0 voters
After looking at the Gear Wankers thread, I’ve just realised that, for someone as obsessed with music as I am, I don’t play any instruments.
I also have a crap understanding of the terminology for various musical equipment and song structures, and all that stuff. I don’t have a clue what any of it means!
I am Signer but I am trying to learn and play a guitar. But whenever, I am trying to learn E-minor chord my Ring finger would not act as i want to do. Is it normal? Becuase, I am a beginner in learning Guitar. Scott Adlhoch
You’re not gong to trick me into reading an old Smee thread, mate.
Most of my instruments are scattered around London at the moment, which is quite annoying.
Can I? YES
Do I? NO
Do I? YES
Should I? NO
Think it’s probably a different thing, really. Playing instruments usually starts in primary school but getting ‘into music’ is more of a teenage thing. Also tends to come from parents too - if your parents play instruments and you see them playing then you’ll just assume that it’s something you should do.
Later if you get into music it’s pretty natural that you’d try to play stuff like the music you’re into.
Always find the ones who learnt “properly” first as a kid are like virtuoso magicians and that’ll be why my kids will be getting forced to play until they’re awesome and resent me.
But if you learned music at all previously then you’d realise you can play that stuff. If your parents like playing instruments or think it’s a good idea then you’ll have an expectation that it’s something you can and should do, so the impetus is key.
I didn’t learn to play guitar and until Uni because it was the first time I heard a lot of guitar music I really wanted to play along to.
I don’t think many (although everything happens) people hear music they love and then learn to play. I’m sort of leaving aside people who buy an instrument and then completely fail to spend any time on it and it just becomes useless furniture, but maybe you’re including that.
Only the purple oboe
Our school used to offer free instrument lessons if you took music at GCSE. That’s when loads of people got into playing the guitar/bass/drums.
Anyone else (Piano, recorder>woodwind/brass) started when they were about 5 and their parents signed them up.
Anthony!!
really? have you never heard anyone say “this album is the reason i picked up a guitar?” i taught myself to play guitar at 16 (terribly, admittedly), because id got really into origin of symmetry. i dont think this is unusual
Just being a cheeky chappy 
Fair enough. Could you not play any instruments at all prior to that? Maybe I’m just odd but to me once you can play one thing you already have an implicit understanding that it’s not really that hard a thing, you already consider it a thing you do.
played a bit of recorder in school. dont think that counts
cant really play the guitar but i count it
Dunno Theo, self-confidence is a huge thing here as well. I picked up bass and within a few days was able to play Pixies basslines. If you’d told me then I could apply the same skills to learn how to play the guitar parts on Television’s ‘Marquee Moon’ I would have said you were nuts.
No I’m not sure I’d count recorder! 
Well unless you were like grade 7 or something