New musician tips?

[................. 8]

Hey, I'm Blu, and I'm a new musician, I was wondering if any other musicians could share some tips and tricks on a rookie?

[Retro*Derpy 3,196]

PRACTICE 

 

One does not simply practice too much. You will also need a great deal of patience, as it can be very frustrating at points. The best thing to do is take breaks from time to time, just to help you relax, as people tend to play better when they are. Tell me Blu, what instrument(s) do you plan on playing?

 

[Stargazer Nights 226]

What Retro Derpy said, pretty much. Another great thing to do would be to go see and study other musicians and learn some of their playing styles to help mold your own. The more you see and do, the better. Also, a great idea is to jam with other musicians as frequently as possible. They don't need to be prodigies or professionals, but any cooperative jam time you can get is always beneficial in the development of your musical mind.

[DND 2,355]

Practice. And have the motivation to practice. If you want to pursue something like this in the arts, you need the ability to have patience to realize you can get better.

 

A good way to master a piece of music is to first play it out very slowly, and once you get the hang of a rather difficult beat pattern and note placement, your surely to master eventually. 

 

If you are interested in a field of Jazz, or something that requires a lot of solos in pieces of music, learn to play by reading music as well as doing things by ear. You can't completely all of the time depend on your music sheet when you are really truly trying to understand it, and mimic it. This is also where listening to other players begins. Sometimes their style isn't always written on the music.

 

I hope I came across any help to you. 

[................. 8]

PRACTICE

 

One does not simply practice too much. You will also need a great deal of patience, as it can be very frustrating at points. The best thing to do is take breaks from time to time, just to help you relax, as people tend to play better when they are. Tell me Blu, what instrument(s) do you plan on playing?

 

PRACTICE

 

One does not simply practice too much. You will also need a great deal of patience, as it can be very frustrating at points. The best thing to do is take breaks from time to time, just to help you relax, as people tend to play better when they are. Tell me Blu, what instrument(s) do you plan on playing?

I don't play any instruments right now, but I thought about some piano lessons, maybe learn a guitar or something like that.

[Pinkiepieness 95]

Just like what all of this lovely bronies said! Practice makes perfect! And once you start learning, it'll get easier and make it ten times better! (8 year clarinet and almost Music Major over here ) So what are ya waiting for!!! Get started! See you in the big leagues kid!!!!! But one thing that helps me is taking the hardest song I can possibly find in my range and keep practicing it! That's how I became the best in my county (Look at me! Sorry! I've got bragging rights... I'll stop talking now) But what I'm saying is, never give up! It takes some time and yes it does get frustrating at times and you want to quit but you literally have to kick yourself in the butt and say I CAN DO IT! and you know what? You could all along

 

(Sugar finishes her speech)

[Beyonder 46]

All very good info here.

 

As an orchestral trombone player, I cannot emphasize enough just how important mental and physical relaxation truly are when striving for optimum performance. Breaks in personal practice are also extremely important - - - regardless of how relaxed you are, you can still overdo it when practicing, so just take it easy; relax; take a moment to realize what you're trying to play, and then play it in a way that is pleasing to the ear and (above all else) personally satisfying.

 

You'll develop your own sound in time.

 

Hope any of that proves useful

Edited June 16, 2013 by Beyonder

[Gay Bird 421]

I'd support your idea for piano lessons. After mastering it, I could pick up basically any instrument and have it down in a week. (I act figured out the dulcimer in a day) piano also will help you build a knowledge of musical theory. This is some very important stuff when composing original songs.

[NocturnalRainbow 248]

I'd support your idea for piano lessons. After mastering it, I could pick up basically any instrument and have it down in a week. (I act figured out the dulcimer in a day) piano also will help you build a knowledge of musical theory. This is some very important stuff when composing original songs.

I definitely agree with this guy. Piano is the perfect starting point. You learn to read both clefs which definitely helps if you want to play another instrument. I was quiet happy 3 years ago when I was the only person in my beginning band class to know how to read both clefs. It made it a whole lot easier to play the trombone and the guitar and I assume it would help you play any other instrument. Also once you get good at piano it becomes really enjoyable. You can just look up sheet music on the internet and play whatever the hell you want because once you're really good you can play whatever you want (because you'll be good enough to play most things) I have been playing so much pony music recently on my piano. The more time you put into it the more fun it gets.

Edited June 16, 2013 by NocturnalRainbow

[Scootaloodle 1,623]

Hey, I'm Blu, and I'm a new musician, I was wondering if any other musicians could share some tips and tricks on a rookie?

What style of music do you want to make?

 

My tip would be to research and discover all you can or want to know about the style of music you want to make and try and in lack of a better way of putting this find out how it’s done :

 

For example

 

• Watch YouTube music tutorials
• Buy magazines aimed at people wanting to make music
• Listen to tons of music and hear how it’s constructed
• Join a music forum
• Search up things related to the style you want to make on Google or whatever search engine you use
• Dig around for new music

Edited June 16, 2013 by Asherdangerdash

[Zygen 6,066]

Well it depends on what exactly you are playing a bit, but I'll try for some general stuff.

 

First and foremost, the one you hear the most, and the most helpful one basically is practice! But remember to make your practice have a goal of some form, don't just mess around doing nothing productive. But also regulate how long you practice daily, to much practice can actually be a waste or not help much, according to my band director and experts, so just try to see how long you can practice while still getting things done, if you start to get frustrated you probaly need a break or have been practicing to long. Id say a good benchmark to start is 30 minutes. Work out the time you practice from there.

 

Also at the end or near the end of a practice session, Expecially when you get better, try playing a song you like on your instrument or whatever, as like a reward, it will help motivate you to play, if you do some searching you can fid some sheet music for free alot of times for songs, or maybe you can buy a book with sheet music who knows, just find some music you can play you like to play, and play it, something as a reward to enjoy.

 

Scales are immensely important on basically all instruments, the better you can play each scale the better you play in that key and in general, there's plenty of benifits to learning scales and playing them and other scale related exercises.

 

If possible getting private lessons or being in Band maybe at school helps, professionals are able to help find some of your issues that you may not be able to find(trust me my band director has corrected many playing problems I've had) and not to mention they offer tips(and if they're really good they make it a lot of fun ).

 

Make sure whatever you play whatever instrument or whatever you enjoy. If you don't enjoy the instrument you won't be as motivated to play or practice and you won't be able to have a chance to be as passionate, and being passionate about music makes it easier to play expressively I find, might not be as important later, but you have to enjoy something regardless to truly be good at it.

 

That's about all the general tips I can think of right now. I play trumpet myself, so I only really have treble brass instrument experience, but I am also going to learn keyboard. I also tried to learn some guitar, but I only learned a little and haven't practiced in a little.

 

So yeah, regardless of what your doing, have fun and good luck!

[................. 8]

 

What style of music do you want to make?

 

My tip would be to research and discover all you can or want to know about the style of music you want to make and try and in lack of a better way of putting this find out how it’s done :

 

For example

 

• Watch YouTube music tutorials
• Buy magazines aimed at people wanting to make music
• Listen to tons of music and hear how it’s constructed
• Join a music forum
• Search up things related to the style you want to make on Google or whatever search engine you use
• Dig around for new music

 

Well, what do you mean by "Style"? genre? I wasn't planning on just locking myself to one genre, I thought about trying Electronic, DnB, Rock, Pop, and so on.

[Zygen 6,066]

Well, what do you mean by "Style"? genre? I wasn't planning on just locking myself to one genre, I thought about trying Electronic, DnB, Rock, Pop, and so on.

Wait quick question for clarification, are you making music on like a program or something, or are you learning to play music? Because if your learning to make music then I really don't know anything at all .

 

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding this.

[................. 8]

Wait quick question for clarification, are you making music on like a program or something, or are you learning to play music? Because if your learning to make music then I really don't know anything at all .

 

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding this.

 

Wait quick question for clarification, are you making music on like a program or something, or are you learning to play music? Because if your learning to make music then I really don't know anything at all .

 

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding this.

I'm using FL Studio 10 Producer Edition for my music, the reason I'd still take piano lessons, guitar lessons, and stuff like that is because I can just hook up a keyboard to my desktop and play the notes away and they'll appear on FL Studio. Same goes for a guitar. 

[Zygen 6,066]

I'm using FL Studio 10 Producer Edition for my music, the reason I'd still take piano lessons, guitar lessons, and stuff like that is because I can just hook up a keyboard to my desktop and play the notes away and they'll appear on FL Studio. Same goes for a guitar. 

Oh ok, so I didn't make quite as large of a misconception as I first thought.

 

And yeah learning Piano or even Guitar is good even if your just wanting to make music, Piano exspecially can help alot with learning music theory, especially since you learn both clef's or all the clefs really(Unless you count like C Clef, which doesn't really count for much in my book).

 

Also while I don't specifically know anything about making music per say, I will say that it does help to listen to other music of the same genre as much as you can, since it'll give you a feel for what the genre generally sounds like, so you still sound like that genre, you know what I mean?

 

But yeah, other then that and the few general tips, I don't really know much of anything I don't think.

 

Good luck though!

[Scootaloodle 1,623]

I'm using FL Studio 10 Producer Edition for my music, the reason I'd still take piano lessons, guitar lessons, and stuff like that is because I can just hook up a keyboard to my desktop and play the notes away and they'll appear on FL Studio. Same goes for a guitar. 

 

Nice I use FL Studio 10 Producers Edition to

 

How did you hook up your keyboard and guitar? my keyboard is USB and that was easy, but I found for live instruments (which I can't play anyway) I had to get an external sound box thing

[lincolnshirepony 527]

Definitely practice, like everyone has already said. Though, it's important to use your practice time well. Practicing for hours doesn't mean anything if it's not quality. Try to figure out what you want to accomplish in each practice session and plan what you're going to do to get there. Work on fundamentals and exercises, because that's going to make playing repertoire so much easier in the end, even if it seems boring at the time. Also, some of the best advice anyone ever gave me musically was "Don't play a piece faster than you can play it correctly." Practicing playing something the wrong way is the worst, just because it's a pain to unlearn it and relearn it the right way. Don't be afraid to slow the tempo down when learning a new piece. Breaking a passage down and working on it a few measures at a time is ultimately easier and less intimidating that trying to learn the whole things at once. Also, the metronome is your friend. =P That's just about everything I wish someone had told me about practicing when I was starting out. 

 

Getting lessons is recommended, or maybe just find a friend who's been playing the instrument for a while to give you some pointers. Having someone to teach you technique and give you some advice will definitely help. 

 

Good luck in your musical endeavors!  

[................. 8]

Oh ok, so I didn't make quite as large of a misconception as I first thought.

 

And yeah learning Piano or even Guitar is good even if your just wanting to make music, Piano exspecially can help alot with learning music theory, especially since you learn both clef's or all the clefs really(Unless you count like C Clef, which doesn't really count for much in my book).

 

Also while I don't specifically know anything about making music per say, I will say that it does help to listen to other music of the same genre as much as you can, since it'll give you a feel for what the genre generally sounds like, so you still sound like that genre, you know what I mean?

 

But yeah, other then that and the few general tips, I don't really know much of anything I don't think.

 

Good luck though!

Yea, I know what you mean, I have almost 3 G-Bites of music on this desktop and about 200 songs on my favorites and such.

And that's fine, even if you don't know much you're still helping me a lot in the long run. You guys have been giving me lots of feedback on my first post which I thought would only get like 1 or 2 replies, you're all giving me either helpful feedback, recommendations, or just uplifting words and I greatly appreciate it all.

Nice I use FL Studio 10 Producers Edition to

 

How did you hook up your keyboard and guitar? my keyboard is USB and that was easy, but I found for live instruments (which I can't play anyway) I had to get an external sound box thing

The thing is I don't have a keyboard/guitar, yet. But I will most likely get a one with a USB for a more easy hookup.

[Carbon Maestro 1,003]

Hey, I'm Blu, and I'm a new musician, I was wondering if any other musicians could share some tips and tricks on a rookie?

 

Listen to a lot of the music that you want to be like, and if you're good at it, create your own style.

It's okay if people think you're copying good music - keep doing it anyways.

That way when you do find your own style, you'll be comfortable making it and that's the whole point of good musicianship.

 

You'll be more mentally relaxed when you can make your own style with little effort, and it's best if you're doing a style that's most fun (your own).

Edited June 17, 2013 by Carbon Maestro

[TheTEChguy27 273]

Like what everyone else has said, practice is key. If you don't practice, you won't get better. It's that simple.

 

I think starting off with piano is a great idea; it's what I've been playing for over half of my life. The piano teaches you how to understand both the treble and bass clef, and you have the ability to see all of the different notes that you can play in front of you at any given time. It's one of the easier instruments to "pick up and play", yet one of the harder ones to fully master. Plus, learning the basics of piano makes it easier to learn all other keyboard-related instruments, like organ, melodica, and pretty much every mallet percussion instrument.

 

I'd also say it's good to balance your ability to read sheet music with your ability to learn songs by ear. I find it harder to learn songs by ear, because I only ever practiced reading sheet music when I was younger. Also, learn your scales and learn the proper way to position your hands and body. Good posture is key, and scales are the basis for everything!

 

No matter how long it takes, don't give up! Anyone can be a musician if they practice hard enough! 

Edited June 18, 2013 by TheTEChguy27

[Flicker Sweet 3,391]

if someone offers to give you lessons, take them up on it. Doesn't matter if you think you know what you are doing, always take any help you can get, even if they play a different instrument

[G4 Machine 6]

Since you're into the electronic genre of music and DnB especially (I love DnB, we need more of it in the fandom!), my advice, from my personal preferences and style, would be to be original. Stay away from sample packs as much as you can and first, learn to make as many of the sounds and percussion in your songs as you can. Be patient, by creating everything from scratch, you will learn a ton and will be able to get the sounds you want on basically any synth, and you'll be able to create those exotic sounds that you can never get in sample packs. Of course I have no idea of the style of music you're into, I'm speaking from a dark Dnb/ crossbreed standpoint. If you do end up creating Dnb, for instance, try not to do the "kick snare kicksnare" pattern that is so overused, be original!