I was very lucky in that the kind of music that I liked was also very simple, 3-chord music so as soon as I learned D, G, and A7t, I was off and running, picking up those simple songs from songbooks, bothering friends, etc. If simple strumming n a guitar of traditional ballads and songs that have more in common with Down in the Valley than Metallica, a guitar works very well. You can slowly improve your chording and your picking, bit by bit. With those three chords you can play in D but learn one more chord, C, and you can play in the key of G as well. Little by little you can build your knowledge on a guitar.

If you are around folk musicians, see what you think about the mountain dulcimer and the Autoharp. They both give a great deal of musical pleasure right from the beginning of learning them.

I saw a wonderful piano teaching softare program that requires a keyboard to be attachd to you coputer but it trains you, through games as well as songs and drill, how to play keyboard instruments. They tested it here in Petlauma with kids in the third grade and it turned them into piano players of surprising ability within a year. I had never played a keyboard before but when I saw an outfit for sale at the local Radio Shack, I tried it out for a half hour and was surprised at how much fun it was and that I was actually learning something about playing a keyboard instrument.

I hope this is of some help and I wish you success in your quest. It is a worthwhile one.

SOurdough