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OTish: What other instruments do you play?


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As keyboardists, what other instruments do you play, or want to learn? And what music with them?

 

I started on clarinet, and after 30 years off I am at it again. These days I have extra time. Today I ordered two electric/acoustic guitars one thin-body dread, and one bass from Amazon, $200ish for both!

 

The Bass.....many seem to love it

 

The Thin Dread steel string

 

I was going to get:

[video:youtube]

But I was up to about 280 with shipping.....and I thought.....what about a bass?

 

This madness began with a $50 Violin that has many fans:

[video:youtube]

I have always loved fiddling....listening to it. Especially now, I am not spending on gear...have bought nothing since January, but my birthday is coming up and if I plan to learn anything on a violin before I croak, I need to start right away ;)

 

I do have a nylon classical guitar but my daughter took it years ago. So at least I know a little there. If I can learn to play some slow folk tunes on the fiddle I will be content.

 

In recent folk music research, I have seen all these old guys on YT playing many instruments pretty well. Obviously after a lifetime. To start at least I can drive my cats crazy.....

 

Here is some trivia: what will your average pro violinst expect to spend on their bow?

RT-3/U-121/Leslie 21H and 760/Saltarelle Nuage/MOXF6/MIDIhub, 

SL-880/Nektar T4/Numa Cx2/Deepmind12/Virus TI 61/SL61 mk2

Stylophone R8/Behringer RD-8/Proteus 1/MP-7/Zynthian 4

MPC1k/JV1010/Unitor 8/Model D & 2600/WX-5&7/VL70m/DMP-18 Pedals

Natal drums/congas etc & misc bowed/plucked/blown instruments. 

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Bass is my other main axe; I would have called myself a much more serious bassist than keyboard player for many years, until I started getting more and more keys gigs about ten years ago.

 

I picked up the drums early on, then mostly dropped them (outside of middle/high school concert and marching band) once I started playing bass in bands, and now I'm trying to get some chops back since I have room and privacy to set up my kit in the new house.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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When I was younger, I got interested in several non-keyboard instruments, and at different times I have practiced a bit of guitar, clarinet, soprano sax, drums, violin, bouzuki, some percussions. It was great fun and very educational, but the guitar was the only instrument on which I had the guts to record a solo, on a rock arrangement from a lifetime ago...

 

However, I haven't touched any of those instruments in a long time. Staying at a decent level as pianist, keyboard player, programmer, composer - and teacher, which is now my main job - it's all I can expect these days. And I'm fine with that.

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I first and now primary instrument is trumpet. After I bought my 'dream horn' around 6 years ago, I haven"t bought another instrument of any kind since then. I"ve looked but haven"t bought.

 

I played guitar for 2 years in my college jazz ensemble. Haven"t touched one in years. I gave my acoustic to my daughter, sold a guitar to partially fund the dream horn, and kept a 1969 ES-345 purchased in 1980 with $600 of high school graduation money.

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I've loved music since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, as the expression goes. I started on a borrowed set of drums, but couldn't get happy with them. Later, a friend of mine suggested I try bass. That took. Somewhere right about that same time, Stairway To Heaven came out and I became infatuated with the guitar intro, so I bought a guitar. I didn't put in enough effort to get good at it; bass remained my main thing. Years passed. I got married. My (now-ex) wife wasn't real keen on me playing and I kinda-sorta quit, though I kept some gear. That wife went away and I slowly got back into playing music. A while back I decided to get more serious about getting the music that I heard in my head organized. That lead to me spending more time on guitar and buying my first keyboard as a compositional aid. Both guitar and keyboards became money magnets for a while, but I've finally reached a point where I have sufficient hardware to make the sounds I hear in my head, and then some. Somewhere along the way I picked up a good hammered dulcimer, a cheap viola, a cheap mandolin, and a few other odds and ends. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to play all the stuff I've got. In fact, I've hardly been able to play at all the last few months, what with my family underfoot 24/7. I did manage to steal about three or four hours Friday for the first time since...March(?), but it was pretty pathetic. My hands scarcely remember how to play strings, let alone other instruments. I know from experience that I can get up to tolerable proficiency on bass in about four to six hours from a standing start, but the problem there is that I've lost my calluses. Guitar and keys don't take calluses, but they're not my main instruments.

 

I sure hope someone gets a good vaccine for Covid going soon so I can send my family back to school and work--I need the peace and quiet.

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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I play the guitar the most, actually. Trying to make the most of a 90-day trial All-Access deal on TrueFire by "auditing" courses on TrueFire that I don't already own - including Tim Lerch's Jazz Solo Pathways (fingerstyle jazz), Sean McGowan's Organic Jazz Improv, and Jon Herrington's Ear IQ Soloing Strategies. I'm enjoying Jon's course in particular because he goes into detail about his thought process for analyzing tracks - such as "H Gang" on Donald Fagen's album Morph The Cat - and crafting solos for them. He does present at least one scenario which isn't a studio scenario - that being soloing for the song "Peg" on the gig with Steely Dan.

 

I also play viola and electric violin. I have the least experience on the bowed instruments but i've been invited to play and record with some folks because I can do the "weepy violin vibrato" thing for them. I'm sure they've invited me because my rate is much lower than that of pro-level violinists/fiddlers whose skills blow mine out of the water.

 

Piano was the first instrument on which I had lessons but I don't call myself a keyboardist. I just use keyboards to enter notes into machinery and do a bit of writing.

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I started when I was 3, I made a rattle from an orange juice can with gravel in it bent over a stick and drove everybody insane. When I was 5 one of my left handed uncles put a ukulele in my hands. Somewhere around here is a photo of me in my skivvys standing like Pete Townshend with that uke and grinning ear to ear. Strings it was and strings it is, touching the sound has always been my happy thing.

I graduated from smaller, tamer sounds into setting up to steel barrels in the back yard and pummeling them with two pieces of heavy rubber hose cut to drum stick length. I bet the neighbors LOVED that!!!!

Then I got a guitar and then it got broken.

 

When I was 13 I got $40, went downtown to the pawn shops and bought a Harmony archtop. A friend showed me the pattern for playing an Em pentatonic scale from the low E up to the high E 12th fret and I was on my way.

Then I got a bass so I could join a band. I loved it until a kid who was better than I was got my gig. Traded for an electric guitar, got an amp and started rocking out.

 

FWIW, I am left handed but have always played right handed and nobody made me do it. Dexterity is a topic all it's own...

 

It's only gotten worse!!!! Since then I've taken up nylon string, 6 and 12 string acoustic guitar and I've gone back to bass as well. The attached photo is me playing bass for Bo Diddley for one show, a highlight.

Still prmarily a guitarist but I love bass. I can get some interesting things out of percussion and drums but you would not want me to be your drummer in a gig band. I sing, pretty intuitive at harmony vocals and I sound just like me on lead vocals which is all anybody can expect.

 

I also play lap steel and sometimes do the bar band trick where you get an empty beer bottle from the crowd and play slide with it. Cheap trick but people like it.

 

There are 2 MIDI controller keyboards here, I plink on them rarely. I come here to meet interesting people, even if they do go on and on about what a PITA guitarists are.

 

That's OK, I just want to hear one keyboardist one time play the solo from Machine Gun on Band of Gypsies and actually sound like it. Hmmm...

 

For all that, I LOVE listening to keyboards, have seen Artur Rubenstein, Herbie Hancock, T Lavitz, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Ray Charles and his sideman on Hammond, BB King's keyboardist, Jeff Beck's keyboardist, Eddie Jobson with UK (John Wetton and Terry Bozio) Jethro Tull and lots of other great bands with great keyboards.

 

My all time favorite because he is unique is Garth Hudson from The Band. I never got to see them, dangit.

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It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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FWIW, I am left handed but have always played right handed and nobody made me do it. Dexterity is a topic all it's own...

 

Me, too.

 

Back when I was starting, left-handed instruments were special order only and cost more. I just went with what was available. I remember the first time I saw a left-handed bass...thought something was wrong with it!

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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Playing the flute (traverso) from when I was 7 or 8.

Started collecting acoustic (electric) guitars and keyboards around 16. Never looked back.

Until some months ago, when I decided time had come to order an expensive new flute in Britannia silver.

Tested it. Ordered it. Played it. Returned it.

My old nickel flute sounded just the same.

Strike that. I sounded just the same.

It"s not the flute. It"s the flautist.

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I studied trombone for 7 years (& still own and occasionally play one), I can manage a lot of percussion (congas, tumba, bongo, timbales, cajon, kettle drum shakers etc.) but I'm hopeless on a drum kit. My guitar skills are rudimentary, but I can manage some tenor (4-string) guitar, baritone ukulele and mandolin. I have a fair collection of oddball folk & ethnic instruments that I occasionally make nice noises on. But really I'm a keyboard player. :D
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Piano/Keyboards are my primary instrument, took piano lessons between 5 and 21 years of age.

 

I learned to play drums/percussion in high school band.

 

Learned to play bass on my own.

 

Sang as long as I can remember. While singing in music class in elementary school I found I was a natural at harmonizing. I never developed the endurance to sing lead vocals for four hours, but I did develop high harmonies. I'm in a band now playing songs with harmonies like Eagles, Styx, Kansas... loving it.

 

I play rhythm guitar but am not a lead player. Try as I might, my picking and fingering has never improved beyond a certain point. While I'm proficient at playing the keys on piano, my fingers are doomed to be clumsy on guitar. What saves me is that I know good tone when I hear it, from guitars and amps. I have very analytical ears.

 

I'm not a kazoo player, but I play one on TV.

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While on the road playing keyboards in country bands in the 90's, I doubled on harp doing some Terry McMillan and Clint Black solos (the instrument being more popular in country music then). Kept doing that off and on but only recently applied myself to it, when I was asked to fill in on harp with a former band, the Willie tribute act "Willi Vanilli" (not their real name, just what I call them). So I shedded a couple of weeks and for the 1st time ever, did an entire gig on harp. It was much more challenging, having to play constantly throughout songs, trying to get that distinctive Mickey Raphael vibrato that plays such a role in the Willie sound (throat vibrato being what separates the men from the boys, harp-wise). But it turned out well and was a positive experience. There are some good harp players in the area but they're all about Little Walter and don't adapt their sound and style well to classic country.

 

I'm also getting into a chromatic I bought some some 15 years ago, being a fan of Stevie Wonder's playing. Been practicing standards in all the keys, chromatic in RH while at the same time playing keyboards with my LH. To my knowledge, harmonica is one of the few instruments where that's possible. Howard Levy does it very well but of course, he's a genius and has pioneered the overblowing technique which is out of my league. For now my goal is just playing melodies, playing what I hear.

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I play electric guitar, approaching it in the same odd way I play keyboards most of the time. I also always love hearing the complaints about guitarists on this forum. I often agree with them. :D
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For me my other main instruments other than keyboard and synthesizer are the pennywhistle and recorder as well as ukulele. I can also play guitar (I have an acoustic one), toy and non-toy percussion including a log slit drum, slide whistle, harmonica, and Suling, and I have a fife which I don"t know how to play yet as well as a melodica (which of course I can play well) and I had a violin as a kid for like one day but I gave it to someone to 'borrow" and never saw it back (tip for everyone: Don"t trust strangers to 'borrow" your instruments). Now I"m looking into the viola and clarinet/soprano saxophone (I like Kenny G) as well as Native American flute, bass, and maybe dulcimer/santur.
Yamaha MX49, Casio SK1/WK-7600, Korg Minilogue, Alesis SR-16, Casio CT-X3000, FL Studio, many VSTs, percussion, woodwinds, strings, and sound effects.
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Looks like a lot of bass players in this thread ...
I think as keyboard players, we have a head start as far as understanding harmony and how basslines work in relation to chords and melodies. In my playing, there's definitely been a feedback loop, though. A few years back my wife and I played a trio show on the road in NYC; the instrumentation was just vocals, drums, and keys, and I leaned pretty hard on organ in that arrangement. I remember a very touching compliment from a friend of my wife's who came to the show, a professional musical theater pianist with far greater technical skill and sight-reading chops than me. He was so impressed that my left-hand bass actually sounded like a bass.

 

I'm sure the first-four-out drawbar setting helped, but I think it's more about how I played than the tone. I'm not the world's greatest left-hand bass player, and I think I'd often be better served by playing more simply than I would when both of my bands are occupied by a bass; my instinct is to go all James Jamerson over everything. But years of listening to, and practicing, that role in a band has definitely given me a leg up in that setting.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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I bought a guitar.... Never got along with it and returned it (thanks to Guitar Center's generous return policy!), then some time later I bought another. I still have it, and I understand how to play it but it mostly just sits and looks pretty. I'm too clumsy to make chords without touching an extra string or two every time. So its pretty much piano only with me.
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Starting in Kindergarten I played percussion while the teacher played Piano. I played sand blocks, oatmeal box hand drum, tambourine, and my favorite was the triangle because it played a note that rang out. Then I got a cheap chord organ and a few years after that started Piano lessons. After that I mostly played Organ and Guitar. Later I picked up Bass Guitar and covered Bass and Keys in bands. Then I started playing Flute followed by Tin Whistle and Alto Sax. A few years ago I got a set of Drums and still put in practice time on that. My main gigging instruments are Keys, Guitar, and Bass.
C3/122, M102A, Vox V301H, Farfisa Compact, Gibson G101, GEM P, RMI 300A, Piano Bass, Pianet , Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, Matrix 12, OB8, Korg MS20, Jupiter 6, Juno 60, PX-5S, Nord Stage 3 Compact
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I"m a jack of all trades (except fiddle. Studied fiddle under two teachers and never mastered the bow ... it sucked).

 

Master of none.

 

Primary- Keys

 

Country gigs - Guitars, steel, Dobro, banjo, mandolin.

 

One rule is ... I never do both keys and steel the same gig.

 

My old D10. These days I play a single neck ShoBud.

SjI9R35.jpg

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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In no particular order or ranking

Piano, organ, keyboards

guitar

clarinet

alto sax

soprano sax

harmonica

5 string banjo

banjo mandolin

harmonica

concertina

fiddle (fail)

flute(fail)

bass

drums

vocals

percussion

 

Until I found my self in a room full of this stuff, running around playing for 15 minutes on each instrument, then moving on to the next and not really progressing on any of them.

Once I came to that realization, I trimmed down my operations to keyboards, guitar, and vocals and got back down to business.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

-Mark Twain

 

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During high school I performed publicly on piano, organ, synthesizer, trumpet, trombone, pfluglehorn, "french" horn, soprano recorder, concert toms, steel drum, mallet percussion, bass guitar, timpani, and trap drums.

 

In college I majored in classical horn, and got one year of free school because I could play drums. Noodled somewhat on sax, less successfully on clarinet, and abject failure at violin (my biggest musical disappointment). Did okay in recorder choir.

 

Post-college, like many on this list, I bought a guitar, learned its ins and outs, but never got it under my fingers. Eventually I determined my best guitar work was at a synthesizer.

 

Nowadays the list is:

  • Keyboards of course, with emphasis on idiomatic playing of non-keyboard voices like guitar, steel, and winds.
  • Drums
  • Hand percussion (I was the first person in years that was actually encouraged, let alone permitted, to play tambourine at my church)
  • vocals
  • mixing board (IMO, a major musical instrument)

 

I still haven't gotten my act together on theremin, but I still have one, as well as a lap dulcimer and a half-room full of decades-neglected brass instruments.

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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Flute - started life taking flute lessons as a kid. Tried to be a flute major in music school but after a "not good" performance exam they recommended i change my major (truthfully, there was some real talent there that i could in no way compete with).

Bass and keyboards have been about 50-50 as main gigging instrument since my teens. Lots of that as keyboardist playing left hand bass - which i think of as being the bass player while using my right hand to throw in whatever keyboard parts the song needs.

Acoustic guitar - not too bad as long as the fingerpicking stays pretty basic.

Can make the necessary noises on miscellaneous blown instruments - recorder, pennywhistle, harmonica, etc.

Picked up sax many years ago but have never been happy with my tone.

Try to play drums - not too great (though i've on occasion been able to play a basic beat while the drummer comes out front to sing). And i've been using e-drums with my keyboard rig for playing tuned percussion parts etc.

Attempted fiddle many years ago - as others have experienced, total fail for me too (must be one of those things you have to start young).

 

- Jimbo

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I play some guitar and bass. I took cello lessons for a short period as a grown-up and apparently had an aptitude for it (it's in the blood; grandma was a professional cellist for her whole life), but lack of an instrument and time kept me from pursuing it. I also consider DAW an instrument and play that one comfortably and well.

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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I remember a very touching compliment from a friend of my wife's who came to the show, a professional musical theater pianist with far greater technical skill and sight-reading chops than me. He was so impressed that my left-hand bass actually sounded like a bass.

 

I've gotten a similar compliment. A well respected bass player was in the crowd at this big outdoor show our Funk/Blues/R&B band was playing. I was playing LH bass, and on occasion I whip out the bass guitar for songs that don't have keyboards. After the show we met up with the bass player; he was initially confused because he kept hearing a bass guitar but couldn't see the bass player, then when I stepped out he saw me with the bass guitar and said wait that's the keyboard player...

 

But years of listening to, and practicing, that role in a band has definitely given me a leg up in that setting.

 

I was drawn to listening to bass players ever since my early years. It was that element of the rhythm section that appealed to me. It's not just the notes, it's the phrasing too which definitely gave me a leg up in some bands too. In the aforementioned funk/R&B band our bass player was leaving for a new job out of town. After trying a few bass players, I offered my LH to BL and he couldn't grasp that it could be done. Finally out of desperation when bass player abruptly left the band the night before a gig I had my chance. By the end of the gig BL was no longer the doubting Thomas, and my ability to lock in the rhythm section sent the band to another level. When other bass players approached BL to audition, he told them they had to be as good as my LH. Woah. Our original bass player was back in town and asked to rejoin the band. BL put up the vote to the band; the band voted for my LH (I stayed out of the vote). We did eventually hire the bass player at the aforementioned outdoor show.

 

Many keyboard players reach for the Minimoog for LH bass, but to my ears it won't sound like a bass guitar. My Micromoog did a better bass guitar sound, then I switched to Voyager when they came out.

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Started as a drummer and I still play and teach drums. I went the ' total percusión' route all through high school and college. I became pretty good at 4 mallet marimba and vibes, but mostly focused on drum set and Latin percussion.

 

In college I had to take piano , and really enjoyed it and even took a few jazz piano fundamentals classes with Dan Harle at UNT. Great stuff which I still work on daily.

 

I can play some chromatic harmonica and nylon string guitar ( easy classical, bossa nova comping, mariachi , flamenco and blues)

 

I sing out of necessity, and try to sing just about everything that I play.

 

I"d love to learn flute and sax but my other instruments keep me too busy as it is..... I often think it would be good just to concentrate on one instrument but I really enjoy playing them all too much to let them go....,

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