did you play an instrument and if so, did you keep it up? I played accordion (button type), tin whistle, mouth organ, fife, traditional Irish music: jigs, reels and hornpipes. And waltzes. Played in pubs where people liked to dance, the waltz was always very popular even if the floor was not the best for dancing.
Guitar playing and limited free time meant the dropping of the other instruments apart from the mouth organ.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
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Always talked about starting a band with my mates but we never got as far as learning instruments - then my brother bought me an encore acoustic when I was 21 as I was so into music he thought I'd dig it, 25 years later I still do.
I still play keys now and prefer it as a solo instrument
I need to get better at piano again.
Danny's right though, learning to play the guitar is so hard and even when you master the chord fingering, trying to figure out where the notes are is much more of a challenge than on a keyboard. So every time I think I might learn a new instrument I wonder if I really have the time, which would be better spent on the fretboard.
re : the keyboard 3 finger chord thing. Absolutely right, but try and get a beginner piano player to play a 6 finger chord - that’s no so easy for them then. Which is why I think it’s extremely odd that anyone (let alone beginner guitarists) would ever want (or even need) to play a 6 string F chord at the root. Just play 3 strings. Over recent years I think I’d teach a beginner on a uke or a 4 string guitar. Let them build up their dexterity and ability to play some music first, by which point they find it so much easier to transfer over to 6 strings.
even today as a pretty competent classical and finger style guitarist, I can’t get my left and right hands to work together on a piano keyboard -weird eh, guess it’s just practice like anything.
Had to sell it to pay rent while studying about 25 years ago.
But youngest spawn plays now so I get to have a go again. Surprised how much I remember.
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I at least learnt some basic music theory which has come in handy though.
Apart from 4 years of 'cello lessons in my early teens, all I've done regarding learning and practicing an instrument is several forms of guitar - electric, acoustic and classical. Which, for me, are three different instruments with a common starting point but some differences in playing technique. Somewhat like piano, organ and synths are.
I'm pretty good at bashing out a backing for a singalong these days if you chuck a chord book at me (terrible memory for remembering stuff!)
I should have had lessons when I started, but I was pissed off with formal music tuition. By the time I was old enough to think about it properly, I was too ashamed of how shit I was after X many years allegedly playing