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Other than guitar what do you play, or would like to?

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(@phillyblues)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 127
 

Thanks Vic and Blueline...I just might have to give it a go.


   
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(@ness-k)
Estimable Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 155
 

I play guitar, but I badly want to play the piano too

"The Beauty of Music is my Sanity. Without it, I would simply lose my gravity, and blow away with the breeze." - Ness K(Aka Matt Harris)


   
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(@misanthrope)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 2261
 

I play bass too, but not terribly well. I really want to be able to play the drums or piano, but the closest I can get is drumming badly on a desk with my hands (can't co-ordinate my feet with my hands) and chopsticks or droned chords on the piano :roll:
...Animal's Moon/Bonham inspired drumming...
*Ahem* Moon/Bonham/Pope I think you'll find :wink:

ChordsAndScales.co.uk - Guitar Chord/Scale Finder/Viewer


   
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(@katreich)
Prominent Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 686
 

Ok, don't laugh, but I'd love to be able to play the ...ACCORDION :shock: I love the way it sounds on rock tunes when Sheryl Crowe or John Mellancamp use it. I suppose I could just learn the keyboard, but mama would rather have a squeezebox!

" She goes in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out...." :D

Falling in love is like learning to play the guitar; first you learn to follow the rules, then you learn to play with your heart.

www.soundclick.com/kathyreichert


   
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(@kent_eh)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1882
 

Outside of that, I've toyed with the idea of learning the harmonica. Questions for those who have taken it up, is it difficult to learn to play well.

I picked it up 20 some years ago, when I spent 10-15 nights a month in hotel rooms.
I was able to get... passably adequate fairly quickly.

Or at least I was getting good-ish until i lost the book. (after only 3 months) :(

I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep


   
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(@hyperborea)
Prominent Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 827
 

Right now I only play the guitar. I have taken voice lessons at the local evening adult ed classes a few times.

At one time 20+ years ago as an undergrad student avoiding school work I played about with the harmonica. I started with the book that kent_eh mentioned above. I did do a little bit of jamming on the harp at parties when I was well lubricated in accompaniment to the guitar and mandolin playing of a variety of deadhead friends and acquaintances. If you are using the book that kent_eh refers to and play for more than a week or so then get a decent harmonica and give the one that came with the book to your kid.

I have also dabbled with the penny whistle - the book by Robin Williamson is a good place to start.

What do I want to play? Well, I want to get better at guitar. Maybe I'd like to add piano but more as an aid to other things - theory, perhaps MIDI entry, and maybe the occasional dabbling. My wife plays the piano and we've got an electronic piano at home that I can use.

I'm also thinking about learning to play the Chapman Stick. My guitar instructor is really good on the Stick and has mentioned about taking some of our lesson time to learn that. Seems rather cool but also difficult. Plus, if I want to buy one of my own it's about US$2K+. http://www.stick.com/

Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson


   
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(@chris-c)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
Topic starter  

Jeez, I'd really like to learn to play guitar first, but keyboards would be my next choice. All my other choices would be a bit limited usage but steel drums, marimba and bagpipes come after keyboards.

Yes, but you also have ability at the world's number 1 instrument in your kit - you're already a singer. I'm seriously envious of that.

If I had to pick just one instrument to be good at it would have to be voice. I suppose that over the years I've convinced myself that I can't sing, and that there's little point in spending time trying to coax a decent tune out of what amounts to a cheap plastic K-Mart voice-box. But I'm starting to suspect that I've just been making excuses for being lazy, and so cheating myself out of some good experiences. If I want to achieve my ambition of writing my own songs, and then making a home recording that sounds half way adequate, then I'm going to have to extract the digit and do a bit more work on the singing. Make that a LOT more work....

I'm finding that with piano, for instance, a lot of the knowledge that I've gained on guitar - such as note reading, a bit of theory, some idea about timing, etc, has saved a lot of time on the new instrument. Provided you hit the right combination of keys then a reasonable sound comes out - no fret buzz, squeaks, amp settings, or muted strings to worry about. So getting good enough to add some basic chords to the mix of a particular song needn't be such a huge task. I often see Youtube band videos where the keyboard player is only providing a very simple accompaniment. Of course getting really good as a soloist is another thing altogether, but that's not my aim.

But voice.... sigh.... there's no TAB for that... no easy short-cuts. You gotta do the work. But if you do get there - well, everybody else in the band is more easily replaced than a good singer. I was listening to a Springsteen track the other day, and realised that the entire E street band was hardly there in the mix for that particular song - it could have been anybody providing a bit of mild background chunka chunka. It was all about the voice. It often is.... sigh.... back to practice...

Chris


   
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(@chris-c)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
Topic starter  

Ok, don't laugh, but I'd love to be able to play the ...ACCORDION :shock: I love the way it sounds on rock tunes when Sheryl Crowe or John Mellancamp use it. I suppose I could just learn the keyboard, but mama would rather have a squeezebox!

Sorry, but.... :lol: ....

We have a full 12 month hunting season on accordion players in Australia now, but I think that they've just about all been shot out now. :twisted: I did make a rare sighting of one a couple of Christmases ago briefly busking outside the supermarket, but I think he must have been captured and caringly put down or evicted from the country, as I haven't seen him since...
" She goes in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out...." :D

:shock: Stop that! I haven't fully recovered from listening to you singing your song Getaway yet. :|


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 10264
 

I'm finding that with piano, for instance, a lot of the knowledge that I've gained on guitar - such as note reading, a bit of theory, some idea about timing, etc, has saved a lot of time on the new instrument. Provided you hit the right combination of keys then a reasonable sound comes out - no fret buzz, squeaks, amp settings, or muted strings to worry about. So getting good enough to add some basic chords to the mix of a particular song needn't be such a huge task. I often see Youtube band videos where the keyboard player is only providing a very simple accompaniment. Of course getting really good as a soloist is another thing altogether, but that's not my aim.

That's pretty much what I found - the theory I learned on how to construct chords came in very handy when applied to keyboard. I don't consider myself an accomplished pianist, I'm not even mediocre - but all I wanted was to add a little colour, a little texture, a little light and shade to my songs. So I keep it as simple as possible. I do practise occasionally - but the guitar is my instrument, with bass a fairly distant second. Keyboards and harmonica are just occasional mildly amusing diversions. Besides which, while I've made a pretty full recovery - guitar-wise at least - from that rather nasty severed tendon a couple of years ago, left hand piano playing isn't really an option - my hand cramps up if I'm playing anything more than just a simple bass note. I did a version of the Faces' "Cindy Incidentally" a while back, thinking it'd be nice to have a backing track to jam along to....when it came to the piano section, I had to record one track for the right hand chords and the left hand bassline on a separate track, again played with my right hand. I suppose that's cheating, but it's the only way I could physically do it!

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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(@ignar-hillstrom)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5349
 

I'm a master of none but I'm known for being occasionally able to fool a deaf person into believing I can actually play guitar, piano, synths, bass, violin, bluesharp and since yesterday ukulele. 8) Plus singing, but you'd need to be really deaf to be fooled. :P


   
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 KR2
(@kr2)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 2717
 

I played organ when I was a preteen.
(Yes, the vacuum tube had just been invented and this organ had them)
Even to this day, when I place my hands on the keyboard of my computer, I'm expecting music to come out.
It's kinda disappointing . . . instead silly sentences like this are produced. Oh well.

It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.


   
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(@chris-c)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
Topic starter  

I'm also thinking about learning to play the Chapman Stick. My guitar instructor is really good on the Stick and has mentioned about taking some of our lesson time to learn that. Seems rather cool but also difficult. Plus, if I want to buy one of my own it's about US$2K+. http://www.stick.com/

Fascinating instrument. Thanks for posting that - I'd never heard of them.

Memo to myself:

I don't need one
I don't need one
I don't need one...


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 10264
 

Re - the Chapman Stick. I'd never heard of them before, either. After watching those video clips, I'll never moan again about how difficult guitar is! It sounds great, but it looks horrendously complicated!

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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(@ignar-hillstrom)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5349
 

Never tried it but it looks, to me, easier then guitar. It's more like pianoplaying, but then on a fretboard. Controlling the accuracy of coordinating both hands while playing fingerstyle or with a pick seems more difficult and foreign when you just start out.


   
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(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
Topic starter  

Yes, but at least the keys on the piano are nice and big and all in a straight line in one direction. The stick involves going up and down and across on what looks like a much tighter playing field. I think I'll stick with Vic at the keyboard...


   
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