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I am supposed to get a shakuhachi for Christmas, although it might arrive late cry , as my father is always late with everything and it has to be ordered from overseas.
It is a very nice instrument!





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Originally Posted by ChopinAddict
I am supposed to get a shakuhachi for Christmas, although it might arrive late cry , as my father is always late with everything and it has to be ordered from overseas.
It is a very nice instrument!

very nice! Are you going to get lessons? Riley Lee perhaps?


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Bass guitar for about 4 years.

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Originally Posted by Basia C


As for recorder I advise against it. It is a nice instrument, but it does have a limited range compared to other instruments, and you will have problems finding any ensamble, orchesta or other group to join. If you put the effort into learnign another instrument it should be useable for playing with others as a change to the piano, which os more a solo instrument.


As long as you are happy playing early music, the recorder can be a sociable instrument:
American Recorder Society


Did someone mention ukelele and singing?


I'm seriously thinking of taking a three month break from piano and trying guitar, though I suspect that's mostly a matter of scratching an itch. Piano seems like so much better of a solo instrument.


Piano self teaching on and off from 2002-2008. Took piano instruction from Nov 2008- Feb 2011. Took guitar instruction Feb 2011-Jul 2013. Can't play either. Living, breathing proof some people aren't cut out to make music.
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Originally Posted by Canonie
Originally Posted by ChopinAddict
I am supposed to get a shakuhachi for Christmas, although it might arrive late cry , as my father is always late with everything and it has to be ordered from overseas.
It is a very nice instrument!

very nice! Are you going to get lessons? Riley Lee perhaps?


It would be great to take lessons with Riley :), maybe one day...



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This girl plays flute and piano, at the SAME time! :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS7KSv-5M9Q

She's also blind. Most impressive.


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My second instrument is classical guitar, the third is accordion and finally the fourth is celtic harp, but all played very badly cry

Last edited by giuseppe; 12/13/10 02:30 PM.
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In my teen years I played the flute; I never practiced much and somehow stumbled along to pass grade 6 ABRSM (in the UK, before I moved to the US).

I get it out occasionally. It probably needs to be serviced. My tone is very poor but I can play simple things OK. I could probably get it back to where I left off if I abandoned piano and spent the same time on the flute in less than six months (estimate based on a few years ago where I did practice regularly for a month or so).


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For the past few years, violin has become my first instrument. Now I'm try to make piano my first again.


Be yourself

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Originally Posted by ten left thumbs
Originally Posted by Quagles
Nice to see a lot of replies. Pretty much as I mentioned I just want a change of pace and know I have to devote a lot of time on both instruments to master them. Since I'm only 21, I still got quite a few years ahead of me playing music despite being a late starter.

The question is rather which one, its important for me that its not too hard to find sheet music as I'm terrible at playing by ear. I don't know if I can play wind instruments because my lungs aren't all that much to brag about, I'm not sure how much that factors in. So the first I thought of was guitar, it complements the piano pretty good. At the same time its rather generic.

Singing is also another but my voice is absolutely TERRIBLE so I dont think even with practice it would sound good, also yeah bad lungs again.

You're not going to like this. I would definitely suggest taking up a wind instrument, or singing. Why? Because you will learn how to use your lungs and breath, and you will learn the connection between breath and the phrasing of a melody.

Just think about what you've said - you've got terrible lungs. Just imagine if before you'd started piano you said you had terrible fingers so there was no point even starting. I don't care if you've got cystic fibrosis and you smoke - learning to use your lungs properly will help you physically and musically.

(Currently on break from piano, concentrating on guitar, though piano is my main instrument. Previously cornet, recorder. Seriously thinking of taking up bodhran.)

Bodhran is a unique instrument to play. It's a good idea to learn how to play it.

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hmm ... 13 years later or so heheh.

I play erhu - learning right now.

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Dad used to play accordion but only at a beginner level. It’s still at home with nobody playing it.

I took violin lessons years ago up to RCM-4. Still playing with a music group. Not the most difficult instrument to play but not easy to get to a high level. There are no frets on the fingerboard so have to be aware where you put your fingers to get the right tuning. Can only play broken chords with the bow on 2 strings at a time. We call it double-stop. The first 3 years the pieces are all single notes. A lot of ensemble /orchestra pieces the violin part has the technical scale runs often with fast notes. Playing high notes your LH shifts to higher positions. Still need to put it on the right spots to be in tune. Piano you see the same 12 keys in an octave repeat over & over. Playing high or low notes just shift your body over. Playing very high notes on a violin requires awkward hand stretch.

My brother has a guitar and took Classical lessons. He used to listen to recordings of Anton Sergovia. In my younger days mom discouraged me from getting into guitar because it’s heavy to carry around. At the moment I’m focused on piano & violin. In the future I can pick up guitar easily if I want.

Getting into playing Baroque pieces with an organ /harpsichord sound is easy on a DP. Just push a button to change the instrument. An organ can sustain notes indefinitely until you release your fingers while harpsichord sound dies very quickly. Learned to work with both to get the ideal sound. For old pieces you can drop the tuning by half a pitch to get a Baroque sound:

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Yep and a third, and a fourth and a fifth etc


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In my case it was the other way round. I used to play bass in a hard rock band. We practiced only once a week. We played mainly our own songs, but with some covers (Breaking the Law, Anarchy in the UK, etc). COVID killed the band (but not any members), we stopped getting together, and when the restrictions lifted, we never played again. As I was playing bass at that moment (after 15 years playing) only in the band, I stopped. So this summer I decided to play for me, for fun, and chose piano. In the future, maybe (but I doubt it) I might get into playing keyboards with a band... but it will have to be a band of friends.

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I played the clarinet from 12, but dropped it once I got to college. I picked it up this time seriously in 2022. It is my first love. At some point when I was in college I took up the mandolin - dropped that also because I went to graduate school and couldn't devote time to it (or the clarinet). In July I started to teach myself the piano. I brought my mandolin back from my family home and I do plan to relearn it at some point.

I like the idea of the flute -that is also an instrument I have thought of trying to learn.

A reed instrument is the way to insanity laugh (but at least with the clarinet plastic reeds can help the beginning learner and cut down on expense somewhat). Just kidding really, but it's a consideration.

Go with what interests you most, and you will be more motivated to play it. Try to get the best quality instrument you can afford.

I have found that learning the piano has given me more awareness and confidence with the clarinet. Learning a second instrument may have that effect also on your piano playing.


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I had piano lessons forced on me as a kid but in my late teens and early twenties I went back to it. However, I fell in a rut where I was memorizing every piece, regardless of complexity. I've been trying to claw my way out of it since (I'm of retirement age now). Back in 2020 I decided to try learning the guitar and started lessons. The main reason I did this was in hopes it would make me look at the piano differently so I really took up the guitar to break out of my "ivory ceiling" on the keyboard.

At first, I didn't feel like it did anything (I never got past scales and modes on the guitar and have since hung it up). However, I'm finding it actually did help somewhat. While it annoyed me that the fretboard is like a Mahjong game, learning to think in SHAPES helped with cord inversions on the piano. Learning the relationship with chords and scales (diatonic?) now makes sense to me (I ii iii IV V vi dim). I never realized all of the black keys are a simple pentatonic scale. I never realized a pentatonic scale was simply a scale with the half steps removed. I now know what modes are and was shocked to find out they also apply to the piano (though I still have no idea how they are at all useful in the style of playing I wish to achieve). Granted these are all things I should have been previously taught (or even realized on my own) early on in my piano training but for whatever reason I was not. The only thing people would say back then when I complained about the rut I was in (and for the most part still am) is "chord changes." That's literally all they would say: "CHORD CHANGES." They never bothered to explain the Circle of Fifths or the I ii iii IV V vi dim thing, etc. I also never understood why I could never get sheet music to look or sound like the song I would enjoy on the radio (specifically that someone needs to take the 5 to 12 instruments I'm listening to along with the singer and convert or ARRANGE it to sound good on a single, solo instrument).

So for that reason I have zero regrets for spending a little time over a two year period trying to learn guitar. The more teachers you have, the better. It's also the cheapest to buy and best value by far in any instrument (where can you buy a complete, self-contained, quality instrument that's ready for prime time for $200?).

Good luck in your venture. 

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I love playing old-fashioned analogue synthesisers ('60s style).

I play the guitar and bass too.

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I'm having some deja vu, but as long as we're at it again ...

Saxophone was my school instrument as a kid, 4th grade through high school. Started on alto, switched to tenor, pickup up soprano along the way. I still have a couple around, but I haven't done more than noodle on them here and there.

I started playing bass in high school, first electric (late sophomore year) then upright (early junior year). I actually went to music school for upright bass (both classical and jazz), but had to drop out due to severe RSI. I did get back into it a bit later in a casual way, playing electric in a couple of rock bands, and more recently some semi-regular gigging on upright. However, I've really put that all aside in favor of piano these days. I donated my upright to a school, but I have a fretted and a fretless electric bass around for when I get a hankering.

I can play some basic guitar, but nothing fancy, enough to do a bit of home recording.

I am, more recently, wanting to learn to sing better, and starting to approach the voice more like an instrument, with a bit of practice via books and videos.

That's about it. smile


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One of my trusty erhu plus trusty P-515 piano.

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