Musicians: what's your experience with multiple instruments?

2026-07-17 12:14 UTC

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?

Replies (9)

@schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 2026-07-17 12:25

For me: Voice: First stop for learning any melody. Not bad for learning harmony, either, theoretically–I still suck at singing and recognizing harmony notes. Guitar: Rhythm and a bit of intuitive harmony. Most importantly it’s given me something to accompany and support my singing. Clarinet: Really makes you think about what notes you’re playing because the layout is not intuitive at all! Also forces you to think about phrasing because you have to breath. Also gives you a lot of options with the envelope I don’t have on guitar without a pedal. Piano: King of theory! Very easy to read and construct chords. Guitar: “flat 5? what is the fifth of this chord again? where is it? ok, so it’s this, and i move it down a fret, but now I have to move my pinky here, but shit, then I have to grab that with, what, my index finger? no, I need that there…” Piano: “boop! flat 5!” Wish list: drums, accordion, lap slide guitar, saw, fiddle. Off the list: most other single-note instruments; might mess about with more reed instruments like sax or some folk reeds, but I feel like I’d be investing a lot to duplicate what I can do on clarinet (expressive single note playing on wind instruments). To my apartment neighbors: I’m sorry. To the builders of this building: thank you for using so much brick.

Open ##3885005
@notsosure@sh.itjust.works 2026-07-17 12:39

N0 sticking to my kazoo

Open ##3885261
@TechieDamien@lemmy.ml 2026-07-17 12:55

I’ve found instruments typically come on groups, where learning an instrument in a group will help more with another. Eg learning guitar will help more with playing a mandolin than a piano. Instruments that typically use the same clef are closer together etc.

Open ##3885527
@braydan@lemmy.world 2026-07-17 15:15

Band in most countries.

Open ##3887930
@asdasd201@lemmygrad.ml 2026-07-17 15:52

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.

Open ##3888744
@CelloMike@lemmy.world 2026-07-17 16:01

I’ve played the cello for most of my life and I like to think I’m quite good at it, but it’s transferred very little to other instruments - I can play the fiddle but only if I hold it like a tiny cello, and can pretty much get a tune out of anything else with strings but only just No experience with blowy ones though so I wouldn’t know where to start there, and I wasn’t any good on the keys

Open ##3888932
@pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 2026-07-17 16:07

Main is guitar. Fiddle, its less effort to play notes quickly, but the technique is tricky. At first its like whack-a-mole: if I think about my bow, my left hand goes out of pitch. Think about the left hand, the bow gets wonky. It takes a long time to get things to be more automatic so you can concentrate on the tune, or more advanced techniques like vibrato. Also, the fiddle is really loud and its right there next to your ear. I use an earplug.

Open ##3889044
@thanksforreading@lemmy.ml 2026-07-17 18:08

I play every instrument terribly but good enough to have fun.

Open ##3891342
@trolololol@lemmy.world 2026-07-18 04:06

Well it’s not like it takes 6 months to jump from piano to violin to oboe.

Open ##3902144