How Does Your Environment Influence Musical Ability?

[Indeed]

Does anyone here play a musical instrument? For how long have you been playing and why?

 

[Dale]

Yes, since I was 8, because my mother made me Although if I ever get back into it I would want to compose music rather than just play it.

 

[BryanP]

piano for about 2 years, guitar and bass guitar for a year

used to mess with recording stuff since i was a little boy... was a disc jockey for 4 years in HS

made my own electronica mixes for around 2-3 years in HS as well

i don't really like "playing" music in terms of copying other peoples stuff though... i like making my own stuff

 

[binzing]

Cello for 2 years, learning mandolin, can play some guitar.

 

[turbo]

Trumpet, baritone and French horn (starting in HS) since about 3rd-4th grade. Guitar (rock and blues mostly) through my junior HS-HS years, including a LOT of earning power in college (frat parties mostly).

 

[Indeed]

been playing piano for 1.5 years and guitar for 3 years. I'm mostly interested in folk and classical sounding music. a thing about music i find fascinating is sight reading. i am not excellent at it but i practice every day. the fact that you can just look at a piece and play it right away is amazing, my favorite baroque composer is bach. i also enjoy chopin

 

[Mokae]

Crystally clear.. I am practicing writing songs !

I have been learning notes for years.

 

[BryanP]

i'm also into blues/folk/classical.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

I learned to play the recorder in fourth grade, but didnt pursue it. Now I've been playing the guitar for about 8 months and just got accepted into a band! In fact, we had our first jam session yesterday!

 

[robertm]

Classical and Flemanco Guitar for 2+ years. Piano and Violin more recently.

 

[binzing]

chaos, where did you grow up? Because we had to learn recorder in fourth grade as well.

 

[Pythagorean]

Guitar and Piano - about 5 years (learned piano when I was real young, but never picked it up until I started playing guitar and learned scales and chords and could just improvise instead of reading music... I'm very slow at reading music, but I believe in tonal centers, you can do whatever you want in between them.)

I haven't played solid for two years now, but I miss it. Trying to get going on it again starting tomorrow actually. Got an old 16 track recorder, a friend that plays bass, and a small collection of emotional stress to outlet.

Edit: Styles:

When I first started, I didn't want a genre or a style (generic feeling for someone who writes/improvs their own music probably). But I identified (without any real training) with classical, blues, flamenco, and classic rock. I started to get into harder rock and metal before I took up physics (at which point I gradually lost touch with my guitar).

On piano I play dirges and lots of harmonic minor stuff.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

chaos, where did you grow up? Because we had to learn recorder in fourth grade as well.

I was in Romania in fourth grade (The American School of Bucharest), what about you?

 

[chaoseverlasting]

When I first started, I didn't want a genre or a style (generic feeling for someone who writes/improvs their own music probably). But I identified (without any real training) with classical, blues, flamenco, and classic rock. I started to get into harder rock and metal before I took up physics (at which point I gradually lost touch with my guitar).

Me too, except I really started playing once I got into college. I wasn't as serious about it in school.

 

[rockerdoctor]

guitar 3 years, violin 9 years and piano off and on for about 6 years but not very good, bass guitar about 6 months.

 

[binzing]

Podunk little meth capital, Farmington, New Mexico 87401. Interesting, it must be fairly standard

 

[chaoseverlasting]

Yeah, just may be. It would really be something to meet someone from anyone of my schools though...

 

[binzing]

Were your parents diplomats or something like that?

 

[chaoseverlasting]

No. My dad's got a job as the ceo of temco in romania. We shifted there and after a year he didnt like the education there, so I got bumped to boarding which was too far for him so again I was sent to budapest, Hungary for two years, then again a year in romania and then finally I've been in India for the last four years...

 

[binzing]

Wow. Some people get to grow up in the coolest places. (I mean, even if its not the coolest, its different, so you get a different perspective.)