I thought it would be fun to find out what other instruments you guys are into besides guitar. Like, what other instruments are you decent enough on to justify owning one, even if you don't have one?
What was your first instrument? What instrument are you most accomplished on? What have you played the most? What are you hoping to get into?
Me:
1st instrument - violin. I played when I was really young
most accomplished on - trombone! I played for years, up into college. I haven't played for a while but I miss it dearly. For anyone who knows trombones, I still have my horn, which I got brand new in 1984. It's a King 3B+, gold brass bell & F attachment. The slide is still perfect.
mostly play - drums. I've been into drumming for about 18 years now. I mostly play a kit that I built for my church, which is black sparkle with maple hoops. I will try to remember to get a picture of it to post.
other instruments:
bass - I'm good enough to fill in as needed
tuba - Got to play this for a Sousa march in high school and I like to think I did pretty well. No way I could afford a good tuba!
uke - When I was a kid. Does this even count? I just remember playing 1, 4, 5 chords. I would like to get a good one some time.
want to get into:
banjo - I've started messing with it a little. It's fun but weird having the highest string on top.
Hammond organ - Thanks to Timbo's post, I've got the bug real bad to find an M3 and maybe a basket case Leslie. To justify owning one, I will have to learn to play. Piano lab was a long time ago.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's the gist of it. I'm really curious to know what you guys play besides guitar.
I played trombone through high school and college. Wish I could play drums, but I'm drumming incompetent
I played drums in a couple of bands and bass in two other bands for about three years.
My other IOC is Drums as well. I started on drums when I was 11. So it's been 20 years and I still love it!
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I've been playing piano since I was 4. I also play saxophone (alto) and drums
First instrument: I played piano when I was younger but always sucked so I quit pretty quick.
Most accomplished instrument (and favorite): Guitar
Have also sang or played drums or bass in prior bands
Since i barely play guitar, i play bass. In fact i play bass way better than guitar. Had more succesfull gigs as a bassist then guitarist.
From 18 to 22 i played in Cryptik Howling, founder member, wrote an album with them, recorded the promo pack, left before first album session, thinking that my guitar playing band would bring me further.. broke up a month after! hahahaha Former band are now at their 3rd album and writing the 4th... ::)
And i played in AC/DC, Black Sabbath hommage bands and a «Top30» cover band.
Should have stick to the bass now that i read this again...
Drums were my first instrument, and I studied them in college (as well as engineering, my major). I also own a couple of basses but I'm not sure if I'd really say I play the bass. Ditto accordion.
Bass in a band in High School and Drums with a small "on again off again" group of friends band and guitar over the years. Not sure if this counts but ever since the Akai MPC 2000's came out I was a same beat junkie. Still am and I still make beats from time to time. I love sampling and making abstract stuff. I now use a Native Instruments Maschine for most of my pad smacking.
Cody
Guitarist first and foremost. Since I can play the six string, naturally I can play the four string. I dare say most bass players are eiher guitar players who can't find a band to play guitar in so they start playing bass instead, which happened to me a lot, or they were guitar players at one point who when they and their friends decided to start a band then got shoved a bass guitar in their hands and were told 'this is what you're going to play from now on'. From what I gather that's more or less what happened to the bass player of Muse. I'm a shitty bass player, not in the sense that I can't rock the four strings, quite the contrary in fact, but when I play bass in a band I always start to feel that I can do a way better job then the guitarist(s).
While I'm a guitarist first and foremost, when I'm really into listening some music it's not the air guitar that I rock but the air drums. I really can't stop tapping rhythms, which to some people will appear like I'm having a nervous tick or something. So at one point I bought a former drummer's drum kit and learned myself how to play drums. Can't seem to master the rhythm where the kick follows immediately after a snare while maintaining a steady rhythm on the hi-hat. It has eluded me for 20 years so I guess drums are not my thing after all. Or maybe I should have sprung for a lesson. Of course nowadays the question becomes, lesson....., or building that new pedal? Choices, choices....
I was a huge U2 fan and of The Edge in particular. I always loved his guitar playing, which seemed so unique compared to all those shredders and pentatonic blues players out there. Of course one of the things that the Edge does from time to time is play the piano. So I tried my hands on that. Wasn't very good at it, but I could do New Year's Day and October. It wasn't until a year and a half ago when my band was offered a chance to play a few gigs in Turkey and Italy and when our keyboard player decided he'd rather stay home with his family that I decided to really try my hands at playing the piano. Can't read sheet music if my life depended on it, which was what stopped me for most of my musical career, but nowadays youtube is full of handy tutorials so even a piano n00b like me can learn how to play full songs, and with enough practice not that bad either. Just for the hell of it and because its such a good warm up song I even managed to learn Space Dementia from Muse.
Every other week I play the mixing desk at church :)
Guitar, mandolin, piano, banjo (5- and 4-string), bass, glockenspiel, and violin are the ones I've recorded.
Guitar is obviously my primary instrument.
I get side gigs on mandolin more than anything else.
Piano was technically my first instrument, and I can play just well enough to teach new song parts to someone or play on a record in a pinch. I didn't have lessons, but I did take keyboard in high school, which was really more of a self-guided class.
When I was little, I wanted a banjo, so my parents got me one. I didn't realize that you couldn't just pick up an instrument and play it, so my dad traded it for a guitar, which he had for years until I was 14 and decided to learn how to play guitar. So I picked it up and could play it. Hah.
Typically I can play anything with strings as long as I know how it's tuned, except bowed
instruments. I suck on the violin and was never able to get good at it. I even took lessons for a year. Sadly, it's the only instrument besides guitar that I really wanted to be good at, but I simply didn't bond with it. Same goes for slide guitar. I think it's just that my ears don't hear pitch well enough. Instead I got good with a volume pedal. That's my violin and steel guitar etc. :)
Took obligatory piano lessons for several years as a child. Originally wanted to play drums, but my parents wouldn't get me a drum kit. Got a cheap guitar for Christmas one year, and that's the instrument I really bonded with.
I haven't played piano in years, but I still visualize music in terms of the keyboard.
I started as a bass player, by choice. I've always loved the bass and even though I mostly play guitar these days, still consider myself a bassist. I played trombone in school. The only official lessons I've taken beyond that was for slide dobro/resophonic guitar. A guy almost traded me a square neck recently but he backed out at the last second :-[ I own a few odd ball world instruments like an Indian keyboard style Bulbul Terang and a pretty sweet mountain dulcimer I can get around on alright. Synths and keyboards are fun for me as well though I could never say I'm good at them. I have a drum set that is near completion so I'm looking forward to finally giving that a shot.
I play guitar (preferably electric), and i sing.
I have also recorded/produced quite a bit, where i "play everything" myself, which means i dabble (is "dabble" the correct term in this context?) with electric bass and keyboard, and do drum programming.
My first instrument was piano, and i do have a beauty 19th century Schwesten upright, here at home.
Cheers
I started on piano, did that for about 6 years, it didn't take primarily because I had teachers who really didn't inspire me. One day I'll start it up again, and learn what I want to learn, not what the book wants to teach me. In retrospect, it's probably a good thing piano didn't take, cause if it had, I'd have ended up collecting pianos instead of guitars, and would have to live in an abandoned airplane hanger.
I play a little bit of bass and have stood in on bass from time to time, but really I play it more as a songwriting tool than actually being any good at it. I oversubscribe to the theory of "When in doubt, hit the fat string."
I am trying to learn steel guitar (lap to start with) and mandolin, again for song writing purposes, because they are great textural instruments. Unfortunately, it's also harder not to sound like a complete hack on them.
I can't drum to save my life. Not even a little bit. It's pathetic, really. But I am going to buy an acoustic kit when the new house gets built complete with the soundproof music room, and try to learn or at least make a lot of noise. I have an electronic kit, but it sucks on so many levels, not the least of which is it is all far too confined to be useful.
But most of my energy is devoted to trying to become a better guitar player, as I have coasted in my comfort zone for far too long.
I followed my brother in quite a few things over the time. When he started drums, I started with mallets. First is was Glockenspiel (small and rather inexpensive), and because it's part of the whole "drums and percussion" family I also started learning drum set and later on it was mostly xylophone, marimba or vibraphone. I also played in an ensemble, which was rather successful winning a few contests and playing a few shows at eg. sports events or for a politician during her campaign, which proved to rather rewarding money-wise as a teenager.
When my bro started playing bass, it wasn't long before I picked up a Squier electric guitar and finally dropped out of drums/mallets when I was in my final year of high school. Since both my bro and me moved to cities rather far away from my parents' home for college and we never really played when we were home, we sold both the xylophone and the drum kit. I often regret that, since you always want what you don't have. Tried it again two years ago and it's unbelievable how fast you forget how to play.
I always fancied trombone, trumpet and violin. These instruments add a certain charme to all my favorite post-rock songs. Too bad I'm too old for the local music school. ;(
Piano - took years of lessons, played weekly in church.
Euphonium - I excelled at it, getting a free ride through college with it. But it's not a standard orchestra horn, so the military is where you go to play your euphonium. This did not appeal. I switched my major to music composition.
Started guitar as a teenager, taking lessons at the baptist church. The teacher saw me write something with my left hand, and told me he wouldn't teach me anymore :o It's been on/off since then.
I have fretless bass that I love to noodle around on (huge Mick Karn fan). And I dig making beats and drones with lo-fi gadgets. But it's back to piano these days, having bought a new Hailun upright. I spend a large art of my me time working on Chopin and Philip Glass pieces.
Quote from: derevaun on July 07, 2014, 11:59:26 PM
Euphonium - I excelled at it, getting a free ride through college with it. But it's not a standard orchestra horn, so the military is where you go to play your euphonium. This did not appeal. I switched my major to music composition.
That's pretty awesome.
<makes mental note>
Quote from: derevaun on July 07, 2014, 11:59:26 PM
Euphonium - I excelled at it, getting a free ride through college with it.
Low brass FTW! I got offered full tuition to play trombone at the University of Hawaii but I didn't go because I met a great girl! It worked out and we've had 18 great years of marriage. I promised to take her to Hawaii but we haven't made it yet. It will happen.
Quote from: Leevibe link=topic=16374.msg155263#msg155263 date=
Low brass FTW! I got offered full tuition to play trombone at the University of Hawaii but I didn't go because I met a great girl! It worked out and we've had 18 great years of marriage. I promised to take her to Hawaii but we haven't made it yet. It will happen.
That is pretty much the only way that story could have ended without a whole lot of :o s, lol.
Quote from: GermanCdn on July 08, 2014, 12:42:05 AM
Quote from: Leevibe link=topic=16374.msg155263#msg155263 date=
Low brass FTW! I got offered full tuition to play trombone at the University of Hawaii but I didn't go because I met a great girl! It worked out and we've had 18 great years of marriage. I promised to take her to Hawaii but we haven't made it yet. It will happen.
That is pretty much the only way that story could have ended without a whole lot of :o s, lol.
Yeah. If they would have offered me room, board, and books in addition to the tuition, I probably would have ended up marrying the wrong woman and I'd be miserable. Haha.
Quote from: Leevibe on July 08, 2014, 12:51:31 AM
Quote from: GermanCdn on July 08, 2014, 12:42:05 AM
Quote from: Leevibe link=topic=16374.msg155263#msg155263 date=
Low brass FTW! I got offered full tuition to play trombone at the University of Hawaii but I didn't go because I met a great girl! It worked out and we've had 18 great years of marriage. I promised to take her to Hawaii but we haven't made it yet. It will happen.
That is pretty much the only way that story could have ended without a whole lot of :o s, lol.
Yeah. If they would have offered me room, board, and books in addition to the tuition, I probably would have ended up marrying the wrong woman and I'd be miserable. Haha.
True that--we low brass players don't always have zillions of ladies in our company :-D
But at least music scholarships have tended to remain steady at state schools with outsized athletic departments. They fund the marching band, freeing up money for the string and throat majors :-)
Quote from: derevaun on July 07, 2014, 11:59:26 PM
Started guitar as a teenager, taking lessons at the baptist church. The teacher saw me write something with my left hand, and told me he wouldn't teach me anymore :o
That's abhorent!
+1 on above. Started guitar when I was in Grade 4 and wore out my folks record player trying to cop Mason Williams and Chet Atkins tunes. By Grade 12 I actually got to play "Classical Gas" with a full concert band. I've never been the same since. Six years on the road and then quit for 16. Got a church gig these days and sit in on bass from time to time. I go WAY out of my way NOT to sound like a guitar player playing bass. I can usually spot one of those from a few blocks away. Wish I had a decent voice and would like to play keys.
Mom was a concert violinist. Started on piano, then guitar while playing Trombone all through grade school. Sorta a bass player but mostly gigged guitar and keys. Early 60s opened for Strawberry Alarmclock. Later in the 60s "Superchief" (signed to Polygram EMI) Played at the Newport Pop Festival in 1968. 70s "Live Jive" Motown and Funk blah blah put out an EP in the 80s with my group "Shake". Switched to Audio Post and music Scoring. Opened a facility in So. Cal. Had a great run, won a "Golden Reel" award for audio supervisor on an iMax animation. Several National Broadcasts. Did all of Steve Oedekerks "thumb" shorts. Thumbtanic, Thumbwars, Blair Thumb, Bat Thumb, God Thumb and Frankenthumb. So my legacy is that....Thumbs. I'm listed in the Imdb if you want a laugh. (Dan Shattuck) Went into Video Production for a while.. Was a worship Pastor for many years. Now I'm an Audio Video Forensic Examiner and wish I could just play my freaking guitar....
I have put a card table in my new electronics room...8-)
Quote from: blearyeyes on July 08, 2014, 05:20:09 AM
Mom was a concert violinist. Started on piano, then guitar while playing Trombone all through grade school. Sorta a bass player but mostly gigged guitar and keys. Early 60s opened for Strawberry Alarmclock. Later in the 60s "Superchief" (signed to Polygram EMI) Played at the Newport Pop Festival in 1968. 70s "Live Jive" Motown and Funk blah blah put out an EP in the 80s with my group "Shake". Switched to Audio Post and music Scoring. Opened a facility in So. Cal. Had a great run, won a "Golden Reel" award for audio supervisor on an iMax animation. Several National Broadcasts. Did all of Steve Oedekerks "thumb" shorts. Thumbtanic, Thumbwars, Blair Thumb, Bat Thumb, God Thumb and Frankenthumb. So my legacy is that....Thumbs. I'm listed in the Imdb if you want a laugh. (Dan Shattuck) Went into Video Production for a while.. Was a worship Pastor for many years. Now I'm an Audio Video Forensic Examiner and wish I could just play my freaking guitar.... I have put a card table in my new electronics room...8-)
No work on Kung Pow?! You must be bummed about that! What a cool career!
Steve and Paul did all the audio in Steve's little editing shack in his back yard. Weeuuuweuu... I had a lot of fun doing Comedy stuff..
I picked up an 8 string guitar and fumble around on it trying to renew my youth. Plus playing keyboards these days, using Logic on a Mac, there really isn't anything you can't simulate including full Orchestral pieces which has been my aspiration for many years. But it's not the same as actually playing all the instruments.
Lastly my Girlfriend gave me a Saxophone that is in great shape. I seem to have attracted a flock of Geese to my neighborhood...
I'm a drummer.
Maybe at some point I'll consider taking up a musical instrument.
I play all of them. No seriously, I do.
The question is how well I play them. :)
I play the Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Vocals very well.
I play the Piano, Sax and general percussion ok.
I play many other instruments with various levels of ability, from barely any to passable.
Jacob
Quote from: jkokura on July 09, 2014, 06:20:55 PM
I play all of them. No seriously, I do.
The question is how well I play them. :)
I play the Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Vocals very well.
I play the Piano, Sax and general percussion ok.
I play many other instruments with various levels of ability, from barely any to passable.
Jacob
What do you call 100 saxes at the bottom of the ocean?
JUST KIDDING!!!!!! We shouldn't start that up. ;D