What Musical Instruments Do You Play?

[Undead Medic]

Well I play Guitar, Bass (Sort Of), Sing a little and have been known to write lyrics.

 

Any other musos amongst our members?

 

Maybe we could start a "Virtual Forum Band"

 

[aSnowyEvening]

Piano! And flute! And I have an ocarina (of time replica!) that I dabble with sometimes, though I'm not very good at it. Oh, and I sing too, if my voice counts as an instrument. All of these things (except the ocarina) I used to either take lessons or do at school, I'm not as disciplined in them as I used to be but I still play/sing for fun from time to time.

[Banshee]

I'm sure my fingers still remember how to play guitar. At least I hope they do... And I sing. There's a bodhrán upstairs, feeling very lonely, and I'm not too good at it. That's about it...

[aely]

I just sing now (I'm an alto), though every so often I do get out my recorders (descant and treble) but I am woefully out of practice. I used to play the piano, could make a reasonably decent noise on the guitar and learned the viola in school. I would love to learn how to play the saxaphone!

[Erika]

I played the Clarinet in junior high... like ten years ago and I sang in a choir for a few years as well. I wish I had stuck with music. I miss it!

[Banshee]

I just sing now (I'm an alto), though every so often I do get out my recorders (descant and treble) but I am woefully out of practice. I used to play the piano, could make a reasonably decent noise on the guitar and learned the viola in school. I would love to learn how to play the saxaphone!

 

Oh wow I learnt something new about you today!

 

I played the Clarinet in junior high... like ten years ago and I sang in a choir for a few years as well. I wish I had stuck with music. I miss it!

 

Maybe you could go back to it?

[aely]

Oh wow I learnt something new about you today!

 

 

But which bit caused the big grin?

 

Another thing I would like to do would be to buy a new tenor recorder - I always loved the tenor the best of all the recorders we had at home (my sister played the sopranino as well as the others) but mine died a death some years ago and I've never replaced it. Probably cheaper than a sax and I wouldn't have to learn how to play it!

 

One of the reasons for wanting to learn the sax would be that I could then join the 'family' brass band (dad plays trumpet, nephews play tenor horn and euphonium and niece plays cornet).

Edited March 11, 2012 by aely

[Banshee]

But which bit caused the big grin?

 

All of it It's always interesting to find out that people I know are musically inclined. Also, the admission of being out of practice with some of the instruments you list made me smile in a "yay, I'm not the only one" way

[Reichenbach~Hero]

I started to learn the guitar last year, and I'm slowly getting better at it!

[Punch me in the face]

I have played piano, not often anymore, but I sometimes do try again.

[Undead Medic]

Great that we have so many musically inclined members already! (And good to see that I'm not the only one who doesn't practise enough for my own liking!)

[The Woman]

I play the piano. But I dont think I have a great talent. In music school I missed piano lessons, never loved them. I think I need to train my voice, because I will never be a virtuoso pianist. aha

[Banshee]

I play the piano. But I dont think I have a great talent. In music school I missed piano lessons, never loved them. I think I need to train my voice, because I will never be a virtuoso pianist. aha

 

Well, piano is regarded as a hard instrument to learn, and even harder to master... the amount of skill required to make anything sound good on piano is amazing... So, you know, kudos to anybody that can play it!

[aely]

Thanks to this thread, I am now watching a tenor recorder on ebay...

[Undead Medic]

Thanks to this thread, I am now watching a tenor recorder on ebay...

 

It's all our fault...

[Punch me in the face]

Well, piano is regarded as a hard instrument to learn, and even harder to master... the amount of skill required to make anything sound good on piano is amazing... So, you know, kudos to anybody that can play it!

 

That is too nice of you to say, really. (I feel unworthy of heaing such a thing *cries and kneels down on the floor*)

[Banshee]

That is too nice of you to say, really. (I feel unworthy of heaing such a thing *cries and kneels down on the floor*)

 

See, I tried to learn a couple of times. I can sort of do the very basics, as in, melody hand only. And it's not like I cannot coordinate my hands, I manage guitar sort-of okay... So, yeah, anybody who can actually play the damn thing definitely deserves kudos

[aely]

The piano is a weird thing - it's easy to knock out a melody line if you have a reasonably good ear for music but getting both hands to co-ordinate is so difficult!

 

I started learning to play the piano when I was about 9 and stopped when I was about 17. I wasn't too bad if I had the chance to learn both hands seperately and then put them together once I'd memorised the piece. I was hopeless at sight reading unless it was something I already knew from singing in choir/playing recorder/whatever (had been in choirs since I was 7). I always detested practising! My crowning achievements of my piano playing were being able to play the Moonlight Sonata *well* and finally managing to get my hands around Bridge Over Troubled Water - it kind of went downhill after that. The piano moved from my parents house to mine but when I realised I hadn't opened it in over 5 years, never mind tried to play or get it tuned I got rid of it and got a sideboard instead which was much mmore useful!

[Punch me in the face]

My crowning achievements of my piano playing were being able to play the Moonlight Sonata *well* and finally managing to get my hands around Bridge Over Troubled Water - it kind of went downhill after that.

 

:I I have those sheets lying around at my mother's house... For Moonlight Sonata I mean. I don't know how much years of lessons I've had anymore, I think about four. But I find myself unable to do it since I mess up the bloody keys, I suck at reading notes, they just confuse me to no end... Once I've really *learned* to play something, it's in my fingers, but my head is a mess :I

I fear best I can do is Yann Tiersen's Comptine d'une autre Éte- and it doesn't sound as lovely as it's supposed to.

 

See, I tried to learn a couple of times. I can sort of do the very basics, as in, melody hand only. And it's not like I cannot coordinate my hands, I manage guitar sort-of okay... So, yeah, anybody who can actually play the damn thing definitely deserves kudos

 

Ahahaha~ Guitars, the agony... The first finger not being the thumb; "How does it work!" I have tried a few times, only shortly, but they really did not work out for me. I guess one just has to find their instrument and I haven't quite found mine, I should have been able to achieve more.

 

 

(Double post, sorry. Should have quoted multiple times in one post, instead. Thank you, Undead Medic ;D)

Edited March 15, 2012 by Punch me in the face

[aSnowyEvening]

The piano is a weird thing - it's easy to knock out a melody line if you have a reasonably good ear for music but getting both hands to co-ordinate is so difficult!

 

I started learning to play the piano when I was about 9 and stopped when I was about 17. I wasn't too bad if I had the chance to learn both hands seperately and then put them together once I'd memorised the piece. I was hopeless at sight reading unless it was something I already knew from singing in choir/playing recorder/whatever (had been in choirs since I was 7). I always detested practising! My crowning achievements of my piano playing were being able to play the Moonlight Sonata *well* and finally managing to get my hands around Bridge Over Troubled Water - it kind of went downhill after that. The piano moved from my parents house to mine but when I realised I hadn't opened it in over 5 years, never mind tried to play or get it tuned I got rid of it and got a sideboard instead which was much mmore useful!

 

I totally envy those people who've learned how to do crazy things just by ear. I find that having an ear for it is a completely different talent than learning by sheet music. Both are handy to have if you want to play, I think, and while I'm not practicing the theory stuff or the reading part I still make a point to practice my ear skills (freaks out my fiance actually, haha!), but it both aspects still have much to be desired for me. Let alone getting both hands to coordinate; I've digressed to the point where I can play a few pieces with both hands from about 6-8 years back both hands, but that's mostly muscle memory combined with visual cues from my sheet music.

 

And, gasp! I'm envious, I LOVE Moonlight Sonata, it's one of those ones that I kept meaning to learn but time got in the way. When I was doing my grade 7 (I think it was 7?) RCM exam I tried to learn Fur Elise, but I ended up picking a different piece and ended up hating the intricacies of the thing. Also because the teacher had said that the examiners are so used to hearing the piece being played perfectly that they'd be more likely to subconsciously mark harder on mistakes/technique/whatever.

[Banshee]

I guess one just has to find their instrument and I haven't quite found mine, I should have been able to achieve more.

 

Yep, that's entirely true. Find the instrument that makes sense to your brain, and your brain will work with it That's why I'm so jealous of those people who can pick up any instrument and get something out of it without even trying!

[JessieBlackwood]

My voice is my instrument. I sing, I write songs for my LARP group, I love singing.

[aely]

I can get a noise out of just about anything I pick up - my dad's cornet, sister's crumhorn, clarinet, accordian, pan pipes, ocarina, ukelele. the only thing that has ever defeated me is the flute, but I was drunk at the time. Getting a noise that doesn't sound like something is being murdered out of an unfamiliar instrument is another thing entirely.

[Undead Medic]

I have tried my Brother's saxophone once; I couldn't get a note out of it!

[aely]

 

The funny thing about the clarinet was that my friend told me that if I wasn't used to playing it I probably wouldn't get a note out of it. At the time I was playing the recorder a lot and was fairly good so I thought I could - obviously. I asked what key it was in, picked it up, messed around with the fingering a bit... and then played a note-perfect scale. Still sounded a bit like a strangled cat though.

 

I always wanted to play tenor Sax as it's in C.