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When I was a kid, I learned clarinet (four years), then stopped. It was not my first choice and I was not playing very much. Around 18, I learned oboe (two years) then stopped and stayed in a concert band for about 4 years more, then stopped. With adulthood, I’ve learned didgeridoo, jew harp, bansuri, hungarian zither, kalimba, guitar (electro-acoustic and electric), piano. Music is a big part of my life. When I don’t play an instrument, I play in my head.

With adulthood, we have more constraint, so less time, but more patience, and there are probably fewer performance objectives. The pleasure to only play is sometimes less present when childhood. But we can progress so much quickly at young age! So with age, when we loose on some aspects, we gain on other.

As for me, I realize that I tend to stop once I realize that I have the basics. Then the “discovering time” has passed away, and another relationship to the instrument begins and most of the time I’m less interested.

  • Probably because I need to put more effort, more time on practice to feel the progress again. And with adulthood the time is what we are missing mostly.
  • I could probably have an ADD :rofl:

I recently started refocusing on guitar and am taking online lessons. Coming back to the basics, the progression is soooo slow, but if I was a noob I think it would help very much. And it helps me to consolidate the basics and get back into a practice routine. But actually, the best advice would be

  • take private lessons, because the physical encounter engages us in a different investment. Doing this way, we are entering into long-term regularity, while it can stop overnight when we learn via internet. So this helps to stay true to your instrument, to move past this phase of discovery and enter into a more complex relationship with the instrument.

  • buy a GOOD quality instrument. Its sound and its beauty CAN help so much.

  • don’t forget to buy a metronome and play with it.

  • You have to stay in a dynamic of pleasure. If it’s hard or not rewarding for a relatively long period, it’s probably time to reconsider your expectations and goals. Otherwise the risk is to move towards stopping, whereas if we started this instrument, it is because there is something which aroused our interest! There is a balance to be found to keep the flame alive.

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