Do you play a musical instrument ?

[Blaze]

Does anyone here play a musical instrument ?
I learnt the piano as a child (I still play), then dabbled in various instruments - guitar, mandoline, tin whistles, violin but finally settled for the piano accordion and played in a folk group in the UK. We moved to France and for the first 2 years, I found no-one who played any instrument so I gave up the accordion. It was no fun playing on my own.

On moving to the north coast of Brittany I hit music heaven and took up the piano accordion again (after about 16 years) to accompany a male sea shanty group. Unfortunately for them, I also discovered the melodeon (accordéon diatonique) 2 years ago and was completely bowled over by it. It's a completely different instrument to play but it's so much lighter than the old PA which for me is an important consideration.

I joined an association moved from beginners to advanced and have now joined a small group who play for Fest Noz (no, not that Noz ) and general entertainment around the bazaars. I've given my "notice" to the singers as I want to concentrate on just the one instrument and avoid the risk of clashes when playing at the same venue. I feel a bit bad as chromatic accordionists (the bigger, heavier type of accordion) are hard to find - the group had been looking for over 2 years before I came along .... But after 5 years, I want to move on. The singers aren't getting any younger and Covid put paid to practices for about 18 months. Like other groups of the same genre in this area, I'm not sure they'll survive ....

Playing an instrument with any degree of competence requires a lot of work and practice, it doesn't just come overnight. I've got a long way to go but the journey is pure pleasure

The accordion is known as "the instrument from hell" and there are many cartoons about them !

Siege accordion.jpg

[Chappers51]

I learned to play the piano as a child, but had to give up aged 16 (many years ago). I used to dabble on my grandma’s 2 manual organ whenever we visited, but my parents wouldn’t allow me to keep it when she had to go into an OAP bungalow - it was too big for our house. Subsequently I had an American organ, my first Old English used to howl when I played it. Then I learned the flute for a while, before I tried the saxophone but (some would say surprisingly) I didn’t have enough breath to play it well. I now have an electric piano which was a 50th birthday present and need to spend more time playing it.

[Sparkle]

At junior school probably like everyone else learnt to play the recorder! At senior school learnt to play the violin. Years ago I went to the winter evening classes at the local school and dabbled with a tuba - I'd not got enough puff and at one point I had on loan a small electric organ whilst doing a music course. My neighbours found it very amusing and referred to it in a very funny letter they wrote to us when we moved counties. I've kept the letter and it still makes me laugh Now I play nothing - no longer have the desire.

[ajm]

Piano. Church organist at local Catholic church until I got married in a CofE church. Clarinet in school orchestra and E flat bass in school brass band. On moving to France had to sell the Steinway as ,although it would have fitted in the house, acoustically it wouldn't have been good. It was like losing a good friend.Replaced it with an electric model with the sound sampled from a Steinway. Have played at local events but now that the hands are suffering from a recurrence of Dupuytrens playing is now limited,but,hey ho, I have been playing for over 60 years.

[Hotrodder]

Like a lot of people, I started out with piano lessons at an early age. I got seriously bored with it, and the music I was supposed to be learning on it. No interest in music at all until my late teens when I just had to have a guitar. Ended up with a Fender Stratocaster and my best friend taught me enough chords to back up his lead in a rock band. I wasn't brilliant but my timing was spot on and we had quite a few gigs that paid enough to meet the payments on our equipment. The final lineup was either 4 or 5 members depending whether or not we could find a reliable bass or sax player. Our drummer went on to become a superstar and I went on to ruin my hands working on cars and on building sites to make a living. Hey Ho.

[MAD87]

Nothing for me I wanted to play the piano, but my parents told me it wasn't possible (top floor flat in London with no lift). My mother sent me to ballet instead, which I hated. I joined the school choir later, then a chorus. So my voice became my musical instrument

[Spectrum]

Like many of you learned to play the piano, got the forth grade, but fancied the brass teacher so swapped to the trumpet, played in all the various school bands/orchestras, also in all the towns ones as well, played over England, on various school exchanges, when beer and girls took over my life I then only played at Christmas, mums insistence , still played while over here, until our son bought me an electronic keyboard Yamaha (264)? PSR and I played that, but only for my own entertainment, but lost it in the fire, then I got Dupuytrens in both hands, so just listen to it now.

[niemeyjt]

Our drummer went on to become a superstar and I went on to ruin my hands working on cars and on building sites to make a living. Hey Ho.

I was in the school choir for a while - but that was my limit when there were more interesting things to do combined with a realisation that religion wasn't for me. At the time there was another chap in the bass section called Bruce Dickinson, until he got expelled, who also went on to have his own band.

[Hotrodder]

Surprising how many of us have rubbed shoulders with people who either were or went on to become famous, while we ourselves just got on with life and missed one opportunity after another. As a youngster living in the greater LA area you could hardly not meet someone in TV, films, or the music industry. I just hung around waiting for the long promised, long overdue earthquake. Then I moved to England and missed it.

[L Austin France]

I'm a smalltime collector of 1960's Hofner electric guitars which usually need some work to make 'em playable. I also own several accoustic guitars including a 12 string which makes a wonderfull sound.
My hobby is fettling guitars & I occasionally 'look after' a few local guitarist's axes.
I have to be able to get a tune out of them to ensure they're OK so whilst you could say I play guitar the reality is that whilst I enjoy noodling around a fretboard I'm really rubbish at it.