Guest,bob wrote over on the old thread:

Can you give me some advice on learning to play a musical instroment. i need at least 6 bullets, i'm doing a school project. I need to find it off the internet and not from my own experience. so please

Well, Dear Bob, it's so good to be called "into action" action after so long. Indeed, I have never been away but the Good People of The Mudcat Cafe do not seem to have been suffering so much of late (apart from my dear friend Ebbie who must continue not to look at those websites.

My first recommendation would be to give those bullets, should you ever recieve them, to a responsible and properly qualified adult as these are not items that should be in the hands of a school student!

As for your query, I shall be serious for once:

- consider whether you wish to play alone, in a small group or an orchestra. Do you wish to accompany singing or are you more into instrumental works? This will help define the type of instrument you should take up as some naturally lend themselves to solo playing whilst others are definitely "ensemble" instruments

- consider the genre of music you are most interested in. Is it folk or blues, in which case the good people of this website are a wonderful source of advice? Or classical? Or pop or rock? Or some other genre? Depending on the answer, there are numerous sites on the internet packed with good advice.

- remember always that an instrument can be hard to play at the beginning. This is a period we have all gone through and you must be prepared to stick with it and practice in order to overcome those initial difficulties. Which you surely will if you are determined to.

- try to find fellow students with similar interests. Music is a tremendously sociable activity and I have found it has led to many and lasting friendships.

- while you can always "teach yourself" (and many successful musicians have) do consider finding a good teacher for your instrument of choice...and one you can develop a good working rapport with.

- here is a nice site about different types of musical instruments and here is another more general one about different aspects of learning music. I hope that you may find these helpful.

Don't hesitate to post back and let us know how you are getting on.

Yours most sincerely,

Dr. Guitar