/kind/ - Random Acts of Kindness

>>1220
>is it too late to be good ?
never and that applies to literally any skill. The idea that you must continue to be the person you were groomed to be in your teenage years is a dumb meme. It's used by teachers to keep you focused, boomers as a cope for how lazy they are, children/teens as a vocalized intrusive anxiety thought, and parents to try to encourage your talents. Its your life, and you should do whatever you want with it.

If that doesnt convince you, here is some math:

The average human lifespan, necessarily based on older data due to the nature of the statistic, is about 80 years. If you are 21, youve gone through a quarter of that, most of that time spent without any real control over your own life. However, this average lifespan is likely very conservative for our generation, due to extremely rapid advancements in all fields of medicine which the older generations didn't really benefit from. Technology will also continue to advance at a breakneck pace, barring global disaster, so it may actually be the case that your lifetime extends indefinitely or at least far beyond the current average. Even if it remains in place, however, you still have around 60 years of life ahead. Why shouldn't you spend it doing things which interest you? I promise you won't regret trying to learn an instrument decades from now on your deathbed.

TLDR It isnt too late, go get a trial lesson at your local music store. They will more than likely rent you an instrument while you figure out if its something you really enjoy.

>>1220
Sorry, but you're not allowed to learn anything new when you're 21 and up. The knowledge you currently posses is all you have for the rest of your life.

>>1220
Definitely not too early. The reason people think you have to start learning things young is because children learn frighteningly fast, literally building dedicated pathways for the skills they learn into their brain if they spend enough time on it. So if you want to be the very best, you do have to start young. Every champion chess player started when they were a child. However, if you don't care about being elite there's no point not to start. 21 is still super young, and there's plenty of time to get great. And more than enough to start really enjoying yourself, as that's the real hurdle to playing an instrument: getting good enough to where you can start actually making music.

>>1220
why the violin? have you thought about playing a guitar or a bass instead?

>>1244
Not OP but ive thought about trying out the bass guitar. I like the low rhythmic sound it makes, but I don't have anyone to play with, and I'm not sure if I could use the instrument to play covers on my own.

>>1220
I don't know enough to say when it comes to the violin. It would probably depend on how good you'd be aiming to be too.

I got a guitar in high school but didn't have the discipline to actually learn it until I was well into my 20s. I'm still not any kind of great player or anything, but I also divide my time between different instruments and plan on adding drums to the mix in the near future.
>>1244
Or both. A lot of the skills acquired from learning guitar will carry over into bass.
>>1255
You could try playing along to recordings.

>>1256
>play along with recordings
thats a pretty good idea, actually, I didnt think of that. what kind of songs are good for learning guitar or bass anyway? per the OP, what kind of songs are best for learning on a violin as well?

>>1257
>I didnt think of that. what kind of songs are good for learning guitar or bass anyway?
The simpler, the better. I've always just learned riffs I like rather than full songs, although I'm getting to the point where I feel like maybe I should change that.

The main things is learning things you're enthusiastic about. During my failed attempt at learning guitar as a teenager, I remember trying to learn the riff to "Smoke on the Water" before giving up, and I think that's a contributing factor to why I never got anywhere at that point. I should have been playing riffs I actually liked instead of just going with what I felt like I was supposed to be playing. Years later when I decided to give guitar another shot, the first riff I learned was one of my favorites and also extremely simple, "Come as You Are." Things went a lot better when I was both driven and disciplined enough to put the work in and learning things I actually l want to.

One of the toughest parts for me starting off was learning to put chords together. Learning some basic major chords like D, C, and E was a big confidence boost, but I had trouble playing one after the other and having it sound good. I think it took me a few months before I got to that point. Power chords are probably something to try early on too, but it depends on what you want to play.

>>1257
i think the most important thing is to practice. i'm happy playing random notes!

>>1262
Are wind chimes a musical instrument or a noise machine?

PS noise machine meaning that they just exist to make noise, pleasant or otherwise, rather than being a tool to create music

>>1263
uh... both, i guess? wind chimes are played by the wind...

>>1268
I didnt consider that they could be both, but that sort of begs the question. Does it still count as music if something that does not have consciousness create the melody?

>>1270
There's chance music where at least some parts of the music is left to chance. There's precedent for something like that, but I'm not sure if everyone would agree that the sounds from a wind chime alone is music.

>>1271
I can hear this image

>>1271
>>1285
i hear rain sounds!

>>1263
They are a generative instrument

>>1268
I've always loved the sound of wind chimes. When they're not the little tinkly ones, that is. I'd actually like to build a set of wind chimes that could be played like a mallet instruments someday, but unfortunately I have no knowledge of how to build something like that.

>>1311
meant for >>1262, but whatever.

Kind of related: kids learn things faster, but also kids are autistic and will spend all of their free time doing one thing and not worrying where to start, or if they're good enough, or if it's too late to learn, or if they look silly making mistakes.

>>1220
You could be 60 and pickup the violin for the very first time and still get pretty good at it in a year at most.
Stop giving a shit about your age anon

I'm almost 30 and learning a new language that's known to be difficult. Working hard and making progress.
The idea that you have to be young to learn something or get even remotely good at it is a complete neurosis if you have any free time (which most people do, one hour a day after work for a year can do a lot from nowhere to something, and after many years suddenly you've got a real skill especially if you try to dedicate more hours of efficient practice). I've learned tons of time intensive things in my free time just because I can.
There's even people who are 40+ who quit their jobs, learn a new skill, a new language, and move to a completely different country and get residency there.
Never limit yourself. If you want something, do it.

Nice to see /kind/ spirit still lives on. I haven't been here since shortly before the previous .moe shut down. A few bad apples at the time made me go elsewhere.

>>1360
You put it very well! I believe one of the few advantages when learning something as a child is that it's an almost automatic process, like basic grammar and dialect are picked up like your mothertongue, which means you don't have to think about the how.
I think usually the older you get, the more advantages shift. You become more focused, patient, resistent against setbacks and so on, essentially your life experience can push you forward in many ways.

>>1360
>>1361
all this talk about learning new skills reminds me of the comiket in japan! it's a good place to see people show off their creativity!

>>1220
Ryo Fukui taught himself to play piano when he was 22 and released this when he was 28:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrr3dp7zRQY

I think the age thing really only applies to competitive sports and first-language acquisition. Unless you have hand arthritis or something, you can learn to play most of the repertoire as long as you develop good technique. My experience as a (former) violinist is that the hardest part as a beginner is getting a good sound out of the instrument and this can be very frustrating, but it's just something that takes practice. You should definitely get a teacher, though. If you live near a music college, they might offer discount lessons from students there. I could recommend some practice books but there's no replacement for a good teacher, especially with something like the violin.

>>1257
>per the OP, what kind of songs are best for learning on a violin as well?
There are a lot of books with practice pieces specifically for beginners. I'd have to dig through storage to be sure, but I'm pretty sure I used Kayser's 36 Violin Studies as a student.
It's not really for absolute beginners, but Vivaldi's violin concerto in A minor is a well-known, relatively easy piece if you want to play "real" music.
Folk music can also be a good source for easy tunes.

>>1360
Welcome home friend.