Wanting To Learn Alot Of Instruments

[Nick]

I don't really see how you can be that creative on a harmonica. It only has 10 notes.

Then you haven't heard Toots Thielmans play

[Mazrocon]

I guess it's not that limited... But it is mainly a blues instrument. I recently heard of a tongue drum, I was thinking of buying a set of bongoes but the tongue drum is way better!! It sounds really good by itself which is suprising since it's a drum

~TIMOTHY~

[Lazz]

Then you haven't heard Toots Thielmans play

Right.

I gave him a link earlier to a great piece of Toots.

And one to Stevie playing 'Alfie'.

But he obviously didn't look.

Better p[ay attention to Toots while you can, Maz.

We're liable to be reading his obituary very soon.

He's coming up to 86 years old now and getting tired and doddery.

"Toots, the way you play the harmonica they should not call it a miscellaneous instrument"

Clifford Brown

" I can say without hesitation that Toots is one of the greatest musicians of our time.... he ranks with the best .... goes for the heart and makes you cry. We have worked together more times than I can count and he always keeps me coming back for more ..."

Quincy Jones

Edited May 30, 2008 by Lazz

[Mazrocon]

Is what I meant by being limited is that it seems that you can only play songs that are written for the harmonica. I would like to know the scale of a harmonica so atleast then i'd know how to play it

Lazz, I clicked on both links.

I was more impressed with stevie wonder's harmonica than toots. The toots video seemed more like someone just goofing off with a harmonica then an actual song, I noticed there was alot of pauses in the song like they start to play the song then stop for some reason.

~TIMOTHY~

[Lazz]

Great.

They both play chromatic harmonica.

They come in all different ranges and shapes and sizes.

You can get all the notes - plus bits in-between.

Tough to find a decent easily 'accessible' slice of Toots on YouTube.

I guess you really need to be familiar with the tune they're playing in order to appreciate the chuckles they're enjoying.

What they're doing is farting about with the long introductory verse and kinda daring each other into who will take the next most outrageous step into the harmonic future of its unfolding.

'Sophisticated Lady' is one of my all-time favourite songs.

Written by Billy Strayhorn unbelievably when he was only a few years older than you are now.

Wow.

Probably not to your taste at all.

But here it is performed by

Accompanied by the late Stan Getz - who was a small bunch of very interesting people.

Edited May 30, 2008 by Lazz

[Mazrocon]

It's not with everything but to me atleast it seems that most of all the unheard of items and instruments always seem to be better for some reason. Like the tongue drum is the better bongo. The ocarina is (to me anyway) the better flute, and the marimba is a better xylophone. There is alot of underated and underknown stuff out there sadly

~TIMOTHY~

[Bridget Murphy]

On 5/20/2008 at 2:06 AM, john said:

Hey

 

Well I learned quite a few instruments, but my perspective was different. I saw myself more as a composer and arranger and wanted to gain an insight into the capabilities and limitations of different types of instrument.

 

I can get a tune out of many instruments but I still have one main instrument, although closely followed by a couple of others.

 

I took the approach of serious investment of time in different instrument groups. Strings (guitar, bass guitar, violin, mandolin), keyboards (piano and organs/synths), vocals (lead, harmony, backing, choral), wind (bagpipes, bugle, didgeridoo), percussion (kit, bass, tenor and snare marching drums, bodhran and various hand drums). I have also tried various versions of instruments such as alto mandolin, lots of guitar types and string numbers (6, 8, 10 12) etc and dabbled in lots from autoharp to orchestral percussion, harmonica to recorders and penny whistles.

 

I would say i play one instrument really well (guitar) but I can play piano bass etc. too an ok standard. There are several instruments I put serious effort into (such as violin 8 years as primary instrument) but I am pretty out of practice with them. I know I could get beck to standard with most with a little concerted effort, but my main gain was in learning the instruments at the time. Being able to pick them up and dabble in most is sufficient for now.

 

I would still recommend that you keep one instrument as your main instrument, chose a secondary instrument and put your main effort into those. Then perhaps change your secondary instrument effort, keeping your main instrument going etc. and so on.

 

That doesn't mean don't dabble, but keep your dabbling under control and don't diffuse your efforts too much. jack of all trades and master of none is the fine line you will walk and it is best to be aware of that.

 

One last thing... try and maximise your transferrable skills and leverage your previous learning. Playing multiple instruments does give you a different perspective on instruments, one that musicians focused on one instrument can find harder to do. I find that keeps me being creative with the instruments I play.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers

 

John

We all had that moment. I think sticking to a one category of instrument may make the journey a little easier.