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17th out of 27 books
—
5 voters
Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning
by
Gary Marcus
On the eve of his 40th birthday, Gary Marcus, a renowned scientist with no discernible musical talent, learns to play the guitar and investigates how anyone—of any age —can become musical. Do you have to be born musical to become musical? Do you have to start at the age of six?
Using the tools of his day job as a cognitive psychologist, Gary Marcus becomes his own guinea p...more
Using the tools of his day job as a cognitive psychologist, Gary Marcus becomes his own guinea p...more
288 pages
Published
January 19th 2012
by Penguin Press HC, The
(first published January 1st 2012)
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1,166)
Cognitive Psychologist Gary Marcus decided at age 39 to pick up the guitar. He discusses his experience and relates it to cognitive psychology and what we know about the brain and learning.
I was prepared to really enjoy this book - it is about guitars, cognitive science, guitars, music, guitars, learning - and did I mention guitars?
However, I didn't think it was well organized and I didn't find much in there that I could use to improve my own playing or use in other endeavors. I also found Marcu...more
I was prepared to really enjoy this book - it is about guitars, cognitive science, guitars, music, guitars, learning - and did I mention guitars?
However, I didn't think it was well organized and I didn't find much in there that I could use to improve my own playing or use in other endeavors. I also found Marcu...more
Apr 12, 2013
J
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
about-music,
sociology-psychology-philosophy
When I first heard about this book, I was excited to get my hands on a copy and give it a read. I thoroughly enjoyed Daniel Levitin’s This Is Your Brain On Music and Oliver Sachs’ Musicophilia and I thought Guitar Zero would be right along those lines.
Turns out, it is. Marcus sets out on a journey to learn guitar and takes us along for the ride, making plenty of stops along the way to discuss music psychology, learning and practice styles, musical taste and much more.
Particularly fascinating to...more
Turns out, it is. Marcus sets out on a journey to learn guitar and takes us along for the ride, making plenty of stops along the way to discuss music psychology, learning and practice styles, musical taste and much more.
Particularly fascinating to...more
I was disappointed with this. The writing is fine but . . . It didn't have much to say that didn't seem fairly obvious. Some of the most interesting information wasn't about learning to play an instrument but comparing how musicians and non-musicians appreciate music.
He obviously had a really good time researching the book and meeting and becoming friends with musicians - that's great, but no guarantee of a good book.
Perhaps I'm being unfair - I took lessons on mandolin a few yreas ago and eve...more
He obviously had a really good time researching the book and meeting and becoming friends with musicians - that's great, but no guarantee of a good book.
Perhaps I'm being unfair - I took lessons on mandolin a few yreas ago and eve...more
Almost 40 year-old professor of psychology Gary Marcus decides to learn to play the guitar even though he had been previously told he has no sense of rhythm whatsoever. Marcus really desires to play guitar, and so he embarks on a quest to find out if he could learn to play even at his age and with no previous or innate musical talent. He sets out to explore the questions of whether music is built into the brain and how we learn to become musical.
I am always fascinated with the topic of the scien...more
I am always fascinated with the topic of the scien...more
Can a nerdy psychology professor (who studies evolution, music and language) learn electric guitar at 40 and in the process become a male Jewish rock god with superior mating opportunities? Can older people still learn as quickly as the young? Well, Professor Gary Marcus is going to take a sabbatical and find out. (Cue...Hendrix guitar riff.)
On the whole, Marcus's book reads like a combination mid-life memoir (albeit from a generally unexciting sensible educated suburban white married male) and...more
On the whole, Marcus's book reads like a combination mid-life memoir (albeit from a generally unexciting sensible educated suburban white married male) and...more
The author takes readers along on his quest to learn to play a musical instrument as an adult, informed by his background as a cognitive psychologist. He delves into the science behind learning, how our ability to learn changes with age, and the specific science behind how humans learn about, appreciate, and create music. I found the whole thing fascinating and was very sympathetic to his quest to finally fulfill his life long dream of being able to play guitar.
Along the way, he discusses so mu...more
Along the way, he discusses so mu...more
This book wasn't quite what I had expected, but I wasn't disappointed.
Cognitive psychologist Gary Marcus, who clearly has a history of being "challenged" musically, decides as he approaches the age of 40 to master the guitar. A serendipitous sabbatical from his usual gig teaching at NYU gives him enough leisure that he feels motivated to take on the project seriously. Guitar Zero (a pun on the popular video game Guitar Hero, for those like me who didn't get it)recounts his adventures, which inc...more
Cognitive psychologist Gary Marcus, who clearly has a history of being "challenged" musically, decides as he approaches the age of 40 to master the guitar. A serendipitous sabbatical from his usual gig teaching at NYU gives him enough leisure that he feels motivated to take on the project seriously. Guitar Zero (a pun on the popular video game Guitar Hero, for those like me who didn't get it)recounts his adventures, which inc...more
Do you have to be born musical to become a musician? Do you need to start playing the piano by age 6? How many hours does it take to become a Master? Gary Marcus, a cognitive scientist, at age 40, with no musical talent takes up the guitar to see how anyone can become a musician. This book Guitar Zero (named after the widly popular video game Guitar Hero) traces his musical journey.
Marcus notices...
Even infants have a sense of tone. They wince when hearing sounds of dissonance but smile when hea...more
Marcus notices...
Even infants have a sense of tone. They wince when hearing sounds of dissonance but smile when hea...more
Jan 21, 2013
Felix
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Music Lovers, Aspiring Guitar Players
Shelves:
music
Really enjoyed reading this book. I empathized
with the author being a family man in my late 40's
who suddenly had an urge to learn how to play the guitar.
When I started, I had no idea what this book was all
about except for some descriptions about it being the
experiences of the author trying to learn how to play
the guitar with zero experience.
After reading a few pages of the book, I realized
the book is also a mirror of my experiences as I
too laboriously try to learn how to play the guitar.
Albe...more
with the author being a family man in my late 40's
who suddenly had an urge to learn how to play the guitar.
When I started, I had no idea what this book was all
about except for some descriptions about it being the
experiences of the author trying to learn how to play
the guitar with zero experience.
After reading a few pages of the book, I realized
the book is also a mirror of my experiences as I
too laboriously try to learn how to play the guitar.
Albe...more
Warning: if you ever wanted to play an instrument, or if you played one as a kid and wonder if you could do it again, this book will make you want to ditch everything else and devote your life to music. Or at least have the happy fantasy of embarking on a musical journey as unexpectedly fulfilling as the author's. Gary Marcus is a pretty well known cognitive psychologist, a dude at the top of his field, who decides at the age of 38 to try to learn to play the guitar. He approaches his subject bo...more
Interesting book, though not quite what I wanted to read. Gary Marcus is a PhD in cognitive psychology who decides to pick up the guitar (and to learn music) later in life. The part of learning music and learning to play an instrument late in life is what drew me to this, since it's pretty much my own story. Marcus writes precious little about his personal journey and much more about the scholarly, cognitive aspects of the endeavour, which were interesting to read about. I got to understand bett...more
I read this book because a few months ago I started learning to play the guitar. The author of Guitar Zero, Gary Marcus, started playing guitar before his 40th birthday and took a year long sabbatical from his day job at NYU as a psychology professor to study guitar and write about the process. I thought this book would be more of his story but it was more a study of how the brain learns. He asked a lot of questions such as is it harder for adults to learn an instrument than children, practice v...more
At the risk of oversimplifying, this is a book trying to answer an age-old question, can an old dog learn new tricks? Middle-aged man decides to pursue a lifelong dream of learning music. Can it be done?
About half the content focuses on how the brain works (author is a psychologist) and the other is on music itself and why it can be hard to learn. The author chose to focus on music because of his personal interest. If music had not been the topic, however, this is still a valid exploration of b...more
About half the content focuses on how the brain works (author is a psychologist) and the other is on music itself and why it can be hard to learn. The author chose to focus on music because of his personal interest. If music had not been the topic, however, this is still a valid exploration of b...more
I really enjoyed reading this book, partly because much like the author, I didn't start playing until later in life (I got my first guitar at 45), and also because I have a profound love of music. I really wanted to give this book four stars out of five, but a strong three is where I landed. Can't explain exactly why, maybe because I wanted to hear more about theory from a beginners perspective, or more detail about the frustrations that one encounters when first learning (I almost gave up sever...more
I first read about it in "Making Music" magazine which I also recommend for an amateur in in any music field. Guitar Zero starts off good and gets better as it goes on. Marcus is a strong writer and his broad knowledge of pop culture and the skill to land interviews with many professional musicians is very engaging. This book is a treasure-trove of advice and humble motivation for the aspiring guitar player or anyone interested in the creation of music along with some psychology. Marcus is an ac...more
I appreciate the scientific background, but the book lacked a cohesiveness. I enjoyed the chapter on rock camp for the required braveness to be in such a situation, but there were some chapters that didn't add much to how learning guitar happens. I suppose for a beginner guitarist, some of the info is interesting. I disagreed with Marcus's arguments for talent. His main points included a great guitar student who is autistic. I don't think discussing talent with autism really helps prove that tal...more
If you are interested in music or the science of the mind, this book is for you. Dr. Marcus takes his unrealized dream of learning a musical instrument and walks us through his journey. All the while, he reflects on how the learning process affects and is affected by the brain.
He makes a strong argument that mature adults can learn complicated skills such as new languages or new musical instruments and explores the differences between how adults learn to how children learn. I found his writing e...more
He makes a strong argument that mature adults can learn complicated skills such as new languages or new musical instruments and explores the differences between how adults learn to how children learn. I found his writing e...more
Interesting mix of cognitive psychology topics with the difficult things almost all beginning guitarists struggle with e.g., the weird 2nd string is tuned one fret lower than the rest, you can play the same note in several places on the fretboard and how this affects chord formations, etc. A little too much emphasis on the cognitive psychology parts in proportion to the music stuff but some of the concepts like memory "chunking" and declarative v. procedural memory are fascinating. Great glossar...more
Guitar Zero by Gary Marcus is a non-fiction book about a neuroscientist's efforts to learn to be musical at an advanced age, as told through the perspective of someone who knows a lot about the way people learn things. It strikes a nice balance between the personal story (this one time at band camp...) and the technical explanations (Neurons! Brain plasticity!). Unfortunately, as a well-read person who is both scientifically and musically inclined, I knew a lot of it already, but that just made...more
Marcus gives some useful tips on learning how to become more musical, but the entire book could probably be condensed into a two-page memo without losing much. A good editor would also have steered him away from the pat conclusions (and Dylan quotes!) too often found in Jonah Lehrer or Malcolm Gladwell ("Alignment is all"?!) Other elements seemed equally formulaic, including Marcus's participation in a daycamp for teen musicians, which allowed him to toggle rather predictably between his individ...more
I liked the premise of this book more than the execution. In it, the author asks whether it is possible for a 40 year old adult with no prior musical ability to pick up and learn an instrument.
As someone who has always felt "musically challenged" I was curious to see what his findings were. Are some people's brains more predisposed to musical ability? Is it something that anyone can master at any age? Or is simply a question of innate talent?
I found the passages where the author described his o...more
As someone who has always felt "musically challenged" I was curious to see what his findings were. Are some people's brains more predisposed to musical ability? Is it something that anyone can master at any age? Or is simply a question of innate talent?
I found the passages where the author described his o...more
Very entertaining and encouraging "how I did it" story-- a neuroscientist almost 40 years old has always wanted to play the guitar and decides to delve in, despite a near-total lack of musical experience and a firm conviction that he had no musical talent whatsoever. Along the way, he interviews many well-known and lesser-known teachers and musicians and makes new friends, from kids in a rock and roll camp to people his mother's age. Includes many digressions into how one learns at different age...more
I like books about the science of music especially ones geared to the layman. There was one I read I think it was called "music and mathematics" and it was way way way too dense. I remember a sentence "we can think of this interval using a simple fraction, 37 over 142" and I was like "what the hell" and I stopped reading it. This one is pretty fundamental and even though I'm quite experienced with music and music theory I still think it's far more valuable to hear fundamental concepts explained...more
The background story is Marcus' journey in learning the guitar. The book is primarily about how the brain works with music.
The best part is the series of anecdotes about leading musicians and their approach to music. His coverage is broad in that he speaks to rock, classical, jazz and other genres.
Many chapters address whether practice or talent are most important and other such issues. In most cases, he presents pros and cons, the chapters ending inconclusively.
Overall, it was an interesting bo...more
The best part is the series of anecdotes about leading musicians and their approach to music. His coverage is broad in that he speaks to rock, classical, jazz and other genres.
Many chapters address whether practice or talent are most important and other such issues. In most cases, he presents pros and cons, the chapters ending inconclusively.
Overall, it was an interesting bo...more
On the appeal of musical structure... Familiarity (repetition) + Novelty (an altogether new section or a new take on previous theme) gives the brain a double reward... points for correctly anticipating what's coming and points for discovering something new.
A good book. The guy gets it. Whereas Bernstein asked "Whither Music?", Gary asks "Why Music?" the simplicity of the answer evokes Occam's Razor and a tidy summation by Zappa "[because] music is the best".
Inspired me to shut up n play my guita...more
A good book. The guy gets it. Whereas Bernstein asked "Whither Music?", Gary asks "Why Music?" the simplicity of the answer evokes Occam's Razor and a tidy summation by Zappa "[because] music is the best".
Inspired me to shut up n play my guita...more
I found the premise intriguing at first -- that anybody at any age and ability level can, through dedicated study and practice, become a reasonably proficient musician. The neurological and psychological underpinnings were instructive, as was a sidebar about how innate talent matters, but not as much as one might think. However, my interest waned as the book progressed. This may have had the makings of a great case study that was elongated into full-length book. It reminded me of an SNL skit tur...more
Not what I was looking for, but fairly interesting nevertheless. I was looking for more on the science of learning and how it relates to music, whereas this was more about the cognitive science of music, but that's my fault, not the authors. It was educational though, and the writing is good. As one does in pop science books, the author does a good job of balancing interesting anecdotes with relevant scientific knowledge. If nothing else, I was inspired to re-enter the realm of musical learning....more
In "Guitar Zero" Gary Marcus has hit the nail directly on the head. His memoir of the time he spent learning to play guitar as an adult tells his story, but more importantly, teaches us a great deal about the how the mind learns music. This will be of great interest to anyone looking to improve their ability on ANY musical instrument. It will also be of interest to anyone who wishes to read an enjoyable book. The science is discussed in simple, crystal clear prose. Highly recommended.
This book was an excellent read but the title is misleading. While the author's goal was to learn music and that desire was the inspiration for this book, the subject is basically "This is your brain on music" instead of how to play guitar. While he addresses the guitar in his book, he also addresses how the mind and body process music as well as discussing music theory. This is more a psychology of music mixed with a bit of memoir. Still a good book though.
Just about the time you think there's nothing new here and of course his experience learning music as an adult will be difficult as yours was, that's when some nugget appears and you learn something. You treat yourself more kindly because you realkze what obstacles you are facing as you struggle with playing an instrument (not necessarily guitar) as an adult. The book is absolutely worth reading, even when it feels off target. It will explain a lot.
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Jan 09, 2013 03:55pm