United Kingdom

Those lovely people at the Arts Council have come up with a new initiative designed to help more people get involved in learning and playing music.

TAKE IT AWAY allows individuals to apply for a loan of up to £2,000 for the purchase of any kind of musical instrument, and pay it back in nine monthly instalments, completely interest free.

Take it away is open to everyone (over the age of eighteen), but primarily designed to help those who might otherwise be unable to afford an instrument appropriate for their needs.

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If you can't even afford a cheap instrument and actually hafta take a loan out for one, may I suggest you get your priorities straight and come back to putting time into your craft after you have taken care of the seriously more important issues in your life! don't let this foolish thread put you into a deeper debt than the one you already have!

Come on, you can get a 50$ guitar and do what you do.

I even got a 50$ drum set once. LOL It was cool as hell, 3 drums, all miniature. Until my drummer killed it, pretending he was something amazing.

(never let a known goon use your equipment)

For that fact, never whore out one of your guitars. They wouldn't borrow your lucky rubber would they? Then NO GUITAR! My answer to borrow my guitar for a set is "DIE". lol

You can borrow my gf, though. lol

Sounds like more socalist eutopia crap to me. Will they give you a loan if you want to be an Olympic Shooter ? For the love of God man, If you want to play an instrument just go get one and stop all this nanny state cry baby stuff. Jez its a wonder you people can still vote.

I want a loan because I want to be a non-Olympic shooter. LOL

Greetings British cousins,
Back in the 60's , I had the good fortune to be able to , for a reasonable fee, ride a bus to New york City , were I have seen many good concerts. I was especially impressed with such great drummers as Moon, Baker, Dunbar, and the like. All had top of the line gear. Ironically, The best drumming I've ever heard in the Big Town was on a more recent excursion , when I heard a street musician playing on an inexpensive empty plastic bucket!
ta ta
Howlin'

It's as if the better it sounds, the more some people resist it. Why?

sounds like a great opportunity tbh, but always think very carefully before entering into a loan agreement. if you're just starting out, you can expect it to be years before that instrument starts making you any money, so you'd better have some income to back it.

& yes, you can drum on a bucket, & you can make it sound good - but you can't play no jazz on no bucket
i imagine it's assumed that you have some talent & will make good use of the instrument, which means you've already been playing some cheap piece of crap for a while, & it's time to move up.

For example, I'm bassist who's been playing electric for years, has borrowed friends' double basses at jazz workshops and the occasional shared gig, and want to have a db of my own to gig with. But a cheap db just isn't worth it, and up to £2000 would get me started and open the doors to gigs that I can't get with my electric.
I'm not condoning getting into debt that you can't handle. I have a healthy income, but not much spare cash/savings at present, and I'm wondering about the loan. I know I could pay it off, unless I lose an arm or something, in which case I'd be selling the instrument anyway.
I don't think the UK's being a nanny state, at least in this respect. It seems to have finally woken up to the fact that the arts matter at a grass roots level and wants to be seen to be supporting them. And if that helps musicians whose chosen instruments are out of reach, then why complain?

Good point, D.

if you cant even play an instrument, why would you buy one thats expensive enough to get a loan for? get a dirt cheap one and see if you can, or even really want to play that particular instrument. I wanted to play the trumpet when I was 12. then drum's, then ect. ect. ect.

Some instruments aren't available in cheap beginners' versions that are actually worth having. I've been looking at starting the harp, and it seems you have to pay at least £600 to get anything even remotely good. There are cheaper ones, usually made in Pakistan, and commonly referred to by harpists as 'harp-shaped objects' which have a really poor tone and don't hold their tuning.

Other less common instruments have similar problems - some forms of bagpipe, the hurdy gurdy...

Then again, just because a cheap instrument is available (say for a violinist) doesn't mean it's appropriate. What if you've got a child who turns out to be a natural on the violin and the cheap instrument's holding them back? If you've got a stable income, isn't it a good thing to be able to get them the better instrument now rather than in nine months once you've saved up the lump sum? That's nine months in which they could progress or stagnate. Makes a lot of difference.

Not everybody can go and buy a decent first instrument for fifty bucks.

I think it's a great idea. In the USA, painting artists get help from the gov't to work on & show & sell their wares. Writers get help, too. Same with ppl trying to break into film. So why the hell not musicians?

I'm at the point where I really should upgrade some of my stuff, but can't afford to do it. I'd love it if I could get a leg up from the same ppl who steal 30+% of my income to finance all sortsa crap that I disagree with.

It's only fair.

Since you put it that way. Why not! Just give musicians a dollar for dollar tax exemption for equipment and advertising.

Just get a cheapo $50 guitar that doest have anything weird wrong with and put a decent pickup and strings on it. Hey for $200 you can have a guitar that doesnt sound all that bad.