Hello everyone. This is my introduction thread so I guess I will give a little background about myself. I'm a 27 year old woman. I have also always had a deep passionate relationship with music. I took piano lessons for a couple years in elementary school and then tried to learn the guitar in high school. I didn't put the effort into learning to play that was required and stopped taking lessons after a couple months. Art and music are very important to me- but I never felt like I was particularly good at either. I've come to believe that, out of the two, I am better at visual art but I'm not even great at it and if I am mediocre in my strong suit I would be awful at music.
I have wanted to make music for as long as I can remember, but I have never really applied myself because I am afraid that I lack the talent to be able to do it. I love to sing. I sing every day in my car and around the house, but I don't want to let anyone hear me sing because I am embarrassed of my voice. I don't have a good voice but I don't have a horrible voice either. I've been considering taking voice lessons and/or trying to learn to play an instrument. I tell myself that most of my (incredibly talented) friends have been playing since they were kids and that starting at 27 just isn't done- that it's too old to try to become a talented musician. I believe that with a lot of hard work I would be able play other peoples songs on whatever instrument I pick, but I can't even imagine making beautiful music of my own- or even being able to improvise at all.
I want to make sure that I am being realistic before taking the plunge and trying to improve my voice and learn an instrument. I have always loved to write and I am good at it- I've never written song lyrics before, but I am thinking if I improved my voice and wrote lyrics my boyfriend could build music around it and we could record it together- with him creating and playing the music and with me writing and singing the lyrics.
As far as learning to play an instrument I would want to learn one that would provide a good foundation and allow me to potentially branch out to other instruments. I am leaning toward the piano followed by guitar, but I am open to suggestions.
I would love to hear some advice on whether or not music is something I should pursue and if so how should I go about it.