We get a lot of threads here in Music and Sound about newly produced works, mostly sequenced. A lot of us regulars have gotten to know each other through each other's digital productions. I'm interested in what kind of instruments everybody here plays. (The voice counts!) Also, what kind of formal/informal musical training have you had? Personally... (The Short Version) I've played guitar/bass/piano/drums all for about 5-6 years, basically completely self taught, except for a minute amount of piano lessons and a beginner high school theory class. (The Long Version) I started playing bass and guitar around twelve, playing along with CDs and soon joining the church worship band. Within a time frame of a couple years, I took about 3-5 months of piano lessons, but the different teachers I had always moved *way* too slow and didn't come up with training fitting to my own talent. (All bragging aside) I bought a drum set and started playing with my CDs and jamming out with friends. Junior year in high school I joined a band on bass guitar, quit, rejoined a year later as the lead guitar, and quit when they started going emo. I also played in the school jazz band (guitar) for two years.

Hey, cool idea for a thread here!

Fortunately/Unfortunately for you, I have no short version. Ok, a real short version and a smashing long one.

Short - Piano/Bass/Guitar/Drums. No lessons, all by ear/heart. Phew, that was easy!

Been playing guitar for 12 years now. Picked up the piano shortly thereafter. By Default I started playing drums since my brother and his friends were already the guitar players...poot.

Played in numerous bands throughout highschool like probably everyone else.

I was in Choir because the choir teacher convinced me to since I was/am a natural bass. In exchange for taking part he taught me everything about MIDI and let me use his gear which I used to cut tons of class to use. I got to work on my voice there quite a bit and now I do more voice over work than SFX and Music combined!

The two years of choir is also where I learned all my sight reading and theory. I took a class in college but had to quit as the mathematics of theory was rotting my brain and started to make me sick of music. I couldn't do that to myself. Perhaps I should have stuck it out, but I still know more than enough to converse musically with anyone.

Also played the drums for my church for a few years.

Played bass guitar on a commercial CD. That's when I fell in love with the studio environment (engineer had the bass tracking done in the control room so I got to watch everything work!) I decided I wanted to be an engineer. Run my own studio and make my own music when I could.

I did sound design and music for a live theater I ran for two years until I buckled down, enrolled in Full Sail and got myself a degree in audio engineering with Extended Studies in Game Development...Game Audio.

Now I produce and teach Game Audio to game design students full time. Guys, you need the heart to write the music, but you also need the science (and some math) to really get it out there to other people and make a connection!

I'm going to stop before I start my rant. Yay!

Tony

Great idea!!!

I play:

Piano: took 6 years of lessons, been playing (self taught stuff) since I was in 3rd grade)
Saxophone: been playing for 15 years
Clarinet: been playing for about 3 years
Percussion: one year, everything but drumset
Trombone: been playing about 2 years
Guitar: been playing about 5 years
Singing: been singing in choirs since 1st grade...a long, long time ago. :)
Recorder: mainly self taught, playing for five years

I've played in band, wind ensembles, jazz bands and combos in both high school, college and graduate school. I've also played in rock groups and jazz combos
locally.

By the way, Tony, I looked into Full Sail- but decided against it because they wouldn't give me any financial aid (minus FAFSA) and wouldn't let me clep out of any classes even though I already had a masters degree. Plus at the time their bachelors degree was a brand new development. Other than that- it seemed like a great place. Wish I could have taken part.

-Nathan Madsen
www.madsenstudios.com

Bass, for seven years (standup for about 4). Mostly informal, with maybe 20 lessons from a great bassist named Lou and a workshop or three. Pretty much any style... I think I was pretty damn good.

French horn, for about seven years. Plenty of formal training. I could be great, but wasn't nearly consistent enough (especially with my range, bleh).

I can play piano, but with limitations. I don't really 'do' regular stuff - I can only seem to play music that gives me a basic, written melody and the chords. Now, from that, I can get into some pretty complex stuff, but having both hands written out is just an abject failure. As you might have guessed, I'm a bit short of formal piano training!

I played cello for two years in elementary school, too [lol]

I don't think I'll ever play French horn again - I simply cannot stand to play it, no matter how much I like to. Bass is still a lot of fun; I just don't have a group to play with and I've lost a bit of my edge.

Well...

I play all of those amongst others. [wink]

Actually, I'm really rather bad at the keyboard, I really just mess around on it.

I've played trombone for about 10 years now, and was taught for the entire duration of highschool. I've got my AMEB grade 5. The Trombone in the picture is a Eb/Bb tenor; I lot of people see the trigger and assume bass. I've played in local jazz groups and orchestras as well as in all the school bands, and also sometimes play for stage shows.

I've also played guitar for about 8 years, and had 3 years of lessons (including a year learning classical/flamenco technique). I've played this in a few local bands and for stage shows as well.

The other instruments I'm actually good at include euphonium, tuba, dizi (a chinese flute, on the keyboard in the photo), mandolin (the 'tiny guitar' in the picture), banjo, and harmonica, although I also mess around (or have in the past) with various other instruments. I also did a couple of years of theory during highschool. I also attempt some vocals, and was in a choir for a short while.

woah kazgoroth! u play euphonium too! ^5, i played it for 3 years too :D..
i've been playing piano for 9 years or so, quitted formal lessons 3 years ago :).. nothing very much left to say, i'm impressed by the range of instruments some people play here !

Right now I play the guitar (suck at it), and the bass (just started so I really suck at it). I used to play the violin (12 years), and the oboe (7 years).

I play

Electric Bass (my main instrument, more than 5 years of music school)
Double Bass (my secondary instrument, more than 3 years of music school)
Guitar (just playing around, no formal education)
Keyboards/Piano (just playing around and really, really suck at it, trying to teach myself)
Vocals (not particularly good, but good enough for background vocals. 2 years of school choir + a one-day pop-vocal workshop)

i used to play
Violin (1 year)
Cello (6 years)
Recorder (2 years)

instruments i have played at least once, but never seriously:
Drums/Percussion
Oud
Xylophone
Didgeridoo

music theory: advanced high-school course and what i learned from books and my instrumental teachers