What's more difficult, Learning to engrave or playing a musical instrument?

[Roger Bleile]

Lots of our Cafe members are also musicians. Since the only thing I can play is the "Juice Harp" I'd like to know if it was harder to learn to be a skilled engraver or a good musician. And also tell us what instrument(s) you play.

Thanks,

Roger

 

[Sam]

I've been a bluegrass banjo picker for 35 years, and find engraving and banjo playing equally difficult. I can't say one came any easier than the other, as they both require dedication and perseverance.

Excellent question. I'll be interested to see what others have to say.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Well that's a real easy one Roger.

For me engraving is much easier than learning to play a musical instrument. I could never get the hang of a musical instrument................. but I did learn to engrave!!

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Marcus Hunt]

An interesting thread Roger. I've been messsing around with guitar for many years and, more recently, mandolin. Both are relatively easy to play badly. It takes time and dedication to learn to play them well. My wife started playing bass guitar a couple of years back but didn't feel any real affinity with the instrument so she quit. However, I picked up her old bass and started messing around with it and found it really clicked with me. I traded her old acoustic bass for an electric bass and fell in love with it. Again, if you just pluck root notes it's quite easy but if you want to play it properly there's far more to it. And this instrument is one I want to learn properly. At the moment I'm probably practicing at least an hour a day, sometimes more, but as I enjoy it so much it time flies by. And there lies the crux of the matter, if you like doing something enough you'll put the time and effort into it. Hence Andrew's comment about finding engraving easier to learn than a musical instrument, he hasn't learned to play one because he's never wanted to enough. Music, like engraving, takes time and effort and if you don't feel that need, desire and passion to make music or cut metal I'm afraid any efforts will be mediocre at best.

 

[Dulltool]

I've been playing drums for most of my life since 1964 (my drum set came from the Perry Como show). I also dabble in the tenor sax.

 

[Frank P]

hey all
am playing guitar for about 28 years, and started to play swiss diatonic accordion one year ago..
for me i had the same mentality as in the beginning of my engraving, "man, what did i started??"
very difficult and frustrating in the beginning but once you find your way and a method, and a teacher of course, you start to enjoy and see progress.. another comparison ;
the more and longer you engrave or play music the more you realize there s lots more to learn and you ll need probably 3 more lives

 

[vilts]

I think starting engraving is easier, as you don't have to have so much theoretical knowledge as in music. You take engraver and start cutting semi-straight lines right away. It would be good to know correct angles for sharpening, but that can be learned in 5 minutes. Within a week one can already produce very good results (GRS basic course, for example).

I'm not sure how far you could get learning any instrument in one week.

But after the basic level. I absolutely agree with Sam - it takes considerable time and effort to keep improving in anything you do.

 

[Sam]

Good point, Vilts. I can teach a banjo student to play one song their first week, but I can teach an engraving student much more in a week. However, I spend 40 hours with an engraving class and 30-minutes with a banjo student. It would be interesting to see how a banjo student would do with a week-long class.

 

[tonytigerhk45]

I started out learning leather carving and then engraving and then the drums. The theroys and consecpts
came easy to me. The mastery of them is still a ways away.

 

[Fred Bowen]

Sam & Marcus hit it just right. I started playing guitar in 1961 and played 'til my fingers bled- that's the passion part. Engraving was much the same until I learned to keep my left hand out of the way. Both activities have given me a feeling of accomplishment, satisfaction and comfort when I'm feeling down. However, my level of skill in both are less than I would like considering the years I've been doing them. Perhaps more dedication & perseverance is needed.

Hey Roger- don't feel bad about just playing the "juice harp". I also play upright bass and many times wished I played something more portable, like the "juice harp" or flute.

 

[griff silver]

I goof with a guitar a pretty good bit and i would say they both have the same obsticle, Coordnation...once you get your coordnation down with ease of movement from one string to the next or fret, it would compare to wideing or narrowing a cut or turnig sharply. Anyway once you get the "feel" for either you simpley need to know where to place a cut or what note to play. I do think wrighting music is much harder than laying out an engraving pattern!

 

[Weldon47]

Roger,

The hardest part was learning how to do both at the same time. (Hee hee) I still haven't got either one down!

WL

 

[fegarex]

I can't even play the radio well...
I tried in my youth to be a "rock star" and after about three weeks of "twinkle twinkle little star" I decided that you either "have it" or don't in the music business. Yes, persistance and practice would have gotten me beyond that but I would have never been any good.
I'm sure a lot of that applies to engraving as well.

 

[monk]

i play drums and the trumpet. also the old, old bones, that most have never even heard of. learning the musical side of things was very easy for me . i picked up a trumpet, first time- within a couple days i was half way decent. same with drums. learning engraving the old way was a tremendous struggle. i cant read for the trumpet, but i can "stand in" or ad lib as some say. or play any song i know.
in retrospect, if i were learning to engrave today- how much easier it would be to learn !

 

[HarvestR]

Every engraver creates music for the eyes

 

[Ron Smith]

I have been playing the quitar since I was 9 when my Dad bought me that old Kalamazoo that I still play.............. sort of. ...............I have never gotten too good at it, but played for the therapy of it, and my own enjoyment I think more than anything, so I would say it takes a considerable amount of discipline and commitment just like engraving does. Once you have learned one discipline, another comes a little easier. Developing coordination in anything is about the crux of it, and it flows over into other things, so maybe it was helping me to become an engraver. Never the less, engraving was hard to learn.

I have found it very stimulating to be able to have someone to play with, and maybe I'll get better.

Ron S

 

[Mike Fennell]

I play guitar at home and flute on the road because it is easier to travel with. I like all forms of music, but Natalicio Lima of Los Indios Tabajaras and James Galway are among my favorite artists.

Mike Fennell

 

[Roger Bleile]

Thanks for all of the replies. I hope there are more coming. One thing to consider that hasn't been mentioned regarding which is more difficult, is the stress involved in working on someone else's gun or knife. One slip and you are in for a lot of work. If you hit a wrong note with an instrument you can keep going and most will never notice it. With engraving. the customer has all the time in the world to look at it.

CRB

 

[monk]

instrument or engraving

you're right , roger. it took me a long time to lose the butterflies when doing guns or custom knives. sometimes after a prelim layout was done on a piece, i would sit at the bench and just stare at it for an hour, wondering if i "should do it" now i spend that hour engraving.

 

[Don Cowles]

I have been playing the guitar for 52 years, and play a few other instruments (nowhere near as well). In the '60s, I was a professional folksinger. I have only been engraving for about 5 years, and I often feel that I am almost out of time to seriously improve that craft. I still enjoy both a great deal.