who here can play a musical instrument?
 

wondering if you do and what you play

I first learned to play the Alto Saxophone when I was a wee one, gave it up after a few years but I have some certificates to prove I was good at it. After that I sold my saxophone- well my parents did- and I got a drum set and played that for many years under my own tuition. Soon after I got into Sonic Youth I became interested in guitars, and taught myself to play some basic chords and whatnot. I'm quite good at it now, I believe.

In helping my dad record his first album last year I took upon myself to learn more instruments to give his album a bigger sound- I implemented drums, of course, but also laid down bass and keyboard tracks, again under my own tuition of trial and error.

I got a mandolin for christmas and I'm trying to play it.

The obvious one (guitar), violin, clarinet and percussion. I own loads of instruments, but those are the only ones I play to a decent level. Why d'you ask? What do you play? Hmm?

this is why glice http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=18830

I don't know how to play. I do have have a guitar though, but do not know how to play it.

I like mandolin. It's like a violin but much more forgiving. Give it a bit of Bach's sonatas & partitas for solo violin. Sounds ace on a mandolin.

piano. been playin' fo 8 years.

drums (21years) guitar(6yrs) keys(2years)

I don't play them, I just get them to make sounds.

Ah right. Well, it's easy enough to criticise people for not being as good as oneself. But then, you'll always, no matter who you are, find a better musician than yourself. Generally speaking, the professional (as in properly professional, in orchestras and not just session pricks) musicians I know are terrifically deferent and let people get on with it, mainly because they're entirely comfortable in their ability to shit on others' musical knowledge.

Yes, that is indeed why I posted the topic.
And yes, please do click the link.

"Good as myself" has nothing to do with anything, Glice.

You missed the point entirely.

guitar (7 years)
bass (5 years)
piano (only from fucking around for a number of years, i actually do have a piano that i never play)

Clicked the link. Sounds to me like Mr AvantGarde (perhaps the name is a clue?) is interested in the guitar as a source for textures rather than as a tonal/ chordal box. Much like Mr Keith Rowe (the subject of a recent thread) or My Cat is an Alien (subject of thread previous) or any of the innumerable scenes that grew up in the wake of what one might call the 'modernist' movement in 20th-century art music. Or maybe he's a poseur with leopard print on his guitar.

In fairness, and I mean this quite sincerely, the guitar is an abysmal instrument; badly put together, fretted and tuned in a disgusting fashion. Personally speaking, I'd much rather people did interesting things with the guitar as a sound-source than pretend that it can sit anywhere near the capabilities of a proper (orchestral) instrument.

See above.

Yeah, you're as hopeless as the rest that disagree with me in that thread.

http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=18830

Past: Alto Saxophone
Current: Guitar (duh), bass (any guitarist can play bass)
Future: Didgeridoo

Yes any guitarist that can actually play can also
play bass to an extent.

But not any person that owns a guitar.

For instance, avantgarde1 can't play bass.
http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=18830
avantgarde1 would be much better suited to pick up the harmonica.

i can play the banjo. that's all

yes *sarcasm* music is a right of passage for only those that are technically proficient........ apparently

I took piano lessons in the first grade, but didn't learn much.
I started taking violin and vocal lessons in 5th grade, and I've been fairly amazing at both ever since :cool:
I started taking guitar lessons in 8th grade and I've been learning how to play anything with strings ever since.
In college I took piano lessons, but I still can't do much.

Right. I'll make it clear - I agree with you in part; I disagree with your inferences. I appreciate Keith Rowe (et al) and assumed - or positively inferred, if you will - that, given that he's stated no interest in the more 'proper' senses of playing guitar, he's more interested in the guitar in a fashion that is different to the way I play guitar, and presumably yourself.

You can say I'm mis-reading you; I can say you're mis-reading me (at the moment, I'm strongly inclined towards this). Does it really make any odds though?

You're an ass, terminal pharmacy. Always have been.
Like I wrote in that thread, it's sad avantgarde1
thinks so little of himself that he feels like he is incapable of learning chord forms.

'Cause you know, that's the only reason why he made the pretentious choice to "decide" not to learn chords.
That and nothing else.

i can't read music. i tried. i'm basically musically retarded so i have no idea how i can manage to play and sing at the same time, let alone play an instrument at all.

Neither can I. Neither could The Beatles.
Well, Paul can sight-read a little.

I can laborously figure out notation if I really want to though.

I only play guitar and bass, so I just read tablature.

I can play other instruments some, just not great because
I've never stuck with them long enough to learn the disciplines.

I can't play and sing at the same time worth a damn.

hmmmmmmmm myabe a little stick to it ness is needed

That's not even applicable, terminal. I'm not like avantgarde1 who
plucks the strings of an untuned guitar like a fucking
village idiot.

And that's all well and good for him, just as long as he realizes (all I was ever trying to do is make him realize) that there is a broader palette of musical expressions
available if he only applies himself a little someday.

But that's not his argument. Instead he doggedly insists that he's "decided" to never learn even basic chords.

And I suppose you've got his back because you're
just as pig-headed as he is.

it is exactly the same,in fact even worse seeing as you are a self professed non musician that can only play alittle bit, and you had such a go at avant. It's not him that is the village idiot. that is the last you will here from me on said topics.

I can. Very well. Should I say that anyone who can't read music shouldn't play? It's really not that difficult. I taught myself. Really, really simple. You'd be surprised how many chords there are that you wouldn't notice if it wasn't written down. The arpeggio is God's way of making the guitar slightly less shit. If you can play already you should have rhythmic syncopation down.

The point isn't that it's easy to read (it is). The point is that people express themselves how they feel with the 'box of hate' as I like to call it.

Aaaaaaand ultimately it doesn't matter. I'd wager I'm in the minority of readers (here at least), and the fact that I can makes little difference to anyone's life other than my own.

violin

i'm sorry but i'm far too lazy to learn to read music seeing as it makes LITTLE DIFFERENCE to me because i can already play

I've always wanted to play the violin like you and SteveOK.

Correctomundo

She'd rather spend that time writing her own music and playing the guitar.

Sorry the concept is anathema to the idiots that think all you have to do is own a guitar and fuck around with it like a monkey to be a guitarist. But don't fret, there is an instrument that is perfect for those non-inclined musically: the harmonica. Anybody with any musical talent can figure one out...eventually.

i learned on my own in a room with a guitar, okay? no sheet music, no lessons, no nothing. that's a bit more impressive than being able to read music. i don't care if i'm technically proficient or whatever fucking snob term you want to use, i don't need to be because that style of playing is not tailored to the kind of music i write and play. i don't need to be versatile, i can play rhythm guitar and knock out an OK lead if need be, but really it doesn;t matter to me

You can make interesting music without knowing anything about the instrument you're using. A group like Throbbing Gristle is an exceptional example, and while the Throbbing Gristles of the world are very very few, it does happen on occasion. Eno as well.

Over time, you are bound to wind up knowing "something" about your instrument just by immersion, and hopefully become more proficient, if even just in your own narrow application.

I do think people can make better "avant garde" music if they know what they're doing to begin with, just because they will have a wider array of techniques to draw from. Plus, you have a much wider range of expression at your fingertips if you get to know your instrument.


Me:
Saxophone, 7 years many years ago. I kind of hate the instrument now (aside from Jazz), but I was in the senior band as a freshman and had an affinity for it.
Guitar: 26 years. I think I'm pretty decent, but no virtuoso.

Other string instruments, I dabble.

bowie and co. got all those great sounds out of their synthesizer because they threw away the manual.

If you're happy to play like that, that's fine. I really don't have a problem.

HOWEVER.

If you read from music - and I mean flamenco, bits of jazz or mostly classical - you'll probably be surprised at how little you understand chord construction.

yeah but i'm not a flamenco or jazz or classical guitarist! so who cares?

yes i am an idiot, but the fact is i am a nice one and not a fucking CUNT!!!!! like you. I am willing to pass on any knowledge i have rather than tear someone down because of my own inadequacies....

but you could be with a bit of effort. don't give up, don't settle for indie-rock.