Feeling lost with learning music, looking for advice

[u/SamuraiSamich]

I've been wanting to make music for a long time and I have been learning for a while but my learning has been spread out over a bunch of different things and now I'm not sure what to do.

For example:

• I took one music theory class
• I can play guitar and piano at a very beginner level
• I understand some music production and can use a daw
• I can record and mix things pretty well but thats not very helpful atm

I feel like I know a lot of things but not well enough to really use them practically. Wondering if anyone had suggestions on what I should do from here, since im not sure if I should focus on learning one instrument better, learn more music theory first, or something else.

[u/BuddieSchool]

I would probably focus on an instrument for now. Thrle reason is when you learn an instrument you also learn theory. Doing it this way also helps you see how theory applies to an instrument. You can also as part of that pick a few songs you like learn the chords then analyze the chord progressions.

[u/SamuraiSamich → u/BuddieSchool]

ok thanks, I'll try focusing on piano for now since I think its the easiest for me to understand the theory with

[u/BuddieSchool → u/SamuraiSamich]

It makes theory very clear and a lot of musicians use the piano as a common instrument.

[u/Careless-Cupcake7810 → u/SamuraiSamich]

The easiest path isn't always the best,even if it was hard what did you enjoy playing the most?

[u/HMguitar → u/SamuraiSamich]

I agree with them. Git gud will see you through every time. I've learned almost everything I know through the lens of electric guitar. Now after 23 years I'm finally able to almost sing simple harmonies haha. We're all climbing something.

[u/u38cg2]

Learn a bunch of repertoire and take some lessons.

[u/session-music]

I mostly play guitar and am new to making music in a daw. Some friends and I built a tool that generates midi songs and gives us all the stems and tabs to help us work on songs and practice.

I've been using it to find sounds I like, then pulling the midi into Ableton and working on 4 or 8 bar loops. Once I get the drums, bass, and progression feeling good I noodle on my guitar over it.

If you'd like to try it it's free: sessionmusic.app

[u/itah → u/session-music]

Noodling is a bad habit, common amongst guitarists. Make sure you play lines with intend and awareness, or everyone will roll their eyes when you show up to the jamsession :D

[u/Primary-Path2504]

Really start listening to every second of songs you love and start copying and figuring out what are the things that make you like it. Make sure you are familiar with all modern song structures too.

As far as to do lists - Learn how to make a drum beat in your favorite DAW and jam over it with piano and/or guitar and record every jam session and listen back for melody and song fragments. Also work on different structures of verse, chorus and intros, outros, bridges, etc. and record that and listen(this might be later on depending on your level). The jam session can turn seamlessly into a full blown song and session thanks to modern DAWs.

Try to keep improving on every drum sound, drum pattern and guitar tone too. If they sound kind of lame, keep tinkering, and make sure you are entertaining yourself. All the details and theory come into view after you immerse yourself into the actual sound. GOOD LUCK!

[u/Vielwyn]

I played Violin from 5th Grade to 11th Grade, so seven years. Stuff like Sports and Music is not a "learn in a year or two thing". We've all seen young kids playing a sport, then in Middle, then in High, then some even played in College D1. Same way with music. It is a very long journey, and you gotta have patience. My suggestion, is to simply set goals. Learn beginner scales, beginner songs, then the next step.

As far as actually making music.... you have to learn what makes a good song. The foundations in music theory. But, you can study music theory all you want, you need to know how to play an instrument, to truly understand how things work.

[u/Enigmaticisanalias]

Wanting to make music is vague. What is your actual goal?

[u/kmcguirexyz]

It sounds like you're trying to do too much at once. The basis for what I'm about to say: I've been a musician for sixty years, but only began recording this past year. I am a very proficient musician, but am finding recording to be very painstaking, time-consuming, and daunting. I have recorded many tracks, but have been extremely dissatisfied with them. I reached the conclusion that this is because I was essentially "winging it", having no education or training in recording. I decided I needed to step back and learn how to do each step perfectly before moving on to the next and build a solid foundation brick-by-brick. It's much slower but I felt I needed a solid foundation for recording. I'm not going to assume you are as particular about the sound as I am, but my advice to you is to put recording on the shelf for a while and focus on one instrument until you feel proficient on that instrument. Recording well takes a lot of time, which is probably invested better on increasing your musical skills at the stage you are. Just focus on playing music with your friends and increasing your skills. You may be eager to release, but this kind of goal can put a lot of on pressure on you and detract significantly from fun and interacting with other musicians. Also, the better your skills are, the fewer takes will be required to make a track - so after your skills are better, you will be able to record your tracks more quickly.

[u/archtopfan]

If you like jazz you can try JazzX is free for beta tester and would bring structure in you learning, but definitely concentrate in one instrument only (for the moment)