OT: Musicians

[White Flame]

There's two hobbies I've seen be strongly associated with creative tech geeks, and that's playing musical instruments and practicing martial arts. As music has come up in a previous derail, what do you play?

Previously:

White Flame wrote:

Let's see, in order of learning, I play piano, acoustic/electric/bass guitar, drums, and electric cello (6-string). I tend to spend most time on bass guitar, as that's something that everybody's lacking for a good player. I've been meaning to do some youtube stuff for some time, especially to keep my chops up. But that takes quite a lot of work & commitment, and a youtube channel doesn't amount to much if you don't keep it fresh.

[Tor]

Guitar (mainly acoustic), harmonica, some tin whistle, a bit of ukulele. Mostly..

[barrym95838]

From 22 years ago:

I still have the drums but they're buried in my garage. I would love to get them set-up and tuned up, but I can't seem to find the time ... it's probably just too low on my list of priorities for now.

Mike B.

[Martin_H]

I play tin whistle, and the simple system flute. In the past I have attempted to play guitar and piano.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

Double bass, tuba, baritone horn and some keyboard. Here's a pic of my Bluegrass band.

Homestretch Ride Bluegrass Band

[Bregalad]

I play the cornet (some kind of trumpet) and I sing. This implies I could also play any other brass instrument, although I'd need a few hours of practice before being able to play a song decently. I can also play the piano and any keyboard-based instruments, but this is not my speciality.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

Bregalad wrote:

I play the cornet (some kind of trumpet) and I sing. This implies I could also play any other brass instrument, although I'd need a few hours of practice before being able to play a song decently. I can also play the piano and any keyboard-based instruments, but this is not my speciality.

If you can play the cornet than any brass instrument with a conical bore, e.g., euphonium or tuba, would be a cinch for you. A trumpet would take a little more work (slightly tighter embouchure to deal with the cylindrical bore) but not much.

[White Flame]

I've heard that the ("don't call me French") horn was the most difficult of the 3-valved brass instruments to play. Concur y/n?

I haven't gotten into any of them yet, but I'm interested in the horn due to its prevalence in various soundtracks & orchestral additions to other musical genres.

[KC9UDX]

Guitar Zither
Piano
Accordion
Organ
Drums
Guitar

I'd really like to get a square-neck Dobro and try that. That I may do soon.

[floobydust]

I've been playing (mostly classical) trumpet (and cornet) for about 50 years. I never really felt any significant difference between the cornet (with a conical bore) and the trumpet from a playability standpoint. Range is range... and the mouthpiece dimensions between cornet and trumpet are basically the same, sans from the actual receiver dimensions. If you can play one, there should be no significant difference playing the other. Then again, large bore and small bore trumpets in the same key feel a bit different to play based on resistance.

I still have two vintage B-flat cornets, an old Couturier in silverplate from one grandfather and an old Holton from 1913 in goldplate from the other (grandfather), handed down from my Dad and Uncle. I also have an old "Sally-Ann" Triumphonic E-flat cornet in silverplate On the modern side, I prefer Schilke horns, and have a B1 Trumpet (large bore B-flat), an E3L Trumpet (E-flat tuning bell w/slides and bell for D) and their P5-4 Piccolo Trumpet which has four valves and is truly a standout if played properly (beryllium bell), but can easily be overblown and sound poorly.

As for the French horn, yes... very difficult instrument to manage. The mouthpiece is very deep and the long plumbing and extreme flaring of the bell make for a tough instrument to play. When done well however, gorgeous sounding instrument. Also rotary valve vs piston. I've also played a bit with some rotary valve trumpets... neat instruments and more popular in Europe/Eastern Europe.

For the rest... I have a couple pocket trumpets, Mom's old upright piano (she doesn't play anymore) and a couple guitars; Gibson Les Paul custom which I bought new in 1980 and an inherited Martin from 1929... the first acoustic they put into production. Also have an older drum set from a friend who ran out of room... and I do have a nice digital multi-track home studio

Overall, I have to agree that many of the very technical folks, I've met over the past 40 years have had at least some musical background growing up and many still play on a regular basis. I taught my three children to read music and play trumpet while growing up and they performed with school bands. They also expanded on their own with keyboards and guitars and are now grown and on their own.... and still play music when time allows.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

floobydust wrote:

As for the French horn, yes... very difficult instrument to manage.

Indeed it is. A gal I know who plays horn says the embouchure required for the uppermost octave is murder to maintain. In a similar vein, my high school music teacher referred to the oboe as "An ill woodwind that nobody blows good." Incidentally, he was an oboe, English horn and bassoon player.

My primary instrument (double bass, aka bass viol, aka "doghouse," aka "violin on steroids") is technically demanding, but in different ways. When bowing it (arco), faulty technique tends to produce a sound like that of a circular saw going through a tough 2×4. When playing pizzicato, I liken it to strumming a giant guitar with strings made from automobile battery cables.

[Rikard]

Hello everyone. I recently made a song about the 6502. It is available on Spotify and Soundcloud:

https://play.spotify.com/track/7aliXOugbDNVLrnNSnSjeH

https://soundcloud.com/rikard-10/6502a

I'm not an active member of this forum but I thought it might be interesting to some people here. I consider myself a creative tech geek though and I play the guitar, piano, synthesizer, drums and I sing. I hope you enjoy it.

[BigEd]

Great, and possibly a world first too!

[White Flame]

If you haven't heard it before, there's an official song about Unicode, which is really old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH2oAeAwigo

I thought they used to link to it from unicode.org, but I can't find it now. Since an anniversary, they seem to have more Unicode-themed songs up: http://unicode.org/history/20thceleb/20 ... tml#videos

[Bregalad]

I already got the occasion to try playing a trumpet. The major problem that I was getting the mouthpiece hurting my teeth every time I wanted to start playing because of the greater distance between it and the center of the instrument. Otherwise, I had no problem playing it. I never got to try to play a french horn, so I cannot say. It looks like it is quite a weirdo in the family of brass instruments though, it is usually exeptionally loud which causes problems for it to be included in many types of bands, and usually it's played with the hand in the pavilion, which changes the pitch and makes it tough to control precisely (at least on a cornet).

@KC9UDX : Wow, you sure do play many different instruments! Cool!

@BigDumbDinosaur : I have always been interested in playing the double bass, pizzicato jazz style (not bowed orchestral style, even though the instrument is probably the same). The problem is that I'm not sure how expensive the instrument is, how easy it is to learn playing it, and in what kind of bands you can play. I'm tall so I think this instrument could be well suited for me. If I'll ever play such an instrument I'd like to play a 5-string one in order to reach lower notes.