When you pick up a new instrument...
 

Do you guys ever choose an instrument (in this case a second) based on your first? I like piano, but I'm not always indoors, and I can't carry it many places period, never mind if people are playing on a stoop or in the woods.

Also, I can't really play sustained harmonies on the piano so I sorta want to take that up as the second "axe." Does anyone else think this way, or am I cra?

Any reason is valid. It's your own decision. Mine are like this:

Drums, bass and guitar - I chose those because I grew up with them, therefore I had the background and practice. Made sense to buy what I already knew I loved playing.

Wind instruments - I hate brass and reed instruments because of the way they make your lips feel. I would never try to get into those. It would just be torture.

Piano - I would love to pick this up, but I don't want to drop thousands on a grand, and under no circumstance do I think those sh*tty Casio knockoffs are sufficient and not disgusting. So I probably won't ever get into piano.

Strings - I would love to learn the cello, simply because I love the sound. Someday I'll get one. Maybe a viola too. Definitely not a violin. Too small and screechy for me.

As for world instruments, not really interested. Doesn't apply to my stylistic preferences.

Anyway, as you can see, it just depends. For me it's partially my background, tastes and dislikes. Whatever the case, it's all pretty relevant to me at least.

I started playing flute in 3rd grade (my own choice), and stuck with that. It was just fun and for whatever reason I liked it.

After that, I picked up guitar as a freshman in high school. I joined some local bands, picked up bass a little later and later on replaced our drummer and have filled in on that.

Otherwise, I had to learn every wind/stringed/percussion instrument as a music ed major. I can literally play any instrument at at least a 7th grade level.

In other cases, I've chosen to continue on with some instruments simply for my own enjoyment. Since college, I got into jazz guitar. I bought a vintage saxophone and now play sax in a local jazz combo that gigs a few times a week.

Mostly, I pick up things I enjoyed learning to play for a few weeks in class or that I love the sound of and wish I could play.

As for piano...I just need to get better. I'm fairly good and can function as a choral director but not much more. I would LOOOOVE to get good at piano.

I pick up instruments purely based on desire to play them I guess... I've never really thought about the instruments I play and why I do, I've always just kinda picked everything up and "had a go;" I've never really thought along the lines of "I want to play [this instrument] because of [this reason.]"

Piano - I've played piano since a child, purely because I grew up with a piano in the house, started tinkering around at a young age and then it grew from there...

Guitar - Because what musician hasn't picked up a guitar? Guitars are everywhere, everyone has one, they are portable and "universal" in a way.

Bass - In my late teens I just decided I wanted to give it a go, it wasn't that difficult to pick up and play having already played piano and guitar.

I would love to learn a classical stringed instrument like cello or violin, but I just don't have the time to dedicate to music to enough of a degree anymore :(

I thought that in my 20's. Now that I'm in my 30's and can't drink as much, go to bed earlier, and have to watch what I eat more I'm finding plenty of time to dedicate to other instruments.

Also, I started dating a music major (formerly).

I started with flute and then moved onto guitar, piano and the bass guitar. That's actually a typical progression for someone who starts out on a wind or brass instrument, I've noticed. Especially for music majors in university, who also typically start learning the basics of other instruments if they go down the education path. Right now I've picked up saxophone, which is nearly identical to the flute as it was invented by a flautist, and clarinet.

He also played clarinet! Maybe he was like me--loved flute and hated clarinet fingerings.

Hangin' out for my thirties then! Only four and a half years to go...

I play guitars, bass and piano. What I would like to play now:

- a violin. Because I really need violin parts in my productions and I'm not satisfied with synths and samplers for this kind of instrument

- clarinet, flute. I need them also in my productions. I would like to learn to play them, it would be cool to have such real cool instruments and not synth/sampler sounds.

Why don't you just hire one?