What musical instrument would you love to play?

Ash.J.Williams · 26-02-2021 11:15am

PTH2009 wrote: »

What musical instruments would you love to be able to play ?

I could do a bit on Guitar in the my teenage years but can't remember the last time I played it. I'd prob struggle to tune it now tbh

Anyway I'd love to be able to play the Uilleann pipes but I'd say you'd have to be gifted. It looks such a hard instrument

i think due to the nature of the human ear a chromatic tuner is required over the age of 30

regarding the pipes i looked into them once i think there's a waiting list to buy one!!

JustAThought · 26-02-2021 11:22am

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

i think due to the nature of the human ear a chromatic tuner is required over the age of 30

regarding the pipes i looked into them once i think there's a waiting list to buy one!!

Yes - to have a set made - but the pipers society in Henrietta Street in Dublin used have loaner sets you could arrange to borrow / rent if you were starting out learning / trying the instrument and places like Waltons used to have some instruments to borrow/rent if you were doing classes with them. I doubt you’d get that lucky but there is always ebay and adverts - thou with an instrument that complicated & fragile /expensive to repair I’d worry about what you’d buy.

Some of the old independent music shops used have the occasional second hand instrument for sale behind the counter for someone when they upgraded or changed their own instrument. I know I got a great guitar this way from the old McCoulladh Piggotts. There used be a little gaggle of quirky but brilliant independent music shops down the back of Henry St /Liffey St are that used do the same along with sheet music, bodhrans for the tourists & anything else you might have occasion to need. Probably covid gone now or apartment slums built on top of them.

26-02-2021 11:23am

The flute. I already play a bunch of instruments, but no woodwind instruments.

Royale with Cheese · 26-02-2021 11:26am

I've played in bands for years and over lockdown the other guys in the band who play guitar/drums have all decided to try their hand at piano. I learned as a kid and am already a proficient piano player, I'm great

JustAThought · 26-02-2021 11:29am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The flute. I already play a bunch of instruments, but no woodwind instruments.

Irish flute is a beautiful sounding instrument.
That, or classical?

JustAThought · 26-02-2021 11:30am

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I've played in bands for years and over lockdown the other guys in the band who play guitar/drums have all decided to try their hand at piano. I learned as a kid and am already a proficient piano player, I'm great

I always think Piano must need a great maths head to be able to master. What instrument would you like to take up!?

Royale with Cheese · 26-02-2021 11:37am

JustAThought wrote: »

I always think Piano must need a great maths head to be able to master. What instrument would you like to take up!?

I played bass in bands for a long time and then switched to guitar a few years ago (kind of like a promotion). I'd played guitar since I was a teenager but only improved really when I switched to guitar in the band and had a reason to get better. I'm not great by any stretch of the imagination but a lot better than I was.

I'm a fairly rubbish drummer but can hold down a beat, have played drums a couple of times for gigs in a covers band. I'd love to get better at them because I'd say I'd be able to be a half decent drummer but have never owned a kit to practice on. It's a lot of fun.

Have no real interest in learning anything else, would rather get better at the instruments I already own. I pretty much only listen to rock music so wouldn't have much use for a flute or trumpet etc.

26-02-2021 11:42am

JustAThought wrote: »

Irish flute is a beautiful sounding instrument.
That, or classical?

I'm not sure, tbh. I don't know a lot about wind instruments. I always liked the look of the wooden ones but they're so expensive!

I think when lockdown lifts I might get lessons.

riffmongous · 26-02-2021 11:52am

hynesie08 wrote: »

5 strings, different tuning, different chord shapes, but if you've been playing guitar at a reasonable level you'll pick it up quickly, you just can't sit down with a banjo and a songbook and start picking.

Don't forget the 4 string banjo if you are looking to play trad, that's very similar to guitar picking.

With the 5 string if you've mostly used a pick for the guitar you're going to have a lot more work starting off on the banjo than if you played fingerstyle

CelticRambler · 26-02-2021 11:57am

Say Your Number wrote: »

I'd love to play fiddle, or else this weird yoke called a hurdy gurdy.

:cool: If you're serious, can set you up with a teacher or three, and half a dozen manufacturers! In corona-free times, I baby sit a chateau-full of those for a long weekend every July.

From one of the guys who performed at our event a couple of years ago. Quite amazing to see a full orchestral sound coming from a solo instrument (admittedly with a bit of electronic help, but still ... ) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soP-VolZi0A

JustAThought · 26-02-2021 12:13pm

Amazing!!

I visited a museum in France that had a entire section of wierd musical instruments from all around the world - places like Papua New Guinea and deepest darkest Africa that used be colonies of France. It had all kinds of recordings of them being played and pictures of the costumes and tribal ceremonies they used be used in - it was an amazing collection. I think they had some of jt knline you could listen to and you could also write and ask to play/ personally see the instruments if you had a good enough reason. The museum kept changing its name for political reasons - it used be called the M of Oceania and I think it is called the Musee du Quai Branly now.

Some off the wall instruments there! I’d love to go back and visit the place again - you have never seen the likes of it!!!
https://m.quaibranly.fr

No again Danni · 26-02-2021 12:48pm

Sax for me aswell.

I love that youtube clip - 'Sax Battle in NYC subway'. I hope it wasn't set up.

Church on Tuesday · 26-02-2021 12:49pm

Play drums for years but would like to learn bass, seems like a fun instrument to play.

JustAThought · 26-02-2021 12:56pm

What was that great film about the miners strike & the brass band a few years back? I winder did many take up trumbones and the like after that? Seem

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X9bsz63Co28s to be a great tradition of it in the Uk & other places. Work colleague used play that huge yoke - the tuba??? Suited him! He was a totally mad guy - great guy. Guy in college used play the Trumpet - borrowed lecture rooms to practice in after hours! You din’t hear too many people playing from the brass section nowadays! Interesting instruments! Buena Vista social club anyone!?!!

Also this kind of craic!? Maybe its in the culture!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X9bsz63Co28

RayCon · 26-02-2021 12:57pm

ypres5 wrote: »

electric bass. it's very underrated but when you hear one of the greats playing on an album like jack bruce or john entwhistle it's mind-blowing how much it adds to the experience

Don't forget Geddy .....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir-NYVFsSB4

Badly Drunk Boy · 26-02-2021 1:38pm

ypres5 wrote: »

electric bass. it's very underrated but when you hear one of the greats playing on an album like jack bruce or john entwhistle it's mind-blowing how much it adds to the experience

I agree. I love Jah Wobble's wandering bass sounds from when he was with Public Image limited.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQtO6R4qkg0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2y1GmtD0hs

frosty123 · 26-02-2021 1:42pm

Which would be the easiest instrument to learn...The Triangle ?

yerwanthere123 · 26-02-2021 1:45pm

Piano and/or guitar. Imagine being able to play by ear! What a skill that would be to have. Think it also makes a person a lot more attractive.

I do have some experience of instruments though, my primary school had a brass band and I played.... the trumpet :pac:

the purple tin · 26-02-2021 2:17pm

Drums. Bashing them must be a great stress-buster.
And the tuba too, Harold Bishop and Columbo have made the tuba cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhQzAN3eqTM

cee_jay · 26-02-2021 2:50pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'm not sure, tbh. I don't know a lot about wind instruments. I always liked the look of the wooden ones but they're so expensive!

I think when lockdown lifts I might get lessons.

Very different sound between the classical and Iriah flute. I trained in classical, and I can't play the traditional open hole very well at all. The playing style is very different as well imo.

Another instrument I would love to play is the low whistle. I should be able to just pick it up and play it, but my fingers cant reach the holes.

CelticRambler · 26-02-2021 2:54pm

I go through phases of thinking I'd like to learn the zampogna ...

... but haven't quite figured out when I'd find time to practise standing up after spending a whole day on my feet.

So for sitting-down amusement, I'd like to get this good at the hammered dulcimer (Bernese model):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi4kus3AJ9k

Taking it out of the box would be a start, I suppose, seeing as I bought one last year ...

PTH2009 · 26-02-2021 3:48pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqjd6EAHT8M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz07KnDxqhs

Sonderkommando · 26-02-2021 3:54pm

The lute, preferably the baroque lute.

Very expensive though, a few grand and they seem to be only available through private instrument makers.
Doesn't seem to be really played in Ireland either so lessons i would imagine are hard to come by.

TK Lemon · 26-02-2021 3:59pm

I’ve learned to play the guitar, violin, piano, recorder and tin whistle. I can read, write and understand musical theory.

I would love a drum set or a harp though. :P

Treppen · 26-02-2021 4:01pm

shakuhachi

Your Face · 26-02-2021 4:59pm

The Uilleann pipes. Lovely sounding instrument.

endacl · 26-02-2021 6:05pm

cee_jay wrote: »

Another instrument I would love to play is the low whistle. I should be able to just pick it up and play it, but my fingers cant reach the holes.

Yes they can. Pipers grip.

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRrwy1jzue9qeo5szmUncSHaxhT5rgug5ywtg&usqp=CAU

JustAThought · 26-02-2021 7:47pm

Treppen wrote: »

shakuhachi

Having watched the past two videos - is that a thing!?!!!

endacl · 26-02-2021 8:02pm

Sonderkommando wrote: »

The lute, preferably the baroque lute.

Very expensive though, a few grand and they seem to be only available through private instrument makers.
Doesn't seem to be really played in Ireland either so lessons i would imagine are hard to come by.

If your really interested I can put you in touch with a few players. Thomann started selling baroque strings a few years ago, and they’re actually not bad. Price wise, they’re in the hundreds rather than thousands.

26-02-2021 8:18pm

Batrachotox wrote: »

The violin.

I’d love to be able to just play the fúck out of a violin.

Learned the violin as a kid
Wish I'd learned something else.

What musical instrument would you love to play?

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