Playing other instraments?

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Permalink Reply by Judgestone on August 12, 2011 at 9:36pm

I "attempt" to play a mandolin.  I'm not bad, but I have big fingers and it's hard to fret so unless I am just playing for the fun of it, it really isn't that fun.  I  got a lap steel for Christmas last year, and tune it to Open E and actually am pretty good at it, and really enjoy playing it.  I tried the banjo, but it was a hopeless for me.  I sucked at it.  I still have one, but never really even attempt to play it.  I played the trombone in high school, but couldn't blow a note on one now if I had to.

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Permalink Reply by FloridaGull on August 14, 2011 at 5:57pm

I was looking through the Musician's Friend" catalog, and they have a 6-string banjo tuned like a guitar! Just sayin'...

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Permalink Reply by John Gundrum on August 14, 2011 at 7:33pm

Gettin' GAS?

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Permalink Reply by FloridaGull on August 17, 2011 at 9:41pm

Not for a banjo, but for a Godin 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II :)

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Permalink Reply by Ray on August 18, 2011 at 6:58am

I have the 5th Avenue w/o pickups - nice guitar.

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Permalink Reply by John Gundrum on August 12, 2011 at 10:14pm

My main instrument is the guitar but here are some (if not all) of the other instruments I've been playing.  Many are stringed but recently I got a recorder which has been more challenging than I originally thought.  It felt good when I was talking with a friend who has a Native Indian flute and expressed he was having the same issues.

There is no particular order to the list.

Non-Pedal Steel Guitar
Lap Steel Acoustic (Weissenborn Style)
Laud
Mandolin
Banjo
Bass
Cumbus (pronounced joom-bush)
Harmonica
Piano
Recorder

The way I look at other stringed instruments is through the tunings.  Once you understand the tunings and can begin building various chord shapes and scale diagrams its the matter of putting it to practice.  Different instruments tuned to similar tunings makes it easier to go from one to the other.

IMO, the mandolin is an excellent choice if you are interested in trying out another instrument while staying within the plucked string family.

John

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Permalink Reply by Christin Ellington on August 15, 2011 at 12:48pm

I have also picked up the recorder. Yes it is very challenging. The notes are the easy part. Putting notes to actual music on the other hand.

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Permalink Reply by Ray on August 13, 2011 at 6:16am

Tried the 5 string banjo many years ago. Still have it, but rarely play it. Been playing mandolin for about 3 years and just picked up a tenor guitar a few months back.

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Permalink Reply by Pascal Proust on August 13, 2011 at 4:17pm

I played recorder when I was a teenager - and that's how I learned the basics of music thoery and notation by the way. Today, besides my guitars, I sometimes play ukulele, and I've been back to harmonica. I had some notions, mostly learned on my own, on harmonica when I was younger, and now I've bought a method to learn it more seriously. But guitar play takes most of my musical time though.

About other fretted instruments I'd like to play, I'd go for mandolin and banjo. But for the moment I have neither the time to practice new instrument, nor the budget to get them. But anyway, it's always enriching to play various instruments and styles of music. Guitar is very much this way through the large number of types of guitars that exist.

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Permalink Reply by FloridaGull on August 14, 2011 at 6:00pm

I played the viola from 4th grade through college, and about 2 years of piano lessons. Now only play guitar...

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Permalink Reply by Ray on August 15, 2011 at 8:56am

Trumpet.

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Permalink Reply by Ray on August 18, 2011 at 9:26pm

And for what it's worth, if I could choose between being an exceptional guitarist or a very good trumpeter, I would choose the latter.

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