Do you play a musical instrument?

[Tecate]

Good evening folks!
I was pondering about different lyrics and such in another thread when it occurred to me that we all listen to music in our own way. Some listeners are focused on lyrics, some on the music and some on the intricacies of the interplay of the whole…

I play guitar, but have of course learned to play recorder in elementary school, then trombone in junior high, before picking up a guitar in high school.

I would love to learn how to play keyboard in all its iterations (piano, organ, etc) but that’s for another time.

I want to know what you play. What makes you happy? Heavy Metal? Classical? Country?

Tecate

[pianopraze]

Music Ed major cira 1995. 

I play all band instruments, but not strings. 

No strings except guitar… poorly. 

Piano as you might guess by my username is my forte… pun intended.

Worship and classical mostly.

[argentus]

Good evening folks!
I was pondering about different lyrics and such in another thread when it occurred to me that we all listen to music in our own way. Some listeners are focused on lyrics, some on the music and some on the intricacies of the interplay of the whole…

I play guitar, but have of course learned to play recorder in elementary school, then trombone in junior high, before picking up a guitar in high school.

I would love to learn how to play keyboard in all its iterations (piano, organ, etc) but that’s for another time.

I want to know what you play. What makes you happy? Heavy Metal? Classical? Country?

Tecate

I also play guitar, and I'm dabbling with ukulele.   I am learning to play "Pennies from Heaven" on the Uke, and also trying to learn "Toxicity" by SOAD for the Uke.   I took classical lessons more than 40 years ago, and that has done more for my rock playing than anything.   I like playing jazz, classical, rock, and ROCK!!       I think I will someday soon do a rock concert for the benefit of the local  rest home.   Rock music is not so fond here where I live in the Caribbean, but there are those who will come out to watch the burn.

[SnrRog]

I am incredible at playing the stereo. I learned at an early age, and everyone who hears me play says it is the finest they've ever heard!
Actually, I can't read music, but can play the recorder (we called it a flut-a-phone in elementary school,) can sit at a keyboard and after a few minutes Messing around, can play some simple tunes, same with guitar, but I am (was) best with drums. I am uncoordinated enough to be able to use all 4 appendages separately, which a percussionist needs.
Oh, I am working on harmonica, but it is harder than it looks, especially when the wife threatens me with a frying pan to the head!

SnrRog

[DontTreadOnMe]

I have become quite adept at playing Sirius radio in the car.  And even while driving with two hands on the steering wheel and both eyes on the road, I have it set up to browse 8-10-channels in my favorites.

Classical music.  Classic rock, country and soul from 60s-90s. Miles Davis and some instrumental jazz.

[PhyloCFly]

I was trained as a classical clarinetist. Got my first taste of dixieland in a dixieland band in junior high school and then scored first part clarinet as a frosh and solo chair from then on. My senior recital was the three movements of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto by memory, had to be by memory as the notes pass by so fast it's the only way it can be done.
 By that time I was also playing sax so as a sophomore I learned tuba and as a senior was classed first chair in all three instruments. My senior recital on sax was the Paul Desmond gem from Brubeck's Take Five.

I also trained myself to be pretty good on recorder and harmonica and then decided to teach myself guitar as I also was a singer. So I got a book and learned the fingering for chords. I got pretty good as well but for one fateful error. By the time I got good enough to really start getting into picking rather than just chords, I realized my error. See, the book I learned from had pictures of the neck in a vertical position, it did not say which way to turn the neck horizontal so being a left handed person I turned it to the right leaving me four fingers to do what one would normally use the thumb for and the thumb for all the picking. It was over for me than.

But my favorite lesson from my musical years was one point I picked up from a frosh college music appreciation class. That lesson was that All sound can be music. Surf, wind, birds frogs, it's all good this lead me to being open to a wide variety of appreciation now fifty years later. Go Newen Afrobeat.

[FlyersFan]

I don't play anything.  I can't even read music.  I've tried to learn how, but it's totally not in my capabilities to do so.  I don't listen to the radio or anything while driving.  I like it quiet.

[quintessentone]

I was self-taught on guitar as a teenager, played around with a ukelele, and tried to return to learning to play the guitar in my senior years through a night course at a university, but the strings hurt my old aged fingers, so that ended that. Although the instructor did suggest I put bandaids on my fingers, but that didn't work and I'm not a guitar pick kind of player.

I can read music and prefer to sing, although like FlyersFan, I too prefer to drive in absolute silence.

There is a time and a place for music but also for silence. Although there always seems to be a song playing in my head as I do my journey.

[OneStepBack]

My uncle taught me how to play the clarinet.  He played in bands (worked with Gene Pitney at one point).  I passed The UK Royal Society of Music's practical exams (Grade 5 at 10 years old and Grade 6 at 11 years old which I passed with merit).  I also had an ear for music.  I remember playing Stranger on the Shore after listening to it once which stunned my parents. Unfortunately the clarinet was stolen from school. I left it overnight locked in the music room like a lot of kids did.  My miserly father would not replace it.  I never took it up again as an adult.  Looking back I have no idea why.  I played acoustic guitar as a kid as well (self-taught).

Fast forward 45 years. I bought a midi keyboard at the advice of the team who manage my illness. I am housebound and they told me to find a hobby that wasn't too taxing.  I set up a digital audio workstation (DAW) on my desktop computer.  There are many instruments in the DAW which you play via your keyboard.  The quality of the pianos, strings, brass' and woodwinds are amazing and so many synthesisers to play.  I am currently learning to play keys with an amazing sounding grand piano.  I have only created some simple melodies so far as there is  a steep learning curve with the DAW and my cognitive abilities are 100 % (part illness and part medication).  The main thing is I enjoy it and it provides a brief escape.

[DontTreadOnMe]

... My senior recital on sax was the Paul Desmond gem from Brubeck's Take Five..

Quite an impressive list of instruments!  Also, I really love the sax on that song.
I envy you your musical abilities.