Is one ever enough?

This is a response and spin-off of the "Just the way it is" Thread started by Rllink.

Down Up Dick said:

Playing just one or two instruments is a great idea and a good way to learn them, but I've had a problem with it.

Sometime after high school, I bought a used Cornet. I would play it for a while and then something would distract me, and I would stop playing. Then, later, I would pick it back up and play again. That went on for years. Then I added a flute to my hobby and, later, a French Horn. I also got interested in harmonicas, and the flute led me to Irish music, and, before I new knew it, I was playing every single day for at least an hour. And I still am.

I guess my point is, I wonder how many of us could play just one instrument (as a hobbyist) for years and years? I know a lot of the UU members are former guitar or banjo players. If they're still playing them, then they're doing what I do. Playing more than one instrument.

Well, it was just a thought. ld:

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I have bought and been given musical instruments for a long time. Some I play some I don't play at much at all. Some I give away or occasionally sell or trade. I bought a Bouzouki in Greece on my honeymoon. I fooled with it for a while then traded it for a Diatonic Concertina. John LaRose has the Bouzouki now. I don't know who has the concertina. Some instruments I will never play, like the the Oscar Schmidt Ukelin I got from Debbi McClatchy.*

As a "hobbiest" I have played the banjo for 35 years. The Cajun accordian off and on for 5 years the Ukelele for about three months. Besides the joy of learning and music this gives me playing different instruments is brain food.
A lot of us are temporally impaired. Rheumatiz, memory problems etc. Listening to music increases your brain function, grows new neural pathways. Playing music increases these things, as does singing. Playing and singing together increases brain function at even higher rates.

Like Down Up Dick I sing and/or play for hours every day. So how come I'm so dumb?


* TwentyTabby is looking for a Sunhearth fretless banjo. - They were made by Deb's husband Mike and his father Walt Martin. If anyone knows of an available one PM Twentytabby or me.

I think I need to admit to myself that my hobby is learning new instruments. (Just got a big laugh from the spouse.)

I started with piano, added guitar, then lap dulcimer, then tin whistle, then OT banjo, then recorder, then piano accordion, then uke. There's some hammered dulcimer, melodic autoharp, NA flute and celtic harp in there too. Tried psaltery (don't like the sound). Tried fiddle but broke my elbow right away and didn't pick it back up.

My daughters are on their way to being the same way. I started them on piano because it's much easier to learn other instruments when you know piano. With piano you learn both clefs, you have to coordinate both hands, you learn melody, harmony and chords. My older daughter who lives on her own has already acquired in 1 year an accordion, a piano, a cello, a banjo and more fiddles. She can play all of them. My younger one does piano, guitar, upright bass and bodhran. My spouse does piano, hammered dulcimer, mandolin, a bit of uke and is a fantastic singer.

I've also heard that playing music and learning new songs is good for the brain. But I do it because it's fun. It's also good for my mood. And playing with others is very very uplifting, plus a great way to make friends.

I've played guitar for 50 years, but as the years went by, I applied myself to it less and less, then 18 months ago I started playing ukulele and have applied myself more to them (7) in that time than in a good 20 years to my guitars (I have 4). I actually haven't touched my guitars. A couple of months ago I finally decided to take up bass after shrugging off my friends' years of suggesting I do, mainly because basses are so much smaller now, but I'm not applying myself to bass (4 already) as much as to the uke. As you can tell, I'm fully involved in IAS (instrument acquisition syndrome).

I play because it's fun, especially along with other people. And in my case, genetics should help me through the aging process, my dad lived to 93, and mom is 92, both having full faculties all the way.

I picked up my brother's Hofner arch top in the late fifties and bought my first guitar, a Goya dreadnought, in 1960. Since the Hofner imploded soon after, my brother and I could no longer play duets, so we played a bunch of Sonny & Brownie style blues duets with guitar and mouth harp. In those days a Marine Band was $2.50.
In the mid-sixties I bought a bowl back mandolin and learned some tunes on it.
When I discovered that I was gonna be a father, 39 years ago, I quit smoking and put the money I would spend on smokes into a tobacco can. Before long I had enough to buy my first 5 string banjo.
Since then I've acquired an octave mandolin, Appalachian dulcimer, English concertina, diatonic button accordion, a few Autoharps, a tenor banjo and my latest passion is the ukulele. I have accumulated a few of these.
Maggie, my darlin' lovely wife, has said, "The concept of enough has not gotten through to Jim." She owns two guitars, a hammered dulcimer, a bodhran and a ukulele and seems quite satisfied.

I suspect there's hope yet Jim, For Maggie that is. Susan aids and abets my UAS. Over the years she had a Sunhearth Banjo, and A Savoy Accordian made for me and presented me with a Melody Minor Banjo-Uke, (needs new tuners). I have replied in kind with various instruments. When I started on this current round of acquisition madness (five instruments in four months)! all she said was "Good. you should spend some money on yourself". Susan is a Fiber Arts Crafter with FAS, (fiber acquisition syndrome, motto: "Who dies with the most wins"); so I guess it evens out.

Haha, thanks for spinning off of my thread. So it this a IAS thread. Is one instrument enough? I played the trumpet in grade school for half a year, then I quit. So up until now that is the extent of my music experiences, and that wasn't a good one. I think that the ukulele is it for me. I don't have a desire to learn to play anything else. Besides, I want to concentrate on the uke and get as good as I can. I'm not sure that I have the time nor the inclination to tackle something else. So the answer is, that for me, one is enough.

The reason I play so many instruments is that I love to study music. Every time in the past that I took up a different instrument it eventually led me to another one, My flute led me to the Baroque Flute which led me to fifes and Irish flutes which led me to tinwistles and on and on. I also have some that I only play once in a while.

I have books on music history, theory, and a large pile of books for different instruments. I also have a large CD/DVD collection.

I play or study or listen or think about music all the time. What else can one do when he's way over the hill? ld:

Majored in music ed. and have had to teach strings, including cello, violin, viola and guitar. I also teach band and have taught everything from oboe to tuba. I was a trumpet major and also play keyboard, flute, and djembe fairly well. I have not played trumpet in almost 4 years. I retire in 2016 and will probably sell all my wind instruments and keep my djembe and keyboards.
I'll use the money to buy more ukuleles!!!!!

For me, the uke is plenty challenging enough, although I sometimes covet beautiful acoustic guitars. Saw a gorgeous Collings guitar the other day. Thankfully, it was $4K so I wasn't overly tempted. ;-)

One what? Hah hah. I only have one piano. I only have one fiddle. I only have one charango. I only have one Merlin. I only have one oboe. Ukes, guitars, mandolins, dulcimers, flutes, recorders, whistles, harmonicas, clarinets, ocarinas (very few of which I can play) - that's another story.

Down Up Dick said:

I play or study or listen or think about music all the time. What else can one do when he's way over the hill? ld:

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I'm the same way Dick but I am always singing too.

Over the hill? I think not. You are only as old as the uke you play! UAS forever!

This is the kind of thread I enjoy, one from enablers. I only play ukulele but I have 9 of them so. .........no........one is never enough.

Like Twentytabby my hobby is learning new instruments. I don't consider this bad - I consider learning a new instrument to be fun. I have learned to play to a reasonable degree of proficiency: clarinet (soprano, alto, bass and contrabass) , saxophone (soprano, alto, tenor baritone), guitar, ukulele, bass. To a somewhat lesser level but I can get by on: harmonica, flute, recorder. I don't play piano but can figure out chords on the piano. I played saxophone, with some clarinet and flute in a hobby jazz band for a number of years, and played saxophone and bass clarinet in some local college wind bands. I've messed around with trumpet and trombone but while I've developed a woodwind embouchure I don't have the desire to buckle down and build up the brass chops. Learning to play oboe and Bassoon are on my bucket list. I love learning a new instrument the way some people like to learn new languages.

A lot of woodwind skills are transferable from one to the other. If you can play clarinet, you can learn saxophone quickly. If you can play clarinet and saxophone, the embouchure is very different for flute but a lot of the skills carry over. Similarly with uke, guitar and bass. Playing guitar made me a better clarinet and sax player because it taught me about chords. Playing clarinet taught me to read music and taught me about scales. I'm sure I'd be better at any one of them if I concentrated on it, but the actual process of learning a completely new instrument is inherently fun.

I have a few hobbies I am passionate about, but music has been a lifetime love for me. I started taking piano lessons when I was 5. I took lessons for 11 years, with a few short breaks in there. When I was in 6th or 7th grade I started taking guitar lessons for about 5 years. I also played trombone in jr high & high school. Then I resumed guitar lessons as an adult for a while. I recently started playing uke. I'm focusing on that, for now. I would like to get back into guitar. I quit playing it when My daughter was a toddler because she would constantly try to hit at the strings when I was playing. She wanted me to share. Lol. The piano is much easier to share. About a month ago, my husband was playing one of his guitars and he found a bunch of her toys and some paper she had squeezed through the sound hole. Lol it was funny.

My daughter is 7. Uke is her 2nd instrument. She is in her 3rd year of piano lessons. She has also self taught herself to play harmonica. I am getting her a recorder for Christmas. I think she will love it. I also still have my old trombone available to her for whenever she gets curious.

Instrument storage has been an issue for a while. Lol but it's worth it.

IamNoMan, You are a lucky man to own a Savoy accordion.

My friend Bernie Martin once phoned Mark Savoy to order an accordion. During the conversation Mark said, "Why don't you come down to Eunice and stay at my place for a while so we can be sure to make you one you want. Bernie, who was not tied down to a job other than making music said, "Sure," and came back with some great stories and a beautiful Savoy accordion. Bernie passed away a few years ago, but his accordion is still making music in the group BobCajon.

My KoAloha Opio is incredible, and normally would be all I ever want to play.

But, I need one that can take on some crappy environmental conditions, so my Martin OXK fits that requirement. So, 2 are definitely needed.

And... I also play with toddler grandkids, and plastic ukuleles are the way to go. So, I need three more to play with them, so that brings me to 5.

Some songs just sound better with a plinky ukulele, so my Harmony brings me up to 6. And, I wanted a solid wood vintage with that incredible lightweight feel, so the Silvertone gets me to 7 ukuleles.

Who could pass up a plywood camp uke with a cowboy and rearing horse decal? Well, I couldn't, so that is 8. And, my sister-in-law's name really is Kay, so when a second hand shop had a Kay ukulele, I had to get one.

And, sometimes a little deeper tone is needed instead of all the aforementioned sopranos, so my concert luna with the lovely inlays is the perfect choice.

So, 10 is all that is really needed.

...For now....

I started on piano when I was 5. After two years of that we moved and I stared on violin. I played violin for 6 years. In 5th grade I joined the school band and started on saxophone. I still play saxophone to this day. In high school I needed an extra elective so I learned clarinet. I played saxophone and some clarinet in college to pay for my degree in science. Currently I own a 1948 Selmer Super Balance Action Alto Sax, a 1948 Martin Comitee Tenor Sax, an Akai Electronic Wind Instrument with a Roland XV2020 sound module, a violin, piano, and I am getting a Uke for Christmas. Can't wait for the fun to begin.

" On the day of Christmas My true love gave to me a red cedar ukulele". Yeah Jim I am a lucky man. My D Savoy was made from the Redbud in Marks yard. Have you seen The Savoy Band since the kids joined in? Laissez Bon Temps Roulet.

I found that knowledge I gained playing Diatonic instruments greatly helped me play other types of diatonic instruments at least to a limited degree. Similarly Playing one kind of stringed instrument gave a boost for other stringed instruments.

D3B7: Little ones can be a problem with delicate instruments. I am a gentle soul. I allow supervised access to my instruments. One time my nephew Geoff started "hammering" on my Reiter Banjo. My reaction was immediate and extremely loud. Scared the s** out of the poor kid, not what he expected from Uncle Tommy.

Ukulele Eddie said:

For me, the uke is plenty challenging enough, although I sometimes covet beautiful acoustic guitars. Saw a gorgeous Collings guitar the other day. Thankfully, it was $4K so I wasn't overly tempted. ;-)

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I was thinking about playing the guitar when I decided to play the ukulele instead, as my friend was playing the guitar, and is still, as far as I know. But I almost bought a guitar instead, and I do look at them when I'm in the store. Under the circumstances, the reason I went with the uke instead are still valid, and while I think that guitars are fun and interesting, I don't think that I will go there.

I agree with you Rllink. I love the guitar but never had any interest in learning to play it. For one thing I have 5 fingers per, the guitar has six strings. Never made sense to me.