How to Pick Up, Pluck and Plink an Instrument

MAYBE YOU’VE DREAMED of a rock star moment, but the only guitar you can play is the air kind. Or kids and career muted your trumpet practice, but in retirement, your interest is back, louder than ever. Can adults on a musical mission strike the right note? 

“Learning an instrument is a really stimulating thing to do for your own enjoyment,” says Associate Professor of music education Stephanie Prichard. “As an adult, it’s not that it’s harder, it’s that you need to seek out the right kind of guidance, the right kinds of resources.”

She offers tips to get your goals and results in harmony.

If starting from scratch, Prichard says, this is a more important first step than reading music, which will come in time. She suggests the piano because its layout makes music theory easy to grasp, or a string instrument like the guitar or ukulele suited to playing chords or accompanying other musicians.

While youngsters may learn best through short lessons that incorporate play, adults have longer attention spans, Prichard says. Seek out an instructor—ideally in person—who has experience with older pupils and understands that being a novice doesn’t mean being a child. 

Love Taylor Swift or the Rolling Stones? Learn simplified arrangements of their songs. “With a collection of only three to five chords, you should be able to play some of our favorite pop songs,” Prichard says. Exploring classical themes or
other genres is equally possible. “It’s rewarding to be able to play something that’s familiar.” 

“Take ownership over the process,” Prichard says. That means setting goals, structuring practice time and reflecting on progress. “You can ultimately gain a lot more satisfaction than you might have as a child.”