I'm an amateur pianist but would really love to learn how to play guitar, saxophone, and or the drums. What instruments would you love to learn how to play?
Hahaha, I am also a frequent beatboxer and love keeping a beat slapping my arms, chest and legs. It's never too late to learn!
I've dabbled in viola, saxophone, guitar, and ukulele and various times in my life. I didn't like saxophone but the others I enjoyed. The ukulele was most recent; since teaching myself guitar was difficult, and I didn't even have access to it at the time, I bought an entry level ukulele that had been set up for me already. It's so fun! More importantly its "friendly." The string action is low and they are softer than a guitars so they don't hurt my fingers, chord shapes are less complex than on a guitar, it's comparatively quiet (I share an apartment), and the sound is generally happy. All these things make it fun to just pick up and play and brightens my mood. Unfortunately I haven't played in a while since I got the to point where I had learned several chords, could play simple pop songs, but grew incredibly frustrated while attempting to learn finger picking. At this point I haven't picked it up in nearly a year; lessons would probably help. All that said, I think learning to play a proper drum kit would be so fun. Although, if rock band is any indication, that would be a long very steep hill to climb. Few things make me feel so hopelessly uncoordinated.
Cool! I hope to one day be able to dabble in an assortment of instruments!
Me too. I have met him numerous times. He's a very nice fella. He's put on some of the best live shows I have seen.
I'm not familiar with Andrew Bird. Care to recommend me a song or two?
Just an FYI that is says "musial" in the post instead of musical.
I've started learning accordion! A couple of years ago I met an accordionist playing between DJ sets at an outdoor festival, and couldn't stop dancing. A few months later I mentioned to a colleague that I wanted to find an accordion of my own, and he had two and wanted to get rid of one! Since then I've been practicing quite intermittently.
I'd also like to learn the accordian, but I'm poor and those are not cheap instruments. I'm partially influenced by [Geoff Berner](www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H4ORggG0V0) and [Daniel Kahn](www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5XRZAWk8Jc). That, and I like Russian folk-music in general for some reason.
Playing the accordion is one of my dreams. You lucky sod.
Woah! That's an awesome turn of events. I've yet to meet someone who plays the accordion but I have an appreciation for the instrument. Does yours have keys or is it played by covering holes?
My right hand is a keyboard for melody and my left hand is a Stradella bass system. It also has several "mode" buttons on each side, similar to the pedals on a piano (two on the left, three on the right, though one mode on the right is broken for one of the keyboard keys). I actually bought it off my colleague immediately after we finished our drinks. We walked over to his place, I handed him $60 (a total steal), and he handed me the accordion to schlep home!
Guzheng. God, I would love to play the guzheng.
I used to play the Guzheng in elementary school :O But I really want to play the drums now.
What's stopping you? Mine is money and space.
Yes!! This!! The Guzheng is an amazing instrument. Not can it only produce awesome sound, it can be a weapon of mass destruction under a skilled Kung Fu master.
Violin. I'm taking lessons with my daughter and I'm doing alright. She's going to be great.
That's an awesome way for some family bonding and a great way to motivate each other. Very cool!
Theremin or water drums. I see so much potential in the theremin, yet I don't think there's any popular music that ever makes use of it (because a synthetizer is so much easier to use for relatively similar results. But one day I dream of making a mega-theremin that will be what the piano was to the harp, in a sense. Water drums? It's a percussion instrument that doesn't use sticks and that can do actual music - like this: Though also maybe the didgeridoo or a tank drum. But any instrument that my thick, short, clumsy fingers could play would be good too - so no strings, no piano-like interface. And if possible, could make music on it's own instead of a background rhythm.
Cello! I have long-ish fingers (I can reach an octave easily on the piano) and it's one of my favorite instruments. I also have a little experience playing bass and cello is also tuned in fourths, so I don't think it would be totally alien.
I'm a songwriter who is not terrific at any instrument. I use the piano to find and write the chords. I can't really play the piano more than just hitting a chord on each beat, but I understand it enough to find the chords in the key of what ever song my head came up with. I can play shabby guitar. I try and stay in the keys of G and C and their minors (capo is my friend). I have two strum patterns for 4/4 and one strum pattern for 3/4 & 6/8. It is better for everyone in a public performance if I just sing while someone else plays, even with my own songs. Anyways, I say all this because I want to actually learn to play the guitar well. It's about time. I also would love to know the cello and the penny whistle, but would be happy enough if I actually resolved to get proficient at the guitar.
Violin and pan flute. I like the elegant sound of violins and the peace that comes with listening to a pan flute. Playing the pan flute seems easy at first, but it takes a lot of practice I hear. I already play a bit of flute and I know how frustrating it was learning to get the angle of the mouthpiece right.
Those both sound like very beautiful instruments to learn. And while I'm sure the music will sound very relaxing, the journey to learning will probably be quite frustrating as they both need a lot of discipline, hahaha. Good luck with that!
I play piano, and I envy other string instruments. I mean, you can't really vibrato on a piano, and you can't slide between notes, and you can't play tremolo. It just seems so limited. The cello has a lovely, rich sound, so I'd love to give it a go!
I think about this all the time. I would love to be able to pitch bend and make crazy sounds on a real piano. Guess the only options would be to get an electric piano or invest in crazy custom pedal modifications. But on the other hand, the piano has so much more range and allows for playing of both rhythm and melody simultaneously. Also, good pick on the cello. I also enjoy how it sounds.
I broke my leg in December and, for lack of any of the physical activities I was used to doing, I bought a guitar and started to play. I can't imagine nor playing it now. Every time I'm away from it, whether at work on vacation, I wish I had it with me. The problem is that I live in a very rural area and have nobody to teach me. I'm learning from Justinguitar, which is great, but I really wish that I had a teacher to help me.
I've also dabbled a bit in guitar but I've yet to really spend time learning. I've tried out Justinguitar and I also recommend it. Perhaps one day we'll both get around to finding a real mentor.
Would the synthesizer count? I love the idea of it (and the sound of it, and saying Moog modular), but don't think I'd have the space nor patience for it. At the moment I've been playing around with Sonic-pi and might try working out a classroom resource for it, even if it's just a ten minute demo to show off what code can do.
I would say so! The hate on electronic music makes no sense since it still requires a working knowledge of music for it to be good. Plus you can make some really funky sounds with it. I think I'll take a look at the link you share cause that sounds pretty awesome!
If you're interested in modular synthesizers and have either a Nintendo DS or a 3DS, you might want to look into one of the programs Korg has released. I picked up DS-10 for $20, and it works for any incarnation of the DS. Korg has also posted videos explaining how to use DS-10, which I've found really helpful. DSN-12 only works on the 3DS and is around $40, but has more features than DS-10.
A half an hour or so on an electric piano a few days a week is plenty of time to get the basics down :)
Bassoon! I played contrabass clarinet in high school so I sat right next to the bassoon player (who was a close friend of mine) and her parts were ALWAYS more interesting than mine, which tended to be whole notes more often than not. It's also a very unique and beautiful sounding/looking instrument.
Some places have guitars for rental if you just want to learn and see if you like it before really investing in purchasing one!