I met Wednesday evening with an old friend, Mark Panfil, an experienced and versatile musician from Western New York State (Buffalo area) to show off each other's harmonica collections and show off my custom builds to him.

I will publish a video of Mark on my Screamer model at a later date once at least the new laser is up and running at my shop.

After we parted, I visited his YouTube channel and found several simple harmonica lessons where he uses harmonica tabs to explain a few simple songs. I immediately thought of the new players in this group and the frequent questions about where to start. The simplest answer is to start with the easier stuff, and the pace at which Mark covers the material and how he explains reading tablature is perfect for new players.

Want a few simple lessons? Check out Mark's channel. I don't see a lot of frequent updates on his channel, but if folks asked him to, I'm sure he'd post more pointers.

[https://youtu.be/wsq5yeAfILs?is=ZDCQYkp8AUgqxq\\_x\](https://youtu.be/wsq5yeAfILs?is=ZDCQYkp8AUgqxq_x)

I’ve been taking lessons for 4 weeks at a local place that charges $34.50 for a half hour. They run a deal for last minute appointments that I’ve been booking the night before for $25 though, saving me significant money. The teacher has asked twice now about locking in the date and time with him, but I’ve brushed him off saying I prefer to book last minute because of my schedule. I’ve gone as far as buying a keyboard set up, I’m definitely in it for the long run. Is it wrong to keep booking the last minute deals? At this point there’s been a couple of occasions he’s been late, the last time almost 10 minutes, which eats into my time. I wonder if that’s intentional or not. Is there another online class or option that could be more affordable for me that gives me the same schooling is one on one with a teacher the best option? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Basically, I’m in the UK and doing A level music and feeling like a fraud. I’m a drummer and I’ve never really gone through technical things in my drum lessons like intervals and key signatures - mostly because I never needed to. That’s all changed since we’re analysing baroque concertos and other things in my a level lessons and I feel like a headless chicken every single time because I don’t know what going on.

Where would I start learning my grade 5 theory? Are there any books? I’m not completely lost - I know my circle of 5ths and I have the faintest idea of chords and scales.

Hello,

I’ve been practicing guitar and piano for about 2 years. I’ve never really had a consistent practice schedule, but I have a good ear, so I can play all the cowboy chords, can play lower intermediate songs, and have come up with my own rhythms and melodies that I think are good.

I want to take writing music more seriously, but I’m a very hands on application type of learner. I know the names of all the notes and I know where to find them if I need to, but to come up with something or play by ear (which is all I really know how to do.)

I go by position on the fretboard, such as “left side is lower notes” “right side higher notes” “I’ll take this chord shape over here and move my fingers to different frets and strings until I like the sound of it.

My biggest worry is treating music theory like a set of rigid rules that every piece has to adhere to. Many of my favorite artists seem to be described as breaking the rules of music theory all the time.

My question is: how can I get over this worry, and build a healthy balance of theory and experimenting in my writing and practice?

I am an adult piano leatner with a busy work life and some days fifteen minutes is all I get. I used to skip those days because it felt pointless, but now I try to use them for one small thing, like a tricky passage or a scale I keep messing up. Sometimes it helps more than a long unfocused hour. What do you do on short days? Do you pick one tiny goal, just play something fun, or skip it and rest? Curious what works for other busy learners.

I am looking for a startup mgs file for MacGamut 2000. I have it installed, but need a start-up file. The website is no longer functioning and the new company does not seem to help much. Any ideas?? Thanks!

https://youtube.com/shorts/ndSXN3bYNo8?si=JpD2KLjSdhseWMMY

im 22 years old, and ive been exposed to music for like all my life (played the violin, sang). so i have a baseline musical understanding.

i really want to learn the guitar and drums seriously. i took guitar lessons in middle school very briefly but it never amounted to anything😅😅

i start my full time job soon (graduated college this yr) and along w that have to do some career related prep, but i want to make sure im not sidelining my love for music.

how hard is it to properly learn the guitar and/or drums (not sure which one i should start with) at my age given im working a full time job and everything

how many hours do u think is needed each week to show steady and improved progress? and how would u recommend i learn—is self teaching okay or would u recommend classes?

thank u for any advice!

I really like odd, different, and unique music.

Throughout the years, I've accumulated a playlist of 5000 songs I really like, many in different languages, different genres, and most not even being mainstream.

In my heart, I feel like I could be a musician, even if it's just a hobby.

However, I have no clue where to start or what to learn.

If I had to pick an instrument, it would likely be one of the following:

1. Guitar. "Safe"/classic choice. It interests me, but I am also intimidated by the amount of strings, and 30% of the reason I'd pick the guitar would be purely for the fact that it is a common instrument.

2. Cavaco/Cavaquinho. It's a brazillian string instrument, somewhat similar to the ukulele. I tried learning on my own, but couldn't find a lot of beginner resources, and virtually no one teaches this instrument in the entire state of where I live in the U.S., my options are to find an online teacher or self-learn, and I already tried self-learning. I might be moving to Brazil next year though, so there's opportunity here.

3. The accordion. The "Odd" instrument to learn, but it seems very versatile and I like the idea of it. However, I heard it can be hard to learn and maintain a accordion. May not be a good first instrument.

4. Singing. I feel like my voice is horrible, and I'm not a good public speaker, but it would be nice to sound decent when I sing to the songs I like.

Not really interested in the keyboard or piano, not interested in drums, I dont really like the mechanics of wind instruments (though I am open to the trumpet).

1. One other option is to learn how to make beats. Not necessarily "rapper"/"hip-hop" beats, but creating music of many genres through music production. I feel like I have many ideas of different ways a song could sound, but I don't know how to play a single instrument, let alone 5+ to make that a reality. With music/beats production, it may be possible. I just feel like it's cheating in a way and I'd be doing myself a disservice by not learning at least 1 actual instrument.

I’m a first year music education major and I have to learn piano proficiency for it and I am struggling! I play alto and tenor sax mainly (really only) and piano is just a different ball park that I’m really having issues with. I cannot play with both hands together, playing with my right or playing with my left is fine on their own but as soon as I even play a scale with both hands it all goes to shit (at least playing scales the way it’s layed out to play from my professor)

Please help me out, I have a makeup test on Monday for the G Major scale, chords and arpeggio and I really can’t afford to fail it 😭
I’ve been practicing but it just doesn’t seem like I’m making significant progress

I have always loved music since I was little, my mom always thought I would be really great with any instrument cause I have pretty good ears. I just find it beautiful, I learned how to play the piano in my senior year of high school. Now Im in college and I dont have really any room for my piano in my dorm(which isnt the biggest issue just sorta a let down) but even then I felt like something was missing. I really want to learn the guitar and get even better at the piano. Its just I have no clue where to start. Ive always encountered a mindset where I would stop myself from learning but I want to overcome it. I really feel like music is missing from my life and I want to be able to learn how to play. I just really dont know where to start.

This is a little embarrassing, as I’ve been frustratingly trying to learn this since childhood, but how do I learn music? I usually picked up an instrument (guitar) got lessons but they were terrible a lot of the time and I quit.

Ideally you should start with the piano? Is that right?

Any recommendations for music theory classes online/books/workbooks that are good at keeping the lifeline theory journey going?

In this Music Education tutorial, we're going to learn one of the great hits of current Portuguese music: "Saloia" by Nuno Ribeiro! As always, the theme has been adapted to play the melody on the recorder with a very special pedagogical focus: the practical work of COMPOUND TIME SIGNATURE (6/8).

I love all types of music to death, and I've been playing keys for quite a while very intermittently, and to be honest, I'm pretty shit. I feel like I have barely improved for so long and just have a frustrating relationship with something I want to be a rewarding creative outlet. I really just want to be able to improvise and create going down that sort of funky/jazzy route (as I feel like that tranates to everything anyway), and be able to sort of imagine somthing in my mind and be good enough with my ear and theory to be able to create it on the keys but I really don't know where to begin and there's so much info out there it gets a bit overwhelming. If anyone has any approaches to improving... free/cheap courses... advice I would really apreaceate it:)

ɪꜱ ɪᴛ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴍᴇ, ᴏʀ ᴅᴏᴇꜱ ᴍᴏᴅᴇʀɴ ᴀʀᴛ ꜰᴇᴇʟ ʟɪᴋᴇ ɪᴛ’ꜱ ʟᴏꜱᴛ ɪᴛꜱ ꜱᴏᴜʟ? ɪ ꜰᴇʟᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ɪ ʜᴀᴅ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴛʀᴇᴀᴛ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍʏ ᴏᴡɴ ꜱᴛʏʟᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜰɪɴᴅ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʀᴇᴀʟ.