Do you play a musical instrument?

[Dawn HH]

Shakedown:-) I see that you joined the Forum well over 2 years ago and have only posted 8 times. You should post more often so the board members can get to know you. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[Stormie]

1.Now or in past (high school)? Um, I played recorder in Infant School... does that count? I own a keyboard and can just about hit the right keys, although I've hardly touched it in years so am rather out of the little practice I'd had 2.If so what gear? (brand model etc...) Yamaha 3.What style music? not applicable I think... 4. What instrument would like to learn to play? guitar/bass I just wanted to reply

[Dawn HH]

Stormie:-) You just joined the Forum on October 14th, my birthday. I just turned 70 and I'm begining another decade in high heels. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[Stormie]

:bday: For then, sorry it's belated!

[Dawn HH]

Thanks Stormie, I really appreciate the wish. And now, back to "Do you play a musical instrument". Cheers--- Dawn HH

[tightlevisandhhboots]

Started with recorder, but I couldn't sing and play, so learned the guitar, now have 6 of them, acoustic, acoustic electric, electric, amps, boards etc. Would like to play bass and drums, but not enough time for everything. CCM tightlevisandhhboots

[high_heels]

I played piano in a high school and now I'm learning to play accordion.

[ShockQueen]

I played the recorder in elementary school (sadly, never did it seriously), and then in junior high, I played the tuba in the school band. I have no idea why I chose the tuba, because it's the most awkward and little-used instrument outside of an orchestra.

[thedesigner]

I dont play an instrument, but do pet rats count? Our monica played the mouse organ.......

[wood&metal]

1.Now or in past (high school)? Now and in the past.. 2.If so what gear? (brand model etc...) Fender strats and a tele, Guild starfire, epiphone 1275, and a few others, all through a fender amp.. 3.What style music? All kinds, but mostly Blues and rockabilly.. 4. What instrament whould like to learn to play? Drums, and piano.

[crotchboots-m]

i took accordian lessons from age 12 to 15. i think one of the reasons i had to take them is my desire to wear high heels boots(moms). i imagine they thought is a rehab sorta thing. i got as far as the william tell overture and quit to play football. the rehab didnt work...lol...100 pairs of boots later...

[metalspikes]

1.Now or in past (high school)?

In the past, acoustic guitar. Now (but coming to be in the past, as I do not play so much), Irish Uilleann bagpipes. Also, since the pipes are not playing so well any more, have picked up the "penny whistle" a bit.

2.If so what gear? (brand model etc...)

Guitar: spanish acoustic. Pipes: Matt Kiernan half-set

3.What style music?

Guitar: folk music (Pete Seeger, Peter Paul & Mary) and folk rock (Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel). Pipes: mostly traditional Irish dance music and "slow airs," a few tunes from Galicia.

4. What instrament whould like to learn to play?

Full set, like this gorgeous one by Geoff Woof.

The keys that you see provide chord accompaniments for the melody played on the chanter.

[Webhawk]

yes, shure

i am vocalist and play accoustic and electric guitar as well.

in the 90´s i was a professional musician. we played country music, r+r and oldies from 60´s and 70´s.

now, we make music just for fun and do some concerts round our homebase/munich...

on the picture you can see me with my 50´s fender telecaster. i have 70´s strat, ibanez-saber as electric-guitar and use a takamine santa fe 93´ as my favourite accoustic guitar.

[QOH/Gina]

yes, shure

i am vocalist and play accoustic and electric guitar as well.

in the 90´s i was a professional musician. we played country music, r+r and oldies from 60´s and 70´s.

now, we make music just for fun and do some concerts round our homebase/munich...

on the picture you can see me with my 50´s fender telecaster. i have 70´s strat, ibanez-saber as electric-guitar and use a takamine santa fe 93´ as my favourite accoustic guitar.

...with such a nice shirt you could play in Jonathan Higgins´ Houseband "Magnum Never Dies" :-)))))))))))))))))))

[Pete]

1.Now or in past (high school)? In the past. 2.If so what gear? (brand model etc...) Bass fiddle...Kay,Englehart,German flatback and several others I don't remember. Harmonica...Hohner (all types) Backup vocals. Ocassional lead. 3.What style music? Old time singalong,country,bluegrass,pop,classical. 4. What instrument whould like to learn to play? I play some banjo but would like to be a lot better.

[radiodave]

I'll have a go. 1.Now or in past (high school)? I'm learning guitar, but I've played recorder, violin, viola, piano, and keyboard. The violin and recorder I learned in school, then I took viola lessons for a while. The piano was largely self-taught, with a little help from the wife. 2.If so what gear? (brand model etc...) I've got an Oscar Schmidt acoustic guitar, a Kramer XL III electric guitar (actually the wife's, but she doesn't play it anymore), and a 1920 Neuner and Hornsteiner viola (a family heirloom that belonged to my grandfather). 3.What style music? Just about any kind. I like rock and classical, but not practiced enough on the guitar yet to play much rock. 4. What instrument whould like to learn to play? Probably the theremin. Not a widely known instrument, but if you've heard the typical spooky electronic music played in low-budget horror and sci-fi movies from the 30s-50s, that would be a theremin. The unique thing about it is you don't touch it; you play it by moving your hands near it. It's probably the oldest form of electronic music, invented in the 1920s. I remember reading an article about the restoration of an original one (I restore antique radios), so it would be very cool to find an original one made by RCA. If not, there are modern ones too. I have no idea what I would play on it, but just trying it out would be fun.

[at9]

Probably the theremin. Not a widely known instrument, but if you've heard the typical spooky electronic music played in low-budget horror and sci-fi movies from the 30s-50s, that would be a theremin. The unique thing about it is you don't touch it; you play it by moving your hands near it. It's probably the oldest form of electronic music, invented in the 1920s. I remember reading an article about the restoration of an original one (I restore antique radios), so it would be very cool to find an original one made by RCA. If not, there are modern ones too. I have no idea what I would play on it, but just trying it out would be fun.

One day a guy I know brought his theremin to a gathering and many of us had a go. He could play it pretty well but the rest of us just frightened the cat:smile: It's an extraordinarily difficult instrument to play well because there is absolutely no touch feedback. It was still fun to try.

[jmc]

Here is a modern theremin, available as a kit:

http://www.paia.com/theremax.asp

The page also links to some other theremin stuff. The original instrument used vacuum tube oscillators connected to the antennas. The stray capacitance of the musician's hands would de-tune the oscillators by varying amounts as the musician moved his hands around the antennas. These de-tuned oscillators would heterodyne against each other to create other-worldly tones somewhat reminiscent of the squeals and howls you used to get between stations on an old AM or shortwave radio (for those of us who have been around long enough to remember AM and shortwave radio -- or vacuum tubes for that matter).

It is an odd instrument indeed.

[Elegant]

(for those of us who have been around long enough to remember AM and shortwave radio -- or vacuum tubes for that matter).

I'm only 21, but HEAVILY into vacuum tubes, amps, old radios etc. Right now, I'm restoring "Tatry" [a Polish 50's receiver, quite popular], but it's possible that I'll eventually get some pre-WWII stuff.

[jmc]

I'm only 21, but HEAVILY into vacuum tubes, amps, old radios etc. Right now, I'm restoring "Tatry" [a Polish 50's receiver, quite popular], but it's possible that I'll eventually get some pre-WWII stuff.

I always find it refreshing to hear of continued interest in the old technology. Tubes are just fascinating.

Now back to the musical theme:

When people asked me if I played anything I always answered: yes -- turntable, tape deck (CD-player later on). . .

Later on I discovered MIDI and was actually able to make some music with it. But that is far closer to programming (at least the way I do it) than musicianship.

[radiodave]

Elegant and Jmc, nice to meet some other vacuum tube gurus. I've got about a dozen radios dating from 1924 to about 1956 that I've been restoring. I'm also a ham (amateur radio operator) and I've got a Hallicrafters receiver and transmitter that "glow in the dark".

[thedesigner]

man hears music from hole in skirtin board and waits. Eventually a tiny mouse comes out and man says to mouse was that you makin that music? Mouse says it wasn't me playin a mouse organ, but it was our monica..... Gd'night.........

[metalspikes]

4. What instrument whould like to learn to play?

Probably the theremin.

...

Brian Wilson and Mike Love of the Beach Boys were both interested in the theremin, and used various versions in several of their recordings, including Good Vibrations. There is a well-made and interesting documentary film about the theremin, that I had the chance to see in a small art theater.

...

(for those of us who have been around long enough to remember AM and shortwave radio -- or vacuum tubes for that matter).

When I took electronics shop in high school, they were still teaching vacuum tube theory. High voltage semiconductors were not yet widely available, so that television sets still used tubes and, though the field effect transistor was commonly available, one still used a VTVM (Vacuum Tube VoltMeter) for the highest imput impedance available. There, that ought to date me!

I'm only 21, but HEAVILY into vacuum tubes, amps, old radios etc. Right now, I'm restoring "Tatry" [a Polish 50's receiver, quite popular], but it's possible that I'll eventually get some pre-WWII stuff.

Cool.. I still have my Fisher 500-C stereo receiver, a family hierloom from the 1960's. There is an electronics swap meet that meets once a month not too terribly far from where I live, where it is possible to find new vacuum tubes for as little as a dollar each. I have succeeded in replacing most of the failing tubes in my Fisher from this source, so that it sounds great. It is only within the last 10-15 years that semiconductor technology has advanced to where it can produce as noise and distortion-free a sound as this great old receiver.

I always find it refreshing to hear of continued interest in the old technology. Tubes are just fascinating.

I find the history to be even more interesting. Thomas Alva Edison generally gets the credit for discovering the one-way valve effect that vacuum tubes function on when he inserted an extra element in his light bulbs. John Ambrose Fleming discovered that this effect could be used to detect radio waves, and developed the first viable vacuum tube, which he called a "diode" but became more commonly known as the "Fleming valve."

There seems to be no doubt that Lee de Forest was the first person to add the control grid to Fleming's valve, which added amplification to radio signal detection, but it seems that all of his other claims to being the originator of the developments that came out of it were surrounded in controversy. The regenerative amplifier circuit, invented by Armstrong and claimed by de Forest (perhaps de Forest first conceived it, and Armstrong first built it) made a one-tube radio receiver possible. The audio amplifier version of this invention couldn't have come at a better time for Bell Telephone, whose patents on the original technology had just expired. Vacuum tube audio amplifiers made long-distance telephony possible, the newly-formed AT&T viable, and kept Bell's interests competitive as he transitioned into long-distance services. To this day, AT&T still functions in its initial inception as a long-distance carrier and patent-holding company. de Forest's claims to an original optical sound-on-film technology seems also to be controversial, depending upon which article you read.

Even today, vacuum tubes are not quite yet obsolete. Cathode Ray Tubes used in television receivers and computer displays still have some advantages that have not yet been equaled by flat screen technologies. Semiconductor technologies still cannot handle the kilowatt requirements of commercial radio and television broadcasting (the final stage RF amplifiers in these transmitters use huge water-cooled vacuum tubes),

nor has it replaced the magnetron in the microwave oven and radar equipment.

Now back to the musical theme:

When people asked me if I played anything I always answered: yes -- turntable, tape deck (CD-player later on). . .

When I was a child, I used to play on the linoleum...

[thedesigner]

hooray..... someone with a sense of humour!!!!!! Fk me could do with that round here!! Some of the messages are gettin a bit leaden and snidey! I used to play on the swings but that was my downfall....... at school i played the fool, but that in was a shakespeare play...... i played the one arm bandit once but couldnt hold the gun......later i played around, sad, none of the girls liked golf........i played dvds to learn chess, wife got sick of me watchin pawn movies......played a blinder one time, other bloke's still got a white stick.....

[thedesigner]

An appropriate historical true story for this thread. Nero ordered some fire extinguishers from a mail order company, there was a special offer on: you order them and you get a free gift for prompt order. Well the promotion was a real success, so much so they ran right out of fire extinguishers. However, the company didnt want to piss their customers off so they thought they'd send the free gifts off anyhow. Their reply was: Dear mr nero, thank you for your order for fire extinguishers, unfortunately they are out of stock at present but in the mean time we are pleased to send you your free violin.....

[metalspikes]

An appropriate historical true story for this thread.

Nero ordered some fire extinguishers from a mail order company, there was a special offer on: you order them and you get a free gift for prompt order.

Well the promotion was a real success, so much so they ran right out of fire extinguishers. However, the company didnt want to piss their customers off so they thought they'd send the free gifts off anyhow.

Their reply was:

Dear mr nero, thank you for your order for fire extinguishers, unfortunately they are out of stock at present but in the mean time we are pleased to send you your free violin.....

Lyre!!

[thedesigner]

apparently he was trying to play the water music.......

[thedesigner]

i can play chopsticks....... only thing is the owner of the chinky restaurant chucked us out.......

[johnieheel]

I use to play with brownies, but then I got in trouble for eating one and became a drummer boy.

[thedesigner]

d'you hear about the couple who played scrabble by post ? They got banned for cheating as they kept exchanging letters........ or about the poultry breeders who went down the pub....... picked up a couple of game birds......... trouble is the birds were goin out with a couple of blokes playin dominoes..... they knocked the spots off them....... no i havent given up the day job, just workin overtime i never played the trumpet voluntary...... they had to force me into it..... g'night !!