I am Ali Deniz Ozkan, the founder and the sole member of the rock band Black Sea Storm. In the ’90s, I played in a band called Swoan from Switzerland, and during the 2000s, I played in a band called Channing Cope from San Diego, California.
During 2021 and 2022, I would get some DMs on the Black Sea Storm Instagram account. People would compliment me on my guitar playing, then comment, “Oh, I also want to play the guitar, but…(insert excuse)” “- I always wanted to play the guitar, but…(insert excuse).”
When I’d challenge them on why not start playing today, they often came up with excuses. Since I would get those types of messages regularly, I decided to do something constructive about it. I began to engage in conversations with the people messaging me and challenged the excuses they had for not starting to play a rock instrument today.
Wanting
As mentioned above, people would contact me saying how much they wanted to learn to play an instrument. I think defining what one means by the word “wanting” is essential. If we were to go on the streets to interview people and ask them if they would want one million dollars, the answer would probably be yes. My definition of wanting is not wishing. It’s not a nice-to-have thing. If one wants to earn one million dollars, I want to know what that individual is ready to sacrifice to make that million. What’s her plan of action? It’s the same with learning how to play a rock music instrument. It’s just not going to happen on its own. You have to want it, make sacrifices and devise a plan to achieve your goal.
The Most Common Excuses
The excuses that would come up the most often were based on not having enough time, being too old to start to learn an instrument, lack of financial resources, and not being talented enough. None of those points are valid excuses, in my opinion, and should not keep us from starting to play a rock music instrument.
The excuse of not having enough time
Most of us indeed live busy lives, and investing time in learning how to play an instrument can be challenging. Although most people have busy schedules and responsibilities, many people living in modern societies tend to waste time on social media, watching several seasons-long TV series and regular garbage TV.
How will we make time for practice? As a starting point, it would be a good idea first to log all our daily activities to see where our time is spent during the week; The second step would be to cut down on the most unnecessary, low return-on-investment activities. If someone is watching Netflix regularly, that time or a portion of it can go into learning an instrument. Same with social media and overall phone addiction. We can always make time. Half an hour to two hours of daily practice time can be easily integrated into our schedules. And for a beginner musician, there is no need to lock down long periods of practice time. Slots of 20 to 40 minutes at a time are good enough.
The I am too old to start excuse
If we are talking about learning music at large, I can see that in some technically involved genres of music, an advanced age could be an issue. If we are talking about indie rock and making art, to be more specific, the age factor is not all that important. Of course, the earlier we start better, it is, but even if we start late in life, it does not mean that the stories we’ll be telling and the original sound we’ll be developing with your music have less value than any other piece of music. Also, starting at a more advanced age may give us an edge. As we start playing, we will be more experienced individuals, and as a beginner, you may make better choices in learning a musical instrument than if you were a teenager or a child.
With independent rock, our goal is to find our voice. If we are true to ourselves, something valuable will come from it. One single song can change the history of rock n’ roll forever. One could start playing an instrument at age 80 and write a relevant piece of music at 85. For all those reasons, I don’t believe that age is a valid excuse for not starting to play a rock instrument today, especially if we plan on becoming indie rock musicians mainly motivated by creating good art.
I don’t have money to buy an instrument, excuse
This is the excuse I have the most respect for. Especially in countries outside of North America, acquiring rock instruments can be way more pricey. All that said, there are solutions to this problem. The strategy I suggest is to attack the problem on two different fronts. The first is to determine the cheapest solution to acquire an instrument and save money to obtain the most affordable one.
The second is to start growing as a musician without owning an instrument. While we are saving money to purchase our first instrument, we can do a million things to become a musician without having an instrument in hand. The internet is full of resources. One can study music theory, learn how to read music, download a metronome app and do some exercises to acquire rhythmic maturity. One can construct a drum set with kitchen gear. Listening to music is as important as playing, in my opinion. No one can stop us from listening to music. Of course, it would be ideal to have an instrument in hand from day one, but if we don’t, we can still lay down the ground and build ourselves as a musician even before acquiring our first instrument.
The payoff will come later once we access a real instrument. With this approach, we don’t waste any time. While saving up to acquire our first rock instrument, we are already making progress as a musician. Music is a multidimensional discipline. There are various elements that we need to master to be able to play and be creative. Before owning an instrument, we can already work on some aspects of becoming a musician.
Also, we should let our social circles know that we want to start playing an instrument. The number of unplayed musical instruments is tremendous. The storage spaces and closets are filled with unplayed instruments. If we let our social circles know about our plan. It could very well be that one will lend us an instrument.
The I don’t have enough talent excuse
Natural talent exists for sure, and it can be a big time saver in our musical journey, but skill can be developed as well. For some genres of music, natural talent can be a must-have, but for indie rock music and modern art in general, that rule does not apply. Anyone can strive to become the better version of herself. Within our limitations, we can raise our talent to a higher level. And if we grow what we already have to a high enough level, what we produce as a musician will inevitably be relevant at one point. I can not promise anyone that she’ll be the next Jimmy Hendrix, but what I can promise is that no matter if we are beginner or intermediate musicians, we can be 10, 20, or 100 times better than we are today as rock musicians if we put in the work.
Start playing today!
If you were considering starting to play a rock instrument, I highly encourage you to start today. It’s not an easy task, but anyone can do it. Starting to play a rock music instrument was the best decision I took in life. It took me on an incredible journey where I met the most interesting people and visited the most beautiful places on Earth. I hope this write-up will motivate you to start playing today.