Do you play an instrument?

[lester1/2jr]

guitar. I have been playing a long time and am reasonably proficient if exceedingly lazy.  I dohn't even like to play chords anymore, just solo!! and even then mainly attitude rather than anything fancy. 

I can fake my way through some bass drums and even singing but mainly into guitar and the weirdness of it

[Pilgermann]

I dabble in instruments and love playing them, but I don't really "know" how to play anything too well in my opinion.  I've mostly played piano and keyboard instruments (I've got a synth, toy piano, 2 toy organs, a melodica and a variety of cheap keyboards), took a piano class in high school for a couple of years but didn't really learn a great deal, and I also play bass guitar and drums.  I mostly enjoy making a lot of racket.

[AndyC]

Been taking piano lessons since January, and I'm surprised at how quickly I'm picking it up. The funny thing about it is that on the one hand, learning is so much easier than I'd always thought (I was playing recognizable tunes right off the bat), while on the other hand, there is so much more to learn than I ever would have guessed. The toughest part is retraining my brain and hands to play independently while reading the music. I just have to remember that my hands can already work independently on a more complicated computer keyboard, while I read, listen to music and carry on a conversation. I just have to develop the same skill on a piano.

The only thing about the lessons is that the program is very rigid and systematic. I enjoy it, but the knowledge is rationed out a tiny bit at a time, with no shortcuts or tricks that would add a little fun. So, I'm augmenting it with a little of the Scott Houston method which is pretty much all tricks and shortcuts. Just ordered a Billy Joel "fake book" to fool around with - all simple melody lines and chords in the key of C.

[Raffine]

I have a degree in music, even though I play now mostly for fun - and only occasional for profit.

So: Instruments I play professionally, i.e., I've been paid money to play either in recording sessions or in performances:
Bassoon
Trombone
Tuba

I've mentioned before I currently play bassoon in several orchestras and wind ensembles.

The bassoon is widely accepted to be the nerdiest of all musical instruments. 
It is indeedy, except for maybe for the oboe.

[schmendrik]

The toughest part is retraining my brain and hands to play independently while reading the music. I just have to remember that my hands can already work independently on a more complicated computer keyboard, while I read, listen to music and carry on a conversation. I just have to develop the same skill on a piano.

What's interesting to me is that jazz demands this skill far more than classical. A classical piece might ask you to do, oh, sets of 3 notes in the left hand against 4 notes in the right. A jazz composer will ask you to keep a complicated syncopated bass line going in the left while you do... practically any kind of wild improvisation in the right.

[princessarra]

When i was in grade 4 to 7 my older bother taught me how to play a guitar, and i started to love playing and i learn so much. But after grade 7 i transferred on other school so i decided to stop it cause in the place where i transferred no one know how to play and i don't have my own guitar. But i played sometimes and i know a little bit.

[Zapranoth]

I wish I could sing Klingon opera.

[peter johnson]

Theremin --

I actually got paid to compose and perform a Theremin score to Georges Melies' "Conquest of The Pole"(1912) -- the film's only 12min long, so not a great challenge -- I would think most anyone could make enough noise on a Theremin to keep people interested for 12min.

Yes, I should be better than I am/don't practice enough too --

peter clara/denny rockman . . . NOT!!

[Psycho Circus]

I've been playing electric guitar for about 8 years now. I started out on some crappy Yamaha, got a custom George Lynch ESP (it goy burnt though) and now have a nice bloodstained Ibanez. I can't play like I used to, which bums me out as I was really good. (The satisfaction of playing something very technical note perfect is a true rush) But I chopped my finger in half on my left hand (which has never been the same since) and I crushed my right hand between a large metal door and a storage cage. My hands seem to seize up after about 10 mins of playing now. 

[Newt]

I wish I could sing Klingon opera.

Sure you can.

[zombie no.one]

I've been playing electric guitar for about 8 years now. I started out on some crappy Yamaha, got a custom George Lynch ESP (it goy burnt though) and now have a nice bloodstained Ibanez. I can't play like I used to, which bums me out as I was really good. (The satisfaction of playing something very technical note perfect is a true rush) But I chopped my finger in half on my left hand (which has never been the same since) and I crushed my right hand between a large metal door and a storage cage. My hands seem to seize up after about 10 mins of playing now. 

s**t, that's really unfortunate bad luck. I havent had any injuries as such but I have trouble moving my little finger on my left hand after it went numb for some unknown reason about a year ago and is still numb now... definitely impeded my playing  bit

Theremin --

I actually got paid to compose and perform a Theremin score to Georges Melies' "Conquest of The Pole"(1912) -- the film's only 12min long, so not a great challenge -- I would think most anyone could make enough noise on a Theremin to keep people interested for 12min.

nice... my friend Si bought a theremin off ebay a while back. he plugs it into an FX pedal and gets all kinds of weird noises out of it. the only instrument you play by not touching it with anything I think

[peter johnson]

Theremins are some of the most fun you can have with sound -- yes, it's true you don't have to touch anything to play one, but it does behoove you to fiddle with the knobs occasionally & change the pitch, waveform, etc. etc.  I found that by lightly brushing my fingers at the base of the upright antennae, I can get a sparkly sound like an old-fashioned satellite -- to be used sparingly.

The things are utterly addictive.  Everyone should have at least one!!

peter johnson/lev segeyevitch crane

[AndyC]

Never played a real theremin, but I found a really excellent software synth that works with my keyboard. It was amazing what could be done with the sound just by fiddling with the virtual knobs on the screen, trying combinations of waveforms and tweaking the various filters. Whoever wrote it was clever enough to have it slide from one tone to the next as keys are played, to simulate the way a real theremin responds to hand movements. What surprised me most was the sort of cool "photon torpedo" sounds I could get by playing notes at opposite ends of the keyboard in quick succession. Would love to try out the real thing some time.

I downloaded the virtual theremin when I made this video. Sounds pretty good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPj-v_0Ub6U

[zombie no.one]

^ did you make that vid? nice work, obviously you can tell it's a synthesized theramin sound but it doesn't sound too far away, considering...

The things are utterly addictive.  Everyone should have at least one!!

this is what my mate's been saying since he got one. he has become slightly obsessed with it, to the point where his girlfriend told me she wants to put a limit on when he can use it in fact, lol

[ChuckSplatt]

I play guitar and bass.

I played in band for 2 years (during the 90's) and we enjoyed bar gigs.
Our pay was free beer or a small amount of money.
It was just fun to play extra loud and see which of our songs made people dance.