May 12 2008
Can You Learn to Play Two-Handed Tapping?
Not long ago, I received a letter from somebody questioning whether, with their busy life, and the impressive nature of touchstyle play, whether they could learn to play this method.
I tried to reassure him, but frankly I think the fellow was agonizing lots more than need be.
Pretty much nobody ever picked up an instrument for the first time, knowing that they could play it well. Pretty much no child ever sat down at the Steinway, and starting ripping out Brahms, with feeling and grace.
If course, there are some people who saw an instrument, and *decided* they were going to learn to play it. And generally speaking, these are the folks that for damn sure, do.
When I first heard a synthesizer I wanted to make that sound. My own story is far from rare.
No human can know the future. You cannot know that, in the future, you will have a certain woman, a certain income, a certain occupation, this or that certain skill, or that you’ll live in this or that town, or even that you’ll have all your teeth, toes, or wits. That’s just the experience of life. We cannot ever *know*.
But we can play the odds.
The odds are extremely high that you can play a two-handed tapping instrument, and play it well, and that (the real point here) you can create music.
Isn’t that the point? To create music?
Learning to play with the two-handed tapping method will permit you to create music, of almost any type. And it will get you there, compared to normal play on other instruments, rather quickly. And it’s fun along the journey.
It requires only two things –
1. Do you WANT to create music?
2. Are you willing to invest 20 minutes at least five or six times a week? (Or even better, every day.)
Many hundreds of musicians have picked up these specialty tapping instruments, and this learning method, and pretty much *all* of them, who were willing to invest a minimum learning time, can now create music.
Are they smarter than me, or you?
I don’t think so.
Do they want to create music more than you?
Probably not.
While we humans cannot predict the future, we can estimate the odds. And that’s all a human ever gets.
Do you *want* to have a rich life?
If so, then accept the fact that, while the future is not truly knowable for us, we can wisely play the odds.
And equally important … do you *want* to create music? Do you *intend* to create music? Do you *decide* to create music?
Your desire is more important than your initial skill. Your desire and your persistence are the keys.
If you want it, and if you persist, you’ll win.
Your odds are better in the touch-style world than elsewhere, because despite the apparent complexity of the instruments, this is an illusion, for we’ve developed a learning method that produces faster learning than trying to learn normal guitar or piano playing.
So it comes down to –
1. Do you *want* to win? Do you *want* to create music?
2. Will you, with no excuses, invest 20 minutes five or six times a week?
If you persist, it’s so simple. You’ll win.
How long will it take? Will you start “getting it” within a few days, a few weeks?
The real question is not whether lightning will strike you in two days or two weeks.
The real question is very very simple –
Do you like it? Do you want to create music?
I appreciate that you’re trying to keep an open mind when you think about taking on a new project, something as important and richly rewarding as learning to play music in a new and exciting way.
But, really, when it comes to what you *want* …. isn’t it wiser to absolutely refuse to keep an open mind?
Sure, when we’re tackled on the football field, we’ll tumble. And we might lose a game. There is chance in this universe.
But when it comes to the question — Must I give up football? — The answer lies purely and only in your heart … and what do you *want* to be true?
Hold to that, and your path in life will become blessed.