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Poll: Who also plays guitar? Drums? Keys? Sings?

You play bass. You also play… (check all that apply)

  • Electric Guitar

  • Acoustic Guitar

  • Keys

  • Drums

  • Horns/Woodwinds

  • Banjo

  • Fiddle

  • Sing, sing, sing!

  • Other instrument (please comment)

  • Just bass. No treble.


Results are only viewable after voting.
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For the first five years of my musical existence I played percussion/drums, mostly in grade school concert band. During my fifth year I started playing bass and within the year I borrowed a friend's acoustic guitar. I am more than sufficiently accomplished on both bass and guitar (drums took a major back seat given I never bought myself a drum set, although when given the chance I'll "goof around" on one). I no longer have any electric guitars or related sundries (the last one I had was a '13 PRS Custom 24 with a Swart STR-Tremolo), just a few very nice acoustic guitars in addition to my basses.

Some proof (more available if required :D):
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Keys, sing, other. Other means I am not a drummer but I'm pretty good at programming drum machines to do what drummers do. Also other instruments via keys. I'm a pretty crappy guitarist that can strum a few chords so I didn't put that down. I'm not a great keyboard player either but I can play well enough to write a song and record a demo so I figure that counts.
 
Guitars electric and acoustic, bass, singing (mostly lead, have to really work to nail down any harmonies, except those rare ones that just happen) ... and keys, to the extent that we always had a piano around the house growing up, figured out basic chords and learned a few songs (including the Maple Leaf Rag, back when, gone now :).) Not a real keys player, but can fake a little, and have written that way. I've played banjo a little, but no.
:bassist:
 
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My favorite instruments are drums and piano though I can also play a little on various brasses.
I spent a dozen years fronting a band as a singer, and now that I've gotten that out of my system, I mostly just help produce other artists.

But for someone who identifies as a bass-player, I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time with the electric treble guitars...

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(even bizzarro ones, like this...) :woot:
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but for "other"... I submit my "Arpeggionne" (the five-string) and bass Viola ba Gamba (six-string)

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I was five years old and I worked out the melody to "Doe A Dear" on my grandfather's piano.

The "lesson" I was given was: "Major chords are four up and five down". Anyone who plays knows that's an inversion.

When I was eight or so, I latched on to Elvis and started really digging the music. I needed an electric guitar.

My grandparents bought me a harmonica and said if I learned to play it, they would buy me a guitar. I became pretty good on the harmonica and waited for my birthday present. My grandparents got me ... an acoustic guitar and insisted I had to take lessons.

My instructor was insistent that I could ONLY play what he was teaching me; nothing else. No learning stuff on my own (even with this "junky" acoustic my grandparents - having no knowledge of guitars - had bought me).

Well, that didn't help me advance my dreams. So, I started delivering newspapers, shoveling snow, cutting grass, etc. and saved $110 (1977) and bought myself a used electric.

I got pretty good. I was in a band which started my junior year of high school. That summer (leading to senior year), we had an entire summer (minimum three gigs a week) booked at the Jersey Shore. With three weeks before the first gig, our bass player just up and walked.

I was third guitar/lead singer and I had maintained my crazy work ethic. So, I was dragooned into the bass position. I took to it, immediately.

We got signed, we recorded, we toured. We did okay. I occasionally played some keyboards, too; just accents and stuff.

As a result of playing the bass, a close musical relationship grew between the drummer and myself and I was glued into what he was playing. We were sitting around, shooting the breeze one night in the studio and someone suggested we cover a Judas Priest tune. The drummer kind of made a face and I said: "I'll play it, if you want." He laughed.

I got behind the kit and signaled the guitar players. I played it (almost perfectly) and the drummer was floored.

"Where did you learn to play?"

"From watching you."

A year later, for his birthday, I bought him a drum set he had been drooling over (an old double-kick Rodgers kit). As a result, he gifted me his old set and I began really learning.

fast forward (quite a few years). I wasn't playing very much life had changed. I'd started a family ... in 1999, I lost two fingertips on my right hand (middle and third). No more fast triplets on the bass for me!

I was mostly playing guitar, drumming and singing.

My old band wanted to do a whole reunion package. I told them my sad tale. So, that was out.

I started playing bass again (mostly using a pick).

Last year, I lost my right leg. I'm currently learning how to play the drums "lefty".

ETA: I apologize for the long post, but that's my story (and I'm stickin' to it!).
 
Used to be a busy drummer in a few bands. Also play guitar well enough, mostly as a demo/writing tool and occasionally for fun.

Things i do that are not included in your survey: modular synths, computer music programming, ukulele.
 
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