The Beginning...

When I started trying to learn to play, people had no internet to rely on. Either you tried teaching yourself and learning by ear, or you took private lessons, or bought lesson books and tried to follow them. I did a variation of all three. I had a little Magnus organ and the books that came with it. I would play the melody of a song on the organ using the simple 'numbered keys' method the music books offered. My father would also teach me simple songs using the same method. It was here that I noticed the relationship between where the note appeared on the staff and the number of the key above it. This was my foundation for recognizing the different notes. When I got my first guitar lesson book (a Mel Bay one), I was already familiar with notes, so learning to tune a guitar was pretty easy. That first book was a chord book, so I learn some basic chords, even though it was hard for me to form those chords. Later on, I found a Mel Bay book that taught me where the notes were on the fretboard, which I thought was pretty cool!

The lessons I took were through school and college. I took a guitar class for a short time in junior high school, and then I took a music theory course in college. Both of these were extremely helpful. The guitar class helped put together what I had been learning in the Mel Bay books. The music theory course helped me understand music as a whole, regardless of what instrument I was playing or wanted to play. I believe knowing at least the basics of music theory is essential for anybody wanting to play an instrument.

These were the initial steps I took to learn music and to learn to play. I am sharing this hoping it will inspire the total novice out there to take the first steps toward a great hobby (or even more). I hope this will also give ideas to parents out there with little children who show an interest in music.