What instrument did you start on?

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space_cowboy
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2009/03/01 21:37:14 (permalink)

What instrument did you start on?

Hi
Curious about musical evolution

I took a handful of piano lessons - maybe 10 or so - but we moved frequently enough that it really never got off the ground.

I was interested in music so I joined band. We didn't have a ton of cash, so I started with the free stuff - tympani, snare,... then settled on Tuba and Sousaphone. Blew my eardrums out a handful of times (takes a lot of air to make those things work).

Moved to string bass. Stuck with that for the next 6-7 years, including student symphony, Mobile symphony (wasn't a big orchestra), state symphony, stage band....

String bass piqued my interest in guitar. Guitar attracted the ladies, once I got decent.

I now have something like 40 guitars. Only 2 basses though.

You?

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    Sonic the Hedgehog
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/01 21:55:13 (permalink)

    A Kazoo...for sex appeal.

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    #2
    jinga8
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/01 21:58:59 (permalink)
    As stated on my Soundclick page:

    I taught myself guitar when, in college, a guy on the wrestling team let me borrow his guitar. He could literally lift me in the air over his head at will. He could also do it at dinner, and did one night in the dining hall. Very embarassing. So when he went to get a baked potato, I poured soy sauce in his glass of coke. Then the lifting thing happened again...Go figure... After that, I taught myself keyboards, drums, and bass, and started writing/recording songs.

    I actually learned piano/keys by ear, via REM's Nightswimming and 10,000 Maniacs' Verdi Cries, on my family's upright piano, which I had never played for 19 or 20 years of living in the same house with it...
    #3
    Ron Vogel
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/01 22:18:20 (permalink)
    I started writing songs before I even started playing instruments. I was able to noodle around with my Mom's harmonica's, but actually started with what I could afford. So in 3rd or 4th grade I headed to my local music shop, and got a drum head and a pair of drumsticks. I taped the head to an old lampshade and would sit in the garage for hours pounding away on it. From there I bought an old beat-up Kay guitar at a flea market. It had 2 strings on it, and played it that way for about a year. I picked up various guitars and stuff through my sophmore year of highschool. That summer I hocked all of it to run away with a few friends via "borrowing" my Dad's car and driving to California. Came back in 4 days, and had nothing. So from there I started gathering better gear. I also started into recording. I wanted to do it all, so I started bass, then drums, and I audtioned singers only to have them tell me I should sing (I would sing the parts for them to show them timing/phrasing). I also taught myself piano in my early 20's (and I used to be decent when I played a lot).

    I did self teach on all the instruments (I took guitar in high school, but I could already play by then...and all we did was smoke pot in that class anyway)

    I'm stuck in the past, but my foot's tapping forward 
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    #4
    i8ipop
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/01 23:23:02 (permalink)
    Started on my Dad's guitar and was crap, no patience moved on to his bass, same thing. Got a drum kit around 15 and loved, it was my natural instrument. Then I picked up the bass and started to get the hang of it. Now I play guitar, 12321 hehe.

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    #5
    zungle
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/01 23:57:38 (permalink)
    Piano........3-4 tries as a kid.

    Trumpet......School Band........about 7years.

    Baritone..............School band.........easy "A"

    Electric Guitar and Bass..............1981 - Present

    Picked Up lite drums and very lite keys along the way
    #6
    robby
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 00:22:57 (permalink)
    I started on guitar, then piano, then bass.

    Now it's

    Guitar
    Piano
    Bass
    Mandolin
    Violin
    Bowed guitar :-)
    Dobro

    And vocals...

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    altima_boy_2001
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 02:14:28 (permalink)
    Went to school for bass guitar. 5 years later bought a guitar while doing an internship at IBM. 5 years later I started drums. Following the pattern I will probably attempt a new instrument in about 10 months...

    You can use me as your eSoundz referral (altima_boy_2001).
    #8
    Guitarhacker
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 09:05:23 (permalink)
    Started on a cardboard cutout of a guitar shape with a fence slat nailed to it with kite strings for the strings....... played lots of Beatles songs on that guitar.... I was rather good at it too.

    Then a friend"s cousin stayed a few weeks and she had a guitar... I learned 3 real chords. About the same time, my family bought a piano, and I was enrolled in piano lessons. I was about 9 or 10 at that time. At summer camp, I was hearing guitar folk music, and was really liking it......so..... At 14, I told my Mom I wanted either a 22 rifle or a guitar for my birthday..... she thought I would do less damage with the guitar, so at 14 I officially started playing guitar. Somewhere back in elementary school, (3rd or 4th grade) they came around seeking "orchestra" members and offered music lessons. I signed up for drums.... which worked well...since it was the cheapest instrument to "buy into" ..and I got out of class for lessons.......so...... a practice pad and a set of stix...and I was "rolling" (pun intended) . I quit the piano after 7 years, because the guitar was slowly taking up all my time. Quit the drums in highschool because I didn't like the marching band..... those football games were nothing but cold.... hated the uniform too. So that left me with guitar.

    I kinda played at it for a number of years...jammed a few times but never got into a band. Then one day, I was setting in my living room working up the licks in Frampton Comes Alive.... when I heard a knock on the door. I figured it was the police again...noise complaint.... but it was a couple of guys from a band that were visiting a friend a few doors down..... heard me and decided to check it out. Long story short.... I jammed with them and they hired me....played with many bands after that....

    Now, I am glad I had the opportunity to learn those other instruments because it helps me now, as I write and record in my studio. I really don't have a big desire to play out and about live....but I'm digging the studio.

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    #9
    The Maillard Reaction
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 11:13:45 (permalink)
    we had a piano in the house that I occasionally touched but my first real instrument was a washtub bass.


    #10
    Bristol_Jonesey
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 11:37:54 (permalink)
    My Uncle had a piano that I was allowed to bash on whenever we went to visit, but I was always desperate for a guitar and got my first one at about 11 or 12 - a big old jumbo acoustic that I could barely get my hands around.

    Joined a couple of school bands, but it was only quite late in my development that I noticed something odd about my playing - I was a left handed player playing the strings the wrong way round!

    Later still, a girfriend of mine, who was also a very good piano player & theorist persuaded me to swap the strings around and learn 'properly'

    So the result today is that I can pick up virtually any guitar on the planet and play it, but neither way with any great dexterity.

    I tend to play anything lead or solo related with the strings the wrong way round, but for anythying requiring picking or semi-classical, the acoustic is strung the right way round.

    Now, 40 odd years later, my main instrument is the DAW, though I do still pick up the guitar now and then for our creations.

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    henkejs
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 11:40:28 (permalink)
    We got a piano when my older sisters started lessons. They kept at it for several years and got pretty good. Eventually, I tried piano lessons too -- gave it up when I figured out all the piano students had to play in a recital every year. One of my sisters also played trombone in the school band, so I took that up when I got old enough to join. My other sister came back from her first year of college with a guitar, so I learned some chords from her. When I got to high school, I started teaching myself piano using my sisters' old books. Later I joined a band and started playing bass because we already had two good guitar players.

    Looking back, I owe my sisters most of the credit for getting me started in music. The funny thing is they were both better musicians than I am, but I'm the only one still playing all these years later.

    A few of my songs
     
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    bapu
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 12:08:44 (permalink)
    Started on Acoustic guitar (twice) and failed miserably.

    Got my first electric guitar at age 13. Met a guy who taught me some chords and how to read those six-string dotted chord images.

    Switched to bass guitar at 17. At my junior prom, the band's bass player took sick and they asked me to fill in on Sunshine of Your Love by Cream.

    Prior to that night I was trying to decide if I should switch to keys or drums.

    An as of today, I still try to play guitar and keys (but not real drums, just soft-synths).
    #13
    Wookiee
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 14:08:50 (permalink)
    We had a piano that was painfully out of tune that I would bash from about three, But never got to grips with it.

    Played side drum in local marching band.

    Asked for a guitar at 13 got told no it is a passing fad.

    Brought a drum kit at 19.

    So I suppose it was drums but...

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    Lay In Wait
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 14:15:46 (permalink)
    Started playing Ukulele in grade 5,6 and 7. Joined band class in grade 7 and played percussion. Grade 7 was also the year I traded my Nintendo gameboy for an electric guitar and amp, best trade I ever made. Played bass guitar and drums/percussion in the high school band but I kept getting in trouble for playing metallica riffs in the back of the class. Been playing in metal bands ever since.

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    bapu
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 15:31:37 (permalink)
    Been playing in metal bands ever since.


    Hope they are de-magnitized.
    post edited by bapu - 2009/03/02 15:37:01
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    Guitarzan54
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 17:31:59 (permalink)
    I started on Guitar.
    I was about 6-7 years old when my mom bought me a plastic "TIGER" Guitar...with amp! LOL

    My next "electric" guitar was a Hagstrom, and then another.
    Now: 1976 Les Paul Kalamazoo, 2001 Big Apple STRAT.

    My first acustic guitar was a GOYA, then Epiphone 12 string, and Martin D-2812, and now Alverez-Yari 12 string...and a 6 string MARLBORO Guitar that I got from the "miles" on the side of my packs. (Funny, I got it just to beat around with, and the dam thing sounds so nice I never take it outside.)

    First "real" amp was a Fender BandMaster, then Fender Twin Reverb, then Peavey...and now Marshall.


    .
    post edited by Guitarzan54 - 2009/03/02 17:38:42

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    SteveStrummerUK
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 17:36:31 (permalink)

    Scalpel

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    bitflipper
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 18:07:31 (permalink)
    Piano. The lessons lasted about 4 weeks, then were dropped after my piano teacher suggested to my Mom that I had no future in music. I was playing back what the teacher played without looking at the music. Those silly dots didn't seem to have anything to do with music at all.



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    SteveJL
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/02 18:15:22 (permalink)
    RE: What instrument did you start on?


    Mine, even though they said not to. And I see fine today. Got a bit of carpal tunnel, mind you

     
    #20
    slartabartfast
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/03 01:02:39 (permalink)
    B-flat cornet
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    foxwolfen
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/03 01:24:18 (permalink)
    Like everybody else I know (outside of all of you it seems), the first instrument I learned to play (using the term loosely), was the recorder in grade 1 or 2. Music class like that was standard fare in all schools around here.

    Hated it. Awful tone.

    In high school it was clarinet, then trumpet and guitar (acoustic).

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    Jonbouy
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/03 04:13:54 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: foxwolfen

    Like everybody else I know (outside of all of you it seems), the first instrument I learned to play (using the term loosely), was the recorder in grade 1 or 2. Music class like that was standard fare in all schools around here.



    Yeah me too although I'd have conveniently forgotten about that had you not posted the reminder and gone straight for the Snare Drum my Dad bought me for Christmas when I was 13 as it was when I first got interested in making music, rather than having it inflicted on me by a school curriculum.

    I was an ungrateful cuss though as it wasn't the silver Premier 5 piece I had my heart set on and I knew even then that it didn't have individual tensioners for the top and bottom heads. I built my first kit around it though over 2 or 3 years by trawling the Charing Cross road music shops and picking up odd individual drums in sales.

    Probably nostalgic memories but I reckon it was the best sounding kit I've ever had even if I did unify the colours of the eclectic mix of odd drums with several spray cans of canary yellow car touch-up paint so it looked like sh**.

    I did my first recordings with it though and they do sound OK and only having the one drum to start with did ensure I got some rudiments down which I doubt if I would have had the discipline to do if I'd have been presented with a shiny new kit.
    post edited by Jonbouy - 2009/03/03 04:24:05

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    #23
    No How
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/03 09:53:37 (permalink)
    drums

    s o n g s

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    OffAnAirplane
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/03 15:50:17 (permalink)
    Recorder in grammer school.
    French Horn in middle school.
    French Horn and trumpet as a sophomore in high school.
    Dropped the french horn and stuck with trumpet and picked up snare and quads as a junior in high school.
    Continued trumpet, snare and quads as a senior and also learned drumkit.
    During college, taught myself guitar and bass.
    Somewhere after that taught myself piano.
    Been playing guitar, drumkit, bass and piano (in that order) for years now.

    Oh, and vocals too. Was in choir from grammer school through college.

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    Jonbouy
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/03 15:59:43 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: No How

    drums


    Me too but I couldn't blow hard enough to get a sound out of 'em.

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    Mamabear
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    RE: What instrument did you start on? 2009/03/03 20:02:18 (permalink)
    Piano, and unfortunately, that's all, except for a few guitar chords. Wish I woulda worked harder at both, but glad I got lessons when I wanted them!
    #27
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