# Do you play a musical instrument?



## oregonyeti

How many musicians do we have here? I'm hyped right now about the trumpet my mom found at a garage sale and is sending me--a King 600 (not one of their top ones, but it is a King . . .) made in the '70's, in mint condition. I can hardly wait :roll:

I've played violin, French horn and trumpet, but it's been some years. I'm also really good at playing my Polk Audio/Onkyo sound system. That takes a lot of talent. How about the rest of you?


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## bryanj

I play a lot if instruments. Mostly drums, guitar, piano, and bass, but if you'd like I can give you the full list. Drums were my first instrument. Started playing when I was seven.


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## oregonyeti

Cool, Bryan :thumb:


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## koukouvagia

I'm a professional violinist.


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## oregonyeti

That's really great! I played violin for 9 years (4th-12th grade). I ended up pretty good at it. Not pro-level, of course. Years later I figured out why I had a hard time with some of the fingering and the vibrato--I just cannot keep my left elbow under the violin without a lot of effort. I don't bend that way.


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## bryanj

violin is one thing i dont play that ive always wanted to learn. i just cant figure out how to not make it squeak


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## ishbel

National instrument of Scotland :lol:
Although, to be honest, I haven't played for quite a few years - but I still have my pipes, just in case I ever get the urge to let rip!


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## singer4660

While I played several instruments as a child (piano, flute, saxophone, guitar) I wasn't really good at any of them. Turns out, I've got a "right hand, left hand" problem (i.e., I can't do two different things with each hand). Took up singing at 40 and fell in love with the opera. Nothing like Puccini to put you in the mood for great italian food


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## chrose

I play bass and guitar. Right now I'm playing with Nik Entertainment in the wedding and party bands as you can see by the signature.


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## bughut

I play acoustic guitar. Taught 2 sons and 1 brother to play. 1 son n 1 bro are way better now than i'll ever be. Im so proud (for proud, read jealous)


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## allie

I played trombone in jr. high but didn't go very far. I started 3 years later than everyone else in the band so in the push to be ready for marching and concert seasons, I didn't actually learn to read the music. Not easy when it's time for a sight reading competition!

I dabbled with piano and keyboard. I took a couple of formal piano lessons in elementary school but the teacher wasn't dependable and after 2 lessons in 2 months, my parents pulled me out of the program. From the bit I tried to teach myself, I think I may have the same problem in using both hands at the same time to do different things as singer4660.


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## chefhow

I grew up in a house full of musicians, my Dad played in the Miami Symphony Orchestra in the 60's, my mother was a piano teacher, my brother was a studio drummer and drum tech, my aunt plays guitar and was a concert classical guitarist. I tried like the devil to learn piano, guitar and violin but being ambidextrious I always had a problem with the L/R seperation and they wanted to do what the other did. Very frustrating since I have a better ear for music and tone than most of them. In my free time when I was younger I used to help out a local home and car audio shop with tuning the stereo installations.


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## koukouvagia

I hear too much complaining about hand dexterity and independence. I only hear these excuses from students who don't want to put in the work required to learn an instrument past a certain level. What, you think pro musicians are just born with the ability to make each hand do something different than the other? Not a chance. Sorry, just calling 'em like I see 'em.


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## deltadoc

I started piano at 4, mostly classical. But only play 3 classics anymore and that is rare (Warsaw Concerto, Moonlight Sonata, Claire d'Lune).

But since my '40's, I acquired a 1935 National Duolian resonphonic guitar and learned slide blues. Since then I've played at several venues, although only got paid once! Also have a custom Martin dreadnought, modeled after a 1935 Martin, and a couple of National replicas (Style 0, Style W tri-cone).

Don't play them as much as I used to either, as I got arthritis in the fingers, and since chopping up my back cement porch about a month ago, my carpal tunnel as returned with a vengeance!

doc


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## oregonyeti

Heyyy, you got Satch as a friend, how cool :thumb:


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## singer4660

While I would agree that professionals work really hard to get where they are, a certain amount of inate talent is required to be successful. This is true of any art from cooking to theater to music. Personally, I wasn't using the "right hand left hand" thing as an excuse, simply a realization that my brain doesn't work that way and this would make it very hard for me to ever be really good on an instrument that requires that specific ability. I took 9 years of piano lessons, practiced every day, and never got to be more than mediocre. I took 2 years of voice lessons and was hired professionally by the local regional opera. Big surprise, my inate talent is in my voice not my hands. What's interesting about the story (IMHO) is that it took so long for me to figure it out.


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## koukouvagia

I wasn't trying to be accusatory, sorry if it came across like that. What I'm trying to stress is the opposite of what you'e saying... I don't believe that inate talent is as useful as you may think. I teach plenty of students that have little talent but put in a great effort and get to be very good. I also have students that have more talent in their pinky than all my other students combined but they're lazy as all heck and never amount to anything. Talent can be a motivation but it won't carry you to high ranks alone.

I started learning violin when I was 14. Most great violinist start learning right around the same time they start walking so I was a beginner amongst advanced students. By the end of high school a lot of those students dropped out of conservatory where as me... I was ready for more. I had a certain amount of talent but not nearly as much as other musicians i was and still am surrounded by. It was hard beyond hard and I spent hours locked up in a practice room (still do, that never ends).


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## deltadoc

Interesting about talent vs. hard work.

After playing slide delta blues for about 1 year, I played for a real honest-to-goodness real bluesman. When I got done, he exclaimed, "Well, sxxt man, I've been playin' blues for 55 years and I can't even play like that!".

And he promptly got up and walked off, and didn't speak to me again during the 3-day blues festival!

doc


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## shelta

I play a little guitar and keyboard, but mainly produce records and have some credits.


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## american_suisse

Like most kids from my generation, I suffered thru piano lessons. From there organ followed. Then came trumpet and coronet, mellowphone, sousaphone, and tuba. I've never been able to play any stringed instruments very well. _Mary Had A Little Lamb_ is about the only song I can play on violin but it sounds like I'm playing the lamb instead of a violin. My big desire now is learning to play French horn.


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## chefhow

I lived in a home with a professional(my father), a teacher(my mother), a concert guitar player(my aunt) and a YOUNGER brother who could play just about any string instrument or a piano without any lessons. I practiced constantly but never could get past my lack of ability and the confusion happening within my hands. I just wasnt born to play. I realize the work you have to put in and would never take it away from anyone but its not very fair of you to "call em like you see em" when you werent there.


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## foodpump

Nope.

No one in my Dad's family every played anything, no one except one Aunt in Mom's family (12 kids) played either. Needless to say no one in my family can either. My Mom could sing, quite well, sang in the Parish choir for about 20 years.

Grades 1-7 there were no musical instruments--other than cymbols or triangles to accompany "Choral singing" but that was about it. Only 1 (one) teacher knew how to play piano....

Grade 8 was a nightmare--highschool and the expectations that I could at lest play some kind of scales or know what those funny litle squiggly black thigs were. Lets just say I bombed....

Can't/won't even sing in the shower.......,


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## greg

I play guitar a little, used to be okay but haven't picked it up in a long time. My brother is the real musician in the family: guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and accordion. He was lead guitarist in a band recording on Capitol in the late 80s. Played opening gigs for REM, The Dream Syndicate, Green on Red, Steve Earle, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Camper Van Beethoven, The Meat Puppets and The Replacements. I have bad hearing now from going to his shows, though.


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## koukouvagia

Sure it's fair, we've all had our set backs. It must be frustrating to be part of a musical family and not measure up but I had the opposite experience. My parents don't even play the radio and were against musical training... I wasn't allowed to practice when they were in the house so I had to get up extra early to go to school and get practice time. I had to come up with all sorts of tricks to continue music and I got through it, mediocre talent and all. I may not have been where you were but trust me, I was in the trenches. And the "excuses" I was refering to was from my students who find a million reasons not to put in work, it wasn't about you directly although your post conjured up the same "I don't have what it takes" logic I hear from kids who need a nudge.


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## american_suisse

No, it isn't fair. Some people have a natural gift with music and others don't. Saying that someone needs a nudge would be like me saying sure, you can sing in the same range as Caruso, Domingo, Carreras, or Pavarotti if you just practice enough...and you're a bass. It isn't going to happen no matter how hard you try. My brother took piano lessons from the same teacher as me. My sisters also took lessons from the same man. My brother was never able to play very well at all even when he put in twice the time practicing compared to the rest of us. I have one sister that blows us all away on the piano. I'll never be able to play as she does but she isn't able to play a trumpet like I do either. As nice as it would be to be able to compose like Beethoven, Schubert, or Glinka it isn't going to happen no matter how hard I try. 
Rather than put someone down for not having a skill a person thinks they should have, encouragement to do the best that person is able to do will accomplish a great deal more over discouragement.


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## koukouvagia

What would you suggest I do as a music teacher? Tell them they can't overcome their limitations? Tell them they can't become a great violinist like Itzhak Perlman? There are a lot of "can't dos" and closed doors in the world of the arts, but they should never come from a teacher.

"Saying that someone needs a nudge would be like me saying sure, you can sing in the same range as Caruso, Domingo, Carreras, or Pavarotti if you just practice enough...and you're a bass." Not sure this makes sense, why would someone try to encourage a singer to be a tenor if they're a bass? This is most definitely not what I meant by a nudge.

All I know is that my job as a musician and teacher is to make music to the best of my ability. I look up to Jascha Heifetz and strive to be like him, but I'm never going to be like him... I can only be the best version of myself. It's my job as a teacher to get my students to think past their limitations, that's what teachers do. If your child was taking lessons with me you better believe I would try to get them to do the best work they were capable of. You would never hear me tell you "I'm sorry, your child has no talent and no capacity to learn this instrument." It'd be one thing for someone to say this to themselves, and a complete other thing for a teacher to say this to a student, agreed?


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## oregonyeti

People pick different things to put a lot of effort into, and there's nothing wrong with that either. I'm not going to try to be the world's best everything.

For me, music is fulfilling and fun, even though I'm not highly accomplished. I'm happy with that.


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## chrose

We're from the same 'hood'....:mullet: Actually so is Steve Vai. We were born in the same hospital only a few months apart. And that my friend is where the similarity ends!


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## bryanj

chrose, i couldnt help but notice, but im as much of a gear nerd onstage as i am in the kitchen. what model p-bass is that. i see the p pickup in mid and the jazz pickup in bridge, so im thinking a special, but, when did they come with gold pickguards?


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## american_suisse

I don't think Perlman is all that great, prefering the likes of Oistrakh, Menuhin, or even Nesbitt but that's another opinion. The rest of the quote above does make sense based on the way you have posted on this subject, or at least the way it comes across to me.

Maybe it's the words and your phrasing that is causing me to misunderstand you. To me, you go from sounding like you're all for pushing people to overcome limitations then backpeddle on it. I'm all for people pushing themselves beyond limitations and have always encouraged my kids and grandchildren as well as people who work for me to do this. All I'm saying is that talent and natural ability as well as practice go way beyond any amount of time spent practicing by someone without the talent. Yes, some people waste the gifts they have for whatever reasons but no matter how hard someone may practice, no matter how many nudges they get, they'll never sound like anything other than a frog when they sing. Not that that's bad, I enjoyed the Bud Wise Er Frogs.


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## chrose

It's the American Deluxe P-Bass special. Active p-bass
Active split single coil mid range pup in the mid, and a noisless jazz pup in the saddle position.
I think these all came with the gold pickguard. It gives me the best of both worlds. It's got the nice small jazz neck along with the P-body and pups.
I love this thang.....


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## bazza

I have played guitar for around thirty years and a little keyboard. Not bad on the guitar though nothing special either. But my singing is something else, like all great singers, people scream when they hear me. eace:


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## bakers

i play piano.. soothes my soul eace:


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## epicous

I'm learning how to play the bongo.
eace:


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## oregonyeti

I love the bongo. I saw a group from Ghana, live, and the one guy's bongo playing blew me away.


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## epicous

Was it bongo or conga?... because playing techniques are different.
:thumb:


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## b.adams

I have a Squire Stratocaster, thing weighs a ton but sounds decent for the 85 bucks I paid for it.


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## oregonyeti

Aha, it was conga.


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## koukouvagia

Regardless of your or my opinion Perlman is the most successful violinist alive today. It's important to present kids with role models who are alive because children under a certain age have a difficult time relating to or looking up to people who have been dead for some time.

I have yet to meet a student that has no talent or sounds like a frog for long when they first start to play. Even Menuhin sounded like a screetching cat when he first started playing the violin, we all did. In a country where less and less emphasis is given to the importance of the arts it is dangerous to start telling kids that they can only do something if they have talent when it clearly is such a small part of the process.

Of course there are many many teachers at the conservatory level who will not accept students unless they meet certain criteria as far as talent and ability. But there are some teachers who do not discriminate on that basis. But you might be amazed to know that as soon a kid leaves high school the word "talent" never appears in their musical education again because it is no longer relevant in the world of music... the only thing that matters is how many hours you're willing to spend in the practice room and get the work done.


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## thekitchensink

I play a little guitar and piano. I used to play tuba and sousaphone.


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## meffy

Synthesizers and other electronic music stuff.

In the old days that meant huge modular Moogs and ARPs bristling with patch-cords and knobs. These days I use mostly software instruments and effects running on my PC -- that includes emulations of classic analog synthesizers, newly conceived instruments, sample players with every kind of sound from a very complete symphonic orchestra to ethnic percussion and much more, pipe and electronic organs, electric pianos and Mellotrons and the like... and all kinds of effects units for altering instrumental sounds.

If I had this much music gear in physical form it would take several warehouses to store it all. In software form it all fits in one CD/DVD binder. :-}


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## chrose

Kind of makes you wonder if Keith Emerson is going to have an E-Bay sale


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## oldschool1982

Not since High School and then it was the Sax. After I dropped the Sax.......Drums was what I really wanted....ever since I saw my cousin play but I never had the hand/foot co-ordination or in other words....couldn't hold a beat to save my life. Bass was a close second to drums (have a cousin that played that too) but never quite got around to it, lousey hands now.


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## chefelle

I have a Bachelor of Music in Performance Voice and Piano and a Master's in Voice. I also play the flute...dabbled with the cello but was begged by my husband to stop!!!! 

My husband built me a harp and I was going to begin harp lessons but I've been too busy with the shop to find the time. Hope to do it soon. 

Although I no longer do much work as a professional musician (I play the piano in my husband's church and I basically facilitate and participate in the music ministry there) I still love to sit down and play some of the piano pieces or sing some of the arias from my years at university. I think your love for those things never disappears. Although my desire to practice that much did long ago!!!!


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