to a great extent

aw, thank you! as far as advice goes, there are a couple things that help me feel confident as a musician and i try to keep them in mind as much as possible.

the first one is what i’ve learned working with girls rock camp. a lot of these girls come into camp week knowing nothing, or very little, about playing instruments; in 5 days (10 hrs of lessons and 10 hrs of band practice total) they’ve learned an instrument and have written an entire song together as a band with a couple other girls! sure, they’re usually not super complicated songs (until you get to the older girls who have been playing longer), but they did all of that without having known ANYTHING. this tells me a) i often overthink it when really, making music can be as simple as learning a couple chords/notes/rhythms and stringing them together in a way you like, and b) if they can be brave and do this, then i can be brave too!

the other part of it is your support system, finding people to play music with who are positive and encouraging. everyone has to start somewhere, and learning is hard and sometimes frustrating, so surrounding yourself with people who are supportive definitely helps you feel like this is something you can actually do. this also lets you feel like it’s okay to be messy and make mistakes because no one is judging you — it’s part of the process to mess around and see what you like and what doesn’t work!

i definitely understand how hard it is to get over that hump. i didn’t start playing bass in my first real band til i was 23, and i know ladies who started even later, into their 30s. it’s seriously never too late to start!