I'm curious about this. If I put my flute down for 10 years or more, I feel fairly confident that I could pick it up again without much trouble. If a fine pianist stopped playing for 10 years or more, can it be picked up again quickly? I've tried three times now to take up piano and each time I begin again, I have to start all over!

I have tried to learn keyboad at least 3 times over the last 15 years. I would play for a year or two, then stop for a few years and then start again, only to discover that I had lost everything previously learned. This may just be me because I have had a similar experience with accoustic guitar. :-(

Drums (pop/jazz) were my passion for many years and I wonder how difficult it would be to pick that up again. I doubt my wife has any interest in finding out. :-))

Rodney

It probably depends on the level of mastery you achieved. I played clarinet in school and, now twenty years later, I could probably pick up fairly close to where I left off (after getting my embouchure back, which could take a bit of time). I started piano lessons last month after an 8-year hiatus following a little more than a year of lessons. I found that I didn't backtrack much, except to have to brush up on my bass clef reading (which I feel like I'll never match my treble clef familiarity).

I played drums in late high school through college and a few years after that. I'm pretty sure I could easily knock out most standard rock/pop beats and some basic jazz/swing beats. Again, getting the "chops" back would take longer--speed with single stroke rolls, cleanly playing buzz rolls, and some of the other rudiments--paradiddles, flams, etc., and all the combinations.