The (Not So) Official Musical Instrument Topic

[pelon13]

Since we are getting WAY too much topics asking questions (even though we have a small question topic), and a lot of those questions seem to be about music (even though we have a help for beginner guitarist topic), I have decided to make a topic about instruments.

What instruments you play. (even vocals)
Your history.
Questions about instruments.
Progress

And pretty much anything else that has to do with musical instruments.

And no, mayonnaise does not count as an instrument.

I must say, I'm getting a little better at the guitar all the time! Seems like just yesterday I started.
Yesterday i as learning how to play Smoke on the Water as my first song, and now I'm freakin' playing the intro to Thunderstruck, tapping the solo to One, and having a wide library of songs I can play ranging from The Beatles to Metallica.
I am excited for three years from now when I will be able to rip through solos and compose my own songs!

[ibbod0]

I personally didn't think we needed a topic to ask instrument related questions in.. I didn't notice that many questions... I think, for now at least, It's fine for people to make a topic for each question they have(?)

However.. this topic is not a bad idea.. I think it would work better if it was just "what instrument(s) do you play?" or something to that effect.

I'll reply to this topic properly tomorrow




ps. It's not official unless the mods make it

[gwiz210]

I play bass guitar and drums.
Bass for 9 months, Drums for 5 years.
I play and write lots of Ska and Ska-Punk music for both.

Favorite songs to play on bass are "Sell Out" - Reel Big Fish, "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" - The Flaming Lips, "99 Red Balloons" - Goldfinger

[pelon13]

ps. It's not official unless the mods make it

lol Oh really? lol. Okay, I guess I can change the name.

[ibbod0]

I'm mainly a guitarist.. I started playing... I don't know when actually. :| maybe 3 and a half years ago. I started playing my brother's cheap classical guitar that he had given up on learning, and within a couple of weeks I had my parents impressed enough for them to buy me my first electric guitar (squier strat).

I can remember that even at that time, I didn't try to play the normal songs people play when learning guitar, but instead chose to play my favourite songs (system of a down at the time). I think that's really important to do when you first start, so you enjoy playing and don't lose interest. And yeah.. got a new guitar (LTD-M200FM) for Christmas and got better at playing pretty steadily from that point. It was much more fun to play with an instrument that sounded like I wanted it to.

Last year I started a Certificate II in Music Industry course, and was required to take lessons as part of the course. I have an awesome teacher and he helped me fix up my bad, self-taught technique a lot. Good teachers just know certain things, i think.. like, i'll be having trouble playing something and he'll tell me "move your elbow outward a little for this part". I also joined the beginner keyboard class, and started playing bass towards the end of the year when the only bassist in the class left. Since then I've just been continuing practising, and learning new songs

and yeah.. that's pretty much my history. Also probably my longest post ever..

[marcustherocker]

I've played the bass for about 3 years and am getting nowhere to being professional. I need to practise more. I own a stagg bass. Favourite tunes to play are:
MxPx Heard That Sound
Fall Out Boy Beat It
Axel Rudi Pell Carousel (learning to play from a 100% accurate tab I found on the net)

[Sonic1991]

I started playing guitar about 5 or 6 maybe 7 years ago now. I have actually gotten quite good. I also can play a little bass and some keyboard here and there. I have worked with P4KO in Mexcio and I have also recorded guitar tracks for some rap songs my friend does.  I really hope to have a career with this one day but I still have to figure out the right way to go about it.

[Iris]

I am a useless vocalist since I don't play any instrument XD. Well I know how to play keyboards and flute but it's not that I have practice or great abilities.

I just love singing.

I started back in 2003 I think, being my inspirations J-pop music [Over Soul, from Shaman King was the first song that I learnt in Japanese] and Sonic Adventure music.
I used to practise on my own, but finally took on singing lessons in March 2005. I had lessons once a week for almost 3 years, until I finished high school.
Then I have kept on practising on my own... but it's quite different since I already know most of the basics ^^U.

Current challenges: My teacher trained me a lot into my highest register, and wanted me to sing mostly in a clean voice. Now while I'm looking for a rock-like style I have to try not to lose that training on the higher register .

[pelon13]

^^ Hmmm... what's the difference between a register and an octave?

[Votum]

I am a vocalist and I play keyboards too. I prefer not to sing for my own songs, but whenever it's necessary I'll do it.Since I have a tendency to work with electronic styles, any singing that I do for my own songs is usually heavily distorted with vocoder and autotune.

I own 3 synthesizers currently, the minimoog voyager, the oberheim ob-xa and the roland d-50, and a sampler, the akai mpc-2000. I'm not sure if a drum machine is an instruments, but heck, I'll list it anyway, lol.

I am also a drummer. I took 2 years of drum lessons my 5th and 6th grade year amidst my 5 years of piano lessons. I rarely use the drums though. I prefer to program them on a PC or a sampler.

[furythehedgehog]

Well I play about anything i pick up.  I'm not usualy good at it until i get some practice in though.  AND I DO NOT PLAY DRUMS. And never ask me to play drums.

[pelon13]

Right now, I playing to improve. I entered a period of having fun and messing around lately, but it didn't help me improve much. For the rest of the summer, I am going to improve my basics such as chords, scales, and ear training. But right now, I am trying to improve my speed as well.

New songs I can play since that other list somewhere on these forums include;

Beatles:
Eight Days A Week
She Loves You
Please Please Me
Octopus's Garden
Come Together
Here Comes The Sun
Twist and Shout
Can't Buy Me Love

Metallica:
Cyanide
Fade to Black
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Broken Beat and Scarred

Green Day:
American Idiot
Holiday
Jesus of Suburbia
Peacemaker
21 Guns
a little bit of Wake Me Up When September Ends

There are a lot more but they don't come to mind right now.

[iwantthatguitar]

I've been playing guitar and bass now for over 6 months and been a bass in a band for three months

I enjoy playing, even though I'm not brilliant, and try to play every day.

Bass

American Idiot
Song 2
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
Teenage Kicks
Dance, Dance
Tetris - Perfecting
Mario - Learning

Guitar

Song 2
Phineas and Ferb theme - Learning
Paper Wings - Learning

[Chaos]

I've been playing drums for a few years and I used to play piano pretty well for a while too until i stopped a couple years ago. I'm also a halfway decent singer.