Entry level musition

[Rex in OTZ]

I was 40 when I guess it had been one them bucket list things to do one was learning to swim the other was learn to read and play music, well I live in a small town in NorthWest Alaska (OTZ) I mentioned this to the Dog lady a nice gal who helps out the Vetrinary when he hits town she also is very into music and plays a varity of folk type instruments, she suggested getting somthing simple to learn basic music, in a instrument that one could find sheet music for.
Boy I dident know what I was in for allot of fun and getting invited to all sorts of functions to play.
I bought a $7 yamaha soprano recorder and a trapp family recorder book $6 and a $12 music stand, that was 3 years back and now I have a few extra recorders and allot more music, the recorder is looked down on by some as lame but Im not out to impress anyone but myself and so far I'd done alright. I like the suprano aka descant as its small size and no strings or buttons or any that stuff that can be messd up or lost, as long as its swabbed out and kept reasonably clean it will play good.
Im still a little shakey on timeing and the advanced music therory.
Instructer gal thought I'd be stumped by 9/8 time irish music and not want to play it, well untill I heard it I kept pecking away at it till I got it reasonably down, it wasent intimidating it was a challange!
not much holds my attention, Ive plaid some pretty tough stuff, that durge'y old German stuff is old time'y and man them guy's that wrote that stuff were on the ball!
How'd ya start playing music

[JPSaxMan]

I started out as a very young lad in the 4th grade...my brother had played the saxophone, so I couldn't help but be interested. Ten years later I'm working on my bachelor's in music education as a saxophone major. What got me hooked on the saxophone was that it had all these buttons...and no joke, the shiny factor definitely lured me in! I often wondered what it would have been like if I had decided to play trumpet or percussion.

[Rex in OTZ]

as Im getting a handle on the soprano a C scale instrument the others in that scale are the Garkline and Tenor, since the high squeaky nature of the Garkline is a little abradeing on my older ears I purchased a Yamaha Tenor last fall so now If I want I really like the mellow sound of this fipple flute, Ive looked around ther's the Tin whistle, consertina, banjo, mandolin,accordian, Euphonium all had been considerd in the past but so far Im just comfortable with the Tenor and Soprano recorders, last night at music we discussed the types of music and what folk preferd to listen to, well ther's so much to play thats new to me that I hadent really considerd that my favorite Black Sabbith, ACDC, Blues and Souther Rock hold my interest
what ive found is I do like good music, whither it was written 500 years ago or just a few hours ago if its good its a pleasure to hear especially if you ply it, some the tunes we play are religious the music group we play together in a loose amalgamation is referd to as the ecumenical music group ther's a Baha'i, Episcopal, and a non practiceing Methodist (me) the instruments so far that had been plaid at music has been the Q-cord, 3-Violin,Banjo, 2-Banjo-Linn (tennor) 2-mandolinn (tenor),2- Concertinas, recorders-garkline,sopranino,soprano,alto,tenor,Bass.

[GRIMJIM]

My dad was a proffessional musician. Really a lounge lizard. We traveled all over the vountry until I was old enough for school and then only during the summer.

I started piano when I was 6. That lasted about 4 years. Nuns just didn't keep me interested with all the "old fashioned" music.

So I started taking drum lessons at 12. I took to them pretty quickly but that was around the time I started doing things I shouldn't have been doing so I quit.

I started playing guitar at 16, for the girls. It didn't really work as well as I had hoped but I was playing music that I enjoyed and kept with it. I played in a few local bands and had a good time.

Once a friend asked me to fill in on bass for a while and I really took to it. After playing the guitar I knew the fretboard but it just felt right to play the bass.
I did a lot of gigs, studio work and even had some songs on the radio and one in a movie. It was a really bad movie but it was a movie.

I still pick it up once in a while. Lately I've been playing my acoustic more. I always liked classical music.

[spikehorn]

 I met my best friend in 3rd grade he could already play guitar then, and then I saw some kids in high school that had a local band peform and the bass player and drummer jambed after the gig and thats when i decided i wanted to be a bass player. In jr. high i laid my hands on a 3/4 scale gibson Sg bass and the rest is history. The funny thing is is that my best friend and I have never been in a band together.
 I was also braught up in a musical family, Mom played keyboards was the pianist and organist for or church, dad played lap steel, my oldest sister plays clarinet, my next oldest sister is a vocalist, my next sister after that plays keyboards and sings, both my older brothers play trumpet and the younger of them also sings. i turned out to be the only string player of the clan.

[GRIMJIM]

I started playing my bass again recently. I'm working on some old Iron maiden songs to get my dexterity back to where it should be. Number of the beast, aces high, trooper and some other classics.

I have a couple of basses but my main one is a '79 p-bass. Neck plays like butter. I run that through a 1600 watt ampeg svt4 pro with an ampeg cabinet with 4-10s and 1-15.

[spikehorn]

 I have an LTD bass just upgraded with EMG active pre amp pickups ( the stock pre amp died)  An old westbury track 2 With one set of passive p pickups I traded an 80 watt mono peavey power amp for it spent about 20 minutes on the neck and have never looked back, as far as cabinet and head I have a crate 650 watt head a An ampeg LH1 4X10 with the bottom scoop designed for lower tunings both basses are 4 string but have had the nuts filled and set up for tuning in low a I run 130's on both basses. I also use a sansamp.

[Rex in OTZ]

Tonight we are playing again (every thursday night) the only thing with a electric cord is the key board.
Fiddles, Banjolinn, Tennor mandolin and my recorders 'BlokFloten'(descant aka soprano and tennor) ther recorders garkline all the way to bass.

[spikehorn]

Cool have a good gig! I miss playin live.

[MGMorden]

I've actually started trying to get into playing the guitar lately myself.  Got a Dean EVO XM a while back that I've been playing around on.  Given that I can't resist a "do it yourself" project, I've also started building myself a replica Les Paul Jr .  I have no aspirations about playing professionally (or even in front of any audience that wasn't a few friends), but I"m having fun so far.  Eventually I'm thinking of getting a small travel guitar and amp that I can keep in the trunk so I've always got them with me .

[GRIMJIM]

I've actually started trying to get into playing the guitar lately myself.  Got a Dean EVO XM a while back that I've been playing around on.  Given that I can't resist a "do it yourself" project, I've also started building myself a replica Les Paul Jr .  I have no aspirations about playing professionally (or even in front of any audience that wasn't a few friends), but I"m having fun so far.  Eventually I'm thinking of getting a small travel guitar and amp that I can keep in the trunk so I've always got them with me .

After you played your first show I bet you'd reconsider. It is a total rush and the bigger the show the bigger the rush. The most successful band I was in opened for a couple of national acts and when you have hundreds of people screaming over a song you've written yourself..............There aren't many experiences that will top that.

[spikehorn]

+1 with grimjim I'v toured internationally and wouldn't trade that part of my life for anything, and getting paid to see the world is another perk.

[puma4440]

I've always loved the sound a banjo makes since I heard the Kingston Trio , I finally picked one up, and its tough for me to stick with it, teaching myself has been interestig to say the least. Finding a banjo instructor is getting tougher. There are a few Nitty Gritty Dirt Band songs I'm starting to learn though.

[GRIMJIM]

I've always loved the sound a banjo makes since I heard the Kingston Trio , I finally picked one up, and its tough for me to stick with it, teaching myself has been interestig to say the least. Finding a banjo instructor is getting tougher. There are a few Nitty Gritty Dirt Band songs I'm starting to learn though.

Look for instruction books. I learned how to play the guitar at first using Mel Bay's book of three thousand and one guitar chords.