to play an instrument well is an extremely complicated business, and as a beginner, there's no way you'll be able to keep track of everything that's going on by yourself. So you'll cut corners and develop bad habits. Your teacher is there not just to tell you how to practice, but more importantly to observe and listen. You'll be too wrapped up in just trying to get your finger in the right place or keep your bow straight to pay attention to what you really sound like, or whether or not your wrist is stiff. As a music instructor, I've seen this in every single case of a person who tried to teach him/herself piano then finally decided to get lessons. And that's a pain, because you have to unlearn those bad habits (easier said than done), then replace them with good habits.

It's pretty inadvisable if you hope to get anywhere fast with an instrument. Depends on your goals. If you just want to muck around, search for "guitar lessons" or "violin lessons" on Youtube or something. But if you want to become good at what you do, get a job so you can afford lessons. Don't be fooled by the few success stories where a self-taught person managed to reach a high level of proficiency. For each success, there are thousands of failures, and even in the case of eventual success, it simply can't be denied that progress would have occurred more quickly with a competent teacher.

Simply put, learning to play an instrument well is an extremely complicated business, and as a beginner, there's no way you'll be able to keep track of everything that's going on by yourself. So you'll cut corners and develop bad habits. As a music instructor, I've seen this in every single case of a person who tried to teach him/herself piano then finally decided to get lessons. And that's a pain, because you have to unlearn those bad habits (easier said than done), then replace them with good habits.

pianist

Hmm, thanks for the input. I am an adult and do have a job so paying for lessons would not be a problem. I'm not sure if I could find time for them with my busy schedule though. So if I just want to kind of casually get into the instruments its pretty hard to learn on my own ? nooblet69

Again, if your interest is purely casual and leisure, your best bet is to search Youtube for online lessons. They're free, and you need to SEE how to play, not just read about it. I know there's plenty of guitar stuff on there; no idea about violin, but I'd imagine you can find lessons there, too. The big problem with that is that you have no supervision when you're playing. So you don't really know if you're doing something the best way you can or not. Another significant problem is that there isn't a catch-all course that can teach everybody to play an instrument well. Every student I teach has specific strengths and weaknesses - something I notice VERY prominently in comparing my group piano college course to my private lessons. I have a vast preference for the latter, because the lesson can be tailored to the student. And it's far more effective doing it that way than trying to teach a bunch of people with different capabilities simultaneously - you can tell by the level of progress.

As for time - you'd only be looking at a 30-45 minute lesson once a week as a beginner. If you can't find that much time, then you may want to re-consider trying to learn, because you're not ever going to get anywhere if you're not practicing at least that length of time every day as a beginner. And the requirement for daily practice will continue to increase as you advance, to the point where it has to become a discipline, not a hobby. In high school, I was practicing close to 4 hours a day, and in university, I'd often hit 8-10 and probably averaged around 6. Granted, I was aiming for a professional standard of cIassical playing, which is not what most people want out of their studies, but still, you should be prepared to sacrifice at least an hour to an hour and a half of your day if you ever want to advance beyond an early-intermediate level of playing.

If you're unsure about whether you're keen to make the commitment or not, start by studying some basic guitar lessons on Youtube, and see if you have the discipline and time to practice 30 minutes every day. If you can do that, then I'd say you would have no time problem with lessons. Don't overdo it, though - you don't want to risk injury because you're stiff and no one's there to see it and correct the problem. Repetitive stress injuries are nasty business. So if you want to see if you can practice an hour a day, make sure you break it up into 20-30 minute segments.

Best of luck - hope you enjoy whatever you end up doing with your new interest!

Play in front of people. When they stop covering their ears and shouting curse words at you then you know you have improved.-Fromage-

[QUOTE="nooblet69"]Hmm, thanks for the input. I am an adult and do have a job so paying for lessons would not be a problem. I'm not sure if I could find time for them with my busy schedule though. So if I just want to kind of casually get into the instruments its pretty hard to learn on my own ? pianist

Again, if your interest is purely casual and leisure, your best bet is to search Youtube for online lessons. They're free, and you need to SEE how to play, not just read about it. I know there's plenty of guitar stuff on there; no idea about violin, but I'd imagine you can find lessons there, too. The big problem with that is that you have no supervision when you're playing. So you don't really know if you're doing something the best way you can or not. Another significant problem is that there isn't a catch-all course that can teach everybody to play an instrument well. Every student I teach has specific strengths and weaknesses - something I notice VERY prominently in comparing my group piano college course to my private lessons. I have a vast preference for the latter, because the lesson can be tailored to the student. And it's far more effective doing it that way than trying to teach a bunch of people with different capabilities simultaneously - you can tell by the level of progress.

As for time - you'd only be looking at a 30-45 minute lesson once a week as a beginner. If you can't find that much time, then you may want to re-consider trying to learn, because you're not ever going to get anywhere if you're not practicing at least that length of time every day as a beginner. And the requirement for daily practice will continue to increase as you advance, to the point where it has to become a discipline, not a hobby. In high school, I was practicing close to 4 hours a day, and in university, I'd often hit 8-10 and probably averaged around 6. Granted, I was aiming for a professional standard of cIassical playing, which is not what most people want out of their studies, but still, you should be prepared to sacrifice at least an hour to an hour and a half of your day if you ever want to advance beyond an early-intermediate level of playing.

If you're unsure about whether you're keen to make the commitment or not, start by studying some basic guitar lessons on Youtube, and see if you have the discipline and time to practice 30 minutes every day. If you can do that, then I'd say you would have no time problem with lessons. Don't overdo it, though - you don't want to risk injury because you're stiff and no one's there to see it and correct the problem. Repetitive stress injuries are nasty business. So if you want to see if you can practice an hour a day, make sure you break it up into 20-30 minute segments.

Best of luck - hope you enjoy whatever you end up doing with your new interest!

Thanks for the great ( and informative) advice! I guess now for me it's just down to choosing which one I should pursue. I really like bluegrass and folk type music and would love to learn how to play it. I always figured if I learned guitar I could learn mandolin and banjo more easily. Which would you recommend I go for first ?nooblet69

You're correct, and that's your choice, really. Mandolin, banjo, and guitar are similar instruments, and all of them are fretted. I'd pick one of them before you work with violin, though. It's an unfretted instrument, and it has the added complication of bowing, which I can say from first hand experience is a very significant complication. Guitar is probably your best bet, because there is already a very significant culture of guitar players on the net, and you KNOW that you can find help online to learn to play. Once you have developed some basic guitar technique, you can then transfer it to other fretted, plucked instruments, including mandolin and banjo. They will be different to play (just like a violin and viola are different), but you'll be in a good position to cope with those differences if you are already experienced with a similiar instrument.

Bear this in mind, too - technique is just your means of getting around your instrument. It's separate from styIe. So don't feel that you can't take advantage of technical-oriented videos from a rock guitarist because you are interested in bluegrass. Once you have technical proficiency, you can develop any styIe you wish. For the record, though, it's a lot more difficult to develop styIistic proficiency than it is to develop technical proficiency. The latter is just a matter of careful practice and diligence. The former requires talent and is typically developed much more quickly with competent instruction.

Also, take the advice people offered about learning to read music. Even if you're only interested in popular music, that'll open a lot of doors for you, and it's a much more precise system of notation than tabs. Don't shy away from ear-training either, though. It's good to be able to deal with music in a variety of ways when it comes to learning new works.

Youtube is an awesome place to find lessons.

However, if you want to learn theory, your best bet would be in person with a teacher.

[QUOTE="nooblet69"] Thanks for the great ( and informative) advice! I guess now for me it's just down to choosing which one I should pursue. I really like bluegrass and folk type music and would love to learn how to play it. I always figured if I learned guitar I could learn mandolin and banjo more easily. Which would you recommend I go for first ?pianist

You're correct, and that's your choice, really. Mandolin, banjo, and guitar are similar instruments, and all of them are fretted. I'd pick one of them before you work with violin, though. It's an unfretted instrument, and it has the added complication of bowing, which I can say from first hand experience is a very significant complication. Guitar is probably your best bet, because there is already a very significant culture of guitar players on the net, and you KNOW that you can find help online to learn to play. Once you have developed some basic guitar technique, you can then transfer it to other fretted, plucked instruments, including mandolin and banjo. They will be different to play (just like a violin and viola are different), but you'll be in a good position to cope with those differences if you are already experienced with a similiar instrument.

Bear this in mind, too - technique is just your means of getting around your instrument. It's separate from styIe. So don't feel that you can't take advantage of technical-oriented videos from a rock guitarist because you are interested in bluegrass. Once you have technical proficiency, you can develop any styIe you wish. For the record, though, it's a lot more difficult to develop styIistic proficiency than it is to develop technical proficiency. The latter is just a matter of careful practice and diligence. The former requires talent and is typically developed much more quickly with competent instruction.

Also, take the advice people offered about learning to read music. Even if you're only interested in popular music, that'll open a lot of doors for you, and it's a much more precise system of notation than tabs. Don't shy away from ear-training either, though. It's good to be able to deal with music in a variety of ways when it comes to learning new works.

[QUOTE="pianist"]

[QUOTE="nooblet69"] Thanks for the great ( and informative) advice! I guess now for me it's just down to choosing which one I should pursue. I really like bluegrass and folk type music and would love to learn how to play it. I always figured if I learned guitar I could learn mandolin and banjo more easily. Which would you recommend I go for first ?nooblet69

You're correct, and that's your choice, really. Mandolin, banjo, and guitar are similar instruments, and all of them are fretted. I'd pick one of them before you work with violin, though. It's an unfretted instrument, and it has the added complication of bowing, which I can say from first hand experience is a very significant complication. Guitar is probably your best bet, because there is already a very significant culture of guitar players on the net, and you KNOW that you can find help online to learn to play. Once you have developed some basic guitar technique, you can then transfer it to other fretted, plucked instruments, including mandolin and banjo. They will be different to play (just like a violin and viola are different), but you'll be in a good position to cope with those differences if you are already experienced with a similiar instrument.

Bear this in mind, too - technique is just your means of getting around your instrument. It's separate from styIe. So don't feel that you can't take advantage of technical-oriented videos from a rock guitarist because you are interested in bluegrass. Once you have technical proficiency, you can develop any styIe you wish. For the record, though, it's a lot more difficult to develop styIistic proficiency than it is to develop technical proficiency. The latter is just a matter of careful practice and diligence. The former requires talent and is typically developed much more quickly with competent instruction.

Also, take the advice people offered about learning to read music. Even if you're only interested in popular music, that'll open a lot of doors for you, and it's a much more precise system of notation than tabs. Don't shy away from ear-training either, though. It's good to be able to deal with music in a variety of ways when it comes to learning new works.