How to learn music from scratch: where to start
You don't have to have previous talent or know how to read scores. You have to have an instrument that motivates you, rhythm and listening from day one and a short but constant routine.
To learn music from scratch starts with three things at once: an instrument that makes you feel free to play, rhythm and listening exercises from day one, and a short routine that you can hold about every day. No need to know how to read scores and have "talent": reading and theory come as you play, and not earlier.
The most common mistake is to spend weeks studying untouched theory or otherwise copies tutorials without understanding what's going on. Here's an ordered path for your first few weeks.
To sum up
- No previous talent or music reading to start with: these skills are built up on the way.
- Choose the instrument for the music that you want to play, and not for what looks easier.
- He trains his pulse and his ear from day one: palms with a metronomer, singing what you play and bringing out simple ear melodies.
- The theory yields as soon as you apply it to your instrument and learn it at small doses.
- Ten to twenty minutes about a day and someone who fixes your posture on time's worth more than weekend mardestrians.
What does that really mean to start from scratch
If you recognize a song on the radio at first grades or mark the rhythm with your foot without thinking about it, you have a music base. To start from scratch means to organize that that that that you have already intubated into four skills that are trained independently and then they come together:
| Habilidad | What's that? | How you train at first |
|---|---|---|
| The pulse and rhythm | To feel a stable time and divide | Palmas, walk to the pulse, count with a high voice with a metronome |
| Heard | Recognize and reproduce heights | To sing, to imitate short melodies, to compare sharp and serious notes |
| Technology | How your body produces the sound in the instrument | Posture, slow exercise, correction of a teacher |
| Reading and Theory | To understand and write what's sound | Note names, rhythmic figures, scales and basic chords |
No one starts with the four at the same level. The important thing is to leave none: who only works technical ends up playing without feeling time and who only studies theory can explain a chord but cannot touch it.
Step 1: choose an instrument that will make you care to practice
The useful question isn't what's the easiest instrument but what you're gonna have to play on a Tuesday night when you're tired. Think about the music you listen to: if you love ballads and pop, piano, guitar or singing, if you like rock, electric guitar, low or drums, if you move your salsa, trumpet, trombone or percussion, if you call them Andean, tiple or bindola.
| Instrumento | The beginning | Please note |
|---|---|---|
| Piano or keyboard | Each key gives a note tuned from the first day | To coordinate two hands takes patience |
| Acoustic guitar | You have songs with few chords | Fingers hurt at first |
| Singing | No need to buy anything | Requires technique to avoid forcing his voice |
| Violin | Clean sound and tuning takes longer to get there | That's very gratifying when the arch stabilizes. |
| Wind (saxophone, trumpet, flute) | First we have to achieve a stable sound | The purple training with long notes |
Also consider space, neighbours and your budget for the instrument. If you doubt between the two most common options, read our comparison between piano or guitar as first instrument.
Step 2: train rhythm and ear from day 1
They are the skills that are most neglected as they start with them and those that are most felt when you play with other people. Do not require the instrument to work them:
- Put the [methonomer]](/herramientas/metronomo) at a slow tempo and paddle with every click. Then count "one, two, three, four" out and accentuates the one.
- He hears a song and walks to his pulse and then tries to identify where his bulb or bass goes.
- Touch or listen to a note and sing it. If your voice remains above or under, put it up and up with the sound.
- He gets from his ear far-known melodies, as a happy birthday, starting from every note.
- Listen to two straight notes and say if the second goes up, down or goes back and forth.
To sing what you play is the most understated shortcut: if you can sing it, your ear already did. If you want to know more about how the musical ear works, we explain it to you in [an absolute and relative ear]](/blog/oido-absoluto-y-oido-relativo).
Step 3: Learn fair theory, applied to your instrument
Theory isn't a prerequisite to start with but it saves you months of guessing. Learn it in this order and apply every topic to your instrument the same week:
- The names of the notes: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. In Colombia, the Spanish and Spanish ministers often use American encryption (C, D, E, F, G, A, B), so they learn both forms.
- The basic figure and lung: round, white, black and clichea, always counting and playing.
- The beacon: why some songs are counted from four and some from three, as a corridor or a waltz.
- The scale of do mayor and the idea of tone and semitone.
- The older and minor chords: three notes that sound together and that are behind most of the songs.
- A reading of the pentagram with simple pieces and little by little.
If you're interested in understanding music or planning to study it at university, [music theory classes]](/clases/teoria-musical) they order all this with reading, rhythm and listening exercises.
Your first few weeks: a realistic path
Each person advances at his or her best but this is a reference to what usually happens when you practice a little about every day and have a weekly class:
| Etapa | What to work with | That's a sign that you're good. |
|---|---|---|
| First two weeks | Posture, first grades or chords, pulse with metronomus | Do sit or stop without tension and the sound goes clear |
| First month | A very simple song or piece, scale of do mayor, rhythms with black and clordes | You play a complete fragment without stopping |
| Second and third months | Full short pieces, first changes of chord or hands together, basic reading | You learn a new piece faster than first |
To organize every session, follow our [20 minutes practice routine]](/blog/como-practicar-musica-en-casa)That's enough at first: regularity weighs more than duration.
Common mistakes when you start from zero
- To play quickly from the start. Speed is a result of a slow and clear touch many times.
- Learning only with tutorials with no one to review your posture. bad habits are installed in weeks and they take months to get better.
- To buy the cheapest instrument that you find, or the most expensive, with no advice. A bad tiddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd@@
- Stretch up because "the notes are coming out." Playing the right notes out of time keeps ringing bad.
- Comparison with videos of musicians with years of experience.
- Abandoning at first Plateau, those weeks that you feel you don't get ahead with.
Frequently asked questions
Can you learn music without reading scores?
Yes. Many musicians start playing with their ears or chords and learn how to read after. Reading gives you autonomy to put up new repertoire, so it's worth adding them up little by little but it's not a condition to start with.
What's the easiest instrument to learn from today?
None of them are easy at all and they have their difficulties at a different time. The piano gives tunes from the start, the guitar allows them to join songs soon and the singing doesn't require buying anything. The easier they get at best, because they're going to practice them.
Am I old enough to start learning music?
No. Adults tend to learn with more method and quickly understand theory and what changes are goals and time available. With short sessions and a repertoire that you love, they advance at any age.
Do I have to have the instrument before first class?
The ideal thing to have to practice between classes, but before you buy you have to talk with the teacher: you can have an information about how high and how high and how to check so that you don't end up with an instrument that challenges learning.