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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3274 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for April 28, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I play the violin in a university-affiliated community (amateur only) orchestra and we just had a concert that went, in my opinion, fairly well.

What instruments do other people here play? Does anyone else play in groups just for fun?

I played viola for 7 years in grade school, up until I graduated high school. I was naturally good enough at it to land ~second chair +/- 1 up until it got fairly competitive in later high school, and if I'd actually applied myself at all I probably could've played in the competitive auditioned extracurricular orchestras. Alas I am chronically lazy.

I miss it sometimes, mostly for the type of people it surrounded me with.

Piano, which I'm shit at. I don't get the opportunity to practice much, since I live with other people. When I can it's still fun to improvise over various music theory ideas.

I played in bands back in high school and college, mostly rhythm guitar. I enjoyed it, but was never much cop (compared to other musicians). I didn't love it enough to switch to left hand playing after injuring my fretting hand.

French horn, until I got out of the school-supported grads. I was pretty good; maybe good enough to go pro if I really buckled down for the missing years, but I couldn't risk turning out to be mediocre and pulled cable instead. Such is life.

I also remember making the decision in high school that it would never be more than a hobby, but committed to making it a hobby I would be competent enough at to enjoy. Having gotten over the biggest learning curve already was such a game changer, but could only have happened by starting young. It's made me realize how early focus on a couple of skills can pay big dividends later in life.

I'm a bass player mainly but I've also played drums in a bad cover band.

Congrats on the show! (er, concert? lol). It feels kind of great, doesn't it?

Mainly violin, though I haven’t even touched that for a long time.

I prefer playing in chamber music environments — used to do a piano trio in high school — but opportunities for these are difficult to find nowadays with friends if I just want to do it for fun…

I play piano/keyboard casually. Mostly pop songs to entertain myself. They are simple and satisfying to play, and easy to adapt and improv on. And on the rare occasion I have an audience, a pop song will get more of a reaction than say Rachmaninoff, and takes 1% of the effort to learn and play.

Surely 1% is overselling the effort here to learn a pop song on piano when a Rachmaninov piece can take months to learn, even if we’re not talking about rach 3!

Yes true. My sense of magnitude is not fully calibrated

I play the guitar off and on. I'm not amazing at it, and I don't practice nearly enough, but I enjoy it a lot. It's fun to just play sometimes even if I'm constantly making mistakes and even though I don't have the chops any more to play with others.

I have zero musical aptitude. I tried various inexpensive instruments (recorder, harmonica), and I could never reliably produce the right note. As in, I can memorize and reproduce the notation, I can play "GGGD EED", but not to go from the sounds I can imagine in my head to either the notation or strait to the physical actions required to play them.

Violin was my first instrument (when I was 4), but I rarely play anymore. I took up the piano when I was 10 and still play sometimes. I took up the guitar when I was 15 and that's my main axe these days, I play in a band and also have a metal solo project. I can technically play bass guitar but I wouldn't really call myself a bassist.

Back in school I played trumpet. Kept it up through a couple years of college marching band. It’s a terrible instrument for casual play, though.

I have very basic banjo skills. It’s a lot of fun and I would recommend it.

Yeah, trumpet and other brass instruments are miserable because you lose your emboucher without continual upkeep. After enough time off, you physically can't play the notes, even if you remember how. Oh, and the noise. There are harmon mutes for that though.

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