Out of all the instruments, why do you play the one you do?

[behndy]

In the last few years, I've started getting more and more into synth because there's so many more tones that I can't get on a bass or guitar, no matter what effects I use.

Attention ILF heed this mans words... Quit trying to Synth Up Yo Guitbass and just buy a Synth... Nobody does that with Saxomaphones or Flutes or their Glockenspiels...

but i SUCK at keys. even worse than i am at bass.

i play bass 'cause i picked up a guitar at 13 when i hit 6'4"ish (and stopped growing), and it looked fucking STOOPID on me. then i noticed after noodling on bass that all the toanz i loved on Aphex and Squarepusher stuff was the lower end stuff. AND Tom Jenkinson plays bass with the electro stuff? and it sounds that awesome? AND the most interesting stuff in any of Metall Licka's stuff was Cliff Burton's?

yah. easy choice.

[behndy]

I play guitar because krunchkracklezipsizzle. I play bass because it sounds like the language of trees. I play drums because they sound like storms. Mandolins and banjos because I'm, well, southern. Lap steel because through fuzz, it sounds like that part of Sin City where the one gal screams "HEEEEEEE MAAAAADE MEEEEE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTCCHHHHH!!!!"

i was going to just put ".... i play lap steel HEE EAHAHHAH FHCHTNKAYGHH" and say I LOVE YOU but... every bit of that is just beautiful.

[Bassboar]

Cliff Burton, that is all.

[Gearmond]

in all honesty because I idolize the people who inspired me to play, and got me to the point where i think "i want to play like that" and also got me to the point where i think "i want to find my voice"

so those instruments would be: keyboard, bass, guitar, mandolin, and banjo (so far)

and in order: bill evans, scott lafaro, frank zappa, chris thile, and bela fleck

i still wanna learn sax and get better at making beats though


sidebar: as for making instruments sound like other instruments: hell the fuck yeah, thats some of the most fun parts about it. the key here is "like" not identical to. that realm between instruments is really REALLY interesting, and for a case in point:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vhebiuuLqU[/youtube]

and also the fact that fuzz pedals were invented for guitars to sound like saxophones, and look what happened there. ILF wouldn't exist if it weren't for trying to sound like other instruments.

[erector]

My parents encouraged me to pick up an instrument, and I didn't want to play piano/keys, so guitar it was.

After a solid few years of mostly playing only guitar, with the occasional stint behind the drumkit, I started meeting more musically adventurous people and kindof left guitar behind, in a sense. I still pick it up occasionally, but I haven't played it in a band context in at least a year, maybe more? I've taken a liking to saxophone, synth and unconventional sound sources (contact microphones, feedback loops, etc), and I spend most of my time playing in improv bands/groups/collectives/arrangements that either don't need guitar or have better guitarists than myself, but yeah, if my parents hadn't bought me a cheap beater no-brand hard-as-hell-to-play acoustic then I don't think I'd be where I am now.

If push comes to shove I think I'd have to say that reed instruments speak more to me than guitar; nothing beats that light-headed, kindof-out-of-breath feeling I get after getting a bit too hot too soon and going off on an extended overblowing alto solo in the middle of an improv session. And, as far as all my noise/etc stuff is concerned, I just could never get on with using guitar as a noise instrument (Otomo Yoshihide I ain't).

I do kindof feel like I have to start a band in which I play guitar, though. Maybe rekindle some of the love. I certainly hate having an expensive-ish guitar laying around that I only play for half an hour every fortnight...

[fungalattack]

Cliff Burton, that is all.

Pretty much this. I though cliff was so good. He was this weird dude that just rocked the fuck out of the bass with his fingers. Also, Steve Harris made me want to gallop the triplets away. I thought I could play in more bands because everyone has a guitarist and wants a bassist. That ended being a smart move at the time. I have since been focusing on guitar for the ERREKKKSQUEALLBOOmSHCHCHSHSHS, but whenever I pick up the bass I remember where I started and it feels all cozy and familiar and i like eeeet.

[excane]

... Nobody does that with Saxomaphones or Flutes or their Glockenspiels...

Well, maybe they should!

I DO

Sax was and will always be my first instrument - going on 23 years now since I started.

Once I got into bass, I still always plugged my sax into every FX ped I ever bought and wailed it through an amp or PA - ala Miles.

[jrmy]

... Nobody does that with Saxomaphones or Flutes or their Glockenspiels...

Well, maybe they should!

I DO

Sax was and will always be my first instrument - going on 23 years now since I started.

Once I got into bass, I still always plugged my sax into every FX ped I ever bought and wailed it through an amp or PA - ala Miles.

Ladies and gennlemun, ILF has A WINNER!!!!!!! HUZZAH!

Do you still have your saxomophone, Excane? I'd love to hear you write & record an fxed-out sax & fuzzbass & drums album (or just a song - whatevs). That, sir, would be badass.

[excane]

Not only do I still have it, I've been saving to *eventually* get a Selmer Mark VI

I will get around to recording some sax-fuzz-drum bukkake. ONE of these days

[jrmy]

Not only do I still have it, I've been saving to *eventually* get a Selmer Mark VI

I will get around to recording some sax-fuzz-drum bukkake. ONE of these days

YUSSSS!!!!!!!

[Doctor X]

Sax was and will always be my first instrument - going on 23 years now since I started. I still always plugged my sax into every FX ped I ever bought and wailed it through an amp or PA - ala Miles.

so the guy we all aspire to be, that we look up to, the Capo di tutti capi, Boss of Bosses, The Grand Emperor Wizard Of The Pedals .... all this time it turns out that he plays a saxophone through them!

[excane]

Sax was and will always be my first instrument - going on 23 years now since I started. I still always plugged my sax into every FX ped I ever bought and wailed it through an amp or PA - ala Miles.

so the guy we all aspire to be, that we look up to, the Capo di tutti capi, Boss of Bosses, The Grand Emperor Wizard Of The Pedals .... all this time it turns out that he plays a saxophone through them!

[Toonster]

I play bass because I was the worst guitarplayer in the band I was playing in when I was 13 years old.. Our bassplayer left, we didn't knew any bassplayers, so I had to do it

[Fuzzy Picklez]

I asked for drums when I was 11, and I got a guitar.
I always really liked music, and really just became consumed by the whole thing after a few years.
My only regret is not starting earlier.

[Eric!]

Ukulele. Cuz schlepping around anything bigger is a pain when you're trampin' 'round. I might be inheriting a djambe soon though. OOF.