Starting an instrument

Choose the instrument by your living conditions

Choosing by the sound you want is natural, but what keeps you going is your everyday setup. Whether you can make noise at home at any time, how many minutes it takes to get the instrument out, and whether you have to carry it around decide how often you practise. An instrument that is a hassle to set up is the first thing dropped in a busy week. In an apartment, an electronic instrument you can play through headphones, or one that takes a mute, may be the realistic choice. Simply leaving it on a stand within reach instead of in its case increases how often you play.

Buying a first instrument and budget

You do not need an expensive instrument at the start, but avoid very cheap ones too. An instrument that will not hold its tuning, or with strings set so high they are hard to press, kills motivation even though the problem is not your ability. If you are unsure you will continue, start by renting or buying used, and upgrade after a few months of steady practice. When buying used, take someone experienced along or have a shop do a basic check.

• Unsure you will stick with it: rent or buy used
• Very cheap instruments often have tuning or playability problems that sap motivation
• Budget for accessories such as a case, stand and tuner
• Check the condition of used instruments with someone experienced

Short and often beats long and occasional

Twenty minutes a day improves you far faster than three hours once a week. Motor skills consolidate during sleep, so spacing between sessions is what makes progress stick. Cramming feels like it works in the moment, but a week later you are often back where you started. If fixed times are hard, attach practice to something you already do daily, such as right after dinner or before a shower, so it is easy to keep up.

Playing slowly is the shortcut

Repeating a hard passage fast drills the mistakes in along with the right moves. Drop to a tempo where you do not make mistakes, repeat it accurately many times, then raise the speed gradually — that ends up faster. Locking the tempo with a metronome or simple timer stops you from speeding up without noticing.

• Isolate only the passages you get wrong
• Start at a tempo where you make no mistakes
• Raise the speed only a little at a time

How to divide practice time

Spending the whole session on favourite pieces leaves the weak spots untouched. Splitting it into warm-up, fundamentals, hard passages and favourite pieces covers both enjoyment and progress. Ending on a favourite piece makes it easier to sit down again next time.

Between self-teaching and lessons

With so many video lessons available, you can certainly start on your own. Posture and how to stay relaxed are hard to see in yourself, though, and once a bad habit sets in it takes longer to fix. If regular lessons are too much, ask a teacher to check your posture for the first few sessions, then get a check-up every month or two. Filming yourself on your phone and comparing it side by side with a video lesson also helps.

Keep notes and record yourself

Progress comes in small daily steps, so it is hard to notice. Recording the same piece once a month lets you compare with past recordings when you feel stuck. Jotting down the date, time and passages you worked on also cuts the time spent deciding where to start next session. Everyone hits a plateau; when you do, changing the piece or breaking the goal into smaller steps works better than simply practising more.

Pain may not be about how much you practise

If your wrists, fingers or shoulders hurt, look at your posture before practising more. Once a habit of excess tension sets in, pain appears regardless of practice volume. Loosening your hands and shoulders before playing and taking breaks instead of long unbroken sessions help prevent it. Pushing through pain can mean months of recovery, so if it does not ease after a few days' rest, get it checked by a doctor or physiotherapist. With loud instruments such as brass or drums, consider wearing earplugs too.