If you could rewind the time... What would you change?

[Jose EB5AGV]

Well, I am not asking in general, but specifically regarding music and, more specifically, keys / piano. So, if you could get back to those first weeks or months when you began playing, with the hindsight of today, what would you change?. What would you think could be a better approach to perhaps a faster or better learning?. Which things were clearly wrong?. Which things were great ideas? 🤔

 

If you are wondering why I am asking this... It is because I find myself on those first months (well, years in my case) and I wish I knew better which way to take. I don't have a very long path ahead, and for sure can learn from other people experience, if you wish to share 🙏🏻

 

I hope this thread is an interesting one for other players, not just for me 👍🏻

[CyberGene]

I’d ask myself to practice those scales. I never did and it still shows nowadays. 

[Jon E]

Change family to a home with a decent piano and no brothers bullying me when trying to exercise the classical stuff on an old upright with wooden frame.

[Sam Mullins]

Learn much more jazz theory as a youngster when my brain was more plastic.  I don't regret not taking up music as a career as that has all the well-known hardships; but i wish I had prepared for a few years as if I was going to.  Would have had a lot more facility at my fingertips for enjoyment in later life.

[CEB]

Learn from the beginning that a band is not a marriage contract. I would have not developed attachments to the players I played with in the early days.  I would have learned from the beginning that it’s business. 
 

Musically I was blessed to have had good teachers and learning guitar by ear as a child crossed over to keys.  I’m not the greatest player but I’m not ashamed to play with anyone.  It’s the business and interpersonal relationship side that needed help.  Some truly great musicians have never set foot on a stage.  I spent too much time in situations in my teens and twenties I should not have. 

[SteinwayB]

I would have kept Clifford Brown, Richie and Nancy Powell from driving that fateful night.

[Docbop]

For me being I played guitar and bass for 60+ years before deciding to come to piano probably a bit different take.    One wish I had started to play much earlier in life.   Actually I did in college but my $%@$^%$^  *&$%#%  piano teacher who all the students felt she had a dildo named Chopin. She really screwed me up and I didn't want anything to do with piano after that.   

 

Today I'd still probably still make guitar/bass my main instrument but like to play piano for educational value.      How would change how I've been trying to learn piano and think I would approach learning it more like I did guitar and bass.   More along the lines that Victor Wooten talks about.   If I was to do a course I'd probably do Suzuki Method. 

 

I'm also very aware this is what I think would work for me and maybe not for the average person. 

 

[GovernorSilver]

Spend more time playing the piano during my childhood.   The piano was a run of the mill upright - for its time.  My uncles taught me how to play piano, but piano instruction ended after they graduated from high school and moved away.   Despite losing my piano teachers, we had the piano method books, sheet music, etc. that they left behind.  I might have picked up some piano technique flaws that would have to be fixed later, but I'd be more musically advanced by the time I got into college.

[Baldwin Funster]

I would have found the Delany & Bonnie band when they were in Laurel Canyon and hung out out until i could get on the the Mad Dogs tour. After that it seemed like everybody had careers that was in that crowd.

[David Emm]

Aside from a few people whom I probably should have killed in their sleep, ahem... nothing. I wouldn't take a chance on changing where I am now, because so many have had far fewer chances than I did and those all figure into my current self. I see my lacks, but also my sometimes downright enviable pluses, namely my extensive reading, listening and list of live, life-changing concerts. Seeing the great Ruth Underwood play with Zappa lifted me way up and forever changed my ideas of what percussion "should" and CAN be. I've been deeply touched by many books and moments of astounding cinema. Whatever I can accomplish that's even halfway listenable is, frankly, a synthesis of Everything that came before. Its a bundle of immense good fortune.

 

So I wouldn't change anything and think in my hubris that the results would be BETTER. Funny, but part of my thinking comes from time-travel stories. When anyone who changes their past comes back to their previous, relative present, its almost always run by apes or dinosaurs in business suits. Work from your own personal starting point and don't let impractical wish fulfillment impede your progress. I worried about not having a Fairlight until I met a man who had never owned a Moog. 🤔

[Stokely]

I don't, in general, try not to look back with regret because all it does is make me depressed and less inclined to move forward

That said, if I *did* look back I don't think it's about getting off on the wrong foot.  You can always learn a different/right way.  It's more about not sticking with something.  For me, while I'm not a great keyboard player in many ways, I mostly regret not sticking with guitar.  I'm a beginner moving into intermediate as far as rhythm (neophyte with solos because that doesn't interest me) but I've been pretty much at that level for at least 10 years because I put it down for years at a time.

I also regret not being more confident about singing when I was younger, because to be less than humble I've very proud of what I've been able to do relatively late in life.  To be fair, I'm a baritone and most of the music I played and wanted to play was very "high note centric" so that kind of led me to focus on finding harmonies and being a backup singer.  And that is probably the thing that would most get me invited to play in a band provided they didn't have their backgrounds on tracks (which I wouldn't join anyway).   I'm very good at finding good and stable harmonies and not veering from my "lane"--especially the more difficult lower harmonies.

[Bill H.]

Staying in school and not going on tour. Sorry... probably not what you're looking for. 

[ProfD]

Nothing. 

 

Hindsight is 20/10 on a clear day.  But, I've enjoyed my ride as a musician. 

 

Even in the present, the beauty of it for me is the constant sense of discovery and still learning. 

 

I'm thankful for having the ability to sit down at a KB and being able to play whatever *I* want to hear. Awesome.😎

[miden]

Learn guitar - everything... classical and modern

[rogs]

I do wish the first instrument I had learnt was the piano. I leant to read treble clef for violin and clarinet. When I tried to learn piano some time later, I had real trouble with reading bass clef. I had quite a good ear, so quickly picked up busking..... The result of course is a poor technique -  particulary the left hand.

Had I learnt to read 2 clefs right from the start, and maybe acquired some 'proper' piano technique as a young child? - things might have been different.

I do think that if you come across a really good keys player, almost inevitably they will have started  playing keys when they were pretty young..... 

[Docbop]

2 hours ago, Baldwin Funster said:

I would have found the Delany & Bonnie band when they were in Laurel Canyon and hung out out until i could get on the the Mad Dogs tour. After that it seemed like everybody had careers that was in that crowd.

 

 

D&B are one of my all time favorite bands.   So lucky to of worked with Bobby Whitlock, Jim Price,  James Gordon (keyboards in the later days, and hang some with Kenny Gradney in the studio.   Then getting to be around Bonnie post D&B in the studio.   For my friends and I D&B was a major part of our music education listening to them. 

[o0Ampy0o]

I sort of got to live that out rewinding time by not playing for decades then picking it up again. Guitar not keyboards. It was like I was naturally born with musical talent. I had some but the familiarity and agility of having played for years was significantly more accessible than what I had from birth. This time I had more patience to do it properly. First time around I wanted to play. I had energy and craving that needed sating and I picked up a lot of bad habits and techniques. Still just a piano noodler and will die that. 

[Tusker]

I would seek earlier to play with better players. Preferably two levels up from me. They schooled me by the power of example without saying a word.

[ElmerJFudd]

when we hit rewind then play again, the tune always comes out the same.  convenient for transcription and more than a bit supportive of the concepts of destiny or fate.  

[Ed A.]

I'd get a piano teacher that was more into teaching playing by ear rather than the classical teacher I had that stressed reading music. 

[timwat]

6 hours ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

So, if you could get back to those first weeks or months when you began playing, with the hindsight of today, what would you change?. What would you think could be a better approach to perhaps a faster or better learning?. Which things were clearly wrong?. Which things were great ideas? 🤔

It's harder for adults to make progress as learning musicians, as we don't have the external accountability of parents (in my case, my mom) leaning on the timer to enforce classical music practice. We know more, we have more life context, but the discipline to stick with the not-enjoyable-parts is often a problem.

 

But one advantage we have when we're older is we have a more well-formed idea of how we learn. That may be different for different individuals, but I'm persuaded the evidence and data suggest that practice is most effective when:

• it's designed to address a specific weakness we are trying to overcome
• it's at least as mentally taxing as it is physically
• the level of difficulty is high enough that we can only manage about 60 minutes or less of this kind of practice, and then we're mentally exhausted

 

So first, I'd take the above into account when committing to daily practice. Even if it's only 20 minutes a day. 

 

Second, I'd dedicate myself earlier to finding an in-person instructor that is effective for me (this may take a while to find), to specifically help me build a sound foundation in jazz theory. And yes, I would do this even knowing 80% of my paying gigs aren't straight jazz gigs. Because the foundation and vocabulary you build with just a rudimentary understanding of jazz harmonic theory will vastly improve your ability to add value to just about any gig you're hired for, unless you exclusively work in a few very specific genre (which, of course, some of the folks on this forum choose to do).

 

Third, I'd try to adopt the mindset that the privilege of the working musician is that we GET to practice the thing we love on a daily basis. Not everyone in life can say that. But for us, if we have the self-discipline to stick with a schedule, we have the rare privilege to spend daily time working on our passion. It was later in life when a wise instructor shared that with me, "pros look at it as a gift and privilege to practice 8 hours a day. amateurs look it as a chore or a duty." That suck with me.

 

Finally, fourth, I'd make it a long term goal to develop your own voice, your own sound, your own recognizable style. This was a very precious thing that Benny Green shared with me, that I won't take the time to detail here. Suffice to say he encouraged me in a unique and personal way at a season of life when I needed to hear it the most.

 

Anyway, if I had the ability to change past decisions and their consequences, I would have tried to incorporate the above into my musical life earlier...much earlier.

 

Hope that helps a little.

[jason88]

Not sure I'd make any dramatic changes, but if I could go back and even just add a little more discipline to my routine I'm sure the cumulative effects would be very welcome today. Also I've been so devoted to keys my whole life I probably would have added another instrument (guitar, violin, etc.) to be more versatile. 

[RABid]

Practice scales and other exercises. Maybe focus more on synth based music, original music bands, and using computers on stage. 

[jazzpiano88]

My only regret is not spending enough time in the office.

 

 

[Leroy C]

I think I spent too much time trying to do too much.  As much as I love the idea of being a multi-genre pianist, that's probably beyond me at my age.  These days, I'm more focused on a smaller number of styles, so I can spend more time on them, rather than just a little time on a whole bunch of things.  My advice would be to pick some reasonably narrow goals to begin with and really focus on that.  You can always investigate others styles and genres later once you have your main ones under your belt.

[Tom Williams]

Hmm. 

 

A little more classical piano practice maybe.  I was lazy.  I learned basic scales, but not proper arpeggios, for example.

 

In general, I wish I had been more disciplined.  I was blessed with a pretty high level of talent, and I fear I underutilized it.

 

Now I'm depressed.  Thanks a lot, Jose... 

[Baldwin Funster]

If I could turn back time I'd go back to 1989 and stop Cher from releasing THAT song so I wouldn't have to hear her sing it in my head or picture that pre Miley a$$ outfit whenever time turning comes up.

[Shamanzarek]

I started piano lessons in 1962 and after a few years started playing organ after which I rarely touched a piano. Then in the 70s/80s synths came along and I spent so much time making sounds rather than pursuing serious playing. I got back to the piano in the early 90s but if I could do it over again I would have never stopped playing piano.

[JoJoB3]

Leaving a Maxi Korg 800DV at a friends home.

 

so stupid

[time4jazz]

I wish I stayed away from the exceedingly loud bands. Or at least used excellent ear protection at all times with them, even though that resulted in significantly muffled sound. This would likely have spared me from tinnitus. There’s nothing at all I can do now to make up for that.