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How to Teach Yourself Music
As someone who has spent a combined total of several thousand dollars on music teachers, music school, music books, online music lessons, the thought of an untrained musician has always been inconceivable to me. "It's impossible", I couldn't help but think, "they must be born that way." This is a very common viewpoint actually-- untrained musicians are always described as having "raw, natural talent", as if they just came out of the womb being able to play Coltrane solos, or having the vocal range of Mariah Carey. After some time, I decided I wasn't going to settle for the talent-by-birth explanation any longer.Luckily, being in residence at Berklee College of Music, I have the opportunity to chat with musicians from all over the world, with all different sorts of learning methods, and I believe I have finally figured out how amazing musicians can learn on their own.What it takes to be a self-taught musician:
This is where most people will say: "Talent...and I don't have any." Actually, self-taught musicians don't have any more natural talent than anyone else. What they do have is an intense desire to learn about music, regardless of any obstacles or handicaps that hold them back. The self-taught method of musicianship can be described very simply: Ready, Fire, Aim. There really is no sort of planning or preparation if you just want to "naturally" pick up music. You just have to do it. Where to begin:
For those who know absolutely nothing about music, it's hard to know where to start. Most people tend to over-complicate it, but if you're looking for a "secret formula", here it is: Listen to a song, then play it.
I almost feel stupid for writing this because of how incredibly simple that concept is, but I can think of many lifelong musicians (myself included) who have lost sight of this incredibly simple practice. If you want to learn a song, just listen to it, and then play it.Now if you are a beginner (and a beginner doesn't necessarily new to music, it means new to this method of self-teaching) you will not want to start with a song you heard on the radio recently, instead you will want to start with something painstakingly simple: "Mary Had a Little Lamb", for instance, or "Twinkle Twinkle", etc. Taking a step backward:
For musicians like myself, who are actually well-practiced and may have even had rigorous classical training, this can be incredibly frustrating. It feels like this new method won't take you anywhere, and maybe even like you are cheating yourself out of valuable time you could spend "actually practicing". What you have to realize-- and this is very important-- is that you are a beginner to this approach, regardless of the training you have had previously. You should act as if you were new to music. Which brings me to my next point: if you do try to pick up very complicated songs when you first start out, you will probably get very frustrated and quit. But if you can use the "Ready, Fire, Aim" approach effectively and efficiently, your gains will be incredible.
Get rid of the boundaries:
The most important thing you can do when teaching yourself is learning to mimic anything and everything. Any time you hear a sound you like-- even if it doesn't come from the instrument you play-- try to copy it exactly. If you are a guitarist and you hear a slap bass technique that you like, try to do that with your guitar.It is important to get rid of all the boundaries, to explore as much as you can, and to constantly make mistakes. You need to attempt the impossible, because that's what will create ingenuity in your playing. That's what "Ready, Fire, Aim" is all about-- you make the mistakes, then you reevaluate. What's great about it is that even if you don't get the sound you were looking for, you might end up with something more unique and creative in the process. Watch and Learn:
Learning the actual technique to playing an instrument is certainly the hardest part of this approach, and the best way to get a feel for it is to watch how great musicians play. Study them, their mannerisms, their facial expressions, everything about them. Find DVDs, search Youtube, and just constantly study. Surround your life with music as much as you can-- start listening to your iPod when you walk to class, or burn some CDs for the car ride to work. Always listen with intent; learn from everything you take in, don't just hear it. It's All in the Details:
The key to making this work is to perfect every detail of your playing-- get deeply into the music and pay attention to every nuance of a style, no matter how negligible it seems. Listen to tracks over and over, and try to hear something new each time. In the end, if your desire to learn music is great and unrelenting, you will have no problem becoming an amazing musician. If you are truly able to put this method into practice-- which for some musicians means watching, listening, learning, perfecting for up to 8 hours a day-- your gains will be tremendous and you will grow more quickly than you ever imagined.
To go to the Berklee Experience page, click here.
To go to the Musicianship section, click here
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