Personally I find it quite amazing that given the amount of people ( ie Everyone ) that loves music, how very few learn an instrument. Does anyone on here play anything? We are all very quick to post our favourite songs when a music thread is put forward, but how many of us on here are able to replicate some of our most liked sounds? For me personally, I have always been a drummer. From the age of 8 I used to play my dads drums. He played in an Irish group in Kilburn and the Conningham Arms in Shepherds Bush year upon year. Mainly old Irish folk songs but with his experience he could play along to anything, from Glen Miller to Blondie. On New Years Eve 1965 he was hit by a van on Goldhawk Road after performing at the Bushranger PH. It was a hit and run driver who was never caught. My dad was in Hammersmith Hospital for nine months in traction and nearly had to have his legs amputated as a result. During his stay there I was born in March 1966. Tough times, and as a result I was shunted between my Grandparents who lived in Abdale Rd, W12 and my other grandparents who lived in Rathdowney,county Laoish Ireland. When I settled back in the Bush in the flats behind the school end, ( In which the QPR floodlights used to shine into. ) I met up with a weird bloke named Paul Cook, he was my best mates uncle. He used to live above me in in the flats on the third floor. I used to go and play on his drums, he later became famous as the drummer in the Sex Pistols. Many years later, after not understanding the terminology in music used by people I was jamming with, I decided to learn the guitar. ( I can play almost anything on the drums. ) There is something deeply satisfying when you can replicate your favourite songs on an instrument. By no way am I purporting to being anything special, far from it. But I'm really surprised that there are so few people I meet that have learn't to play anything. I'm also having a go at the keyboard and the bass that my wife and kids bought me for Christmas. They all seem to go hand in hand theoretically. So, has anyone else on here mastered an instrument?
999...you've hit on a soft topic here. It was actually my New Years resolution to start learning the piano, so I have downloaded an app to teach me, but not sure how effective it'll be. Sadly I'm one of four, the other three being talented musicians who between them play the piano, flute, drums and clarinet. Now in my twenties I wish I'd learnt, but I started the violin when I was seven, and gave up after a few weeks.
Great read 999s. I'm the only member of my entire family who does not play an instrument. I'm a disgrace. I suppose the fact that I haven't a note in my head didn't help. At family get togethers, I'm usually the one standing at the bar drinking pints while the rest of them are buried in guitars, banjos, tin whistles etc etc.
I'm the principal soloist in the Leitrim Philharmonic Orchestra, but I don't really like to talk about it.
Nice story nines, except the part about your dad. I'm another of those self taught guitar players. Music lessons at school were a joke, we'd learn how an orchestra is arranged and if we were lucky, the electric keyboards might appear for 5 minutes at the end of the lesson. As a result, I never really linked playing an instrument with my enjoyment of music. There was always an old classical guitar around when I was growing up and I didn't even think about picking it up until I was about 15 and started realising what music could do for/to you. I bought a chord book and started to learn. I'd play for hours on end, trying to replicate the songs that moved me. I go through spells now of not playing at all for weeks on end, then I'll play half an hour a day for a couple of weeks. There's no doubt that you get out of it what you put in, same as anything I s'pose. The highlight of my guitar playing career was last summer, my eldest daughter stood up on stage in front of quite a lot of people and, quite beautifully, sang somewhere over the rainbow whilst I played along on guitar.
Yeah good OP 9s now I've read it. Have to admit I sometimes just read the headlines, especially when there are lots of words!
I played the clarinet at school and got up to grade 6... At the moment i'm playing a new range of instruments called Handpans and tank drums...check out this website... http://www.tankdrum.com/
I'm soooooooo tone deaf that I really cannot carry a tune ...I get home from LR and I say to my hubbie...we sang a great song today. You know the ones "Taarabt to good for you or that one" or that one that goes "you must be S@@@ 'cause we are winning at home" and by the time I get home I have lost the tune.... having said that...music is my drug of choice...it changes my mood entirely and I am never happier than at a live gig. Just about to connect myself up to my new found love either Phenix horns (earthWindFire) or Frank Turner
I'm also self taught, mainly Bass which I've played for years but I can muddle on ok on Guitar. Nice story that nines about Paul Cook! Played in a few bands when I was younger but mostly annoy the wife and kids nowadays rather than the general public.
I'm primarily a singer, but I learned piano when I was growing up. Unfortunately I gave up at level 4 as I was too busy playing sport.
