For example, it takes me longer to gain the intuition of something, but on the other hand, when I do, it plugs into a vaster web of knowledge. I am certainly more disciplined in both mind and body compared to when I was younger. I'm capable of clearer visualization and simulations now than before. I've got a lot more math under my belt.
I learned piano as a kid, picked it up pretty fast, and forgot a lot of it. I am not practiced in sight reading any more. On the other hand, when I poked around learning again, it's tapping much deeper into music theory, composition. For example, I learned Petzold's Minute in G Major (formerly attributed to Bach) as a kid and as an adult. I still can't quite get both hands working together as an adult ... but I was cracking up as I kept seeing how beautiful the chords are composed together in a way I never noticed as a kid.
In other words: Keep it up, you'll the reap the fruit of your labor eventually!
No, you won't necessarily reap the fruit of your labor. You will certainly improve, but most of us will face a hard upper limit with diminishing returns as an adult.
I've played trumpet and guitar since age 13. I started learning piano ~10 years ago, age 40. But even after a decade with thousands of hours of practice, I still can't "natively" read bass clef. I still mis-read G as E, e.g., if I'm not actively paying close attention. Where I could sight-read treble clef basically perfectly since I was a kid, I'm still clumsy on bass clef after 10 years of learning as an adult.
Just like learning a new language.
I’ve noticed practicing something over and over does not make you better. It just makes you faster at doing something you already know how to do.
Trying a new approach when you practice is what I find actually makes you better.
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Talent-Improving-Skills/d...
This guy has a lot of really great videos on how to practice smarter and has a lot of answers to dumb questions that you don't really wanna ask. I hope it helps.
With string instruments you sound like a crying baboon for 2 years, and with brass instruments you sound like an underwater crow for 2 years.
The cello:
1. You're literally sitting when you play, whereas many violinists, violists, and bass players have to stand. 2. Big enough strings to not cause a player to develop callouses, no pain/bleeding. 3. Almost always only play one string at a time - no knowledge needed of chords. 4. Until you get ultra good, you will only need to learn 1 clef, and only a handful of key signatures
I think guitar and piano are among the harder of instruments to learn. Bowed string instruments are among the easiest.
I also had an enforced multi-year hiatus when I broke my arm at age 35.
I might need to do some extra drills and practice to get back to where I had been, but the fundamentals never left. Like riding a bike - might be out of shape, but I still know how everything works.
You don't forget how to ride a bike because the bike is doing most of the work. Because of physics, a bike stays better balanced when it is moving.
Compare that to say, pro racers, mountain bikers, trick riders, etc. there are significantly more skill involved in those than casually riding around.
I feel there is a kind of threshold that you cross at some point and then, the skill becomes part of you, forever engraved. You know you're there when you can play the piano without a piano, just in your head and in the tingle of your muscles. When you do not need a rational stage like a score or even a piece to play. You just play what you feel.
I don't play that often now, maybe 30 mins to an hour once every two or three days. My technique is not as good as it used to be. But my understanding of music, harmony and emotion is deeper. My music is better now than when I was at my peak as a technician, because as a human being, I matured.
Most adults who pick up skills just don't do it in a deliberate way. When I moved to Japan for work I thought as an adult it'd take me years to acquire a new language. But the company I worked for got me professional training and I hunkered down about 2 hours per day and in ~14 months I did much better than I thought was possible.
Personal history: I started playing guitar around 18 and at ~25 I was way ahead most of my 18-20 year old peers who had started way younger. And I was a jazz snob since like 20.
I did learn the basics of piano and reading music when I was around 7 but never played actively, but it might've helped that I didn't start from scratch at 18. But I was immersed once I started - music was literally all I did in my spare time aside from doing drugs. :D
I'm now in my 40s and have been learning piano for the past 2 or so years. I think I've been progressing quite fast, but it's easy since I already know what to do, it's just another instrument (the challenge is mainly the hand coordination).
If you're riding a Peloton I guess, but not a real bike in any of the many disciplines.