Growing up, I took piano lessons for eight years, dabbled in the guitar starting around age 10, and played the drums/percussion in school for 4 years. I have a good ear for music, but never had the dedication to become exceptionally skilled at any particular instrument. Now that I'm about to start working full-time, I regret not being more committed to music.
Does anyone practice an instrument while working a demanding job? Is there enough time in your schedule to progress beyond playing at an intermediate level?
Depends on your hours. If you’re working 50 to maybe 70. I’d say maybe (but it will take a long time). If you’re working 70+, not a chance. Not only will you be very hard pressed to find the time to even practice, but the rate at which you develop skill will be absolutely minuscule. We see the same thing in strength and conditioning: athletes who are tired/not recovered well might be able to do the exercise, but the adaptations they get will be significantly less because of the fatigue. In other words, even if you somehow find time (which is a big if), you will be too mentally and/or physically strained to make substantial progress past the intermediate stage, as you said. Can you go from beginner to intermediate in these conditions? Probably. Can you go from intermediate to advanced? My money is on no. But hey, I hope you can prove me wrong. Good luck
At a HF working 60-65 ish hours a week, DJ disco/house/techno on weekends and trying to practice guitar 25 min daily. If you can set 20-25 min every weekday and then maybe a full hour on Sat and Sun its def doable, just have to be consistent. WFH makes it easier to slip 25 min of course.
That's sweet. Do you also produce and/or sample?
A decent amount yeah. Typically during mixing will improv in an acapella on top of a beat or create a vocal loop from a song and mix that over a beat. Been playing around a lot with James Blake stuff lately. Haven't actually produced a complete song yet because I kind of like the feeling of improvising during live mixing.. sometimes you mess up and sounds like shit but other times you get something right and it sounds awesome.
I think it would be super cool to learn to produce/make beats/remixes/whatever as a hobby. I love how those music battestations look. Read some books by producers. Follow their subreddits. I think it's all super cool. The idea of just being in your cave with your music and getting lost in time and being good enough to actually express yourself creatively with it. But I'm really intimidated by it cause I suck with computers and I suck with technology and the time investment to learn some shit like FL Studio seems sooooooo fucking much.
So I buy silly shit I hear about on podcasts like didgeridoos to scare my wife with instead and call it a day.
When I was in junior high and high school, I would spend all my time making beats and got pretty good with FL Studio and Presonus Studio One. I even got some quality studio monitors, headphones, a couple of MIDI controllers, and an old turntable to sample records. It definitely helped to have some musical background and a decent ear.
The software itself isn't that big of a hurdle, in my opinion. FL Studio is especially user-intuitive and easy to learn from watching YouTube tutorials. If you're interested in it, I say go for it. Doesn't matter if it doesn't go anywhere commercially; it's just really fun to do as a hobby. I've actually been meaning to get back into it
I'm going to. I even have all the shit you need and the space to do it. My buddy who was good at beats and I had a little rap duo in high school and I still have a nice mic and interface and some other shit. Yeah tech just intimidates me and having the baby set me back a little. But now that I quit weed, my creativity and drive are firing back up.
Once I started working full-time, I thought I’d never have the time or energy to keep it up. But I actually found that setting aside even just 20-30 minutes a day is doable if you’re consistent. I’ve been using online music lessons to get back into it, which has been a game-changer. You can pick things up at your own pace, and it’s super flexible, so you don’t need to carve out huge chunks of time.
It can be tough looking back and thinking about what you didn’t stick with. But hey, it’s never too late to jump back into music if it’s something you enjoy! Even if it’s just for fun, you could try picking up an instrument again, maybe even just 15-20 minutes a day. That’s something I’ve found works well for getting back into the groove without feeling overwhelmed. Plus, places like ArtMaster have great tools to help with lessons andtechniques if you want a little extra guidance.
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