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mac1 · 23rd April 2004, 02:06 AM

I have tryed a few things over the years. I started to read music and play the violin at the age of five, but gave up when I got to that rebellious age of 10. LOL! I really hated the violin and was never much good at it.

I had lessons of the recorder, but like Morning Star points out, so did most people. In my preteen years I also tryed my hand at the penny whistle, the harmonica and the jaws harp all to little avail.

Then at the age of about 11 or 12 I took up guitar lessons from a guy with the amazingly rock birthname of "Fintan Roach". About 8 or 9 months later he managed to score a recoding contract and gave up teaching, though I haven't heard anything about him in the last decade. I then had a huge break from playing music, untill the summer of 1998 in fact.

I was staying in Ireland and one of my cousins had just started learning the guitar, so I picked it up and to my amazement it quickly came back to me. My dad'd been playing guitar his whole life so when I got back to england I borrowed an electric and started to teach myself, 6 years later and I haven't looked back.

Many a school lesson were bunked off for a good old blues jam session. Over the years I have jammed with a untold amount of people who have assumed that we are going to form a band, but I have never really been in anything serious, never had any gigs or the like. A lot of people I have played with have had delusions of grandeur, as soon as someone starts suggesting we could play wembley stadium, I generally vanish. To be honest I mostly play for fun, I am not really that good, but can hold my own in a nice jam session, which is all I generally want to do.

Got a jam session arranged for next friday so that should be good as its been ages since we had a proper one with a bassist and drummer.

I play a little bit of bass, but mostly only when I find a bass riff I love. I made a point of learning a few Tool songs on the bass, most notably Schism and The Grudge because I love the bass on those tunes.

I cant play percusion at all, I just dont have the dexterity for complex rythms, watching me try to keep 4/4 on the bassdrum whilst doing triplets with my hands is a hilarious sight!

I have messed about with a few other stringed instruments, various kinds of guitar as well as the Banjo and the Mandolin.

In terms of genres of music, I have played everything you can possibly play on a guitar over the years. I started off with rock blues and classic blues stuff, a bit of prog, a bit of jazz, grunge, metal, various rock songs, even taught myself flamenco guitar at one stage.

The three tunes I like to play in guitar shops are Eugene's Trick Bag by Steve Vai (because it looks impressive), Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield (really freeky played with my hair over my eyes sitting rocking in a dark corner) and a guitar rendition of the theme to the NES game Super Mario Bros. (that always gets a giggle from onlookers).

23rd April 2004, 02:06 AM	#8 (permalink)
mac1 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: UK: ENGLAND: Posts: 567	Re: What can you play? I have tryed a few things over the years. I started to read music and play the violin at the age of five, but gave up when I got to that rebellious age of 10. LOL! I really hated the violin and was never much good at it. I had lessons of the recorder, but like Morning Star points out, so did most people. In my preteen years I also tryed my hand at the penny whistle, the harmonica and the jaws harp all to little avail. Then at the age of about 11 or 12 I took up guitar lessons from a guy with the amazingly rock birthname of "Fintan Roach". About 8 or 9 months later he managed to score a recoding contract and gave up teaching, though I haven't heard anything about him in the last decade. I then had a huge break from playing music, untill the summer of 1998 in fact. I was staying in Ireland and one of my cousins had just started learning the guitar, so I picked it up and to my amazement it quickly came back to me. My dad'd been playing guitar his whole life so when I got back to england I borrowed an electric and started to teach myself, 6 years later and I haven't looked back. Many a school lesson were bunked off for a good old blues jam session. Over the years I have jammed with a untold amount of people who have assumed that we are going to form a band, but I have never really been in anything serious, never had any gigs or the like. A lot of people I have played with have had delusions of grandeur, as soon as someone starts suggesting we could play wembley stadium, I generally vanish. To be honest I mostly play for fun, I am not really that good, but can hold my own in a nice jam session, which is all I generally want to do. Got a jam session arranged for next friday so that should be good as its been ages since we had a proper one with a bassist and drummer. I play a little bit of bass, but mostly only when I find a bass riff I love. I made a point of learning a few Tool songs on the bass, most notably Schism and The Grudge because I love the bass on those tunes. I cant play percusion at all, I just dont have the dexterity for complex rythms, watching me try to keep 4/4 on the bassdrum whilst doing triplets with my hands is a hilarious sight! I have messed about with a few other stringed instruments, various kinds of guitar as well as the Banjo and the Mandolin. In terms of genres of music, I have played everything you can possibly play on a guitar over the years. I started off with rock blues and classic blues stuff, a bit of prog, a bit of jazz, grunge, metal, various rock songs, even taught myself flamenco guitar at one stage. The three tunes I like to play in guitar shops are Eugene's Trick Bag by Steve Vai (because it looks impressive), Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield (really freeky played with my hair over my eyes sitting rocking in a dark corner) and a guitar rendition of the theme to the NES game Super Mario Bros. (that always gets a giggle from onlookers).