What's you biggest achievement on an instrument?

Well, I played bass, keyboards and backing vocals on a single which actually got released and reviewed in Melody Maker. I was impressed with my keyboard playing but sadly it sold about 3 copies.
I've also appeared on Cyprus television as the bass player in a backing band to a Cypriot singer called Theo. Gosh, I bet you're all impressed!

There was one gig I did with a thrash metal band I was in - we were supporting a punk band, and the lead guitarist/singer had a Metallica sticker on his guitar.

They had never heard us before - it was a blind date.

They vanished into the bar 30 seconds into our soundcheck - we did "Seek and Destroy". I think they thought we were taking the wossname.

Anyway, we did the gig - and the whole set was a blinder. It just felt great onstage - the chemistry was sparking away between the band members, and the audience who were mainly there to see the punk band were getting up onto the tables and jumping off them into a swirling mosh pit.

Not bad for a tiny basement pub!

And I personally think that's a greater achievement than when I finally passed my teaching diploma examination on the piano.
    

Edited by Certif1ed - June 10 2006 at 12:31

I played three gigs with a Russian Metal band (I play guitar.) Nothing fancy, but it felt pretty great, and I was quite proud of myself.

I play classical/Spanish guitar, I have only had half a year lessons when I was 20 and 10 starting lessons for flamenco a few years ago. Two years ago I bought a book with Steve Howe acoustic guitar tablature works like Mood For A Day and I got the Steve Hackett Horizons tablature from a friend. It was fun to do, eventually I could play the first part of Mood For A Day and the entire Horizons but I had to work hard on it and I have to admit that when I don't study this pieces every week, I (tend) forget how to play the entire work  . Now I am working on the classical guitar intro from Blood On The Rooftops (it's so beuatiful) but sometimes when I go to bed it remains in my head ... ...

Edited by erik neuteboom - June 11 2006 at 05:53

Some years ago I was the lead guitar player in a Rolling Stones cover band. We played in a small European rock festival in France. Everybody said that our performance of Midnight Rambler was great, and the singer of a German band told me "You're very first class playing slide guitar". I felt very proud.

I made it through Regional orchestra and then into All-Statethis past year, which is  bassically the top 10 classical high school bassists in the state, being a sophomore and having taken lessons for less than 6 months. That made me feel pretty good about myself.

As far as rock shows, last year's battle of the bands in my town was goddamn awesome. We absolutely rocked the show, playing infront of a packed auditorium of around 500 of my insane and drunken peers. It was a blast.

And recently, me and a few of my buddies threw together a band and a few covers of some older songs to play in our school's annual Woodstock festival. We were sick of hearing the sh*tty bands play there every year. Basically, we went on right after this goddamned horrific band that thinks their the absolute sh*t and every one hates had just played a lousy set. We got up and broke into "Foxy Lady", and the crowd of about 300 that was packed in the gym got on their feet and started dancing like crazy. The energy was just nuts. We played for about half an hour, jamming our asses off and walking through the crowd, rocking out and trading fours. We absolutely disgraced that sh*thole band that played before us. It was fantastic.

As far as specific things on my instrument, I can play The Dragonetti Concerto on upright bass, which is no simple feat. On electric, I can do pretty much all of Stu Hamm's tapping stuff, Flea's slapping, Jaco Pastorius' grooving, and Victor Wooten's melodies.

Sorry, that's incredibly cocky for me to say. It's the last time I'll speak of it, I promise. I'll get you guys some recordings of myself one of these days.

Having been playing electric guitar for five months, i was quite surpirsied at how quickly i could make riffs and melodies, perhaps more fascinating to me was my finger movement around the neck, i made a few recordings for a friends who has been playing guitar for three years and was stunned at the fluidity of the playing, but i am no Alex Lifeson.