How are you going to impress your future wife with music skills if you can’t afford an instrument to play?

Or are you suggesting one should also prioritise buying a guitar over paying rent too?

guitarlimeo 19 hours ago | parent | next [-]

In what world are you living in that you can't afford an instrument to play? You can get used acoustic guitars practically for free secondhand. You can practice singing for free, youtube has lots of great tutorials.

Any kind of musical ability is a skill that differentiates you from the guy who doesn't have any. It widens your perspective, it allows you to talk about music more deeply (for example theory) with others, it creates joy to your life and you will gain bigger respect for the skills of other musicians.

This all doesn't have anything to do with money and it doesn't have to. Not 100% of your time is needed to make money at all times.

	▲	hnlmorg 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> In what world are you living in that you can't afford an instrument to play? You can get used acoustic guitars practically for free secondhand. You can practice singing for free, youtube has lots of great tutorials. I’m older than YouTube and my parents didn’t have a lot of money. Never seen free guitars in any charity shops otherwise I’d have picked one up. Also singing isn’t playing an instrument. Which was specifically what the OP was discussing and thus specifically what I’m reply about. > Any kind of musical ability is a skill that differentiates you from the guy who doesn't have any. It widens your perspective, it allows you to talk about music more deeply (for example theory) with others, it creates joy to your life and you will gain bigger respect for the skills of other musicians. I agree. But that wasn’t the point being discussed. Also the same can also be said for sports. Or knitting. Or in fact any skill. I love music, it’s my biggest passion outside of computers. But it seems daft to argue music is uniquely different to any other hobby. For example, my wife actually hates music and it wasn’t my interest in it that she found attractive (ironically to this thread, it was actually my work ethic, because she saw someone stable who wanted kids too). > This all doesn't have anything to do with money and it doesn't have to. Not 100% of your time is needed to make money at all times. Unfortunately that’s exactly how some families do have to live. Not all of us are fortunate enough to have the free time to enjoy a hobby. Some people literally work most of their waking hours just to pay rent and buy food. Life can be really hard for some people.

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melvinroest 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I beatbox and sometimes I sing. Though to be fair I am just being me. While I do have musical ability, I don't use that to impress people. It's a me thing. It keeps my brain juice flowing.

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hnlmorg 19 hours ago | parent [-]

I’ve got no issues with people wanting to express themselves creatively. The point that was contentious was whether learning to play an instrument (specifically) was a core and essential skill.

I was in my 20s before I learned to play a guitar because my family couldn’t afford one. So I had to prioritise other skills and those skills are what got me a lucrative career which allowed me the luxury of pursuing creative hobbies.

It sucks that’s how life works. But that’s the world we live in.

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chickensong 17 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Nobody has said playing an instrument is a core and essential skill. If this thread was about that, I'd say learning to cook is a priority.

This thread is about what you might teach your children, and predicting what works well in 20 years. There's no future where knowing how to play an instrument isn't a great thing. If you can't afford a guitar, don't get a guitar. There are cheaper instruments. Humans have figured out how to make it work across the ages, regardless of financial status.

You might change careers several times in your life, but being able to play an instrument is always a viable way to enrich one's life.

	▲	hnlmorg 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Nobody has said playing an instrument is a core and essential skill. That was literally the core premise of this thread.

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guitarlimeo 19 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ah responded elsewhere already, but sucks that you weren't able to afford a guitar at a young age.

> So I had to prioritise other skills

Do you think prioritizing those skills and music could have coexisted? Why not? Why does learning to play instruments take away from that?

	▲	hnlmorg 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Earning money vs paying for an instrument when you don’t already have any disposable income kind of dictates priorities

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swat535 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Actually, it's more basic than that: you're not going to be able to afford having a wife and children if you can hardly pay your own rent.

I wish we were living in a world were people could earn a living and follow their passion but capitalism doesn't allow for that. It's designed for consuming things and increasing profits, not for improving the well being of people.

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RealityVoid 10 hours ago | parent [-]

This line of thinking has baked in the assumption that if something is not brining me money, it's not worth the effort. Obviously life is more than money so I am not sure why you would frame it that way.

	▲	hnlmorg 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That’s not the point people are making. They are saying a depressingly large number of people don’t earn enough to cover their essential daily expenses like rent and food despite working extremely long hours. And thus they do not have the same luxuries of time and disposable income that people in our position do. So to say “everyone has the time to learn an instrument” isn’t technically accurate.