Who can play musical instruments?

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And I can play the triangle.

I tried playing guitar But I gave up

I play guitar, various keyboards, banjo, harmonica etc etc (honestly).
I am more or less completely self taught.
I cannot read music, I barely understand tabliture.
I feel like I don't really understand how I know how to play, it just feels natural to me.
Do other aspies share this juxtoposition?

I could never learn to play an instrument and read notes at the same time. I am too slow.

I don't think my head is wired to do both, so I just learned a few chords, then learned a few songs that only used 3 chords and went of from there.

I sort of play guitar. I took bass lessons & am ok at that. I also play Irish harp. That's my max, though. It's hard for me to learn anything, really. Music is extra hard to learn.

I'm not convinced that there are many people, even in the general population, who simply couldn't play music at all however hard and long they tried. Even somebody who can't tap in time to a song, I wouldn't think many of them would fail to improve their accuracy if they set their minds to it. Anybody who likes music must have some sense of the rhythm or melody of the music they like, or there'd be nothing for them to like. I would think that the only people who would be absolutely unable to play their own music would be those who didn't like listening to music.

I know it's generally thought to look better when a musician doesn't look at their hands while they play, but it's not an absolute, especially for beginners. There are a lot of "good practice" conventions that I've never managed to do, but it hasn't stopped me from making some good sound.

It's possible for the individual to pick the instrument / genre that's best suited to their particular strengths and weaknesses. Depending on how you define the term "musician," this could include all kinds of computer music programs for training or just to make things easier.

The great thing about music is that it's therapeutic to play, as well as being potentially good to listen to. I think a lot of the fun can be spoiled if the player worries too much about how good they are.

I (used to) play piano and clarinet. I learned to play clarinet in the school band and taught myself to play piano.

Although I didn't have any formal training at piano, I played well enough to get into college as a piano major with a partial music scholarship. Actually they said I had a choice between piano and clarinet as a major, either one.

But I had problems with both because of fine motor problems, memorization, and just brain fog in general. I was never able to play a single piece of music from memory, other than some really basic football cheers in band.

On piano I did better with slower pieces of music, but I struggled with faster pieces. I never learned to play scales. I just couldn't get the hang of the fingerings.

With clarinet I had problems with tonguing. I couldn't touch the reed lightly or quickly enough. So likewise I did better with slower pieces.

So yeah while I had a lot of talent in music, I reached a definite limit with both. And if I had been encouraged to just play in my own style, things might have been different, but going through the hoops of getting traditional classical training was never going to work.

Also have since realized, I would never be able to play something like harp, violin, or guitar because it is really painful to touch the strings. I can't stand the thought of taking up clarinet again because it was also a very painful instrument to play.

My first love was singing and perhaps I should have pursued that instead. Just as well though since I have mild asthma and my lungs are easily irritated by allergies and chemical sensitivities.

I used to sing with a community chorus, but the social aspects of it, plus the repetition of rehearsals absolutely drove me nuts.

Have always wished I could sing in a band. Even just a cover band. But I know I couldn't handle the noisy environment playing in bars and clubs.

I absolutely love the sound of drums though. The louder the better. I wish I had played drums in marching band instead of clarinet. That might have taken me down a different path in life. But I very likely would have had physical difficulties with that too.

Really any path I might have taken as a performer would probably just lead to a lot of frustration and physical discomfort. Which is why I wanted to just compose instead, and perhaps be a conductor, but females aren't exactly encouraged to do those things.

Typically, musicians can play musical instruments, although there are certain exceptions.

Something dianthus said rings true - in some of the small gigs I do the stage feels horrible to be on (often it's just a space on the floor). It can be cramped, there are lots of whines, drones and whistles from the amplifiers, and there can be a horrible atmosphere around the electrical equipment like something that might cue a fit. At least you are excused being neurotypical - I sometimes do small half disguised stims on stage, a thing I've noticed the keyboard player from Rammstein do.

Plenty of opportunity for tantrums though, though have this under control these days.

I am not good at playing musical instruments.
I am not good at coordinating my two hands to play the instruments.
Possibly, making the opposite sides of my body work together is not one of my brain's talents.
I am good at the one-handed activity of drawing.
I also sucked at coordinating my two feet and legs in certain activities.
I am good at skating because it requires focus on one leg/foot/side at a time and switching between the two sides repeatedly.

I wish I could but I've never tried, I wish my parents put me in lessons for anything as a kid as I didn't have the initiative. Getting kind of late now I guess.

I play trombone and most other brass. I'm currently majoring in music as well, but that will likely be changing soon.

Sorry if this isn't directly relevant but I am a student at Falmouth University studying Product Design.

I am currently working on a project focusing on young children (2-5years) with autism and musical instruments. I have done research surrounding this area and am thinking about creating various handle grips for percussion instruments. I have chosen percussion because of the age group I am focusing on.

I project requires the product to be customisable in some way, i plan on creating different textures and colours to personalize the grips. I thought that this would add some familiarity to the instruments and become part of a routine.

It would be great to hear some feedback to improve or develop my project.
Thank you

Harriet

I'm having my first saxophone lesson tomorrow at 3pm.

I have a small collection of instruments and sound processing equipment that I turned into a mini-studio. So, I am an enthusiast, but I 'Play at" my instruments (Mostly Keyboards and instruments) to have fun. I will never be a good musician though.