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Other Instruments
- Thread starter Tejano Joveno
- Start date
Can I just put up an infinity sign?
In sixth grade, I started on cornet. But there is apparently a plot that says if you are a guy of any size and you play a brass instrument, then they want you trapped underneath a sousaphone come high school marching season. So I went-- 6th grade: trumpet/cornet, 7th grade: baritone horn/euphonium (treble clef), 8th grade: baritone horn/euphonium (but then I had to learn bass clef), then freshman year: tuba. I stuck with euphonium and added trombone (both valve and slide, I was better on valve) in high school, but they mostly wanted me on tuba.
Somewhat simultaneously to my cornet year, my sister had started on violin. I was progressing faster than her and teased her about it. She said it was because her instrument was harder than mine. Then she went out to play for an hour or so and I picked up her violin and lesson book. When she's come back in, I was already better than her on violin. In stead of taking that as a challenge to get better, she said "Fine! YOU play it!" Mom said "It's paid for. One of you is going to play it." and signed me up for Orchestra the next semester.
It really didn't take the orchestra director long to figure out that violin was not for me. He looked at the size of my hands (My wife says I'm apparently part orangutan) and said "You're clearly one of nature's bass players" and introduced me to Mr. Double Bass. I only played in orchestra for the rest of junior high. In high school you had to pick band OR orchestra, but not both.
My grandfather was a pretty darned gifted swing guitarist. He'd played with a historically important group called The Lightcrust Doughboys for a while when he was young. He started teaching me guitar when I was in seventh grade. I really only got up to mediocre on guitar. Then I decided bass made more sense.
About the time I had to quit orchestra, I decided I missed playing bass. So I saved my lunch money for the majority of ninth grade and bought myself a bass. It was a piece of crap. But it was MY piece of crap. It was a Beatle Bass copy by Ventura. And it was really more suited for archery than music, but I didn't know enough to be able to tell at the time.
Along the way I also taught myself some keys and hand percussion.
So I guess I play/have played/used to play:
Trumpet/cornet/flugelhorn
Baritone horn/euphonium/valve trombone
Trombone
Tuba
Violin(badly)
Double Bass
Guitar/12-string guitar
Bass guitar
Banjo(REALLY badly)
Mandolin
Chapman Stick(about as badly as violin)
Keyboards(not quite as badly as violin)
Hand percussion(Congas and Bongos, mostly)
Didjeridu
And I write and sing
Out of all of those I mostly say I play bass. But I play AT most anything else.
In sixth grade, I started on cornet. But there is apparently a plot that says if you are a guy of any size and you play a brass instrument, then they want you trapped underneath a sousaphone come high school marching season. So I went-- 6th grade: trumpet/cornet, 7th grade: baritone horn/euphonium (treble clef), 8th grade: baritone horn/euphonium (but then I had to learn bass clef), then freshman year: tuba. I stuck with euphonium and added trombone (both valve and slide, I was better on valve) in high school, but they mostly wanted me on tuba.
Somewhat simultaneously to my cornet year, my sister had started on violin. I was progressing faster than her and teased her about it. She said it was because her instrument was harder than mine. Then she went out to play for an hour or so and I picked up her violin and lesson book. When she's come back in, I was already better than her on violin. In stead of taking that as a challenge to get better, she said "Fine! YOU play it!" Mom said "It's paid for. One of you is going to play it." and signed me up for Orchestra the next semester.
It really didn't take the orchestra director long to figure out that violin was not for me. He looked at the size of my hands (My wife says I'm apparently part orangutan) and said "You're clearly one of nature's bass players" and introduced me to Mr. Double Bass. I only played in orchestra for the rest of junior high. In high school you had to pick band OR orchestra, but not both.
My grandfather was a pretty darned gifted swing guitarist. He'd played with a historically important group called The Lightcrust Doughboys for a while when he was young. He started teaching me guitar when I was in seventh grade. I really only got up to mediocre on guitar. Then I decided bass made more sense.
About the time I had to quit orchestra, I decided I missed playing bass. So I saved my lunch money for the majority of ninth grade and bought myself a bass. It was a piece of crap. But it was MY piece of crap. It was a Beatle Bass copy by Ventura. And it was really more suited for archery than music, but I didn't know enough to be able to tell at the time.
Along the way I also taught myself some keys and hand percussion.
So I guess I play/have played/used to play:
Trumpet/cornet/flugelhorn
Baritone horn/euphonium/valve trombone
Trombone
Tuba
Violin(badly)
Double Bass
Guitar/12-string guitar
Bass guitar
Banjo(REALLY badly)
Mandolin
Chapman Stick(about as badly as violin)
Keyboards(not quite as badly as violin)
Hand percussion(Congas and Bongos, mostly)
Didjeridu
And I write and sing
Out of all of those I mostly say I play bass. But I play AT most anything else.
I love this question and answer it frequently. To my experience, most bass players don't actually start on bass but get there after trying lots of instruments.
I was a percussionist and mezzo-soprano, and did both during my bachelors degree in music. I also started playing oboe as a 17 year old because I liked it. It was something off the beaten path. I only started playing bass at the beginning of 2005. I absolutely love and identify as a bass player, not that I've stopped doing anything else I do. I love making music, and each experience is different.
I was a percussionist and mezzo-soprano, and did both during my bachelors degree in music. I also started playing oboe as a 17 year old because I liked it. It was something off the beaten path. I only started playing bass at the beginning of 2005. I absolutely love and identify as a bass player, not that I've stopped doing anything else I do. I love making music, and each experience is different.
