Self-Learning Experience

[zoeb03]

Hi! I am putting together a collection of inspiring self-learning experiences for an independent project at my University. To anyone and everyone, do you have an experience when you taught yourself something or learned something without formal schooling or training? Could be anything, like, learning to play the guitar from videos or a friend, figuring out how to do trigonometry, cooking by trial and error with the help of a few cook books, or struggling through taxes, ext…
My goal is to compile these stories and inspire people to take their learning into their own hands. Thank you!

[Old_Geezer]

If one's allowed books then yeah, numerous things. Now't that inspirational though. Need to get started learning whatever you've decided on, and stick with it. The idea is to have sufficient success as you progress that it becomes enjoyable and keeps you at it. The goal has to feel worth any effort put in.

[Zacs-Master]

I taught myself AutoCAD and Photoshop by trial and error and a keenness to learn. You have to have self motivation and whilst it’s good to be inspired, if that innate desire isn’t there, your far less likely to succeed.

[Zacs-Master]

You’re

[Prudie]

On reflection I think most of us will have learnt a vast amount skills through self-learning, mainly via books (in my day) now I guess the internet. My personal examples would be:
Taught myself matrices from books because I missed those lectures Learnt bird, flower, tree, insect identification from books
Acquired knowledge of horse tack and saddlery via books
Self-taught basic piano playing by practice
I could go on

[woofgang]

Like most people, I have taught myself loads of things....gardening, Photoshop and photo editing generally, and other computer skills, many many craft and DIY skills, dog training, cookery, managing my finances.....actually aged 4 I taught myself to read.
Actually I don't think its particularly inspiring or unusual. If you add into your list of other ways to learn, things which are taught to us by parents and siblings, probably 90% 0f all we learn comes to us through informal channels, maybe more. Are you sure that people need to be told this?

[beso]

I learnt a lot just from books but I often built on that knowledge through understanding and applying the fundamental principles of Physics which I have studied in great detail.

In my 20s I taught myself to become a skilled panel beater from a 1960s panel beating textbook. It was ideal because it explained techniques from the days when panel beaters used oxy-acetylene torches and actually beat panels with hammers. (There was a appendix on the use of the new plastic fillers but cautioned that a professional would only ever do that if the customer wanted a cheap and nasty job.)

My most precious moment was a small rust repair I did for a neighbour. He was going to do the finishing and painting so saw the single piece of metal I had formed and welded in place. He looked at it then looked at me with his mouth open as if I must have had alien powers.

Hard to explain without a drawing but the piece curved around the corner of a tail light. It was about an inch wide on the facing panel and included two ninety degree folds for the tail light recess. As such the two folds needed to be also bent in a curve at ninety degrees to their own bends.

It isn't actually hard if you know how but quite surprising if you don't. It was never explained in the book but I knew what to do from the general principles about forming sheet metal.

[beso]

In my late thirties I worked on the design of a five kilowatt wind turbine. I had no formal training but worked as part of team that included professional engineers. My main role was to build the transformers and electrical equipment to the specs supplied to me by the one of the other team members..

The team was somewhat under-resourced. While waiting for the electrical design to be completed I got involved in the turbine engineering.

I took on designing the automatic over-speed brake. It was only expected to engage if the electrical system failed so was not expected to be sophisticated. The main remit was that reliably was paramount and it need to work even if it hadn't moved in years, so it had to be kept very simple.

The design I came up with was very simply implemented but fully featured. It was centrifugally tripped as expected but could be also set and reset from the ground by pulling on the power cable, much like one operates a roller blind. (Pull and release quickly to trip. Pull and release slowly to reset.) Never part of the original specification but it also included a vibration trigger designed to trip the brake if the turbine got out of balance through damage to a blade.

I was built to my detailed drawings and worked perfectly. One of my professional colleagues described it as a "masterpiece".

[Ninnynanny]

Have a look at the university of the third age website. Nearly every town has a u3a organisation. It is a self learning organisation. It might give you some ideas.

[beso]

In my early forties I worked in a job where some of the employees had a jam session after work one night a week. I became aware of it while working back one night. After that I stayed back regularly to listen.

It was led by a guy whose enthusiasm exceeded his talent but he was having such fun it was a very safe and encouraging environment for people to participate, especially after a beer or two.

One night they were performing Del Shannon's "Runaway". Nobody could manage to sing the wah-wah-wah-wah in the chorus so they just skipped it. After the second skip I thought to myself, "I can do that" and just dropped in at the next round. The other guys nearly fell over in surprise. (While working from home in my previous job I always played music, mostly female vocalists, so my high register and falsetto were quite good.)

Over the next couple weeks I discovered I was actually quite a reasonable vocalist although I had no musical training. My skills developed quite quickly and I found I really enjoyed singing harmonies even though I had no real understanding of musical theory. (I put that down to singing to music by TLC a lot.)

One night I noticed a beat between my voice and a guitar, suggesting I was off key, yet I felt sure I wasn't. I decided I needed to research this and discovered what was going on. I came to understand the concept of different temperaments and that, like all Equal Tempered instruments, it was actually the guitar that was slightly flat on the Fifth. The beat was there because I had apparently been singing the Perfect Fifth in my harmony. I realised why guitarists often bend notes. It stretches the string, lifting its frequency so it sounds the Perfect Fifth.

Armed with so much more information from a single night of reading about musical theory, I began applying my knowledge of resonances in electrical circuits and considering the sonic equivalents of same techniques used in tuning radio frequency circuits (particularly the Phase Locked Loop). The next jam session my vocal skills reached a whole new level even though I had done no practice on this new idea in between, something I found quite astounding.

My voice began tracking the guitars as they bent the notes. One of the guitarists told me he thought it was quite a remarkable skill. Another guitar I found I could really lock onto and resonate it to my voice. One night the guy playing it commented that he had to move away because "I was playing his guitar more than he was".

Vibrato just appeared in my voice at the right times without me thinking about it. (Definitely not Judith Durham style.) I realised this happens technique produces both the Equal Tempered and Perfect Fifths.

I decided to build a spreadsheet to study the differences between various tuning temperaments. I began to think there could be other scales with different temperaments and many more notes. I plugged these relationships into my spreadsheet and came up with a 43 pitch scale. To my amazement I discovered such a scale had already been invented long ago but never popularised. (It has weaknesses).

I eventually found my low register while recovering from a cold. After working on it I was able to get down very low. I studied the structures of the vocal tract and this also helped improve my voice so I could sing with less fatigue.

I came up with exercises to avoid gaps in my range and maintain resonance right across it. (One particularly useful one is to walk between rooms of very different acoustic qualities and try to maintain the sound quality and resonance as you pass through the doorway.)

Then I got a mic and amp and really broke loose.

Without any formal training and very little reading, learning through my own techniques, I eventually was able to sing nearly anything as lead, harmony or sub-harmony across a range of several octaves. I've lost some of that ability as I've gotten older (I'm 60 now) and not singing as much as I used to, but I still sing quite well when I do.

[beso]

Ninnynanny //Have a look at the university of the third age website. Nearly every town has a u3a organisation. //

We have that in Australia. My wife has done things there. It is fantastic.

[douglas9401]

To summarise, Beso says 'Yes'. :-)

[jourdain2]

I'm sure most people just learn stuff for themselves. I was told at Junior school that I was shouting when I thought I was singing, so thought I couldn't sing. Aged 51 I was persuaded by a lovely lady to join her choir and I discovered many joys in singing. Just keeping at it means that now (20 yrs. later) I am a very good alto and in demand for various choirs.

Skills - I could do basic sewing stitches, but took more academic subjects at Secondary school level. When I had children we were so broke that I clothed them mainly from jumble sales and hand-me-downs. My dear Godmother died and left me a couple of hundred pounds, so I bought a sewing-machine. I taught myself to follow patterns, eventually to make my own patterns and designs and reached the stage where I made my husband's trousers and sports jackets. It's called 'Needs must when the Devil drives'.

On the same principle I learned to grow my own veg. and make bread, jams etc., etc.. Adversity is good for self-development. :)

[empoweryouth]

Self-learning gives you the ability to identify problems and quickly look for effective solutions on your own. You can improve your other skills too. Self-learners have a strong commitment to tasks, as they learn how to stick to a plan until they achieve their goals.

[alavahalf]

If it's about blowing your own trumpet .. I taught myself to swim, aged 6 .. I then went on to swim 25 yards in my pyjamas and got a medal for it.
.. beat that if you can !