I loved John P's statements about the passion involved in learning, and his questioning:
Is it possible to teach this passion/compulsion/monomaniacal focus to people who are trying to learn to play? makes me wonder if someone doesn't HAVE this to begin with, why DO they play? And what motivates practice of things that don't inspire passion? I know I only got to the "compulsion" stage on songs or tunes I really wanted to become solidly confident on playing.

However, learning how to play instruments with melodies I'm in love with, skipping over the educational norms of "beginner' pieces and playing scales, may put me at a later disadvantage. There are so many ways to learn - am I making it harder for m'self in the long run to NOT practice scales? Is picking up learning in a patchwork fashion, just learning what relates to my current musical infatuation to add to my store of knowledge, sufficient to someone mostly self-taught?

Joanne in Cleveland