Musical instruments you like to play, or think are neat.

[Streetwise]

cant play

 

[Dagan]

I just purchased a new guitar for the first time in years. Ibanez FR807 that was actually never used outside of a studio engineer that just "had it on hand, just in case." It has Bareknuckle Aftermath pickups. It looks and sounds better than I probably deserve. I'm not giving it up, though, haha.

 

[tkcartoonist]

I would love to learn the Chapman Stick. Too bad it's ridiculously expensive (the original creator is a patent troll, so only one company makes it and they set the price).

 

[FayetheAspie]

I have a harmonica and play it some. I like violin and cello but have never played those.

 

[tlc]

I came from a large musical family on my dad’s side. Many are/were in bands, many play for fun, a few even built guitars. My daughter picked it up easily too on her own at about 14.

I always sang dumb little jingles, and had piano lessons for a few years as a kid. That taught me the basics of music theory. Wish I could have kept with it, but it clashed with high school.

At 15 I started playing the bass guitar. Started on a cheap toy bass, which I fixed up into something playable. Before that, I was in love with the instrument. At 18/19 I built myself a 6 string fretless bass. Played that one exclusively for many years, including with with local bands.

Then I cut way back to raise a family. About 10 years later, I got a free organ, and started on the keys again. That turned into a few free Hammonds, then some cheap keyboards with limited synthesizer features. But I started playing the bass more too.

Now I’m alone again and an empty nester, I primarily play the bass, and fire up the keyboards once in awhile when I get some inspiration. I love the idea of playing with a band again, but realistically I couldn’t handle that commitment, on top of a full time job and health issues. Ideally I would find a jam session to play a few sets and call it good.

 

[Aeolienne]

A few years back I was discussing this situation with my father and it came up that the recorder had been more or less dropped from orchestras during the classical and romantic eras in part because it wasn't loud enough. And that the lovely recorder playing I had experienced of his when I grew up was the result of his self teaching, not from any expensive tutoring. Granted the set up kit to learn still costs money but only a small fraction of what most other instruments cost. I was able to get a high quality student instrument for around $35 (semi professional quality ones start at around 10x that, concert professional quality ones about 100x), two volumes of a respectable method book aimed at teaching Baroque era music to people who already had a background in music for around $50 ish, and a few minor accessories for small change. I've been at it for around three years now give or take and really enjoy playing.

Another recorder player here. I started at primary school, and like so many people was expected to moved onto a "proper" instrument when I was older, but in my case years of intensive orthodontic treatment got in the way of learning the bassoon, so I ended up taking exams on the recorder all the way up to Grade VIII. Unfortunately I don't get many opportunities to play with other people. I seem to be caught between two extremes - the amateur recorder players who took it up as a retirement hobby and don't take the instrument seriously vs those who are into historically-informed performance and look down on me because my instruments are A440 instead of A415.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I’ve been traveling for a month and miss my music!

Back at home, I have a Yamaha upright grand piano, my mother’s violin, which I just got refurbished, soprano and tenor recorders, 3 five-string banjos. And voice, which I still have with me.

And I just got interested in cello. Wow, is it difficult! I have a rental, pending winning the lottery.

I’m not good at any of these, but I still love them.