Learning multiple instruments

[george garside]

I have no problem with house trained drummers but hate the loud bang everything veriety! . If leading a band I always put the drummer close to me on my left so he can pick up the required speed and rhythm from my bass and which reflects me watching and playing to the feet of the dancers.

george

 

[Alan Sharkis]

I love drums.... among my favourite experiences were a couple of Taiko gigs, nothing but drums (plus a tiny bit of other percussion). Fortunately my husband is really good with the bodhran, so that is one of the instruments I dont have to attempt again- it started out as mine, but he got better at it so quickly that I handed it over!

Heres one of my favorite stories:

A man is on safari in the interior of Africa, and all he hears is drums -- day and night drums. Its driving him nuts. He asks the guide:

Whats with the drums?

Oh. Drums good. when drums stop, that very, very bad.

The drums go on for another day or two and then stop abruptly. Now the man is a little nervous. He tells the guide:

The drums stopped.

Yes, and that very, very bad.

Well, what happens next?

Next ..... bass solo!

 

[jozz]

:lol:

 

[cat]

One thing I can say for accordians - thanks much to them I'm progressively feeling liberated from slavishly assuaging my musical impulses. Within about the past two years, after decades of this, I'm feeling that I can't keep up reasonably with more than a few. I've always been aware of general limitations, but for years it was just this uncontrollable, irrational urge to learn something completely different; I suppose inspiration and/or shear curiosity maybe. Accordians came to me last, after strings, winds, percussion, et al, and it's like a Swiss army knife. I don't expect it to assuage my need for strings, so I still play fiddles. But it does latin, blues, boogie woogie, jazz, gypsy, and satie.. I can generally satisfy myself from this melange. :hb

As the drummers have mentioned upthreads, accordians are a splendid rhythmic instrument - there's so much can be done with them, from a solo player's perspective, especially.

 

[donn]

The accordion cured you of your interest in musical instruments, is that what you're saying?

 

[cat]

The accordion cured you of your interest in musical instruments, is that what youre saying?

It feels like it is, in some ways. I need a hardanger fiddle, but otherwise Im not currently seeking anything else. Im giving accordian some credit for that. :ch. It beats lugging harps, double basses, drums and baritone saxes hands down. I used to lug all kinds of gear, but man accordian - in fact thats a big reason I wanted to play it. What a cool box. It took me about 10 years to get semi-competent on PA, and is in many ways one of the hardest for me (for some reason keyboards just arent as intuitive for me, but theyre finally becoming more intimate...the bellows help it ).

 

[donn]

I sort of resemble that - baritone sax still in use, double bass replaced by electric, and tuba. People goggle at me lugging the tuba around, and I've heard "bet you wish you played flute" about 1,000 times (I can play flute, but don't wish to, at all) -- but the accordions weigh about the same as the tubas.

Same here with getting used to playing. Wind instruments and strings take some learning, of course, but the connection seems to get stronger faster. As it happens to be, physically, a more direct connection, where with keyboards you're operating some tone generator or other via buttons, rods, linkages. I guess I do think it has the potential to be good for you, musically.

 

[cat]

Ya I'm too stimulated by sensory stimuli and am probably addicted to the corporality of it all...big horns, bass strings, this stuff is addictive :twisted: I grew up with winds and strings since age 9, post-boomer would it be?..raised on rock and all that. But my hands are worn too, and i don't practice my embouchure enough...and accordian rocks, makes big noise, fun to push buttons and squeezy bits.

 

[Dublinesque]

My own experience of trying a second instrument was the accordion’s close cousin the English concertina. Very different key layout (with every second note of the C major scale on the other side) but familiar at the same time due to the bellows and being unisonoric. I got one for portability as family holidays involve enough luggage without a big accordion case in the mix.

The big benefits I found were (a) I got much better at keeping my fingers on the keys, (b) my left hand got more exercise, and (c) my sight reading really improved. The English concertina button layout means all notes on a line are on the left hand side and all notes in the spaces are on the right hand side. This really helped me read music more fluently so I could focus on the melody.

 

[Geronimo]

The accordion cured you of your interest in musical instruments, is that what youre saying?

It feels like it is, in some ways. I need a hardanger fiddle, but otherwise Im not currently seeking anything else. Im giving accordian some credit for that. :ch. It beats lugging harps, double basses, drums and baritone saxes hands down. I used to lug all kinds of gear, but man accordian - in fact thats a big reason I wanted to play it. What a cool box. It took me about 10 years to get semi-competent on PA, and is in many ways one of the hardest for me (for some reason keyboards just arent as intuitive for me, but theyre finally becoming more intimate...the bellows help it ).

Huh, you should have tried CBA: its more regular, like a double bass. But I thought at least saxes have a keyboard oriented around a major scale as well, dont they? Just that their white and black keys arent focused on C but on the key of their transposition.

 

[JEBrown]

But I thought at least saxes have a keyboard oriented around a major scale as well, dont they? Just that their white and black keys arent focused on C but on the key of their transposition.

Kind of true - wind instruments rely on the combination of keys pressed / covered to achieve a tone. And yes its true that the most logical / easy combinations result in a scale, usually a major scale, in a key depending on the specific type of instrument. But that makes for a very different way of playing - on my clarinet I can play a 3-octave arpeggio and my hands remain in the same position - on a keyboard instrument theres a lot of arm & body movement to achieve the same thing. I dont find any physical crossover between clarinet and accordion. But there is a huge amount of crossover in terms of musicality, phrasing, sight-reading, etc.

 

[donn]

For a woodwind that operates somewhat like a piano keyboard (I don't count free reeds as woodwinds), see the "reed contrabass" - the distinction being, need only open the key that corresponds with the note. Where on the common woodwinds, you open that key and every key below it. The reed contrabass, as its name suggests, is a double reed that would play in the tuba range, if you could find one. Besson made them long ago, I believe, but I think most surviving examples are of Italian manufacture. Invariably confused with the sarrusophone.