With the advent of the internet there is no longer any excuse for not learning music if a person wants to learn. Learning music online has revolutionized learning, since it is the first time in history that anyone with a computer can virtually find out anything they want to know about music -- and find out quick!
There are sites galore teaching everything about music from chords to trombone lessons to drum lessons to music theory lessons to guitar lessons to piano lessons, and a whole lot more. Many are free while others charge a very reasonable tuition. But think what a bargain that is; no travel, no traffic jams; no rescheduling lessons; no missed lessons; and because the lessons are online (or in some cases on CD's and DVD's) they can be replayed over and over until the lesson is thoroughly learned, which is not the case in a personal lesson or a college classroom. You have one chance to understand, and if you don't, you're immediately behind the curve and have to do extra studies to catch up. Not so with online music lessons.
Back just 15 years ago if an individual wanted to learn music, about the only places he or she could do so would be from a private teacher, a music school of some sort -- private or public or correspondence, or self-taught from a music book. All of which is fine, but slow if an individual is really chomping at the bit to learn, and learn fast.
But today there are literally hundreds of sites on the internet from which any ambitious person can access and learn virtually anything they want about music. There are sites dealing with music instruction for beginners as well as college-level sites that deal with figured bass and advanced music theory and composition issues, as well as improvisation and arranging music.
For example, there are piano lesson sites that teach how to improvise -- all styles of improvisation including jazz, rock, gospel, new age music and more. There are piano instruction sites that shows you how to play piano sheet music as a map, instead of having to sight read the printed music as it is written. By learning how to do this, you can create your own free piano sheet music by creating a song and then notating it in a music software program such as Finale using piano tabs, piano chords, and chord symbols. A person can learn to play piano notes by the fist-full by learning piano chording music styles.
Learning to play the piano, learning to read piano music, learning piano songs from classical music to popular music is one of the most fun things a person can do. There are piano lessons online using major chords, minor chords, 7th chords, and all kinds of chord progressions. Learning to play the piano music of your dreams using piano chords & piano chording techniques is now within the reach of anyone with an internet connection! And don't forget harmony and music theory -- including scales and fingering of scale and chord passages in musical scores and sheet music -- it's all available online. Music history and music appreciation is important too -- guys like Bach & Mozart & Beethoven & Chopin knew what they were doing -- and we can learn much from them and stand on their shoulders simply by accessing the biggest library in the history of mankind -- the cyber library of the internet.
Here are just a few of the sites online where you can learn music:
http://www.workshoplive.com/ Guitar lessons online using video. Song writing instruction.
http://www.berkleemusic.com/ The Berklee School of Music in Boston has long been one of the two or three top schools in the world for aspiring jazz musicians. Now it has an online division, so you don't have to pack your bags for Boston -- you can learn music right at home.
http://mto.societymusictheory.org/ Music theory and criticism for advanced musicians, teachers, composers, and scholars.
http://www.musictheory.net/ Includes introductory and intermediate music theory lessons, ear training.
http://www.murraystate.edu/qacd/cfac/music/MUS109e/intro/chapter_index.htm An interactive internet course for learning music fundamentals. Designed to be a high school AP course or freshman college level remedial theory course.
http://www.teoria.com/tutorials/index.htm Tutorials on reading music, scales, intervals, chords.
http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/FreeLessons.htm 101-part online newsletter teaching piano chords & chord progressions.
This list just scratches the surface; if you type "music lessons online" into the Google search box, you will come up with something like eight million results! "Piano lessons" will call up about a million and a half, while "guitar lessons online" will bring up over two million search results.
With this abundance of material online, there is no excuse for anyone who really wants to learn music to not avail themselves of the opportunity, especially when they realize that this is the first time in the history of the world that this riches of knowledge has been available with just the click of a mouse.
