R U Multi-instrumental?

[Dave Bryce]

Here's an interesting question...

 

I'm curious whether the average keyboardist plays other instruments.

 

If you do, tell us what they are. Do you play them a lot? Which is your original instrument?

 

If you don't, and you wish you di, tell us what instrument that you aspire to play.

 

I started with piano when I was 9, followed by trombone and recorder in elementary school (back in the olden days when schools had music programs). I switched from trombne to baritone horn in Jr. High, then back to trombone in high school. I picked up some drums in Jr. High as well...I started playing guitar in High School, and bass in college. I have an old violin that someone gave me too, but I really suck at that.

 

I still play the guitar, bass and drums...not the horns, though. I prefer acoustic guitar (got an Epiphone, want a Taylor) to electric. I have a DM Pro kit, so I get to keep my drum chops up, and a custom built bass that I pick on a few times a month...

 

Anybody else?

 

dB

[stratman_dup1]

As some of you know I'm a guitar player that has fairly recently taken up the piano, or keys I guess is a little closer to the truth. I love the guitar, and plan to keep learning and getting better at it but I am also very interested in the different things you can do with a synth. I also really enjoy straight up piano music as well, and hope to get a weighted controller very soon so I can get more into the piano side of things. For now I practice piano parts on a synth but as you know far better than I the feel just isn't the same.

 

A friend has really gotten me into midi and composing, something I would have shuddered at a few years ago being a blues guitar player http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gifhttp://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif . One thing I have major trouble with is playing drum parts, either via synth or drum machine or software so I have recently been considering getting an electronic drum set and taking some drum lessons but I don't know. I've still got a LONG way to go on the keys, and between that and guitar I don't have much time to spare. I've had drum lessons in the far past, never progressed to a kit but I know I have rythm and could probably learn but I'm afraid that taking on drums to will be too much and I won't get much better at any of them!!

 

So for know I guess I'll stick with guitar and keys and see what happens with the drum thing, hopefully I'll figure something out cause this is a major sticking point for me to be able to record my own stuff. Which is something I really want to be able to do, thanks to my buddy who is a drummer by the way, but also a pretty good piano/synth player. Unless one of you has some GREAT advice to give that is.

 

This message has been edited by Stratman on 02-28-2001 at 01:48 AM

[Guest]

Hello guys,

 

I play keys in a rock/pop band and have done that since 1983 and still with the same members!!

I also have my little studio where I make my own songs. Mostly I sequence the drums and bass parts. I am a novice on bass, guitar and drums but the most important thing, I think, is to be able to think as a drummer, or a bass player when you sequence these parts.

But the best situation is when your music can be influenced by other persons ability and creative thinking. Nothing can compete with that!

So, even when I can make the comping guitars I rather have a dedicated guitarist doing them.

 

 

------------------

--Smedis,--

[Guest]

Originally posted by Stratman:

As some of you know I'm a guitar player that has fairly recently taken up the piano, or keys I guess is a little closer to the truth. I love the guitar, and plan to keep learning and getting better at it but I am also very interested in the different things you can do with a synth.

 

Stratman,

 

One of my best friends was in the same spot as you are. He started as a guitarist and bought a keyboard 12 years ago, for the fun of it.

Nowdays he plays keys in a band and haven't touch his guitar for five years.

He consider himself as a keyboardplayer now.

So watch it. Maybe you'll end up as one yourself and have to change your signature to "keyman" instead.

 

But seriosly, welcome to the amazing world of keys and good luck.

 

 

 

 

------------------

--Smedis,--

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

I've been playing guitar off and on for 26 years and I started playing keyboards since 1984. That was about the time when a lot of people got interested because of drum machines and MIDI. The Oberheim Matrix-6 was my first good polyphonic synth, but I didn't start to really learn how to play until I got a Roland RD250s digital piano. I still write primarily from the guitar and piano.

 

I play a lot of acoustic guitar, and guitar is my main focus. My Taylor 414 grand auditorium, Gibson Les Paul, and Hamer Echotone are my favorite guitars. I also play bass(Fender Jazz) and some percussion. Bongos, shaker, tambourine, and hi-hats, just to supplement my drum machine parts.

 

I have no desire to learn another instrument because I have my hands full now, although I would love to be able to play drums well. I play guitar once a week with a blues-based band and I joined the home studio craze about a year ago. I have huge credit card bills to prove it. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/eek.gif

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

Yep, I'm multi.

 

Here's my musical history:

 

- Started on piano at age 3 1/2. Continued piano lessons until I was eight. Blew them off when I realized a) I hated my teacher and b) I thought guitar was way cooler.

 

- Started violin when I was six. Played in school orchestras until I was eleven. Switched to cello for two years, then blew off strings entirely.

 

- Started guitar when I was seven. Got a 3/4 size nylon-string acoustic. Got my first electric when I was nine.

 

- Started bass when I was twelve. The band I wanted to be in already had two decent guitar players. I became primarily a bass player for the next few years.

 

- Got my first synth when I was 15 (Juno 60). Fell in love. Never looked back.

 

- Got into MIDI sequencing and sampling with the very first software versions of Performer, Sound Tools and Alchemy when I was 21. Used both Mac and Atari at the time.

 

And you know what? I still want to learn to play sax. I will someday.

 

- Jeff

[joegerardi]

I must be too anal.

 

Started on piano at 5, took lessons until I was 20, but I was a performance piano major at that time anyway.

 

At 11, I started organ, taking lessons at a church on an Allen Organ.

 

At 14, I got a C-3 with Leslie 122, and and Arp 2600.

 

I play guitar badly enough for people to tell (NOT ask) me to put it down.

 

Curiously, I never had the desire to play anything else. I always loved claviers.

 

This message has been edited by joegerardi on 02-28-2001 at 02:29 PM

[analogman1]

Hey Guys,

I play saxophone (alto and tenor) as well as recorder. I went through a classical method book on the sax--I have to say, playing the sax has helped my keyboard playing enormously!!! It gave me a whole new concept on phrasing, and playing sinle note synth-lines that work (as opposed to just grabbing a handfull of notes in each hand). Ditto for the recorder. It's great when you go on vacation and just want something musical to toot on.

Tom

[murph]

I, as well.

Started hitting piano keys before I can remember (probably didn't sound good), started trumpet in 4th grade, started guitar in 7th, finally took piano lessons in high school,went to college to study music ed, giving me the opportunity to learn all of the orchestral instruments (which I've forgotten in less time than it took to learn them!), and now just play guitar and keys.

 

And to add, I've been singing since the doctor first spanked me!

[Botch.]

I played trombone from gradeschool to college jazz band, and learned how to voice chords on my sister's piano from the jazz 'bone lessons. I played in a Chicago/Blood Sweat&Tears type rock band one summer, but getting 7 or 8 college students together for regular rehearsals just wouldn't happen, and that was almost the end of it.

 

Then in my sophomore year I inherited an old violin from a great-grandfather I'd never met. My roommate played guitar, and soon we were dueting on open stage nights, etc. That led to gigs in country music bands, to which I eventually also added pedal steel, harmonica, and mandolin (none of it worth much, except the fiddle). Our keyboardist (a grandmother who could sing like a bird) encouraged me to play string lines on one of her 'boards, single-finger stuff at first, then two-finger, etc. When I got to the "recognizable-Elton-John" stage I switched to rock and haven't looked back.

 

I'm still playing live, mostly keyboards but with some harp (Springsteen-skill level, not John Popper), and electric violin (I just acquired a Korean-made S-shaped solidbody from Ebay that looks BADASS!)with wireless (makes for good show during Orange Blossom Special; yeah, even rock fans like OBS). I'm not particularly good at any one thing, but the variety keeps me employed and I encourage any keyboardist to look into additional instruments (hint: you can practice harmonica while driving ;-)).

[Guest]

I started taking piano lessons when I was 6- almost 40 yrs ago http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif.

I took them until my dad had to transfer for a year and we lived in a trailer. There wasn't any room so i started playing guitar at age 11. When wew moved back home I started my first band and played guitar. When I was 13 I started playing keys because no one else could. My grandmother bought me a Rheem organ-same company that makes plumbing and heating stuff.

Then I moved up to a farfisa, then an RMI and a B3. Oops. I had a Gibson organ that I played thru a 147 before that. Then I added a Mini Moog, and Arp Axxe, a Micro Moog, a rhodes, a d6 Hohner Clav, an Elka string ensemble, a Unicord (a pre Korg synth) and them I sold everything like an idiot and joined a country rock band where I played a Lesage acoustic/electric piano and learned to play mandolin, banjo, dobro, pedal steel and harmonica. I've never gotten very good at any of them, but good enough that I became a handy "swiss army knife" kind of guy that got lots of studio work. After that I began getting back into jazz, blues and some rock and bought a Korg SG1, then an 01/W, and now have an AlesisQS8 that I don't like, and a VK7 roland that I play thru a 122 and a Triton, both of whicj I like very much. I also have a Fender Telecaster and a Seagull acoustic guitar. Still have my dobro, banjo, mandolin and pedal steel, but I don't play them much. I think that's it. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Guest]

Forgot to mention I have a C3 too. Don't have my B anymore. I house my VK and Triton in an old B cabinet. So I guess I'm not really the B3wiz after all. I'm the C3wiz or the Fake B3wiz. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif I really am an organist 1st, pianist 2nd, guitarist 3rd and synthesist 4th. The rest rank 123rd,124th, and 125th respectively. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[marino]

Damn, Dave... another interesting one. It's VERY late here, and I have a long day tomorrow... oh well.

 

I started playing organ at 8 and piano at 11. Before that, i played recorder, guitar (just chording) and sang in the school choir. I really envy those people that started taking "serious" piano lessons at 5 or so, I find that it really makes a difference, but I always did my best to compensate.

 

Today, I earn my supper by playing piano and synths, and by composing, arranging and teaching. I consider myself a pianist AND a synthetist, and as all of you know, that's hard enough. But I tried my hands at a few different instruments over the years, especially when I was deeply involved in studying orchestration.

Here are some stories:

 

Guitar - I can play burning rock solos on electric, but I can't play a decent rhythmic groove to save my butts. BUT if you give me an acoustic (steel strings), I can play rhythm with perfect time. Go figure.

And I think I still remember a couple of Bach preludes on classical, nothing complicated really.

 

Bass - Well, I *know* where the notes are, you know, and how to play with rhythm... but after 10 minutes, it hurts my whole arm. After that, I can't play keyboards for 3 hours... not for me.

 

Drums - I taught myself to play a decent swing to comp behind my jazz piano students. Judgements from drummers about my playing vary; a few agreed not to kill me as long as they're not forced to hear it too often...

 

Brass - I borrowed a trumpet a couple of times, but I just kill myself to make it play. The trombone is another story: It just feels natural to me. Never studied it, but I wish I had the time.

 

Reeds - a bit of clarinet, both in B flat and E flat (piccolo), and a little bit of soprano sax. I *love* the sound of the clarinet; I studied it a bit at various points in my life, including a three-year love affair with a pro clarinetist, a wonderful and crazy girl... I still have the B flat, but it's collecting dust in its case; and then I bought a VL-1. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif

I also love the flute, but my lips don't...

 

Strings - That's what I did: I bought a cheap violin, and locked myself in an isolated house for about two weeks, a hot summer of 20 years ago.

When I came back, I had learned a lot about writing for strings, and also how terribly difficult they are to play well. I never let anyone hear me to play with a fiddle!

 

I swear (in English) that's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif

Goodnight

 

marino

[musicman1ovation.net]

I started with drums at 13, and started gigging in a jazz/lounge group 3-4 nights a week in a local pub that chose to forget my age (which was 14 going on 15).

 

About a year and a half to two years later I started phasing over to keyboard player. I'd been hitting the keys heavily at home in conjunction with writing, and also, I was a very light-handed drummer, which was OK for the jazz/lounge stuff, but as we started leaning towards more pop/rock, it wasn't loud enough, nor impacting enough.

 

About the same time I started playing keys in a gigging situation, I was going for guitar in the writing pursuit and doing drums, piano & guitar on sound-on-sound tapes.

 

About the time I was 18, I got a my first bass, and that meant I could quit playing bass parts on guitar!! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif I *love* the bass.

 

I played B-3 in a group for a while, and played either Wurlitzer or Rhodes depending on the time. Lumping it together, I just call it the rhythm section - keys, bass, guitar & drums. Over the years I've added various percussion stuff (still drums), and now and then I pick up my cornet from years back. I'm thinking about getting a little pocket trumpet and getting my lip back. Thing is, when I played in school band I didn't know any theory. Now I could have fun with it. Last time I played it, although my lip was a mess, I could ad lib by "thinking" piano.

 

Around the age of 25, I was getting work as a studio player. Mostly keys, sometimes drums, and rarely (in commercial studios because of rules) all the above (except cornet... wouldn't want to scare people!!). When I got my project studio, though, all the above was one of my main selling points, because I was selling productions, not studio time. I'm most readily proficient with keys, but I'm OK the rest if I have time to work it out.

[Steve44]

I started piano when I was 4 or so and didn't play anything else (other than the recorder at school) until I got to high school. I had my share of fallouts with taking lessons, but I always returned to playing my beautiful Yamaha upright. In high school I got pissed that the piano was such a secluding instrument and that there was no way for me to jam with people on the bus to school, so I started learning the Harmonica. After laboring for a good year, I was finally able to bend and play good blues, as well as play in nearly every key on my Lee Oskar 10-hole in C. I learned to improvise on the harp by making up my own tunes on the spot.

 

At the very end of high school I started singing in Choir and have taken voice lessons ever since. I sing classically and love it, though I don't tend to get along with other singers very often. I am continually amazed at how many things you have to think about and how many intricacies you have to pay attention to to both make a beautiful tone and to craft phrases.

 

I also play the jew's harp and the balinese gamelan, and while I'm out of practice on both of those, they each have very special influences on my playing and my concept of music.

 

In college, which I'm now just finishing, I've focused on free improvisation on piano, composition and singing; but have also played my Matrix 6 and my K5000S. I'm currently in both a free-improv vocal group and a mixed instrumental group on synth.

[analogman1]

All this talk about keyboardists playing guitar/bass...I love the bass; in fact, I play a lot of left hand bass with my fusion group. How nuts would it be for me to learn the bass?? Any ideas/thoughts??

Tom

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

It's a great idea to learn bass guitar. It got me away from relying on synth bass and I wish I had started earlier. You can transpose lines that were written on the keyboards to the guitar. I tend to come up with interesting bass lines on my Moog Source and then learn them on bass guitar. A real bass is just more expressive than a synth but it does take time to learn to play well. You can't quantize a real bass.....bummer http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

 

A Fender Jazz or Precision starts at $300 US and they make good low-cost basses. I bought a Jazz bass with passive pickups and a Line 6 Bass Pod for recording and practicing through my PA or monitors. I highly recommend the Bass Pod. It has a model of the LA-2A compressor and it makes the bass really fat and punchy.

 

If you are into home recording you should think about buying a bass guitar. I know a lot of todays music is all synth bass but I believe it can date the sound of your music. Maybe I have that view because I don't play techno, hip-hop, or very electronic music. I play rock, blues, and jazz.

[Tedster]

Well, for myself, I'm mainly a guitar and a bit of bass guy. But, my son (basically a beginner) started on drums, gave up drums, started playing piano, got more interested in drums when he got a band, constantly bugs me to show him things on the guitar (which I do with a big smile), and is thinking about playing keys in his band...maybe trading off with another drummer who can play something else as well. I think it's helped that when I was a kid, I had to scrimp to get anything musical, but he's been raised in a house where musical instruments are lying around everywhere. My 8th grade daughter's main instrument is clarinet, but she'll dabble in anything...knows a bit of guitar and piano...and recently borrowed a flute so she could try that for a bit. I'm really looking forward to seeing where these kids end up musically. As for me...I've got a tenor sax that keeps defying me to try to learn that.

 

My question:

 

Do you think this waters down one's focus or enhances it?

[baldini]

Hmmm. As -if- I actually -played- keys anymore. :-(

 

Started early, played 1st paying gigs @ 15 - "retired" into the studio @ 19... been playing a mean tape machine / console since about 16 - been there ever since. I just plink around on keys these days for my own semi-entertainment... played bass for a while out of necessity... still plink around on that from time to time as well.

 

BTW - I pretty much read charts ONLY - connect-the-dots skills went away LONG ago.

 

I think it adds to skill & arrangement understanding to play multiple instruments... voicing brass & guitar on keys, for example, works MUCH better when you understand how the instrument is voiced & played.

 

Kookie. Must. Sleep. Now.

 

See you in Deutschland, Mr. Bryce.

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

Originally posted by baldini:

Must. Sleep. Now.

 

Wuss.

 

http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/eek.gif

 

- Jeff

[Guest]

Originally posted by Tedster:

Well, for myself, I'm mainly a guitar and a bit of bass guy. But, my son (basically a beginner) started on drums, gave up drums, started playing piano, got more interested in drums when he got a band, constantly bugs me to show him things on the guitar (which I do with a big smile), and is thinking about playing keys in his band...maybe trading off with another drummer who can play something else as well. I think it's helped that when I was a kid, I had to scrimp to get anything musical, but he's been raised in a house where musical instruments are lying around everywhere. My 8th grade daughter's main instrument is clarinet, but she'll dabble in anything...knows a bit of guitar and piano...and recently borrowed a flute so she could try that for a bit. I'm really looking forward to seeing where these kids end up musically. As for me...I've got a tenor sax that keeps defying me to try to learn that.

 

[My question:

 

Do you think this waters down one's focus or enhances it?]

Tedster, it enhances it for sure. I want to get serious about sax too. I rented one for a while and learned a little about it then got busy. But, whatever instrument, it opens up new avenues of understanding not only of that instrument, but of the ones you play. Go for it.