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What else do you play?
- Thread starter Anyanka
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B
Ben_H
Guest
I started playing the piano at 6 and went on to learn the recorder, clarinet and then drum kit, orchestral percussion and pretty much anything I could whack with a stick, mallet or my hands......
and then I got to university, was told the orchestra already had 5 percussionists thankyou and it all stopped and I started scuba diving and other hobbies instead.
20 years later, I picked up a soprano ukulele about a year ago having bought one for my daughter. I loved it, joined the local uke group which conveniently meets weekly in my village pub and remembered just how much I love playing music with other people. I now own a few sopranos and two baritones, including this beauty which was finished for me in March: http://tinguitar.com/gallery/1017/ . Sadly the custom 8-string tenor uke I ordered has been sent back (twice) and Im now awaiting a refund.
Independent of this Ive been watching some mates Morris dancing for a few years and the Squire invited me to a regular folk session. After some gentle ribbing about playing uke at these nightsI borrowed a mandolin and have been strumming away on that. He then asked if I would consider adding some rhythm to the Morris band. I turned up on my first night to discover the Melodion player had left and the following week I had a tin whistle. After being lent a melodeon and deciding I couldnt get my head around it I had the brainwave that I may as well use the piano skills I started aquiring 35 years ago. 3 weeks later, I had my first Morris dance out with a piano box today. It didnt go too badly and I managed to avoid playing The Bum-note Samba too frequently. My wife asked me afterwards how it had gone, I said ok and how did it sound to her? Fortunately/unfortunately the wind had apparently been blowing the sound aware so she could hardly hear the music. Doh!
and then I got to university, was told the orchestra already had 5 percussionists thankyou and it all stopped and I started scuba diving and other hobbies instead.
20 years later, I picked up a soprano ukulele about a year ago having bought one for my daughter. I loved it, joined the local uke group which conveniently meets weekly in my village pub and remembered just how much I love playing music with other people. I now own a few sopranos and two baritones, including this beauty which was finished for me in March: http://tinguitar.com/gallery/1017/ . Sadly the custom 8-string tenor uke I ordered has been sent back (twice) and Im now awaiting a refund.
Independent of this Ive been watching some mates Morris dancing for a few years and the Squire invited me to a regular folk session. After some gentle ribbing about playing uke at these nightsI borrowed a mandolin and have been strumming away on that. He then asked if I would consider adding some rhythm to the Morris band. I turned up on my first night to discover the Melodion player had left and the following week I had a tin whistle. After being lent a melodeon and deciding I couldnt get my head around it I had the brainwave that I may as well use the piano skills I started aquiring 35 years ago. 3 weeks later, I had my first Morris dance out with a piano box today. It didnt go too badly and I managed to avoid playing The Bum-note Samba too frequently. My wife asked me afterwards how it had gone, I said ok and how did it sound to her? Fortunately/unfortunately the wind had apparently been blowing the sound aware so she could hardly hear the music. Doh!
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Ben_H
Guest
Anyanka, I'm very interested in the shawm. I bet it solves the problem of not being able to hear the whistles when out and about. Any youtube footage of you playing it with Rampant Rooster?
donn
Prolific poster
Glenn said:
I dont intend to remove the left hemisphere, but Im happy to get it drunk, distract it with pretty girls etc.
Ben_H said:
Bravo! Thats my point of entry likewise, though it took me a good deal longer than 3 weeks and Im still apt to run off the rails every once in a while in the middle of a tune.
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goldtopia
Guest
Hello Anyanka. good to see you on this forum. I have two Weltmeister accordions 72 bass Achat with MIDI and 60 bass Rubin. I play the piano and I teach banjo http://www.motleyminstrels.co.uk I have an assortment of other instruments which I dont play well which just clutters up the room.
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Ben_H
Guest
donn said:
Thanks Don,
What threw me slightly was that I was due to be following someone else, who then turned round at the start to say that they didnt know a couple of the tunes and would need to follow me!
I had a couple of minutes in the middle of the set to learn Shepherds Hay (Hey?) for an impromptu audience participation spot. The whole thing went really well considering, although I did get very distracted at one point by the shaking tails of some feeding, black and white lambs in my line of sight. We also have a very enthusiastic but rhythmically challenged drummer which gets a bit off-putting. I didnt see it, but apparently the squire took the drumsticks off him at one point after he stopped mid dance to chatt to someone then re-started with no relation to the tune whatsoever.
Next up is Strawberry Fair on Saturday. I have someone to follow again, but I think there may be some opporunities for flying solo. I do need to build my confidence to avoid the startled rabbit look.
Speaking of facial expressions, does anyone else do The Tongue of Concentration? I always find myself sticking my tongue out when concentrating hard.
Anyanka
Prolific poster
Ben_H said:
There will be, I hope. But as yet I dont have the shawm: it is still just a lump of wood & a plan.
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Daveg4otu
Guest
I think one problem that arises from being an ear player with regard to trying other instruments is that, because you are playing by ear ,you can almost always manage to get some kind of tune out of almost any instrument even if you have never been near it before.
The tendency then, at least with me , is to temporarily forsake everything else , in order to wrestle the "new" instrument into submission.
The end result(at least here) is someone who can play many things badly and only one or two with a good level of skill!
It's great fun - whatever the results sound like
The tendency then, at least with me , is to temporarily forsake everything else , in order to wrestle the "new" instrument into submission.
The end result(at least here) is someone who can play many things badly and only one or two with a good level of skill!
It's great fun - whatever the results sound like
goldtopia said:
What style banjo do you play? I have a five string and am learning Bluegrass style.........but I have to confess the tunes are not really to my taste !
I like the banjo rolls and techniques .....but not the tunes....tho I suppose they provide a foundation.....
G
goldtopia
Guest
Hello Jarvo, I started playing 5 string banjo when I was 17. I'm now 70. I teach various styles, but mainly bluegrass. I have a pupil that is learning fingerstyle jazz/blues which has a lot of minors and syncopation which do not require rolls in the same way. The idea of learning the different roll patterns is to educate right hand memory so that when you play you dont have to think about what the right hand is doing. Pupils sometimes ask "what rolls were you using for that tune". I then have to play it slowly to find out what I was doing. The concentration should be mainly on the left hand that is selecting the notes and chords on the fretboard. If learning a famous tune like Duelling Banjos from Deliverance it has to be learnt from tabs and played the same way each time, parrot fashion. Playing be ear or from sheet music chord symbols, the right hand works automatically from hand memory and the rolls can be different each time, sometimes half rolls combined with others. I also play the piano but changed to accordion about three years ago. Though this is an accordion forum, it is necesarry that I reply to your post. So I hope the moderators don't mind.
G
goldtopia
Guest
Hello Daveeg4otu, Strange name, your parants have much to answer for. I like the bit of what you say "The tendency then, at least with me, is to temporarily forsake everything else, in order to wrestle the "new" instrument into submission" I have always felt the accordion is like a living beast like a steam engine that blows air instead of steam and has to be tamed into submission. Sometimes wrestling with it Mentally on difficult tunes and even physically getting it to play the correct notes. Its probably worse for people who have heavy monster accordions.
D
Daveg4otu
Guest
Goldtopia ...the Dave bit is obvious - the G4otu is a radio call sign,...see....
http://www.qrz.com/db/G4OTU
http://www.qrz.com/db/G4OTU
Given that its under what else do you play I dont think they can complain about banjo, other than mentioning it at allgoldtopia said:
Me? Black Jack at the casino.[/quote]
Hey.....whats wrong with the banjo?... I mean....its loud...its anti-social....its frantic....its a bit like an accordion on a stick :lol:
G
goldtopia
Guest
Accordion on a stick ?. I also play the piano which eventually led me to the accordion 3 years ago. I find the accordion the hardest instrument I have had to learn. http://www.motleyminstrels.co.uk and wish it were as easy as the banjo which I have played most of my life. Started at 17 now 70. Back in the 50s my father used to bring home various musical instruments including accordions but I had no teacher to show me how to play any of them. Then one day he brought home a piano and sent me to piano lessons. The accordions I pulled to bits to see how they worked because I couldnt play them. I sold one, a 48 bass Alvari to a music shop run by a couple of scruffy old men who conned me, by paying me a fraction of its value. Being just a kid I knew no better. and my father was not very pleased. If I had an accordion teacher at that age I would probably become a brilliant player.
S
smdc66
Guest
goldtopia said:
the p/a is the 1st musical instrument i have been serious about learning to play seriously - i have never played a stringed instrument (my brother plays guitars) - my perception is stringed instruments seem hard to play and piano even harder - the thought of learning them is :shock: to me - i just hope to be able to do justice to the p/a one day and showcase it a bit
E
EConcertina54
Guest
I am principally a violinist, and I have enjoyed orchestral playing for decades. I play in a regional orchestra, and I'm the first violinist in a local string quartet that plays mostly for weddings. I also enjoy improvising in jams, and it appears we have a good scene for that in my town. I can play viola, but I rarely do, although I love the sound and timbre of the instrument. I have played the mandolin now for about 1 1/2 years, and with the same tuning as the violin, it can enjoy much of its music, too. It has lots of jamming potential, too. For 7-8 months, I have played the English concertina, and I adore it! I practice it most days, and it has a plaintive tone that projects pretty well. For you EC buffs, it is a Wheatstone treble (48 keys), made in the early sixties. I have made some inroads with an Anglo concertina and the Cajun melodeon, but EC right now is my big love in the bellows community. Now I am avidly researching the CBA, and I love all that it can do. It's a question of when, not if. I lean toward the B system. I just can't wait to get my hands on one and get started!
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Daddy Long Les
Guest
Ok - guitar (all types) is my main instrument and day job. I also play :-
Melodeon, 5 string banjo (mainly frailing but some bluegrass), tenor banjo, tenor guitar, English concertina, pedal steel guitar, harmonica, drums, piano, synthesiser, mountain dulcimer, diatonic cigar box guitar, mandolin, ukulele, bass guitar, lap steel.
Les
Melodeon, 5 string banjo (mainly frailing but some bluegrass), tenor banjo, tenor guitar, English concertina, pedal steel guitar, harmonica, drums, piano, synthesiser, mountain dulcimer, diatonic cigar box guitar, mandolin, ukulele, bass guitar, lap steel.
Les
Wow,now play 'em all together...... :b
I own some of them what you have listed there: harmonica [various keys](2.5 yrs),uke (lifetime...but still it eludes me)...mando (3 yrs) piano/keyboard.(started at 12 gave up at 18 restarted at about 40ish so 15 yrs then) various geetars acoustic and electric, Squier Strat, Epiphone EP175,Variax 700, something called a Madiera and a knackered old Gibson look alike of dubious origin but it has the name Shaftesbury....I think it was an in house guitar from one of the London music shops of the 60s or 70s but it is seriously knackered and carved up.............Adam Black cutaway acoustic...tanglewood odyssey....Suzuki Takeharu acoustic.....(had the geetars since 17 onwards but no real progress made until Variax in 2008 ..then got into the Internet Guitar Tutor sites and developed from strumming barre chords to picking country and playing blues triad chords.........Piano Accordion Weltmeister 60(18 months) Scandalli 80 ( 10 months ) Roland frx1 (week or two ) and lastest but not leastest Deering Goodtime California Leader (10 months)..........I am playing/learning these mostly in splendid isolation (bedroom/shed) but occasionally they venture out to me guitar buddy for a jam.......oh and I took the guitar to a couple or four Jazz Group Sessions .......I may kick jazz guitar into touch (jazz chiords on guitar are ridiculously painful) and try it on the piano instead.....I have better guitar chops for blues and country and I can slide the piano slightly jazzwards.....anyhoo that's what I've got.........oh and a Vintage 6 Strinf GuitJo or Banjitar....which now I don't play anymore,having tried the real deal....I still think that banjitars are valid instruments. :b :ch
I own some of them what you have listed there: harmonica [various keys](2.5 yrs),uke (lifetime...but still it eludes me)...mando (3 yrs) piano/keyboard.(started at 12 gave up at 18 restarted at about 40ish so 15 yrs then) various geetars acoustic and electric, Squier Strat, Epiphone EP175,Variax 700, something called a Madiera and a knackered old Gibson look alike of dubious origin but it has the name Shaftesbury....I think it was an in house guitar from one of the London music shops of the 60s or 70s but it is seriously knackered and carved up.............Adam Black cutaway acoustic...tanglewood odyssey....Suzuki Takeharu acoustic.....(had the geetars since 17 onwards but no real progress made until Variax in 2008 ..then got into the Internet Guitar Tutor sites and developed from strumming barre chords to picking country and playing blues triad chords.........Piano Accordion Weltmeister 60(18 months) Scandalli 80 ( 10 months ) Roland frx1 (week or two ) and lastest but not leastest Deering Goodtime California Leader (10 months)..........I am playing/learning these mostly in splendid isolation (bedroom/shed) but occasionally they venture out to me guitar buddy for a jam.......oh and I took the guitar to a couple or four Jazz Group Sessions .......I may kick jazz guitar into touch (jazz chiords on guitar are ridiculously painful) and try it on the piano instead.....I have better guitar chops for blues and country and I can slide the piano slightly jazzwards.....anyhoo that's what I've got.........oh and a Vintage 6 Strinf GuitJo or Banjitar....which now I don't play anymore,having tried the real deal....I still think that banjitars are valid instruments. :b :ch
donn
Prolific poster
Oh, if we're talking about instruments we have ... actually do play bass guitar - the same '70s Japanese made hollow body I bought something like 35 years ago - or occasionally string bass if I'm feeling more energetic. But there's also a small heap of mandolin family instruments and a viola laying around that aren't likely to appear in public. Guitar is sort of an intermediate case - I'll bring it to a neighborhood gathering or something, but no ambition to go further than "around the campfire" with it. I like nylon strings. I used to have a kind of ill-informed notion that steel strings were more powerful in some way, and used to kind of wish I had an old arch-top f-hole jazzer, but bass players will tell you that nothing pounds it out like gut strings, and I have grown to like the fuller sound of my old cheap nylon string guitar. I use extra high tension strings, which give it a little snappier sound under a hard pick strum.
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