Music Opinions

I would dearly love to get a fretless banjo. I'm waiting until I improve enough on my regular banjos. It might be a while.

BAS is a lot more expensive than UAS too--ahh well . . . :eek:ld:
 
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I think the French Horn is the most versatile and beautiful brass instrument in small, concert groups or even in symphony orchestras. It's too bad that they aren't given more to do. Even though the horn was one of my biggest defeats, I loved playing it. It is a very difficult and sometimes confusing instrument to play.

But it wasn't my favorite. My number one favorite brass instrument was the cornet. Not the the trumpet; the cornet. I enjoyed most of the other brass except maybe the trombone, and the euphonium which was another big failure. My old embouchure just wasn't strong enough or flexible enough for it. It was my all time pick for band music along with the bugle.

I could kick myself for trading my cornet for a few measly bucks. Let that be a lesson to those who sell off perfectly great playing, favorite instruments. Once they're gone, they're gone, and they may also be missed.

Ahhh, well, just an ol' codger reminiscing--I do that more and more . . . :eek:ld:
 
Down Up Dick, just out of curiosity, how many instruments do you play?
 
VELARCA said:
Down Up Dick, just out of curiosity, how many instruments do you play?
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Lots of different types of flutes and piccolos, fifes and recorders. All the brass instruments at one time or another.
Harmonicas, side drum, and I'm learning (slowly) Tenor banjo and 5 string banjo and Ukuleles of course. I also use a keyboard to figure stuff out. Ha! I can play the right hand and the left hand (chords) but not together.

I often wonder how good I'd be if i had just stuck with one instrument and took some lessons--ahhh, well . . . :eek:ld:
 
Down Up Dick said:
Do any UUers (or banjoists) play Scottish Music? I've become interested in it, and would like to learn more. :eek:ld:
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When I was playing mandolin, my wife (on guitar) and I played a lot of Celtic and Irish-Scottish inspired music.

I'm hoping to get back to that once we get her a replacement guitar and possibly an 8 string uke for me.
 
Griffis said:
When I was playing mandolin, my wife (on guitar) and I played a lot of Celtic and Irish-Scottish inspired music.

I'm hoping to get back to that once we get her a replacement guitar and possibly an 8 string uke for me.
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I thought of using my eighter for a mandolin. What strings would you use? :eek:ld:
 
Down Up Dick said:
I thought of using my eighter for a mandolin. What strings would you use? :eek:ld:
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Ha, well I'm a cheapskate, so unless they are really abysmal I'll stick with the stock ones. I have no idea what those might be.

As for tunings, assuming I manage to actually make this purchase, I plan to stick with Gg,Cc,ee,aa. I've already relearned some of the old mando pieces on uke. The fourths vs fifths tunings between uke and mando do give slightly different chord voicings, but I'm getting too old to switch around all the time.

I think the 8 string will sound nice for this. On some pieces I even play with a thick jazz guitar pick, on the regular 4 string so far.
 
That's not mandolin tuning. You'd just have an eight string uke. The mandolin is double GDAE, but the Es are very high, so I don't think we could manage it.

I've been lookin' at Mando-Banjos. They're not horribly expensive, and the humidity won't crack and twist 'em. I'm more than sorta interested. Regular mandolins are mostly made of solid wood -- not plywood -- hence less safe and more trouble to own.

I really enjoy getting new instruments. When I come inta some money, i'm gonna fill my mansion with 'em. :eek:ld:
 
Down Up Dick said:
That's not mandolin tuning. You'd just have an eight string uke. The mandolin is double GDAE, but the Es are very high, so I don't think we could manage it.

I've been lookin' at Mando-Banjos. They're not horribly expensive, and the humidity won't crack and twist 'em. I'm more than sorta interested. Regular mandolins are mostly made of solid wood -- not plywood -- hence less safe and more trouble to own.

I really enjoy getting new instruments. When I come inta some money, i'm gonna fill my mansion with 'em. :eek:ld:
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Oh yes, I realize the tuning difference. I might be able to tune the 8 like a mando, but I won't bother.

I miss mandolin but just can't do it anymore.

I used to mando-banjo. It was older, needed some help, but I sold it on after making it a decent player because I just played it so rarely.
 
Congrats Dick, I'm struggling to learn the ukulele, play a little harmonica and usen to play piano, IMHO, you re a genious.... and a party by yourself...
 
Ya know, in the past, I would decide to play a new instrument, buy it, learn to play it, get lots of enjoyment playing it, and then go on to somethin' else.

But now, maybe because of my age or maybe because I'm trying to learn stringed instruments rather than wind instruments, my progress is going much slower. Remembering what I've learned is difficult, and lots of what I'm learning (such as chords) is very different from what I'm used to. Sometimes it's a real drag, and I wish I'd never started the change from winds. However, learning to play these instruments is part of the joy of having them.

Yes, it hit me today that struggling with the new info and way of doing things also makes the change interesting and challenging. If it wasn't such a grind, maybe I would have learned strings and gone on to someting else. I'm gonna try to change my attitude and learn to enjoy the struggle too.

This new position makes me feel a bit better about all the repetition and slow progress. Whadayathink? :eek:ld:
 
I always start out by learning to play familiar tunes, then try different ones that I like. Once I've got this far, I'll start looking at the technical side of things.

When I started with the uke, I had very basic knowledge of plucked stringed instruments, so I only picked melodies, one note at a time.

Now, I'm trying to string chords together with a bit of talk or singing along. What I want to achieve on the uke is to play enhanced melodies for myself, & do some songs for the Seasons, instead of just playing a melody, I have goals to achieve. :)

Likewise, with my harmonicas, I would like to get good enough to be able to play from sheet music. These are goals that I am setting myself, but I'm not rushing them, they'll happen sometime. ;)
 
From a brain science perspective, if I understand it correctly, it's more healthy to frequently learn new things than to stay in familiar waters. So exploring string instruments rather than sticking to wind instruments was a good call!
 
It seems to me that, if one is a ukulele player like me who only plays for his own amazement, it's a waste of time and effort to grind through learning session after learning session learning more and more chord shapes. The time would be more wisely spent learning something else or just enjoying what one already knows.

I usually sing in C and G (if it's a low tune), so why struggle through E or F with the dreaded Bb or bother with A? I can understand learning extra chords in a song that one especially likes, but why learn a bunch of chords just off hand only to forget them?

I think making music for oneself or a few friends should be fun. If you're an old gray soloist like me, what do you think? :eek:ld:
 
Down Up Dick said:
If you could start music all over, what instrument would you like to play?

I usta ponder this question to pass the time, and I came up usually with the banjo and the oboe. Well now I've begun a mighty struggle with two types of banjos - the Irish Tenor and the 5 string. My progress is pretty slow and mind twisting, but I am moving forward. I enjoy playing it--sometimes.

I really like the oboe. I'm listening to a oboe/violin concerto right now. Different types of oboes are played throughout the world. They are really pretty widespread. I guess it's too late for me. They look very difficult, one needs excellent breath control, and they're very expensive. I shoulda got one when I was young, but I didn't.

When people are young, they look forward to what they might do. When they're old they look back at what they coulda done. Probably very few think about and act on what they could do now--ahhh, well . . .
:eek:ld:
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I don't do that to myself. I never took the initiative to seriously learn to play a musical instrument until I got into my sixties, but no one was holding me back. So I didn't do it, and I can't change that now. No profit in looking back and wishing that I had done things differently.

Down Up Dick said:
It seems to me that, if one is a ukulele player like me who only plays for his own amazement, it's a waste of time and effort to grind through learning session after learning session learning more and more chord shapes. The time would be more wisely spent learning something else or just enjoying what one already knows.

I usually sing in C and G (if it's a low tune), so why struggle through E or F with the dreaded Bb or bother with A? I can understand learning extra chords in a song that one especially likes, but why learn a bunch of chords just off hand only to forget them?

I think making music for oneself or a few friends should be fun. If you're an old gray soloist like me, what do you think? :eek:ld:
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I agree with you on learning chords Dick. I don't spend time learning chords just for the sake of learning them. What is the purpose of doing that? Ever since I learned a C,F, and a G7, and started singing songs, most every new chord that I have learned has come up in a song that I wanted to play. I've learned plenty enough chords doing that, I don't have to learn more of them just to say that I can play them. I started out playing sixties and seventies folk songs. Songs from my lost four years. But lately I've had to expand my song lists because I can't just show up and play the same thing over and over. I've been finding some good songs that are popular right now. "House of Gold" by 21 Pilots and "Trouble Town" by Jake Bugg have found their way into my lists, and I've got a few more that I'm going to start working on.
 
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