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[Dacvak]

I'm curious how many musicians we have on GAF, specifically people who play instruments.

My parents were both music teachers, so I studied music for a solid chunk of my life. I currently play piano primarily, but also play trumpet and all sorts of percussion, including set. Then there are a small handful of other instruments I'm competent in, or at least dabble in, like guitar/bass and a few other brass instruments. I don't play any woodwinds, sadly, nor most string instruments like violin and cello. And yet I still maintain that the sax is the easiest instrument ever to improvise solos on lol.

If you do play an instrument (or multiple), what do you play? Are you still active?

 

[Digital-Aftertaste]

Piano and bass. I started with the piano but my main experience has been the bass... I use it whenever I go to the toilet so...

Never did play in any professional capacity but I have been wanting to strengthen my piano skills some more. One thing that I abhor is that I much prefer solfege over the damn ABC's but its hard to find free sources of the former.
A family member of mine ended up doing years in orchestra class for saxophone. He got such a free ride from it in college, from being in the band, that he was actually getting paid per semester; that was awesome.

 

[badblue]

bought a guitar a while back with the intention to learn to play. Never really took it too seriously. Played Rocksmith mostly and attempted a few try's at learning online.

Ended up putting it away 3 years ago after some nerve damage and haven't touched it since. Maybe I should go dig it out of the closet...

 

[Dacvak]

bought a guitar a while back with the intention to learn to play. Never really took it too seriously. Played Rocksmith mostly and attempted a few try's at learning online.

Ended up putting it away 3 years ago after some nerve damage and haven't touched it since. Maybe I should go dig it out of the closet...

Do it!! My buddy does the charts for rocksmith, so he’d be glad to know you went back to it.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

I'm beginner-level at piano, guitar, and drums. I've played music in one way or another for ~30 years, but never had the dexterity (or dedication) to be that good at it.

I prefer making music electronically with a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) because that way I can program the music and let the computer execute it.

 

[badblue]

Do it!! My buddy does the charts for rocksmith, so he’d be glad to know you went back to it.

 

[darrylgorn]

Guitar, sax and piano, but haven't played sax in years. Bari sax is expensive as fuck.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

40+ years of playing guitar and picked up the piano many years ago but not near as accomplished as on guitar

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

I used to play the clarinet.

 

[calistan]

I was really keen on guitar in my 20s, but completely forgot what I’d learned later. I like the idea that I could be a musician, and have spent stupid money on digital instruments that I’m never going to be able to get remotely competent at.

Now when I see an ad for some new bit of kit and think it would be cool to own, I have to remind myself that I’m completely talentless and refrain from hitting the buy it now button.

My younger cousin, on the other hand, got into guitar way earlier, never gave it up, and has been the lead songwriter of a hugely successful band since he was a teenager.

 

[Digital-Aftertaste]

I was really keen on guitar in my 20s, but completely forgot what I’d learned later. I like the idea that I could be a musician, and have spent stupid money on digital instruments that I’m never going to be able to get remotely competent at.

Now when I see an ad for some new bit of kit and think it would be cool to own, I have to remind myself that I’m completely talentless and refrain from hitting the buy it now button.

My younger cousin, on the other hand, got into guitar way earlier, never gave it up, and has been the lead songwriter of a hugely successful band since he was a teenager.

I am a firm believer of the take ur instrument to the bathroom method lol. Leave your phones out and you'll fine yourself strumming for 15-30 minutes a day, honestly don't think I would've kept up with bass if it wasn't for that.

 

[Dacvak]

I am a firm believer of the take ur instrument to the bathroom method lol. Leave your phones out and you'll fine yourself strumming for 15-30 minutes a day, honestly don't think I would've kept up with bass if it wasn't for that.

Good at bass, but huge hemorrhoids

 

[V1LÆM]

I started playing guitar when I was 11 so 20+ years ago now.

Also played drums for a while. Can play some piano.

Guitar is my favourite but don’t play as much anymore. I have 5 electric guitars. 1 needs some repairs…I got it years ago intending to fix it but never got around to it. Every so often I take the guitars out and give them some maintenance and clean them up a bit. Haven’t actually done it in a while. I’ve been meaning to swap the pick up on one of them for a while but I suck at soldering and don’t want to damage it. I have swapped some pick ups before but only on the cheaper ones.

I have a 2006 Gibson Les Paul Junior (White), a 2010 Gibson Les Paul Junior (tobacco sunburst), a 2003 Squier Stratocaster (green), and 2 knock off stratocasters both red. Not sure how old they are.

Les Paul Juniors are my favourite and I want to buy some more to collect but I can’t justify it since I don’t really play much.

 

[AJUMP23]

Not anymore.

My brother is a top tier violinist though.

 

[Quasicat]

I played Tuba/Sousaphone when I was in middle school, high school, and the alumni band. Once I moved away and started teaching, I donated it to the band of my new school.
You truly never forget though…a few years ago I was subbing for the 8th grade band and the tuba player was absent. I grabbed a mouthpiece and an instrument and played along with them. It was really fun and the kids told me they had a great time!

 

[TintoConCasera]

Electric guitar, started learning on my own and managed to play some simple songs and even a few cool solos. Got bored and moved on.

I think I lack discipline, many times I start something but end up giving up out of boredom or something else. Maybe I should grab that guitar one of those days, always wondered if I could make it more fun with something like Rocksmith.

 

[Harkonnen]

I'm learning guitar for two years, I always wanted to. My teacher is a great guitarist of jazz manouche, Christophe Lartilleux. I'm a slow learner for music, never played an instrument, but it's fantastic. Now, I have to buy an electric guitar, want to play some Andy Summers tunes !

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Drums

Been playing for 20 years. Less the past twp years.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Picked up a piano a few years ago, incredible how much time and dedication you need to be proficient with an instrument.

 

[MastAndo]

I've been playing guitar on and off since I was a teenager (eons ago), but never took it seriously enough for any extended period of time to get any good. I can play a few tunes for the non-musical folks that will make them think I'm skilled, but anyone with any real playing ability would see me as a novice.

 

[clem84]

I play drums.

Hey you know what would be fun? To have a GAF cover band. Different gaffers would get together and agree on a cover. I participated in projects like this in the past. We would each record our own track, a video of the performance (video and audio don't need to be recorded at the same time), and we would send the audio tracks to someone in charge of mixing, and the videos to someone in charge of video editing. These people would do a quick mix and a quick video edit and we would post the video to Youtube. It would be fun.

 

[Tams]

I played the keyboard and then piano. I got grade 1 in piano, but that's it. I also bought an acoustic guitar, but never got past learning a few chords (yet still have mild callouses from it).

Unfortunately, I just don't have a musical bone in my body. And I'm incredibly jealous of those who just 'get' music.

 

[StabbyStabStabStabStab]

Ya, mainly keys, but also bass guitar (badly these days) and guitar (just plain badly). Also played the flute when I was younger, gave up after grade 5 as it JUST WASN'T COOL, however I still have one and harbour some romantic idea that I can front a Jethro Tull reimagined for the 21st century. I'v got some bongos mic'd up and run through Logic as well, however that just annoys the neighbours, cat, GF and anyone who happens to walking past the house, so not bonged for a long time.

 

[RagnarokIV]

I play guitar. I like 80s rock, metal and shred guitar.

 

[missiles]

Electric guitar. Rock/alternative and classic metal. Play guitar way more than games these days and it's taken over as my favourite hobby. Just bought myself a lovely Gretsch instead of a PS5 Pro after seeing the reviews.

 

[rm082e]

I've been dabbling in bass for 30 years. I played upright in the school orchestra and had a garage band with friends when I was younger. As an adult, I pick it up once or twice a week and play for 30 minutes. It's more of a way to relax at this point than something I'm trying to progress in. It just feels good to pick up and play some of my favorite songs.

These days I've got an ESP LTD 5 string with a Boss GT-1B. I run that into an M-AUDIO interface into my PC so I can learn songs via tab, YouTube, etc. I also have an old Epiphone Les Paul that I'm terrible with, but it's fun.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Trash guitarist. Started to pick up trying to read normal musical notation rather than just tab, and it was kind of fun, but I dropped off. Really wished I would have learned piano or something when I was young.

But I mean:

Would've gotten GH3 if not for all the co-op bullshit but hey, I still 5-starred Through the Fire and Flames on expert.