Here are a few resources on learning instruments generally, then we will look at instruments individually.
Here is a great video on how learning music should be fun, rather than obsessed with teaching sight reading. Playing an instrument can be fun, that’s why we want to learn and teach it, more so than for everyone to be on a professional orchestra. Granted reading sheet music is fun too, but perhaps not a great place to start. Perhaps learning ‘tabs’ to learn new songs is a great foundation before moving on to sight reading sheet music, so the artist gets a feel for the potential and joy of playing songs on the instrument. Granted this approach may work better for some instruments than others. Many great musicians didn’t know how to sight read. Many folk musicians learned by tradition and family playing around together more so than learning sight reading. The training in sight reading is often void of musicality, rhythm, or predictability. “Rant: music lessons should be FUN” by Lindybeige https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iMOmYcZ2KY
A key part of learning instruments is learning to enjoy hearing that instrument. Therefore, some of what I’ll present with each instrument will be videos of delightful performances thereby.
Key fingering charts, chord charts, etc., are easily found in PDF format on the web or in inexpensive beginner instrument books. There are however great video and otherwise tutorials on the web for learning instruments.
Someone said “We learn to read and write after we’ve mastered speech. But the standard of terrible music instruction is to learn an entirely new and unintuitive writing system before we have any real idea what it means.”
Resources by Instrument Alphabetically
Sections:
Accordion
Bagpipes
Banjo
Clarinet
Flute
Guitar: General
Guitar: Celtic
Harmonica
Harp
Percussion
Piano
Tin Whistle
Violin
Vocal
Dolan’s pub (Limerick, Ireland) – Irish Traditional Music Session (with great accordion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9a8pVGa1Mo
FourWinds. The Flags of Dublin – (With fast bagpipes & accordion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uqcoeLR7TA
-Sacred Place by Mary Youngblood on Sacred Place
Guitar: General
-Here is a great acoustic guitar teacher, Kelly Valleau (kellyvalleau.com); about $11/month to subscribe to his website. The free portion is videos of him doing songs which you can learn lots from, but for tutorials and tabs to music he wrote for guitar based on popular music, subscribe to his website. Check out his YouTube channel too. Buying tabs on his songs are about 5$ when you’re a subscriber (half of the usual about $10). From what I’ve seen of his videos, he is a great teacher with lots of fun songs.
-free tabs and tutorial videos etc www.tabs4acoustic.com
–www.ultimate-guitar.com (free or pro versions)
-Materials from TL (takelessons.com): Why to use sheet music not tabs by TL https://takelessons.com/blog/classical-guitar-tabs-or-sheet-music ; Learn to read sheet music for guitar by TL https://takelessons.com/blog/learn-to-read-guitar-sheet-music ; Reading guitar tabs by TL https://takelessons.com/blog/how-to-read-guitar-tabs-z01 ; Guitar chords for beginners by TL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwPswoolmz0&feature=youtu.be&list=PL6sZOxaobhPa8t8YI0NCFSBHY5rz509D_
-Mr Levi Clay: the country fingerstyle guitar method: a complete guide to Travis Picking, Fingerstyle guitar, & country guitar soloinn
-Rob Thorpe: first pieces for classical guitar
-Tips for getting callus on the fingertips:
acoustic strings are harder so help with callus
short frequent practices rather than long sessions
dip fingertips in alcohol to dry the skin out (Eric Clapton did)
keep your left (fret) hand with short fingernails so the finger does the pressing, not the nail
press fingertips on a plastic card or other hard thin solid edge
you can buy a guitar callus builder tool, like “Varigrip” by Planet Waves
apple cider vinegar soak before and after practice may relieve pain
don’t play guitar right after hands wet or the strings shave off weeks of calluses; you could use a hair drier to dry your hands if you need to play soon after water.
You don’t need to press on the strings super hard, that just makes fingers tired faster, and potentially develop carpal tunnel or tendinitis.
don’t put superglue on finger, makes strings messy, and doesn’t develop callus
don’t pick at the callus
in a month or so the callus will develop and you won’t have pain when you play
get the fingertip to callus in more than just one spot by intentionally using other parts of the fingertip so that when you need to do slides etc. you’re ok
dig your thumbnail into your other fingertips
do exersizes of playing 3 notes at a time as seen in this article https://www.guitarhabits.com/21-cool-3-notes-per-string-exercises-to-rock-on/
playing 30 minutes a day you should have calluses in about a week
some layers of skin may fall off, there are harder layers of skin underneath, this is normal
some advanced guitarists say calluses are not needed, and are even more responsive to the strings, but most guitarists seem to have calluses.
If there is sharp pain you may be hurting nerves so take a break
If you play for a long time like 4 hours, your fingers will hurt even if you have callus
If you use hand lotion, wipe if off of the fingertips
Look into finger exersize tools on Amazon
-Stephen Wake, acoustic Celtic fingerpicking guitarist: Buy tabs for music by Stephen Wake at his website. ; Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar – Three Irish Reels – DADGAD – Stephen Wake (one of my favorites) https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=37&v=IVlvhfWcNho ; Celtic Guitar – Return to Kintail/ Calliope House – Stephen Wake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLm7O2hIYIo ; Celtic Guitar Jig and two reels – Stephen Wake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EriD_PKRmAE
-Flatpicking Celtic guitar book and audio CD on Amaon https://www.amazon.com/Flatpicking-Celtic-Guitar-Book-audio/dp/1934163279
-Glenn Weiser has written several books on Celtic guitar. Check out his site and book store: celticguitarmusic.com/books. Check out some of his materials: Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar Books | Harmonica Books | Music Lessons | CDs
Harmonica Main | Celtic Main | Blues Main | Fingerstyle Main |
Free Celtic Guitar Arrangements | Free Celtic Harmonica Arrangements | Online Celtic Tunebook
Harmonica
-see Glenn Weiser’s stuff Harmonica Main (from celticguitarmusic.com)
Harp
-The Butterfly by Aine Minogue on Circle of the Sun
-Artist: Amy Turk
– Peter PlutaX: This is a brilliant piano teacher, check out his YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/MrPeter19916). His videos are of piano keys with lines showing where to play, meaning beginners can learn fun pieces without becoming discouraged by years of basic sight reading drills. His program is like Simply Piano.
-Check out the Simply Piano by Joytunes (an app etc.) (see also joytunes.com) which shows both notes and keys to learn simultaneously. 25 courses for different music levels. Many fun songs.
-Flow Key (flowkey.com) is another piano school which shows where to place fingers while showing notes.
-I’ve seen some brilliant apps and computer programs pop up lately which are a sort of tabs for piano, helping the student learn some music from the get go without being bogged down by what looks like the impossible skill of sight reading music.
-YouTube Channel Rousseau (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPZUQqtVDmcjm4NY5FkzqLA) shows intense classic piano pieces (more than just Rousseau) played along with the streaming lines, amazing.
-Bollywood Piano tutorials with Dhruv Gandhi on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClUDTB6EJvzP7eY5Wgl4lRw); his stuff has piano keys, no hands, moving bars, and piano key notes labeled. Free mp3’s and sheet music as well.
-Simply Piano app appearently prepares you better to read sheet music than does the Yousician app.
-Become a Piano Superhuman youtube channel; this guy has great suggestions on specific plans for learning, and fast. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1V2zI_VQ5et66WtKXhAXXA/playlists
-Artist: Ludovico Einaudi
-Stars by Helen Lane Long on Porcelain
-On A Magician’s Flight by Faun
Tin Whistle
Traditional Irish Tin Whistle Music [Doolin Style] (By the Online Academy of Irish Music) (amazing fast tin whistler)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpN36I9xr-o
Irish set- Banjo & fiddles (with great fiddling) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCw4O_L1LFQ
My hope is that an elementary amount of skill with the violin can suffice to play for dancing. This is a good start on the way to classical violin.
Jane Zhang Sings The Diva Dance from 5th Element (Epic Soprano Heights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=286&v=kJl2uPNsJEk
