I play guitar, drums, piano/keyboards, bass, and trumpet and I consider myself proficient at all of them except bass, which I can play well only if I use a pick. I have played all for about 7 years. Anyway, playing music is ****ing awesome, everyone should learn how.

Oh cool I'll be buying one then the one I saw was £400

Proficient at guitar but not bass? Unless your definition of proficient is this guy

then I'm not sure I've ever seen that.

I play piano and guitar.
My I play the piano reasonably well even though it's been years since I stopped taking lessons, but I'm struggling with guitar. I started taking lessons about a year ago, but my teacher stopped because he got sick. so i'm trying to learn it by myself.. I can play most chords, but it's just so difficult to control my ring and pinky finger, but I'll learn eventually (i hope) :)

Played guitar for 2 years, wish i would have had some lessons with the keyboard or drums. Self teaching kinda right now

Been playing the piano for about 9 years, played clarinet for 3 years in school marching bands, learned violin for a brief period (but never liked it), now learning drums and teaching myself guitar.

I play guitar and a little bit of the ukulele, I want to learn violin this summer

New instruments i'd like to add to my other category (meaning i know play them):
Kalimba
Small 8-button Accordian (the big ones scare the shyt out of me)
1/2 Violin

instruments i want/need to learn:
Saxophone
or trumpet
Hang Bowl
Harp
Mandolin (although it would probably only take a few minutes to figure it out)

I use to play Trumpet. I dropped it though because the teacher was forcing it to become part of my life,when it was just something to do to pass the time in school. That Instrument was really hard to play,plus I hardly ever practiced.

Drums. Best instrument out there for me

i can play drums but not with drum sticks, for some reason drum sticks always screw me up unless i'm playing with wire sticks or mallets (or by hand)

I play cello and keyboard well.
I can also play guitar and bass decently.
I played drums only once, with a buddy of mine, and we just jammed for a few hours, and I really wasn't bad. I've always had a good handle on rhythm so I think that helped me. Coordination effed me up though.

If I could learn to play any instrument it would be bagpipes(which I should learn in the next few years-my mother asked if I would learn to play bagpipes for her funeral, which I hope is a very long time from now).

Or accordion just because I like the sound.

This is actually how I ended up learning cello. In elementary school, we could chose between band and strings, and the band instructor said I flat out couldn't play trumpet, so I got stuck in strings. My parents made the decision that I play cello. And I hated them for it. A three mile way to school at 7am was brutal with a cello strapped to your back. I felt like a nerdy camel. Now I feel it was a good decision, but cello repairs cost me a lot. If I break a C string, that's like a 35-50 dollar replacement. And I currently can't play at all because I need a new bridge and it has to be fitted by a professional. Sorry, ranting =/

I am new to the drums and was wondering if there are some good techniques to get some different beats, cause i can only play a simple rock beat.

Also does anyone know how to vary the notes on a Jew Harp? I'm new to that also.

There aren't really any techniques to new beats; you've just got to learn the new beats (unless you're talking blast beats, etc.). I would suggest listening to songs you know have a fairly simple beat and either trying to work it out by listening to it or looking at some tabs for it. Learning to play songs, I find, is the best way to learn new beats (especially if you listen to a variety of genres). Do you take drum lessons?

But yeah as you probably guessed, I play drums and I'm absolutely loving it. :D I also play bass a bit but I'm awful at it. But still pretty fun.

...


Thats all there is. For example jungle beats, or triplet beats, and many other beats that involve something different than a 4/4 or 2/4 rock beat.

Not sure what you're trying to say here... That's what I was saying, there aren't any specific techniques you need to learn to play them - you play them all the same way - you just need to learn the different timings, etc.

New member here,

I mainly play the guitar, going on 5 years now. I also play bass on occation, and I'm slowly learning some drumming. My main axe is my Telecaster, which have been with me for 3 years now. She is customized quite a bit, and the wood and frets is really the only stock parts left on her. But I love her nevertheless.

Cheers!

I tried to leard how to play the guitar but failed epicly at that - I did learn a Nirvana song and a Coldplay song though :)

Otherwise, I can play the flute. Gangsta, I know ;)

I've played piano for nearly 15 years (self taught, so perhaps 'bodged' would be a better word), but I'm a little bored of that. I did start on guitar but I have ridiculously small hands and it was really difficult trying to learn all the finger positions. I'm sure if I'd persevered I'd have got it in the end, but my fingers never seemed to be long enough. Plus, I was far too stubborn to buy a 3/4 sized, which might have worked out a bit easier, I dunno - it was full size or nothing.

Hence, I'm currently learning the bad ass ukulele instead!

-viola (good)
-bass (okay)
-guitar (learning)

I've played and learned a few songs on the piano, guitar, bass, alto sax and violin over the years, but it's the mandolin I make the most effort with these days (and even that's not very much).

Ahh, I love the mandolin. It's next on my list, just as soon as my friend gets back from travelling so I can steal one of his. I've learnt the hard way not to buy instruments until I've had a couple of weeks playing around on someone else's first....

It makes a really lovely sound. At least if you know how to tune it properly (which is a real pain in the arse, what with how tight you have to wind the strings up), otherwise a quick strum sounds like you've just thrown it down the stairs or something. It's a really hard instrument to play as well, so you'll hav your work cut out for ya :D Once you know four or five four finger chords with it, you'll feel like you can take on the world with it though.

I hope my patience lasts out. It wasn't til this guy came to one of the jam nights in my local with his mandolin and joined in on an impromptu version of 'Zombie' by the Cranberries that I was swayed - I loved how it could make a pretty bland song into something totally different. Luckily, I have a couple of people around me to point me in the right direction, so I wont have to bodge my way through, get frustrated and end up throwing it across the room (R.I.P to the mini accordian that that happened to...)!

I play the flute, the piano and the recorder. Self-taught on the latter two.

I would love to learn how to play the oboe and the nyckelharpa.

I play the violin, saxophone, guitar, bass guitar and I'm gonna start drums =)
I tried to play the piano, but I was appauling. I think it sounds really nice though.

Hey, I sing, play guitar, a little sax and trumpet, harmonica, didgeridu... but what I reeeeaaally want is a chora!!

Kora even, how embarrassing :p

I play guitar, keyboard/piano (And it doesn't suck, FFS!), bass (I suck at it, but whatever...), and I sing. I can also play drums, although I don't have my own drumkit, and I can play the clarinet.
And yeah, I am fourteen :)

Guitar and piano, and I love it :D

i can play:
Guitar
Bowed guitar
Bass
Keyboard/piano
Drums
Percussion
Electronics
Ukulele
Violin (i'm not very good but i'm learning)
Glockenspiel
Melodica
Xylophone
Auto-harp (only play chords)

and i want to learn Saxophone, Trumpet, Banjo, Celtic Harp, Cello, Lap Steel, and Kalimba

i play bass clarinet, and regular clarinet.
My summer project is to teach myself the alto saxophone, so far ive picked up a few tunes!
I've got an electric guitar but it hasnt quite stuck yet!

What do you people consider playing an instrument? Knowing 3 chords or having much experience and theory under your belt.

Just playing really...you dont need the theory or much experiance to be able to play an instrument...if you can play with just a few notes [or just play without knowing the notes, like me and the sax!] then you can play. Thats what i believe anyway...and who's to judge..if you enjoy it then go for it!

in my view being able to 'play' an instrument requires both a balance of technical ability and artistic sensibilities.

to simply own the instrument and have the ability to create sound from it is NOT the same as playing the instrument - since absolutely anyone can do this regardless of talent or ability. also adding an effect is not the same as a different instrument (see: idiots who credit themselves as playing 'fuzz bass').

i own a junk clarinet and if i fixed it up (which last time i checked would cost double what i paid for it in the first place), i could technically play it to create random atmospheric sounds for a recording. but i'd never say i could play the clarinet unless i knew i had the ability to hold a tune with that instrument as well as technical knowledge of the function of its parts.

at the same time if all you know is the theoretical knowledge of how the notes correlate into scales, and how the scales fit into modes, and how modes meld into keys, and blah, blah blah, blah, blah blah blah.

ultimately - you need to know the rules before you can break the rules; and you're not going to learn the rules unless you learn the basics of traditional methods; and you're not going to truly grasp traditional methods enough to truly create your own style if you haven't developed more than the most basic rudimentary techniques on the instrument.

Thats definitely a good way of looking at it. Thats why I have a a hard time seeing someone say I have a list like this :
"Guitar
Bowed guitar
Bass
Keyboard/piano
Drums
Percussion
Electronics
Ukulele
Violin (i'm not very good but i'm learning)
Glockenspiel
Melodica
Xylophone
Auto-harp (only play chords)"

Not that one person could not learn all those but your spreading yourself so thin I doubt any deeper understanding could come from them all.

actually it was only hard learning a few the others have the same basics

like for example knowing guitar helps with learning any other stringed instrument like the bass, ukulele or the violin

another example learning the keyboard helps with midi mapping, glockenspiel, melodica, or anyother keyed instrument i can play basics on pretty much any instrument except brass and woodwind (melodica is an exception to this) and a deeper understanding well that's determined by the individual not by someone who lives hundreds of miles away and barely knows me. what i believe is if you can improvise "well" on an instrument you can play it and use it in songs. i can improvise on the guitar i know every note, ukulele is easy to improvise as well but i just have to remind myself the tuning is in different relatives, the keyboard is very easy to improvise in fact most of my songs started out as simple improvisations.

oh and don't say i don't have a connection to my instruments i do i've actually fallen asleep playing guitar (luckily i wasn't on top of it)

oh and i'd like to add one more instrument to my want to play list drum machines i've only programmed drums through software like FL Studio and GarageBand but since i'm starting to delve into the performance area i've music i'm deicding to use my laptop less

I play guitar, but I'm a frustrated piano player. Just didn't have the money as a teenager to buy one, and now I'm in need of an extra room for all the guitars I own!

Been playing acoustic guitar for about a year, and electric for three months. I'm not particularly good, but I make leaps of progress every couple of months. Still struggling with barre chords, though.

yes and no.

i don't really want to crap on stone birds for his list but i definitely agree with you for the most part.

i'm kind of torn at listing different techniques as a new instrument. i own both a violin bow and an ebow, but i don't say i play bowed guitar, it's just a technique i use randomly and ends up under the greater umbrella of being a guitarist without limits.

on the other hand if bowing was my predominant method of choice by a large margin then i'd list it - like Ben Harper and his slide.

also, listing every variation on an instrumental possibility makes it look like you're compensating for something. like when June of '44 listed 'bathtub, stair railing, cupboards, kitchen table, sink, pipes' and other furniture as instruments on one of their albums because they used field recordings of themselves beating on random crap in an old house to use in one of their tracks. it wasn't a horrible track either, but it left a bad taste in my mouth, as all it served was their ego and its attempts at making them seem more special than all the other 'generic' musicians who stuck to just using actual traditional instruments.