I’ve dabbled with multiple instruments in my life

off topic celebration of playing by ear

but I’ve been acoustically crippled with a bad ear. About 2 years ago, I started working on playing by ear and, holy shit, it totally changed the game! Before, I had to laboriously read music and look up fingerings. Now, I know what it’s supposed to sound like and I keep pushing buttons (clarinet) until I get it right because I know what it’s supposed to sound like, and now I know if I want to flat that position it’s this button, and to sharp that note, it’s this button, etc. Quite painless and not laborious–even fun!

It seems crazy to me someone would learn all the fundamentals of music and not at least be able to play rudimentarily another instrument. I mean, why not? You already understand music, you just have to figure out the instrument, which is a pretty small investment relative to musicianship, and opens up a lot more possibilities.

What have you learned from your different instruments?

  • asdasd201@lemmygrad.ml
    1·
    5 hours ago

    Here’s my arsenal:

    • Guitar: I started my journey with acoustic guitar and learned music theory using that. After that I learned to use electric guitar. I also learned how to create tones using guitar gears (pickups, preamps, pedals, etc. Tone wood doesn’t matter for electric guitar fite me!!)
    • Bass: Even though both electric and bass guitars are fundamentally similar, bass has a different place in music. My favorite instrument to play is bass because it gives me more freedom of expression in songs.
    • Drums: Drums are the best way to hammer down the rhythm to your bones. It’s very fun to play especially in metal music, but it’s hard to access to because it’s pretty expensive. I sometimes rent a kit in practice studios to play the real deal.
    • Vocals: I don’t think my singing voice is good, but I can do brutal vocals for a long time. It taught me how to protect my larynx and utilize my diaphragm properly.