5th grade school band, I wanted to play a stringed instrument but they made me play the trumpet. I lasted all of a month before I did everything I could to get out of there.
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What Was Your First Musical Instrument?
- Thread starter Bassquest
- Start date
Piano, then a short period of guitar/bass, then a longish period on drums. Then back to bass and guitar. Started on piano in 1976-ish. Drums around 1978. Been a consistent bass player since the mid 90s. Have had at least one guitar since 1984.
My dad tried to teach me bagpipes but that never stuck.
My dad tried to teach me bagpipes but that never stuck.
In junior high I was assigned to the wrong period for music class to get a trumpet so influenced by the Benny Goodman biopic I choose clarinet over flute and saxophone
I tried saxophone for a minute after doing well on a musical aptitude test as a kid, but it wasn't technically my instrument.
So I'll say my first instrument was a Hohner Bass 3 keyboard bass.
Before buying the Bass 3, I would hammer out funk bass lines on my sister's piano, but I had to sit in a chair because my brother was banging out drum beats on the wooden piano bench! He eventually became an excellent self-taught drummer.
So I'll say my first instrument was a Hohner Bass 3 keyboard bass.
Before buying the Bass 3, I would hammer out funk bass lines on my sister's piano, but I had to sit in a chair because my brother was banging out drum beats on the wooden piano bench! He eventually became an excellent self-taught drummer.
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Recorder first, of course. ( or does Kazoo count? )
Then Piano, Guitar, and then Bass from 6th grade thru now.
Then Piano, Guitar, and then Bass from 6th grade thru now.
I was 11 - 12 years old when the British Invasion was happening, and on my little portable record player I could hear the bass lines on songs by The Kinks, The Hollies, The Beatles, The Yardbirds etc. where the bass played in a higher register. I could hear there was a guitar playing one note at a time in really cool patterns, but being in a tiny country town there was no one to tell me about the bass guitar. Maybe there was but I didn't have the sense to ask around. So I sold garden and flower seeds door-to-door in order to get a little 2/3 scale acoustic guitar and started learning the bass lines on that. That was my first instrument. But my next two "basses" were electric guitars that I continued playing bass lines on, eventually with a drummer and guitarist, because I still didn't know about the bass. Then my parents and I were visiting Wichita Falls and as we walked by a pawn shop there was this big electric guitar in the window that only had four big strings. My eyes popped out of my head like a Tex Avery cartoon character. It was a HORRIBLE Kingston bass that I convinced my dad to front me along with a terrible Supro accordion amp that I paid back mowing lawns. The bass was so bad with the action so high it's amazing that I kept it up. Wish I still had it.
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Me too...Alto sax....fourth grade.
Piano lessons started in fifth grade.
Got my bass at 13.
Started Sousaphone in marching band as well.
Got a guitar at 14.
We had a piano in the house but the first instrument I picked up to play in a school ensemble was trumpet. 9-year-old me saw that it had only 3 buttons and thought "that one must be the easiest"...
Piano in about 1959, where I learned to read music. Then guitar in 1965 followed by bass also in 1965 followed by Glee Club, A Cappella choir, and Madrigals vocal group.
Oh wow... I haven't thought about one of these since I was in junior high school! Our jazz band didn't have a bassist. But I was one of two drummers that alternated songs on the drums. The drummer who wasn't behind the kit was forced to become the bassist using one of these things. Both of us hated playing it.
Got a small keyboard electric organ for Christmas in '64. Think it has maybe three octaves and a few chord buttons on the left side. Didn't play it much.
Received a poor cheap0 acoustic guitar for Christmas 4th grade '66, and learned some chords from a teacher through the City Parks Dep't, but never played it much.
In 5th grade joined elementary school orchestra as a double bass viol player. First instrument I put any true effort - altho my music teacher wished I practiced more. Was all I could do to practice a half hour a day. She'd say look how good this guy is, he practices violin 4 hours a day. To which I replied is he on any baseball, baskerball, or football teams?
Received a poor cheap0 acoustic guitar for Christmas 4th grade '66, and learned some chords from a teacher through the City Parks Dep't, but never played it much.
In 5th grade joined elementary school orchestra as a double bass viol player. First instrument I put any true effort - altho my music teacher wished I practiced more. Was all I could do to practice a half hour a day. She'd say look how good this guy is, he practices violin 4 hours a day. To which I replied is he on any baseball, baskerball, or football teams?
My early instrument progression was:
- Soprano recorder in elementary school
- Percussion in elementary, junior high, and high school band and orchestra
- Piano (not for school) when I was around 12 years old
- Drums (both in and out of school) in junior high and high school jazz
I did electric organ as a child up to Grade 1 - gave me sufficient music theory to launch off into piano, keyboard, guitar, saxophone and of course, bass.
piano first...and since.
later on (grade school to high school and after) i was playing woodwinds, mostly tenor sax. DB to EB in my mid 20s. i have a piano (EP) beside me all day at my computer...it's the 'foundational reference' of my musical experience.
later on (grade school to high school and after) i was playing woodwinds, mostly tenor sax. DB to EB in my mid 20s. i have a piano (EP) beside me all day at my computer...it's the 'foundational reference' of my musical experience.
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