who here is a musician?

I used to play. High school Concert & jazz band EE flat tuba and bass trombone. Played drums outside of school in a few bands on and off including a Black Sabbath cover band ( Ozzy stuff ). Went to jam sessions and sat in wherever with whomever. Actually got paid to fill in for a week of gigs with a Sryra Gyra type fusion band one summer and drank it all away but it was a blast. I`m a lousy guitar player and do a lot of twiddling. Never had the patience to sit down and do anything intelligent, same with the piano. Had the chance to jam with Jeff Healey once (On drums), before he was known. I`ll pick up any musical instrument and fool around and experiment. The most interesting was a pipe organ in a church in Holland on our band trip to the Tulip Time International Music Festival In Katwig aan Zee in`78. It had rows and rows of keys and we were each allowed to try it out. Freaky.

Funny that I`ve never really met any musicians who played prog except for one guy who was a Carl Palmer fanatic. He was pretty good but all the guy wanted to do is become another Carl Palmer. Most serious musicians are more interested in more pure forms of jazz or classical I`ve found.

Interesting story perhaps.  In 1978 my Mom gave a Kansas ticket to one of my brother's friends.  It was my first concert.  He repaid her by giving her one of his beat up old acoustics.  No one else in the house really played guitar, though my brother was an aspiring drummer.  I started to pick it up and try to play along with stuff I was listening to. 

When i work with others, we experiment and try to cook up some good ideas. When i'm alone, I generally hear something in my head and try to bring it 'to the surface'. Sometimes I take a very mathematical approach by repeating intervals like fourths and fifths. Try repeating a 'whole-plus-half' interval. It makes for the evilest scale there is. Try it!

it seems there are plenty of good musical people out there. Good! It's our responsibility to try our best to keep prog alive! I know the public doesn't readily accept prog, but we'll disguise it....heh heh heh. Today I worked out the 6 modes of the blues scale and later i'm gonna study some wierd jazz theory charts, awesome. I must learn and make use of every scale in existence...

I've played the clarinet for 9 years. Electric Bass for 5. Upright Bass for 2. Bari Sax for 2. Alto sax for 2. and Percussion for 3.

I am 17 now. I am a self trained guitar , keyboard and piano player. Also I record music in my bedroom.

And my musicianmanship is the tracks I make for 3rd - 4th grade Cinema - TV students. My cousin is in that school , lucky huh? And I can earn some money , I spend it to records , equipment etc. usually.

Finally I was playing in a band 1 - 2 years ago. Small gigs etc. Very little moneys but who cares :D

And I was wanting to be musician when I was 8 and I still do.

Atay

Been playing drums for seven years now. Self-taught.

Edited by Bj-1 - June 17 2007 at 09:33

I'm also a self taught bassist. Been playing for about a year and a bit. Like Phileas I don't strictly practice and just play when I feel like playing. I've been told that if I played more and actually practiced I would be a better bassist.

I'm also around a grade 1 on piano. I started learning to play last November. And I will be learning to play the pipe organ soon. 

I too am a drummer, though I can arpeggiate (sp?) chords on a keyboard or piano too.  I love styles that incorporate both rock and jazz rhythms into the mix - I guess that's what originally attracted me to prog in the early- to mid-70s as a teenager.  Even though I have been playing off-and-on for 33 years, I do not play regularly and I do not get to practice very often at all.  I also enjoy hand-drums, especially the congas, but I am really a novice at that compared to the trap set...

Well,I was grade 5 junior level at 9 years of age (1969) but gave it up to watch TV.

I then started playing guitar at 13 (1973) and played in numerous bands up until 1995, some successful and some not.

Edited by Man Erg - June 17 2007 at 05:16