Learning to Read/understand/play music - For adults and not children lol

[Niggs Monaghan]

I want to finally stop squandering the little bit of musical talent I have and learn to read and play music.
I learned a little bit on how to read music when I had piano classes as a teen but basically forgot everything. I learned to play a few chords on guitar but that is also it (and my hands are not a good match for guitar tbh).
Everything about how to start reading and playing is usually geared toward the tiniest and littlest of babies, and I'd rather see if any of you kiwis knows any good sources rather than trying a bunch of crappy programs and getting disheartened again.
I don't want to play Mary had a little lamb 50 times over for weeks.
I'm thinking of getting a little keyboard I can plug headphones into, and I have a guitar that is chronically untuned.
So basically...
Any good programs/tips for learning how to read music and music theory about chords and keys and scales and whatnot? That's not geared toward babies?
And also for starting piano and guitar, if anyone knows any good starters for that. I can also sing if anyone knows any good starters for that.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, kiwis.

 

[The King-In-Chains]

I don't want to play Mary had a little lamb 50 times over for weeks.

This is how you stop being nervous in front of people when playing live and avoid looking at your fingers.

Here's some pointers(taught myself how to sightread in Uni, performed with x-nominated artists):

• Learn all the notes on the grand staff. You might not need treble or bass clef depending on your principal instrument, but you'll never be confused or need to learn another clef(like alto) and you can then make inferences from limited information given to you(what's a good note to use in the bass, guessing chords). Your music theory toolbox will compliment this later as you go on.
• Figure out your skill level, then push yourself to learn a song maybe like 30% above that level. It will take time. Spend only that time mastering that song. The reasoning here is that you'll burn in movements/fingerings/etc. that will stick with you for life and you will instinctively pull from in the event you're doing improvisation.
• Start learning tonal harmony after you're somewhat comfy with chords. You can also use the Nashville no. system if you wanna pair some rhythmic information in shorthand as well. Plenty of resources, Hooktheory does a decent job making this gamified.
• Learn one thing at a time, and to completion. Never works to be spread too thin learning multiple mechanics or techniques, you'll get burnt out fast and you won't see results as fast as if you took the time honing just one of them.
• Music be a game, but no one is keeping track on a scorecard.

 

[Liquid denim]

Learning sheet music is easy if you are learning songs you like and have listened for years. That way, you know how the rhythm goes so you just focus on reading the notes. I learned with a Police songbook my teacher gave me

 

[Patty Q. Anonlinson]

To concur with @Liquid denim, the most important thing is that you're learning music that you actually like and will enjoy playing.

One thing I noticed is that people really struggle with is learning raw music theory at the start, where it can be very difficult to anchor it in anything meaningful. The best learning is usually quite messy, which is generally at odds with the highly structured approaches you would see when learning music (or anything) formally.

To apply the John Dewey quote: "We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience.", I think the most effective way to learn music at the start is to try, by any means (e.g. YouTube, Tabs), just trying to play a song that you like and then reflecting on it's structure by asking questions once you have it down in order to grasp the theoretical concepts:
1. What Key was it in?
2. What was the time signature?
3. What chords are being used?
4. What does what I'm playing look like in sheet music form?

Once you have some feel you'll find that some of the theory parts start clicking a lot faster.

 

[Jewthulhu]

Learning sheet music is easy if you are learning songs you like and have listened for years. That way, you know how the rhythm goes so you just focus on reading the notes. I learned with a Police songbook my teacher gave me

I'll add that if you're just starting or coming back after a while, find something you like that's also simple. Something that doesn't jump around a lot and has fairly basic coordination between the left and right hands. An artist I like put out a piano composition that wasn't too hard to learn, which helped get me back in the swing.

 

[Generic Anime Girl]

FUCK. I'm a bit rusty but technically classically trained to some regard (flute lessons as a kid) so I'll try to give you some basic advice. Learn your staffs (IMPORTANT), use a metronome if you need to, and always break your sheet music into little bite sized pieces. It's okay to spend hours repeating the same part over and over until you perfect it. I don't know much about guitar, but I know it's a whole different world. Good luck!

 

[The King-In-Chains]

I learned with a Police songbook my teacher gave me

Liquid is correct in finding artists you like. I'd add that the quality of the artist really does help as well in regards to what information they provide to you. The Police is a great example of a band that has atypical drum patterns, angular guitar parts that are syncopated(same with bass), interesting use of arpeggios, et al. You get a lot of value learning a chart or two from them. Whereas, something like, I dunno, something buttrock is going to be a lot of 8th note-centric driven chords. Only so much to take in, and that doesn't mean because it's simple in scope that you can play with the same feel or pulse right away; you get what I'm saying.

One thing I noticed is that people really struggle with is learning raw music theory at the start, where it can be very difficult to anchor it in anything meaningful. The best learning is usually quite messy, which is generally at odds with the highly structured approaches you would see when learning music (or anything) formally.

This is also something that needs to be said. Many newbies hear about this(proliferation I guess via youtube) whereas growing up it was super esoteric/textbook heavy material and something offered in advanced HS courses, so I think green players just think "I master theory, I master music" but it's like if you watched only tutorials of CAD or Autodesk but did nothing creative with those tutorials during the learning process. It will come across purely as some form of abstraction (I-IV-ii sounds fine and safe, sure but you're now boxed in by rules you don't know how to break out of).

 

[Ultrapenguin]

I can't help with sheet music, but as for actually playing music, probably the best unilateral advice is convenience. Keep your instruments out on a stand or something, don't put it in a case, keep it around where you normally spend your time, don't be afraid to just pick it up and screw around.
A lot of other stuff depends on what your specific goals are, but one thing that always applies is that if you spend enough time with your hands on an instrument you'll improve at it.

Also don't lose sight of the fact that the end goal of music is to produce a sequence of sounds that are pleasant to listen to. It's as much psychology as it is hard science. Don't drive yourself crazy with an obsession with purity to the point it gets in the way.

(and my hands are not a good match for guitar tbh)

Idk what you mean by your hands not being good for guitar but your hands will feel kind of weak and clumsy to begin with. You'll struggle to bar multiple strings and all. Before long though you'll easily develop little bundles of muscle, lobster-like hands that can exert extreme pressure and contort into all types of weird shapes.

I have a guitar that is chronically untuned

They make clip on tuners nowadays, I usually use the chromatic version of one of these:


You can genuinely just hit that red button and clip it on the head of your guitar/violin/whatever and it will tell you the pitch of whatever you're playing via vibration. Then you turn the tuners on your guitar until you've got an EADGBE (ascending 4ths) for standard tuning. Works on acoustics, electrics, anything you clip it on. You can clip it on a water glass then hit it with a spoon and it will tell you what pitch the glass is.

We live in the modern world, there's no reason to suffer untuned instruments.

 

[Niggs Monaghan]

Thank you for all of the advice and tips, frens. I really appreciate it and read through all of them.
There's a couple songs I think are simple enough for me to start with for playing guitar and piano.
Going to learn the grand staff, get a clip on tuner.
I would like to learn more about tonal harmony since I feel like singing in harmony is one of the most amazing feelings music-wise.

 

[Space Police]

I don't want to play Mary had a little lamb 50 times over for weeks.

Terrible attitude, you'll never make progress and always end up frustrated if you give up with things you find boring but are struggling with. I will always be grateful for never being allowed to do this.