Who here plays a musical instrument?

[Southpaw]

Been pick''n and grin'n for over 65 years . First guitar was a Blonde F hole Arch top Sears Silvertone. Bought it out of the catalogue. Picked and stacked hay bales to get the money , $15.00
That one made the fingers bleed before the Calluses developed .

 

[3393RP]

The banjo is, to me, the easiest instrument upon which to make a recognizable tune. If you were nearby, I'd loan you one, and show you a couple of quick things to get going. You'll need a soundproof room to practice in, if you have a family, or not, if you don't want a family.

You know the difference between an onion and a banjo?



No one cries when you cut up a banjo.

 

[tree96]

I’ll pick around on the guitar, harmonica, make noise with a banjo that sounds nothing like music though. I only own 4 guitars, sounds like I need to step my game.


What’s the difference between a fiddle and a violin?






Violins have strings, fiddles have strangs.
I’ll see myself out now

 

[MauleSkinner]

You know the difference between an onion and a banjo?



No one cries when you cut up a banjo.

One of my coworkers has a grandson who’s learning the bagpipes.

he says a kid practicing bagpipes is kind of like 1000 kids practicing violin.

 

[lancie00]

I had some friends that were starting a rock band and asked if I wanted to play bass. I bought a bass and 1 week later we practiced 3 songs. That was 20 years ago. I've been playing locally ever since. Right now my son and I are putting another band together to try it again. Fun hobby but it's a real pain to find people who can work together.

 

[Kenny Phillips]

But, I digress.......
Conga/percussion and guitar/vocals since age 14.
Made a lot of $’s doing that while in school.
It’s true! Money for nothing and chicks for free.
And it’s fun!

I found that playing violin in the mid-1960s wasn't a chick magnet thing. Not that I cared so much, being eight years old.

 

[Kenny Phillips]

You know the difference between an onion and a banjo?



No one cries when you cut up a banjo.

Same with kitten and bass player. {OK to substitute drummer, of course}.

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

Sounds like a cousin of mine. How many people in the world even know what a bassoon looks like, let alone sounds like!
And his brother is a credentialed and bonyfied rocket scientist!
What are the odds? Could it be?

I still have mine. In some ways I wish I would have stuck with it longer, but at the same time, I know there was no way I had the drive to push it any further than where I was. Its funny, one of the bigger brands of bassoons is made just down the road from me in Indiana.

 

[3393RP]

Same with kitten and bass player. {OK to substitute drummer, of course}.

Know watcha call a drummer without a girlfriend?





Homeless.

 

[just Bill]

Played lap steel as a boy. Washed cars and mowed lawns to buy my first guitar. Played in a rock & country band in high school. Continued to play guitar, then discovered the 5-string banjo. That became my primary instrument, playing Scruggs-style. Played in a bluegrass band for a number of years. Self-produced two banjo solo albums. Continue to play banjo, acoustic & electric guitar and Dobro (square neck resonator guitar). Wife plays fiddle & acoustic bass. Daughter performs with her husband in a band in Texas: she plays fiddle, guitar, mandolin and banjo. Her hubby plays electric & acoustic bass & guitar. Enjoy playing bluegrass, classic country, classic rock and blues. My instrument arsenal includes: Martin D-35, Martin D-15, Gibson Earl Scruggs model banjo, Huber custom banjo, custom Telecaster and Gibson Dobro. Recently retired from M.C.'ing bluegrass festivals in the Southwest after 30 years. Still enjoy playing and jamming. Finding my hands now move slower than my brain...and my brain is pretty darned slow!

 

[denverpilot]

Guitar was favorite. Some piano. Baritone horn. Singer. (Various styles, some dusty vocal jazz awards somewhere...)

I say “was” because with the jacked up right hand, the guitar playing is over with.

 

[Fallsrider]

One of my coworkers has a grandson who’s learning the bagpipes.

he says a kid practicing bagpipes is kind of like 1000 kids practicing violin.

I would love to be able to play bagpipes. But I would never practice enough to get even remotely good enough to play in public, and I would not ask my wife to go through the torture of me learning. I can see how it would be a real sacrifice for the rest of the family!

Edit: I played snare drum for the Scottish band for one year in college. I do like that sound.

 

[Justin M]

I would love to be able to play bagpipes. But I would never practice enough to get even remotely good enough to play in public, and I would not ask my wife to go through the torture of me learning. I can see how it would be a real sacrifice for the rest of the family!

Edit: I played snare drum for the Scottish band for one year in college. I do like that sound.

Random Bag Pipes:

 

[Kenny Phillips]

A cat picture, in my office/music room.

 

[JustinD]

Bass Guitar since I was about 8! As a by product of that I can play the guitar as well but not my speciality. Played in a band for a while we got to open for some of my favorite bands as the local radio station who hosted many concerts would always get a local band to be an opener as well so we entered for as many of those as we could.

I still love live music and wish I still played in a band! One day again I hope. I’ve flown trips with many crew members who play, and even have flown with a few guys that have brought a guitar along with them! Whoever said you could make a band out of pilots is 100% correct. I could probably walk into my crew room and assemble a 4 piece band in a minute

 

[OkieFlyer]

And one night a year, in a certain part of Kentucky, with just the right combination of beer and brown liquor, you’re an effin Rock Star!

Yeah, when you guys have all had plenty of firewater, it probably does sound good. There is a reason I don't get the guitar out in the daylight.

But thanks for the compliment, Dave.

 

[FlightofTwo]

Played piano from age 5 on up. Used to play for school programs, churches, etc. Nothing professional.

 

[labbadabba]

I consider my voice to be a musical instrument and I still sing professionally. And play piano very unprofessionally.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Well, I tried really hard to bankrupt my parents by switching instruments as often as possible.

Started piano lessons at age 5 or so. Never got really good, I have more of a one-note mind.
Started Cello in 4th grade.
Started Trombone in 5th grade.
Started percussion in 7th grade. I wanted to be cool, yaknow? It didn't work... I figured maybe it was that I was still playing cello and trombone, dropped those entirely in 8th grade. Still wasn't cool.
Freshman year of high school, I wasn't even going to sign up for band... Changed my mind about two weeks into the school year. Band director said I could play trombone or "baritone" but that if I played trombone I would need my own horn. And my dad played "baritone."

Pedantic music geek side note: I put "baritone" in quotes, because though I play the same instrument to this day, it is a euphonium. What we call a "baritone" here in the US, isn't a baritone. The British brass bands have both baritones and euphoniums, and they are significantly different. Baritone is straight bore and sounds more "tromboney" while the euphonium is conical and has a rounder, very beautiful sound. In fact, the word "euphonious" means "To have a pleasing sound."

That last instrument switch also proved to be a good one. I ended up sitting next to a guy who got me into drum and bugle corps, where I played a baritone bugle (keyed in G, 2 valves when I started, 3 when I aged out) - He brought me to a Madison Junior Scouts rehearsal and I marched there for a year before moving up to the Madison Scouts and marching there for six years. Touring all summer every summer, rehearsing all day and doing shows at night, and busting my tail in a way I never had before was a transformative experience in my life. Since then, I've done a few Madison Scouts alumni gigs, including the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (got a pretty good TV shot too) and the Krewe of Orpheus parade in NOLA for Mardi Gras. (Flew the Mooney to both of 'em, too! )

These days, I play in a tuba/euphonium quartet as the lead euphonium, and I play in the award-winning Waukesha Area Symphonic Band with my wife and in-laws. (Wife plays trombone, MIL plays trumpet, FIL plays drums, BIL plays french horn.)

 

[NealRomeoGolf]

Well, I tried really hard to bankrupt my parents by switching instruments as often as possible.

Started piano lessons at age 5 or so. Never got really good, I have more of a one-note mind.
Started Cello in 4th grade.
Started Trombone in 5th grade.
Started percussion in 7th grade. I wanted to be cool, yaknow? It didn't work... I figured maybe it was that I was still playing cello and trombone, dropped those entirely in 8th grade. Still wasn't cool.
Freshman year of high school, I wasn't even going to sign up for band... Changed my mind about two weeks into the school year. Band director said I could play trombone or "baritone" but that if I played trombone I would need my own horn. And my dad played "baritone."

Pedantic music geek side note: I put "baritone" in quotes, because though I play the same instrument to this day, it is a euphonium. What we call a "baritone" here in the US, isn't a baritone. The British brass bands have both baritones and euphoniums, and they are significantly different. Baritone is straight bore and sounds more "tromboney" while the euphonium is conical and has a rounder, very beautiful sound. In fact, the word "euphonious" means "To have a pleasing sound."

That last instrument switch also proved to be a good one. I ended up sitting next to a guy who got me into drum and bugle corps, where I played a baritone bugle (keyed in G, 2 valves when I started, 3 when I aged out) - He brought me to a Madison Junior Scouts rehearsal and I marched there for a year before moving up to the Madison Scouts and marching there for six years. Touring all summer every summer, rehearsing all day and doing shows at night, and busting my tail in a way I never had before was a transformative experience in my life. Since then, I've done a few Madison Scouts alumni gigs, including the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (got a pretty good TV shot too) and the Krewe of Orpheus parade in NOLA for Mardi Gras. (Flew the Mooney to both of 'em, too! )

These days, I play in a tuba/euphonium quartet as the lead euphonium, and I play in the award-winning Waukesha Area Symphonic Band with my wife and in-laws. (Wife plays trombone, MIL plays trumpet, FIL plays drums, BIL plays french horn.)

Cool stuff. I’ve never heard a euphonium called a baritone, but I’m a string player. We had a kid in our school that played top notch euphonium and ended up either winning or runnerup the old Chicago Symphony youth competition. I haven’t kept up with him but I think he was the euphonium player in the President’s Own for a while.

 

[SoonerAviator]

. . . That last instrument switch also proved to be a good one. I ended up sitting next to a guy who got me into drum and bugle corps, where I played a baritone bugle (keyed in G, 2 valves when I started, 3 when I aged out) - He brought me to a Madison Junior Scouts rehearsal and I marched there for a year before moving up to the Madison Scouts and marching there for six years. Touring all summer every summer, rehearsing all day and doing shows at night, and busting my tail in a way I never had before was a transformative experience in my life. Since then, I've done a few Madison Scouts alumni gigs, including the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (got a pretty good TV shot too) and the Krewe of Orpheus parade in NOLA for Mardi Gras. (Flew the Mooney to both of 'em, too! ). . .

Love the Scouts. Our competition high school marching band had a number of Madison Scout alumni as directors/techs. Lot of Blue Devils as well. I was so burned out of doing competition after the 3 years of high school that I didn't even give a passing thought to doing drum corps. I still like to see the Drums of Summer competition that typically makes a stop at my high school (Broken Arrow H.S.) and then moves on down to DFW for a show.

 

[labbadabba]

Cool stuff. I’ve never heard a euphonium called a baritone, but I’m a string player. We had a kid in our school that played top notch euphonium and ended up either winning or runnerup the old Chicago Symphony youth competition. I haven’t kept up with him but I think he was the euphonium player in the President’s Own for a while.

The Euphonium and Baritone horns are similar in that they are valved, B-flat brass instruments but one is a conical and the other is a straight bore. The euphonium as a result has a mellower sound. Similar to the difference between a trumpet and a cornette.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Love the Scouts. Our competition high school marching band had a number of Madison Scout alumni as directors/techs. Lot of Blue Devils as well. I was so burned out of doing competition after the 3 years of high school that I didn't even give a passing thought to doing drum corps. I still like to see the Drums of Summer competition that typically makes a stop at my high school (Broken Arrow H.S.) and then moves on down to DFW for a show.

I was on management staff at Southwind when Steve Vento was there... And I bet I know most of those Scouts you speak of as well.

 

[SoonerAviator]

I was on management staff at Southwind when Steve Vento was there... And I bet I know most of those Scouts you speak of as well.

Nice! Steve Vento was one of my band directors in intermediate high. He composes original scores and marching drill for schools all over the nation. Heck of a guy.