Q. Is it true that you were not great musically when you started?
A. I was really pretty bad. I had no rhythmical sense whatsoever. And my technique was bad.
Q. Why does it seem so much harder for adults than kids to learn complicated activities like second languages and musical instruments?
A. I think it’s at least partially motivation and amount of time. Kids can immerse themselves, and adults have to hold a job or raise the kids, so they often don’t engage as fully as the kids do. Adults realize they’re not playing like Jimi Hendrix and they throw in the towel. Kids just keep plowing forward - not all kids, but many. One of the biggest challenges adults have when they try to learn something new is overcoming the habits they already have. It doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get over those, it means it’s harder.
Q. And yet you stuck with it?
A. Even the little bit I could do I thought was really cool. It helped that I had, despite my lack of coordination, learned to juggle, and learned to unicycle, and also played baseball as a kid. From those things, I learned that if I set my mind to something, I could maybe not become great at it, but I could learn to do it.
Q. Does the fact that you eventually learned to play the guitar despite your lack of natural skill suggest that talent is overrated?
A. Talent does exist and if you want to do something on a professional level, you may need that talent. We don’t need to have as much talent to still enjoy the progress that you make and the products that you make.
Q. If you had a child would you have them study music?
A. I would encourage a child. And I would try to make it fun. And not be so results oriented. Enjoy the journey, don’t fixate on the destination.
Q. Is there another value to learning music beyond pleasure? Does it make kids smarter?
A. There’s some possibility - the literature is still controversial - that there might be useful effects in other domains. There’s an incredible satisfaction that comes from sticking to something you couldn’t do and eventually being able to do it. I don’t think there’s anyone who knows [whether] it would be better to teach music as opposed to teaching juggling, which might give that same satisfaction.
Q. Now that the book is written and your official experiment is over, are you continuing to practice the guitar?
A. I’ve got to continue to practice. I will play as part of my book tour, and I hope I won’t completely embarrass myself. I guess I’m hoping that with the release of the book, it’ll be easier to find sympathetic musicians to play along with me.
