A post I wrote a little while ago on YouTube and its benefits when it comes to learning the piano has sparked a lot of interest. I’m not surprised; there is so much content on there for the beginner and pro alike – I can’t recommend it highly enough.
I recently purchased a Fender Squire Strat for my studio. This was partly to add a bit more flair and scope to my productions but, at the back of my mind, I’ve always harboured an ambition I’ve had since a kid to learn the thing for real.
Being an essentially lazy person, the Yamaha electric I received for Christmas when I was around 12-years-old very quickly found its place in the corner of my bedroom where it quietly gathered dust for about ten years before I eventually sold it to a builder. Poor thing. Not much of a life.
However, things are different now. Aside from being older and realising that, with the gradual ebbing away of time, I had better get on and do things sooner rather than later, YouTube, the internet and my iPhone are already making the learning process far more appealing.
Last night, having not had my guitar more than a couple of hours, I was delicately picking away at some BB King blues riffs, thanks to YouTube. At the same time, I downloaded a chord finder App for my iPhone and used it to suss out some of the chords referred to in the video.
This simply wasn’t possible when I was a lad. You had two choices: buy some books and teach yourself (unappealing, too much effort) or book lessons (cost-implications, far too school-like, too much effort). I now have pretty much everything I need to grasp a basic, playable understanding of both the guitar and piano.
I’m sure (and hope) this doesn’t spell the end for music teachers, as nothing can replace one-to-one tuition, but for someone who simply wants to feel more comfortable picking up a guitar or sitting at a piano, you can’t beat it.
