Topic: Do you play an instrument...

[madeleine]

I play guitars (both acoustic and electric), harmonica, bass, piano and percussion drums.
I may introduce myself from my "old life" as I have been recording my own songs in my own studio.
I have composed many songs, composing my own songs and singing and playing are the things I go to when fighting depression. I just love to create music.
One of the things I am working on now is how to transition from my male vocal voice to a more female sounding singing voice.
Here is a link to my SoundCloud channel and one of my songs. I have played every instrument on this song and I am singing lead, a girl is singing one verse and backup. Hope to get my sound more feminine.
Hope you like it:

    <Link not allowed>

Wow, your song is good!

[Jennifer1975]

Wow, your song is good!

Thank you very much
I just love to play music, sing and compose. Those are my favourite things in life.

[Jennifer1975]

I make electronic music with synthesizers.  I think there was thread somewhere on SP about people here that play synth?

When I actually play, yes it does make me feel better usually.  I don't use computers and that is important to me.  I need to be off the computer and have something tactile to work with, in my case knobs, buttons, and wires.  I learned guitar recently and though I didn't very good at it, I did get that joy of creating something with your hands when not on a keyboard.  Also learning Native American Style Flute.

Here are some links to my weird music:

    <Link not allowed>

    <Link not allowed>

I like your music too, a bit different from mine but it is great with different kinds of music. We could collaborate
You do things I don't, I could do different things. Who knows we could have success in a collaboration. Maybe some kind of "transmetal" 

[madeleine]

I like your music too, a bit different from mine but it is great with different kinds of music. We could collaborate
You do things I don't, I could do different things. Who knows we could have success in a collaboration. Maybe some kind of "transmetal" 

Yes, transmetal!  A collaboration could be a lot of fun, however you might discover I don't have any formal training or knowledge in music!  Good luck on achieving a more feminine voice.  That really interests me because I want to try and learn to sing soon and I would also like to sing with a feminine voice.  Please keep us updated on that!

[Maddie]

Jennifer, your link is gone and I would love to hear it.
Can you send it in a message?

Hi Madeleine, looking pretty girl!
I enjoy hearing jams like yours during late night drives. 
You know, like when we all used to go places..

[madeleine]

Jennifer, your link is gone and I would love to hear it.
Can you send it in a message?

Hi Madeleine, looking pretty girl!
I enjoy hearing jams like yours during late night drives. 
You know, like when we all used to go places..

Thank you and thank you Maddie!  I laughed in appreciation of "late night drives" comment, and I know what you mean. But some of us, like us you and I and others on Susan's, are still going places...just not in cars!

[ShotGal]

I played keyboards professionally starting at a very early age and did recording, songwriting, played big arenas (as many as 30,000 people), did music in film and worked in the music business for decades.  It ended when we left the L.A. area and I haven't played much since but turned my creativity into another creative art and have been successful at that too.  I enjoy playing, writing and recording but just don't have the time for it any more.  I have the gear - just lack the time.  In some ways it (music) makes me sad because it reminds me of all the things I lost along the earlier path of my life, but it's so long ago the feeling is just passing.

[MxRileyQuinn]

So...  I was taught piano and flute from about 5th grade until I graduated High School, however neither of those was where my interests really were and I stopped playing as soon as my parents no longer had a say in it.  I never was very good at either because I wanted to learn other instruments and so I only did the bare minimum to keep my parents off my back.

Once I enlisted and left home I began to do things I wanted, which included learning to play the Bodhran (Irish frame drum), the Irish Whistle, and the Great Highland Bagpipes (Scottish bagpipes).  For a while, I played in a local Irish band as their drummer (about four years), however regular military deployments interrupted that enough that the band chose someone else to replace me (no hard feelings there, we talked it out and I agreed that it was what was best for them).  I still dabble with my Bodhran, and recently began practicing in earnest again.  I have also been on-again/off-again practicing with my bagpipes and also recently began getting more serious about that (it's amazing what all this empty time from stay-at-home-because-COVID is allowing me to do).  Who knows...perhaps by the time the pandemic is over (if it ever is) I'll be one heck of a good piper!

[Asche]

I play piano, guitar, and flute.

Which I focus on depends on what my life is like at the time.

When I'm around people who like to do sing-alongs, I bring my guitar and accompany the songs.  They're typically the sort of songs that you find in Rise Up Singing and the magazine Sing Out!.

And when I'm in folk-dancing spaces (mostly American Contra and English dancing), I play flute because the pick-up dance bands always have room for melody instruments, and flute (esp. piccolo) can be quite audible.  So these are mostly English, Irish, and Canadian reels and jigs and the like.

When I'm alone most of the time, like I am now with the COVID-19 restrictions (I'm in New York State, so it's been since March), I end up playing piano, because (for reasons I won't bore you with) I only really feel comfortable playing piano when I'm alone and I can imagine that nobody hears me.  I've been playing the kind of music I learned back when I was taking piano lessons when I was a kid: Beethoven Sonatas, Chopin Etudes, Polonaises, etc., some Bach and the like, and some stuff like Scott Joplin and David Brubeck.  I don't play very well, but since I'm just playing for myself, I just try to enjoy the moments when it works out and more or less sounds like the way it is in my head.

I also sing.  Back when getting together in person was a possibility, I was in a chorus of around 100 people for a while, and I was in a choir until COVID-19 hit.

For me, the performance aspect is very much secondary.  For me, it's about getting in touch with my soul.  Music gets around all the barriers I had to put up to survive and goes straight to the soul.  It also gets me outside of myself and my life and my inner misery and into an alternate universe where there is nothing but the music and the harmony.  Just swimming in an ocean of music like a dolphin in the sea.

[kutral]

instruments are an amazing therapy honestly!
i learned many different instruments when i was younger but i never felt confident enough to sing even tho i rly wanted to (bcos of voice dysphoria) this went on until i turned 20

now i sing, play ukulele, guitar, and i have some electronic instruments around! like volca sample + pocket operator.
ive also wrote a few songs and im trying to work on making an EP
we should join forces 

most recent song >>
 

[EZ Linus]

I'm a drummer and have been playing all my life, played professionally for about 15 years, then became disabled and haven't played much since.

[Froodah]

I want to play the flute or clarinet.

[Jordynfae]

i play the guitar, not well, but I have fun

[Beth_Moon]

We had a piano when I was a kid. I'd plonk around on it fairly well so my parents got me lessons, I hated it, in hindsight I feel bad for my poor teacher, I had no intrest in theory or learning twinkle twinkle little star. As soon as my teacher had left I'd hammer out Primal Scream and Fatboy slim riffs... it was all you heard on the radio in the early 90's and it sunk in to my head. I latched on pretty early to music, rock, prog and electronica became somewhat of an obsession.

In my teenage years I played bass guitar in the school band, after that I picked up guitar and have been playing in and out of bands ever since. Sitting down and playing is a real escape for me, its a place i can explore my feelings and kind of let it all out, I find it very grounding.

I'm also into making electronic music, I put out some EP's years ago. I have a little project studio with a few synths and a modular, I've not made many recordings of late but I love sitting there and traveling space for a while.