Well, title says it all. How many of you wonderful people are also musicians? Just to spark some creative discussion, post a little bit of information about yourself, i.e: how long youve been playing, favorite music, instrument(s) you play, are you in a band? etc.!

Age: 17

Instrument: Guitar (I prefer acoustic, but I own both), Ukulele, Singing

Years Played: Ive played guitar for about 8-9 years, and ukulele is just a small hobby I picked up a few years ago

Favorite Music to play: DAVE MATTHEWS! (I like him for reasons other than getting drunk at concerts, dont worry!), Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Kings of Leon, Circa Survive. I like to play a wide range of music, but most of the time I gravitate towards the laid back, but complex rhythmic style of Dave Matthews. It just amazes me.

Am I in a Band? Yes. I am the rhythm guitarist and singer. We play a variety of hardcoe music like Emarosa, Circa Survive, Tides of Man, etc. And currently have about 5 originals and hope to make an EP soon. I know it contradicts what I said earlier, but I feel that playing music outside of your comfort zone makes you a much better player than someone who specializes. Essentially, I would love to be a "Jack of All Trades" on the guitar. One can dream, right?


So, how do you guys feel about music? If you are a musician, why do you play what you play? Share your thoughts! Hopefully we can get some great discussion going on here! :foodndrink:

Ive played drums for 7 or 8 years. I like playing to Danny Carey (Tool) and anything else that sounds like him and funk music the most. I like playing metal too. I'm not in a band.

Been playing guitar for over 35 years. Went to Recording School, taught by early Motown engineer Bob Dennis in Detroit. Have well equipped home studio...I run Reaper as a DAW, many outboard devices, Studio Projects and (2) Oktava Russian made condenser mics, Shure SM 57, etc.
I'm learning to be better on keyboards. I should probably be a better player than what I am on guitar. No band, not Pro, mostly just fun. Would like to help others produce something good now that I'm "retired" from a "real" job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg52S8rGXvU

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25411109@N05/5329062813/

I've got other stuff more fleshed out but no links at present.

[edit] Anybody know of a good place to upload mp3's besides YouTube? I had a place a while back but I forget where it is.

Age: 19

Instruments: I've taken recorder/dulcimer/hand bell/guitar lessons

Years played: Not long enough for it to really stick. Just stopped playing for no apparent reason.

Favorite music to play: Anything fast paced with a good melody, I really like playing instruments that make you move your hands a lot. Having big hands makes stringed instruments difficult to play to me, which leads to...

...Me taking piano this year. I'm going to be having my first group lesson Friday, assuming the roads are clear of all this snow. I've never actually taken piano, but I've always loved http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM4pXNYwQjA&feature=fvw you can do http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc3-C7Lnzh0.

Thats awesome! Youre doing what I hope to do when I retire from... well whatever I decide to do with my life. What kind of music do you like to play?

I produce some pretty eclectic instrumental tracks, know where I could upload some sample mp3's?

Age: 15

Instrument: Guitar, 12 String Guitar, and Harmonica

Years Played: I've played guitar for 7 years. Harmonica is sort of a side thing. I've always wanted to play Sitar

Favorite Music to play: It's pretty insane how much music I like, I play anything from; Rock, Folk, Jazz, Swing, Surf, Rockabilly, Country, Blues, Psychedelic, Western, Punk, etc. And yes, I do actually listen to all that music, plus more that I can't play.
My main inspirations to get me into music in the first place are Marty Robbins, Gene Autry, The Beatles, Brian Setzer, and The Ramones. I wouldn't be anywhere without those guys.


Am I in a Band? Sadly, no. I would like to be either in a Folk Rock or Swing band. That's my dream :nod:
Sadly you can't find many people who like the same thing as me

I wouldn't say proficient, but I'm not bad at guitar. Been playing for around two and a half years, mostly metal, Death/Opeth stuff. Also play the violin a little, bass a little (mostly just Muse songs) and once in a blue moon I'll make a racket on a piano. Doing a degree in experimental music practice.

I'm going to be the uncoolest person in this thread and proclaim that I've played the flute for 10 years. And I'm good at it, even if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, I listen to metal, rock, punk, etc, myself, so there's very little music to play for the flute that I actually like. Thank God for Disney songs, that totally save my dreary instrument choice that is mostly consisting of classical music. Jazz and blues aren't half-bad to play either.

Not in a band, but I was in an orchestra at some point for a few years as a flutist and as the only piccolo. I dropped that after I realized I just don't like playing with other people.

And I play the drums with my brother and his band, because their drummer really svcks and they kicked him out and asked me to help them out until they find an actual drummer. Never had any lessons or anything, but I'm not that bad at it if I don't try anything fancy. I can also sort of play the piano (which I svck at) and the guitar (which I'm also not very good at) and I've had singing lessons for a few years. I suppose I'm a pretty okay singer. And I have very, very basic bass skills, just like pretty much everybody else who's ever bothered to even pick one up.

Same here. I've been playing for a few years, three or four maybe. I mostly play electric (post-rock-ish sounding stuff, mainly), though I have an acoustic also. I really want a classical guitar though. I also play (and have been playing longer than guitar) the violin/viola and the piano. I really love the piano; I'm taking lessons at uni for it now.

Edit: I'm not in a band. Me and some of my good friends who are also musicians of sorts use to play together though. We never got much of anything.

Hmm, I know that Unsigned.com is a pretty popular place for unsigned artists to get more well known. A lot of people use that. Hope it helps




Hey, nothin wrong with that! At least youre unique. Almost everyone can play, or knows multiple people who can play guitar. :thumbsup:

Ian Anderson.....?


Thanks Ostrichman....I'll check them out.

I've been trying to teach myself piano recently. It's going slowly though, and I'm getting a little demotivated. I want to stick to it, but I don't have too much time for it, so I dunno.

I am in high school, and I play the piano proficiently.
I play what is considered "classical" music, such as Bach, Brahms, Rachmaninoff etc.... And I am not in a band.

Ooh, that looks interesting! I have to see if I can find sheet music for his songs in Finland. Thanks a bunch!

I've played piano for nearly 5 years among the songs I've learnt to play is the entertainer and the star wars theme song
No I'm not in a band

I try to play "by ear" every instrument I get my hands on. About 5 or 6 years ago, I bought an acoustic guitar and learned the pentatonic scale by myself, while listening to some of Neil Young′s tunes. Also have an Harmonica but only play them occasionally for ***** and giggles. Love the sound of the blues

I play bass and synth, but I'm really a terrible musician. When I write songs I have to keep it really basic or else I get muddled up and end up with just a pile of unrelated notes tossed around.
I play bass fairly well, but I'm still learning the keyboard, I can only play with one hand.

What I'm getting really good at is the sound engineering side of things, I love effects, and I'm especially getting into compression and limiting.
My favourite thing to do in a DAW though is to put my bass into the line in, then set up a bunch of VSTi's to track different envelopes from the bass's signal, then by adding in a looper and some other effects I can play basically all the tracks at once, and add in a drum loop at the end.

BTW if anyone has any good drum VSTi's let me know, I'm getting sick of the standard FLstudio one (and my only other one is based off a SNES).

I play trumpet. Seriously out of practice for going on a few years now, but I can still make her sing. My endurance is shot, but I can make her sing a pretty song if I like. Unfortunately I live in a tiny room in a large building packed with tiny rooms and many people, suffice to say practicing is practically impossible. I'm thinking of working out some deal with the chapel on base to see if they'll let me use their building to practice during the week, but I've so far just been too busy/lazy to go do it.

I've played guitar on and off for about 19 years, and I played saxophone in the school band. I'm not great by any stretch, it's just something I enjoy to do now and again.

This is pretty out-there, but I play the guitar.

I've been playing for about two years now, primarily classic rock. As with several posters above I don't know if I'd be considered "proficient", but I'm not bad.

Been playing classical guitar since I was 7, and I'm pretty damn good with my electric, too. In fact I would say I'm "proficient."

I play alot of everything, blues, rock, metal(ish), classical, flamenco, etc. etc. I can't really pick a favorite, it just depends on what mood I'm in. But I must say, in all honesty, that chicks dig the flamenco. It was the greatest thing in the world when I figured out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5rGjZdazew&feature=fvst

But no, I'm not in a band. Hard to find good musicians.

Age: 16

Instrument: piano (only just starting to learn), my voice, trumpet

Years Played: I have sang for 8 years, played trumpet for 3 years (I started at 12 but stopped when I entered high school), and I've been learning piano for 6 months but off-and-on.

Favorite Music to play: I love to sing a Capella, unfortunately I was sick when our school had a Capella auditions, but since it's a 10-man group IDK if I would've made the cut anyway.

I always enjoyed military songs when I played trumpet (e.g. Battle Hymn of the Republic and Hail, Columbia) I think the reason why is that I enjoyed the pure loud power of playing the trumpet, and those kinds of songs highlight it the most.

I don't know how to play many songs on the piano yet, but my two favorites of the ones I know are House of the Rising Sun, and also Hometown Glory by Adele. I've mostly been learning modern music, it's not that I don't appreciate classical, I just find it less fun to play.

Am I in a Band? No, but I'm in youth choir at church. I also was in the school choir but I stopped taking it to start doing theatre instead.

Eh thats like saying it but saying violin instead of flute, and when done right, violin (and other stringed instruments) can make cool things like metal sound 10x cooler.

I play a Fender DP Strat, the Mexican one unfortunately, but I replaced the pick-ups and filed the nut down for a nasty tone. I've got an Ibanez SZ520 with through-body stringing for a sick sustain. I also tinker with a glass slide and a 6-string Banjo. Mostly play Punk, Post-Punk, New Wave, Grunge/Alt, Rockabilly, Bluegrass and Psychedelic Blues. I have some demos I made with a Boss RC loop-er, lying around here somewhere, but I'm not sure how I'd upload them to share.

Been playing for eight years give or take. Usually just jam and do my own thing with a drum machine I have built into my effects board. When I'm not playing my own stuff, I like to play a little http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfWbMjOgqmc&feature=related, some http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZwVgQ4Wq7E, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG9PY9InmC8, a bit of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDw-hTuwcvA&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jHbsI-tLfk and a bunch more.