• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

  • Beginning April 1st, and running through April 30th, there is a new 2024 BMW MOA Election discussion area within The Club section of the forum. Within this forum area is also a sticky post that provides the ground rules for participating in the Election forum area. Also, the candidates statements are provided. Please read before joining the conversation, because the rules are very specific to maintain civility.

    The Election forum is here: Election Forum

What's Your Instrument?

hoffmanswen

hoffmanswen

Has two wheels and flies
So, while sitting here sawing on a cat (my wife thinks I'm playing a viola--bless her) I wondered if any other MOA members still play their HS orchestra instrument or picked up a guitar or somesuch on the way. Discuss...

I was started on strings when I was five. :violin After some time I gave it up for motorcycles, nuclear reactors, rockets, and satellites. All the while I've maintained an affinity to the strings and came back only recently to find it is quite comfortable. I love the emotional range that a violin evokes, the melancholy of a cello, or the steady strength of the bass.

Anyone else?
 
Trumpet all through Jr. High, HS, and college - marching band, drum and bugle corps, concert band, dance band. Just bought a used one and surprisingly remember quite a few songs and can play them - but the lip needs a lot of work to hit the high notes and tone is not what it used to be.

Play a little guitar - acoustic 12 string and 6 string

Recently dabbling with bass guitar and enjoying it a lot.
 
:whistleHave and play (reasonably well) a 67 Fender Telecaster Bass. Also have and try a Washburn D10 acoustic, A knock off Strat (Squire), a Martin Backpacker acoustic , a P.O.S. classical that I got on an excursion to Tijuana, and a cheap mandolin that gathers dust. I don't count a Yamaha Keyboard or about 10 harmonicas.
For the most part I play the air guitar while driving.:whistle
 
I played a bit of guitar as a teenager. Showed up one day for my lesson and learned my teacher had died. Took it as a sign and stopped playing.
Fast foward 25 yrs. I got involved, as a signer, with the 'office' band. Moved on to a semi-pro blues band as lead singer/front man. That dried up about a year ago. Started playing guitar at about the same time. Not too bad, but not too good either.
I still enjoy playing with my organ though.:brow
 
All through high school, I was slated to go on to be a music major. I played flute and piccolo, marched in the band with a mellophone (marching F-horn), dabbled with trumpet, alto sax, and piano. In addition, I sang in the chorus, and acted in musicals. Due to problems within the music dept during my senior year (feuding music teachers and back ordered audition music), I never went to my college audition. I really never picked up an instrument again. Looking back, I wish I had a do-over.
 
High School band, Clarinet, Oboe, Bassoon, and all percussion. Drum major of the High School band. College scholarship for playing Tympani with the small orchestra there. Those were the days!:laugh
 
I play guitar, bass, some mandolin, and keyboards. I played professionally for several years and did a bunch of song writing for a country band. The band was put together by a label and had a bunch of regional success but broke up right after the first record was recorded. Suddenly the dream of climbing on a bus was a reality and most members weren't ready. No band=no record support.

About 5 years ago I told my wife I was going out to buy another guitar and she responded "For crying out loud, why don't you just buy the whole store" (I had a bad case of Guitar Aquisition Syndrome). I have found in my marriage that when my wife takes that tone of voice it is best to listen so I did what she suggested ;).

Fast forward 5 years and I am once again struggling in the music business thanks to this *&%^**%*& economy. It is a good life when things are normal and hopefully the economy will become "normal" again.
 
I play the radio but my 8 year old grandson plays his Martin guitar and his 4 year old sister is starting lessons on her fiddle.
 
Accoustic guitar (Martins D35S, 00-17, Backpackers, early teens no-name), Electric (Fender, Epiphone), Bass (Washburn), Cello (Knilling), Mandolin (Early teens no-name), Electric Piano (Yamaha), Diddy-Bow (homemade). I've played since '61, will be turning 59 this year. Played all kinds of gigs. Songwriter. Did a lot of recording in Detroit. Groovesville, United Sound. Still have a trio. Play sporadically, mostly art openings, and mostly pretty strange music that no one has heard of, but is fun to play, like Memphis Jug, Incredible String Band, and old country stuff, along with a smattering of Procol Harum with the occasional original thrown in for good measure.
 
Took piano lessons for 6 years as a kid, rarely play any more, since I don't even own a piano. I was never in band in school at all. Took up the guitar at 16 and used to play with the buddies quite a bit in their basements.

Nowdays, I still own the old guitars, and a keyboard, but just don't find the time to sit down and play. I've got a '62 Harmony Rocket that I'm fixing up a bit to play.
 
I play a classical guitar, baritone uke and some electronis organ. I play most days for my own enjoyment. I have a 5 string banjo, but it's not the sort of instrument that should be played in an apartment:whistle:whistle

Jay
 
Last edited:
Played classical and jazz piano in highschool, but lost fingerspeed due to sports injuries....:(
 
Former French Hornist here. Had a band scholarship in college and started out as a music major. I wish I had some pictures of the horn strapped to the back of my motorcycle back in the day. I used to commute on my bike in high school and college.
 
Currently playing tenor tuba, aka euphonium. Started out as a kid in drum corps. Tried high school band but didn't care for the sloppy performance level. Currently playing in a community band.

BTW, how can you tell the stage is level? :bliss


:jester



The violist is drooling out of both sides of his mouth!:doh
 
I play the musical handsaw! :)
(Took piano lessons for several years as a youngster.)
 
Mandolin player here. Tuned the same as a violin, but the people I play with call a violin a fiddle. Ain't nothin like back porch bluegrass to get your feet stompin.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top