Do you play a musical instrument?

Post Reply New Topic

I played trombone in school for 6 years.
I got a clarinet to play by myself (not in a band)
I taught myself how to play and I was able to play 2 or 3 songs the same day I got it. I learned how to play by ear because I was never really good at reading sheet music while playing.

I'm playing guitar while typing this post.

I mainly play classical and electric guitar, but my obsession for flamenco made me play classical instead

I love every style from Blues to flamenco, to jazz and classic

I'm a bit heavy handed tho and some days I play like s**t

The only things I've had training in are violin (for 12 years) and voice (for five years). The rest are self taught. Here's the list:
Guitar, mostly electric (10 years)
Mandolin (on and off, it's a violin that you strum)
Piano (whenever I feel like it, I've had a casio keyboard since I was six to diddle on as I please)
Drums (whenever I can get my hands on a kit, I'm not too bad and can hold my own in a band. I've got "perfect rhythm" in addition to "perfect pitch")
Bass (fretless and fretted electric bass)
Synths and keyboards (piano translates to this well)
Banjo (picked it up several times and figured it out quickly)
Ukelele (I've had several over my lifetime and love to play along with Amanda Palmer)

I'm most comfortable on my "main" instruments: violin, guitar, drums, and bass. I've been in god knows how many bands and jam sessions, playing everything from thrash metal and crust punk to freeform jazz to "indie pop" to ska. I was in a performance choir in high school and was the anchor (have perfect pitch and rhythm so I was behind everyone else to guide them in acapella arrangements) first soprano junior year and anchor alto and officer my senior year. Also did musical theater for six years and ran and performed music nights at several coffeehouses. I applied my Aspie traits to teaching myself recording practices and have worked with several people and my own bands, recording, producing, and mastering EPs and albums, both in semi-professional local studios as well as my own home studio I built.

After I graduate college I plan on taking on the "responsibilities" of being a full-time travelling musician with my three closest friends and constant band-mates. We're all on the spectrum, too. It's going to be one interesting van full of weirdos.

I don't think I have the finger dexterity to play most instrument. I have dysgraphia, so even trying to make the motions of most instruments causes serious hand pain before long.

That's me in a nutshell. I loved guitar, growing up in the 80's, but when I heard Flamenco I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I have the problem that I don't like making a lot of noise with guitar and play very quietly, but that works for my wife.

I have perfect pitch as well (although I usually call it 'absolute pitch'), and my rhythm is spot on (I don't think 'perfect rhythm' is an actual musical term, haha). I'm always the one telling people they're speeding up or slowing down or that they have a string out of tune, etc.

I had 7 years of private lessons on bass and guitar (some days I'd bring in a bass, others a guitar - it was the same teacher for both). Those ended about 5 years ago, so since then I've done all improvement on my own. On piano/keys I took a beginner's piano class at my university (so 3-4 months of guidance pretty much). I could already sight read bass and treble clefs, and I just ripped through the book for the class, after which the professor let me bring in whatever I wanted to learn. Now I just learn by ear like I do for everything else. After that class I did everything on my own.

On all other instruments I play, I taught myself.

I also sing - self taught with a little advice from a friend who has had years of private vocal lessons. I started that last November or so, and I sing every day. I forgot to include that in my original post because my mind was stuck on instruments, haha.

Right now my only sources of income are teaching private lessons (on bass and guitar) and playing in a few bands in my area, which do paid gigs.

I play the piano and the guitar (pretty much self-taught).

I do not play an instrument and I had no musical training.

I still remember clearly begging my parents and grandparents to allow me to learn to play piano/keyboard when I was about 3. At the time, I didn't understand how requests worked (gosh, I hate tea) and I didn't yet formulate wishes (not even for Christmas) but I did ask for that though I cannot remember what motivated me to want to learn to play a piano/keyboard.

In response to my request (it was more like nagging but I guess it was a highlight of sorts to hear me repeat something), I was bought a children's keyboard but never received any training. I gave up on asking for it eventually.

Despite the lack of any formal training, I am quite good at singing however. I produce the right tones (which as far as I know is the basis of perfect pitch) and know when a tone is amiss (a horrible sensation). I took private singing lessons for a short period but that was too expensive to keep up.

I'd love to take lessons to learn to play the piano but I don't have the money for it.

As a stroke of super massive awesome luck, I acquired what I suspect is an old but pretty okay keyboard some 3 or 4 years ago. I tried playing on it once or twice in combination with a self-taught crash course on reading musical sheets. Prior to it, I was worried that I'd mess up completely when it comes to using both hands to play but that turned out to be surprisingly easy.

I didn't continue (that must have been some time during 2008 or 2009) and since then I just... forgot. Sort of. Spend, like, all my precious time on trying to be less autistic because professionals figure that I am "hf" and so I should behave like someone with "hf" and only have problems that are stereotypically associated with "hf AS". Stupid.

As that turned out to be a futile idea, I am now making a point to spend my time reading again, playing games, focussing on martial arts - all I had neglected during the past 3 years or even abandoned completely (imagine the love of buying and reading books, oh, so awesome). So who knows, I might even get back on learning to play that keyboard.

I play guitar. It was encouraged by my parents when I was 5, and between ages 7-12 I participated in competitions, oftentimes getting high marks on a national level. I specialized in Jimi Hendrix and was considered very talented for my age.

Because of this, my elementary school music program did not cater well to my needs and thus I made quite a disruption... lol

Nowadays I play it occasionally, but usually I sequence music more often than just play it. Usually I compose more often than I just play songs though.

I wish I could play Piano and Clarinet...

The violin.

I've wanted to learn violin since I was 8 years old, when they tested us in school and someone told me that I should play violin. I became somewhat obsessed with the idea, but it was never affordable. My husband heard the story and bought me a violin, so I started to teach myself and absolutely love it. Since my husband is a drummer and wanted to start a band, he then talked me into learning bass. I started teaching myself right-handed, because someone left a right-handed bass at our house, and then switched to left-handed and everything fell into place. Now I'm playing bass in our band eight months later. I played in my second gig last Saturday night. The music is awesome, but the social aspects were terrifying. I just need to figure out how to come to terms with that part of it. Do any of you aspie musicians have suggestions on that topic?

Oh yeah, I'm an aspie.


----------------------------------
Aspie Quiz: 176/200
NT score: 35/200
EQ: 29, SQ-R: 118
BAP: 116 Aloof, 120 Rigid, 110 Pragmatic
INTJ

would you take a suggestion from a maybe-maybe-not/self-diagnosed aspie?

Of course. Any suggestions are welcomed, since I suffer from extreme social anxiety in any social setting and this is definitely a social setting. If I can't work out a reasonable solution, I will have to stop playing at gigs and then I will feel like I failed.

For the first two gigs, we played in a small pub, so I was able to justify standing with my side towards the audience while facing the band. I would look out to the audience every now and then and smile, but I would always focus on my mom or the girlfriend of our front man. A friendly face doesn't hurt, but it certainly doesn't take away the terror. The good news and bad news is that they liked us, so the owner invited us back for their anniversary celebration. Hence, the second gig last Saturday.

I really do love to finally be playing an instrument and I don't want to let the band down, especially when I'm married to one of them! (In fact, if I wasn't married to the drummer, I probably would have backed out of the first gig and wouldn't have come this far.) I definitely would appreciate any suggestions.

I don't personally have any problems playing on stage, but one thing that I think might help is to not stand in the front. Have a front line with the frontman, and any other players besides you and the drummer, then you stand back by the drummer. A lot of bass players stand around there, anyway. You also can at times turn to face the drummer, showing your side to the audience, while making it look like (hopefully you're doing this anyway regardless of where you're facing) you're focusing on what the drummer is doing and playing along with them.

You could look at your fretboard as you play, or any part of your instrument as you play. You could also look at the ceiling, floor, sides of the stage, off at the walls in the distance, out into space, etc. Or, make it look like you're looking at yourself play your instrument, while you space out visually. You can look at your other band members, too. I suggest perhaps wearing sunglasses, as well - this can make it dark enough to not notice the audience members, especially in combination of bright stage lights. It also obscures your facial expressions partly, and dims the brightness of stage lights.

I also have a profession that's somewhat public-oriented, also a fair amount of socialization with a lot of people I don't actually know. Generally just being in the eye of someone, which has caused a lot of problems for me in the past. People I know better, who knew I had problems with this, they used to suggest "acting," but I couldn't do that, because I have utter revulsion to feeling like I'm being "fake" -- (one reason I can't usually bring myself to smalltalk. I want to know your favorite color and what you think of Bram Stoker, already!)

Then that person made passing mention of my being a "character." As my main job, and extreme interest mainly deals with fiction (books, movies, tv shows), that connected with me better. Since then, I've developed an "it's okay to be weird" mentality, trying to see myself more as I want other people to see me, as the "character"/public personality. I guess it's still sort of "acting" but it's helped me let go of some things. Instead of thinking "I'm on a stage and people are looking at me make them stop" or something along that line, you could try thoughts more like "I'm the bassist in a band, doing my job. They're thinking like I do when I see a band -- I'm just like one of the other musicians I like to see/would like to see."

I really hope that makes sense. For me, that anxiety feels sort of like there's a knot in the middle of me, and it keeps getting tighter, pulling everything inside so I can't do what I intellectually want to. Instead of just leaving that knot there and trying to attack that, itself, you spread out that feeling, so it's not just you looking out your eyes and getting anxious, but seeing what you're doing in a different way, I guess.

...I have a tendency to babble and I really hope that makes at least some sense to you. And I hope that helps in some way.

The guitar, though not particularly well.