When is the best time to start learning a musical instrument?

When is the best time to start learning a musical instrument? />

When you ask someone who already plays a musical instrument “When did you start?” it is extremely common for them to say that they got their very first guitar (or flute, or piano or whatever!) as a Christmas present... which we think is kind of cool!  It is quite exciting for us this time of year to think of how many kids are going to wake up on Christmas morning and discover a musical instrument under their tree and start making music for the very first time.  It really is a privilege for us to be there, right at the very start of that exciting journey, and Christmas is the perfect opportunity to give your child that start, especially given that it's when our suppliers bring out some great packages and deals - like the ones you can find in the Yamaha Xmas Catalogue.

So, does this just apply to kids?  What if you weren’t one of those kids who got a guitar for Christmas?  Is it too late to start as an adult?  Every day (literally) we have customers in here at Concept Music who, when choosing an instrument for their children, bemoan the fact that they didn’t learn to play when they were young or that “my parents didn’t make me learn music” … before adding “but it’s too late now”.   Well, we’re here to encourage you that “It’s never too late!”.  

The way I like to ask this question is “If you are EVER going to learn a musical instrument, when do you think would be the best time to start?”.  And the answer of course is NOW! 

In my experience adults make excellent students and usually pick things up very quickly... and while they sometimes feel ‘awkward’ at first, they generally progress far more rapidly that they expect to (maybe partly because their expectations are so low!).   Adults know instinctively that they’ll have make some time available to practise and perhaps have some lessons, and there really is no reason you can’t start (and excel) at any age - so don’t be too dismissive of the idea - and at least give yourself a chance!   

There is an old saying that “the best time to plant a tree is yesterday... the next best time is today!” so perhaps this a way to think about learning an instrument... yes, it would have been good if you had started “yesterday” but, just like planting a tree, today is almost as good!

Graham

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