I've been playing piano on and off for about 23 years now, and am self-taught on guitar (though I only play for enjoyment). I also learned the basics of playing drums while jamming with friends, which led to being our drummer for the year or so we were together. But first and foremost, I simply love music - listening has always been what I enjoyed most. More recently I became qualified as a teacher, though my school placements while studying put me off working as a high school teacher right away. It's not only a tough gig but you need to have the right mentality for it, and I just didn't feel ready. What it did do for me was to help me to understand how incredibly different people are at learning things, and also generally how to teach another person something without them feeling like it's a chore. (Or rather, that it's possible - I probably still have much to learn about executing good lessons myself).

Here are a few of my thoughts :

- if you teach yourself, you will most likely try various things and gradually subconsciously steer yourself a certain way. This is good and bad; you will build on some of your strengths and do certain things well, and enjoy yourself more than with the wrong kind of teacher. However, you won't see yourself forming bad habits (and I don't mean not sitting straight or some trivial thing like that) and you will limit yourself without a teacher showing you things that will quite possibly bring a whole new level of enjoyment to you. Ideally you would have a teacher that can work with you and value your enjoyment of the experience, which would eliminate your own errors without imposing a poorer teacher's personal values on how and what you should play. But learning alone, I would invest time in finding the best resources and discussions about piano practice that you can find.

- I have never played an electric piano that felt right. I would never use one as a primary instrument if I could avoid it, even a $1500 used upright is better to me than a $3000 electric. This is MY view though, and others will disagree. I say this because I believe you should buy based on which appeals more to you personally, just if you want to be any good on a real piano then don't even consider non-weighted electrics.

- Motivate!! Know what you want, find out how to achieve it, and structure your learning around that. Break it down, break it down some more, and then again for good measure. When you hone in on all of the dumb little things and piece your knowledge and ability together part by part and step by step, one day the whole thing falls into place and the realisation that you've really achieved something will hit you out of the blue. And you will feel awesome. Say you want to play an amazing blues piece - spend the next few years adding blues-specific exercise to your routine, and simple pieces that embody the essence of the final piece you want to master. A good specific goal can do wonders

- be hard on yourself. Always question what you're doing, always stop and think about whether you're doing everything in a way that benefits how you play. It's the on way to offset lack of guidance, which is especially important with piano. Ideally, film yourself every week and review the footage - suddenly you see a person doing certain things right and certain things painfully wrong. It works!

I've already posted a lot and I'm not even sure it will all make complete sense, so I'll leave it for now. I'm also on a tablet so it's harder to review - I hope that it's not just a confusing rant but will actually help you! And never be daunted by the challenge, the small parts that make up that challenge can always be overcome!