Brainstorm the types of instruments you would like to learn (for suggestions on how to sort through the different instruments, see, Types of Instruments ).
Try before you buy to see if you like the sound and feel of it.
Speak to the staff at music stores if you’re buying the instrument from there – they can help recommend an instrument with your experience and budget.
Set some long-term goals for yourself. (Do you want to become very good, or do you just want to be able to play a few specific songs?)
Set some short-term goals for yourself – for example, you can say to yourself, “I’m going to practice every other day at 7pm. for an hour, or within 2 weeks I want to be able to play this song well.”
Practice! Set time aside to work on your instrument, and gradually you will become better if you practice somewhat consistently. Learn music theory, scales, and rudiments for your instrument, which might be boring at first, but they will help you in the long run.
Learn with a friend; it can be fun and give you more motivation, or join a local orchestra or band.
Have fun! If you get stressed trying to practice, take a break and come back to it later.
Learn to listen – once you can identify the melody, harmony, and/or bass lines, you’re halfway there on being able to reproduce them.
Play music that you like. If you force yourself to play a lot of music you hate playing and listening to, you might give up on your instrument (as time goes on and you become better at your instrument, you’ll be able to have more choices of what to play).