music lessons

Why Learning the Guitar Is the Best Investment You Can Ever Make

Wolf Chen — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 14:19:23 +0000

We often think of investments in terms of dollars and cents. Financial investments are judged on their ability to show a monetary profit over time. But how about an investment in a life skill that will reward you mentally, physically, emotionally, and even socially for all the years of your life? One of the best things I ever did was pick up a stranger's guitar at a party when I was 17. Here are eight reasons learning the guitar is the best investment you can ever make. (See also: Are Music Lessons Worth It? Hidden Benefits May Tip the Scale)

1. It's Ubiquitous

Why the guitar? Of all instruments, the guitar is the most versatile, popular, and portable. You can't lug a piano to a beach or park. When was the last time someone whipped out a clarinet at a party? Nearly everyone's family has at least one guitar lying around somewhere. With a guitar you can play single notes or chords, and you can play by yourself or with other musicians. And most importantly, you can use it to accompany singing.

2. It's Cheap

From a purely monetary perspective, getting started playing guitar is as cheap as can be. If you can't find a family member or friend to give you hers for free, you can easily pick up a very playable guitar new out of the showroom for $100-200. And if you're really budget conscious, you can find a huge second hand market on Craigslist or eBay where you can pick a guitar up for less than 50% of the new purchase price. Because there are so many guitars, supply is never a problem. Compare that with violins, horns, or pianos.

3. It's Easy

Learning how to play the guitar simply isn't as hard as most people think it is. For the purpose of playing a few simple songs, anyone can learn to play within a month with some dedication and practice. Most popular songs are composed of the same ten or so chords, so once you learn the basic chord shapes, thousands of songs become available for you to play. Most pop songs are constructed from two to four chords. Learning guitar is easy in the beginning, and then gets deeper and more fantastic as you progress.

4. It's Accessible

When I started playing guitar, there was no such thing as the Internet. Each song I learned I had to either painstakingly deduce note for note by rewinding and trial and error, or I had to buy expensive published sheet music, which often was hard to understand. Today there are websites devoted to hosting tablatures of most any song. Type in a song name and add the word "tab," and you will easily pull a listing of free transcribed songs with lyrics. Furthermore, YouTube provides many free guitar lessons. Search for any guitar lessons, guitar styles, or song names; and you will probably find someone has already made a guitar playing video about it.

5. It's Social

The guitar is a social instrument. Across all cultures, people gather and play music. Most people have a hidden (or not so hidden) desire to sing. Normally shy people quickly open up after a few songs, breaking external barriers in the process. Music is magical like that. I once took a lightweight travel guitar around while traveling abroad, and I was surprised by how quickly I made friends with no common language other than music. Guitars are big enough to be seen when carrying or playing one, and playing gives an excuse for strangers to start a conversation with you (or for you to start one with a stranger)!

6. It's a Start

With some songs under your belt and a few hot licks, you can then turn your attention to playing with others and/or performing — which is when the journey takes a marvelous turn. Start a rock band. Record a song and put it on the Internet for others to hear. Release an album. Perform at a local coffeehouse, singing your own songs. It's all free and easy with the Internet, and it will bring people and experiences that enrich your life like nothing else.

7. It Helps You Grow

One of the great things about playing guitar is that it is always there waiting for you, whether you're happy, upset, bored, or inspired. Through it you can give voice to your troubles or release built up physical tension after a stressful day. Unlike other hobbies, the very act of playing an instrument is a way to talk to and know yourself. Parts of yourself you didn't know existed will show themselves through music. Learn to know your true voice. You have one. Everyone does. But not everyone knows what it sounds like. This is perhaps the most important reason of all to learn.

8. It Makes You More Attractive

For guys: A French study has recently shown that merely holding a guitar makes you more attractive to women.

An experiment was run where a young man went up to random women on the street and asked for their phone number while holding:

A guitar
A gym bag
Nothing

Thirty-one percent of the women gave their number to the man with the guitar versus 9% and 14% for the gym bag and air respectively. And that's without ever actually playing the guitar! Imagine the benefits if you actually learn to play with skill and ease! On a personal note, I can attest that without the guitar I would probably not have had a chance with 50% of my girlfriends. Having such a worthwhile skill shows persistence, sensitivity, and hidden depths. A great first date idea is a guitar lesson indeed.

OK, now go out pick up a guitar and bring more glorious music to the world!

This is a guest post by Wolf Chen, a guitar player for 20 years. He runs a guitar pedals retail website at www.cheaperpedals.com. You can listen to some of his music at soundcloud.com/wolfchen.

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This article is from Wolf Chen of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Are Music Lessons Worth It? Hidden Benefits May Tip the Scale

Darwins Money — Wed, 25 May 2011 10:24:11 +0000

We have our 7-year-old enrolled in piano lessons. He's been at it for a little over a year now. There were various reasons for starting him off, but he's taken a liking to it, and I can envision him sticking with it for several years. Since his recital was this weekend, I was taking inventory of the costs and benefits of his lessons to date and thought it would make for a good discussion. (See also: The Vital Need for Music Education on Parenting Squad)

What Do Piano Lessons Cost?

We did really luck out with a great piano teacher around the corner who teaches for $25 per 30 minute lesson. Granted, at face value, that would equate to about $50/hour, which for a full-time worker is about a six figure salary. But the reality is, she only gives a few lessons at night since kids are in school all day, and she probably makes a few hundred bucks a month doing it. So she's not getting rich teaching piano, despite some common complaints (read The High Cost of Music for a contrary opinion). I've seen lessons for anywhere from $30-$50/lesson elsewhere, so I feel we're getting good value for our time and efforts.

Here's how the full cost of the lessons breaks down, including time and travel.

Lessons

At $25/lesson and about 40 weeks a year, we're talking $1,000 per year out-of-pocket for the lessons themselves.

Gas

It's a couple miles from our home, so I figure at 40 trips x $1 in gas round trip, that's $40 a year in gas.

Time Value

Then there's my time. It takes about 45 minutes a week round-trip, plus the time I spend practicing with our son. On one hand, one might try to equate this to time I could be earning money or something, but since this is during daylight hours and I do most of my freelance/blog work at night, it's really just time spent away from the other kids, so I can't assign a "cost" to that. I just make it up by doing other stuff with them.

Extras

Incidentals like additional music books, an annual recital, etc. probably add up to another $60/year.

Total Cost

So, the annual cost of piano lessons is about $1,100/year.

I don't know how many years he'll take lessons. Kids go through phases and come in and out of various interests. If I assume he plays through high school (highly unlikely), we're talking 10 years x $1,100 = $11,000 for 10 years of piano lessons.

What Benefits Are Derived From Piano Lessons?

While the much-maligned Tiger Mom proponents may seem over the top in banning their children from sports, social interactions, and "fun" to focus solely on schooling and hours of music practice per day, they may be on to something with the music benefits. This recent study lends further credence to the impact on the brain of those who play music. My son's already learning fractions, a new language (reading music is not intuitive and very different than reading a book), and discipline — how to practice, budget time, overcome stage fright, and more. These are all skills that he wouldn't be learning in front of the Wii, and to some degree, things he wouldn't be learning in school either.

I used to play guitar as a kid, and I definitely see the corollaries with math. As I was trying to nail 16th and 32nd notes to master a Metallica solo, I was training my brain to interpret and become comfortable with complex, fast calculations. I didn't have a particular affinity for math as a young child, but right around the 8th grade when I got into guitar, I started excelling at math in school and ultimately prospered through a Chemical Engineering degree in college. I'm not sure there's a causal relationship, and my case may be more anecdotal than anything, but in retrospect, I always had a sense that intense practice and musical performance "awakened" my math potential in some way. More recently, the study above demonstrated there's the science to prove it.

Can You Measure the Value of Music Lessons?

It's tough to put a financial value on such a quantitative topic. So are there any guarantees that my kids will do any better in school because they took piano lessons? Are they guaranteed to get into a better college or get a scholarship? Of course not. But for the equivalent of just a single year of private school that so many parents spend their money on, I can give each kid 10 years of music lessons. Aside from an appreciation for music later in life and being able to "relate" to other instruments and musicians, they'll be more well-rounded and, perhaps like our current piano teacher, they'll have an extra way to earn money on the side as an adult!

Do you think music lessons are worth it?

This article is from Darwins Money of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

The High Cost of Music

Lain Ehmann — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:00:03 +0000

I’m all for the arts. I try to encourage my kids to express themselves: I hang all their “masterpieces” on the fridge, I listen to their kazoo solos, and I even let them play with Play-Doh (though I hate the stuff). But I had to balk when my nine-year-old told me she wanted to play the piano.

It wasn’t the playing, per se. It was the learning. Why is it so darned expensive to hire a piano teacher?

Now, I’m a writer, so I know the myth of every novelist living in an unheated garret is far from the truth (my garret is heated quite nicely, thank you). So I figured the myth of the starving musician was equally false. But then I started looking into hiring a piano teacher.

If you haven’t been in the market for someone to teach little Kendall or Kyler “Chopsticks,” brace yourselves. You thought you had it bad, saving for college. Forget that — the going rate for music teachers is A DOLLAR A MINUTE. To foot the piano bill, I’d have to trade in my high-rent bi-monthly hair cut for Great Clip's $9.99 Thursday special.

You heard me, $60 an hour. Which computes to about $120,000 a year, assuming the teacher is busy 40 hours a week and gets time off for good behavior. Let’s do a little research, just for comparison’s sake:

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Loggers average $16.83/hour
Animal breeders make $13.46/hour
Hospital psychologists earn $46.12/hour
Physicists in university settings bring in $40.15/hour
Performing musicians and singers average $31.13/hour

First question: Why do the out-of-work musicians (i.e., piano teachers) make more than the in-work (i.e., performing) ones? Just something to think about.

Granted, it can be quite stressful for the teacher when Flynn hasn’t practiced her scales. You do need specialized training to teach music. There’s no job security or benefits. But c'mon, the physical risk is low, and the overhead even lower. Can piano teachers honestly say that their job is really almost FIVE TIMES as much work as it is to get two bison to mate in a timely and productive manner? I know which career path I’d choose, given the option!

Another point: It’s not like I’ve got Mozart on my hands here, either. Chances are, Kinsey has inherited her parents’ tone-deafness and will take a few months’ of lessons and then move on to greener pastures — ice hockey, maybe, or knitting (both cheaper options, by the way). Any sidewalk musician could probably teach her to identify her notes and bang a few chords.

Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Instead of playing for pennies outside the Red Line subway station, I bet I could convince them to help my daughter for $20 and a hot meal. And if (and that’s a big “if”) Kinsey makes it through this introductory period, practices on her own, and shows some talent and dedication, then I’ll break out my wallet for the big guns.

But don't expect to see me at Great Clips any time soon.

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This is a post from our sister blog, Parenting Squad. Visit Parenting Squad for more tips and news for your family.

This article is from Lain Ehmann of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Free Music Lessons Online! For now...

Troy Hadley — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 01:01:08 +0000

Ever paid for private music lessons? Pricey, no? I know that my accordian lessons got to be too much for my feeble salary to cover.

Now, you can learn music online. Through You Tube! Video lessons, all for free. Or at least, until tomorrow, when You Tube is ordered to take the lessons down.

Lots of musicians offer online video lessons, either on You Tube or through You Tube in conjunction with their online learning web sites. As explained on NPR, these videos may or may not remain online for your personal use, depending on whether or not the posters are required to take them down due to copyright. You see, most of the chords and songs that they cover are under copyright, and, well, we all know how the music industry feels about copyright infringement.

This article is from Troy Hadley of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: