Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with musicalinstrument

How do I choose a clarinet to buy?

lockestockbarrel — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:40:15 -0800

I want to learn to play the clarinet. How do I choose a clarinet to buy? I have no experience with wind instruments (I'm 26). While I've got no aspirations of becoming a jazz legend, I want a clarinet with reasonably good sound quality. Are more expensive ones generally easier to play? Are used as good as new, or do I have to worry about identifying and replacing worn out parts? What other supplies will I need right off the bat? Also, I live in Mexico so I think I will have to buy online and not try it out beforehand.

While my banjo mandolin gently weeps

Kerasia — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:03:24 -0800

I have just been gifted a beloved and much missed late relative's 8-string banjo mandolin. The relative bought the instrument (used) in the early-mid 1970s and died soon after. Despite googling the universe I cannot find out anything about the instrument or maker. On the head it says "Wayne" in a horizontal scroll and then vertically underneath, "Dixie". I'd love to know more about the instrument. Anyone heard of Wayne Dixie banjo mandolins?

How do I avoid annoying the neighbors while I practice a musical instrument?

realpseudonym — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 02:00:54 -0800

How do I avoid annoying the neighbors while I practice a musical instrument? I've decided that I want to take up a musical instrument as an adult who lives in an apartment and will presumably be living in a similar higher density arrangement for probably many years. How do I manage to not annoy the neighbors?

As a child playing an instrument, I lived in a suburban home, so bothering the neighbors was not a problem.

I would most likely be practicing in the later part of the evening after work, and if I were a neighbor, I think this would be the time I would be most irritated by.

Rent a Guitar in D.C., is it possible?

thankyoumuchly — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:22:19 -0800

I need to rent a Guitar (acousitc or electric) in Washington D.C., is it possible? I'm in D.C. for business and have been experiencing severe withdraw from my guitars, which I had to leave at home in another state. Is there any place I can rent a guitar (acoustic or electric)?

I'm staying in a hotel by the White House but can travel on the Metro Subway fairly easily in order to pick up the rental guitar. TIA!

-Hendrix

Weight Lifter Musical Instrument Stand

KRS — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:13:05 -0800

Searching for Weight Lifter Music Instrument Stand There's a stand for heavy musical instruments (e.g., tuba) called the Weight Lifter. Unfortunately, it's a needle in the haystack of thousands of Google hits on lifting weights. Can someone with better Google Fu give me a site?

Help me become an autoharpy

quatsch — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:45:08 -0800

I recently purchased a used autoharp, and it's been languishing in a corner as I try to figure out how to get started with it. My first stumbling block is the question of tuning. I've never been particularly good at tuning, and am not sure if I need specialized tools. Is it better to give it a go by myself, or to take it into a shop and have it tuned (at least the first time)? If a shop is the way to go, does anyone have any recommendations for places in NYC? Any other tips for beginners would be greatly appreciated, as well.

Help find antique dealer in SoCal for vintage guitar

InfidelZombie — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:56:27 -0800

Help me find an antique dealer/auction house in the Southern California area that specializes in vintage musical instruments and/or country music memorabilia. My mom had tickets to the Antiques Roadshow taping in Palm Springs last weekend, so I had her take along my grandma’s National steel guitar. The guitar once belonged to Stuart Hamblen, and has been in our family since my great-grandpa bought it in a pawn shop in the 30’s. It’s a beautiful guitar, lots of engraving and inlay work, but it’s gotten a little beat up over the years as a plaything for kids and grandkids. I never thought it would be worth a lot of money, but the appraisal came in at $25-$35K so I think I’d like to sell it and pay off some bills.

Does anyone here have experience with antique dealers or auction houses specializing in this kind of instrument, preferably in the greater L.A. area? I’d also appreciate any advice you could give on what to expect with this type of sale: what’s the normal process, what kind of fees might I expect to pay, how much tax will I be liable for, etc.

Wind Instrument Try-Before-Buy?

The Confessor — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:20:17 -0800

Is it reasonable to expect to be able to try a wind instrument before buying it? I just bought a 'Gill' Wooden Sopranino recorder (Baroque fingering, of course) from a store in Boston without doing so, and got back to find that the lowest G and B notes (eq. to D and F# on C-tuned instruments) are so out of tune as to be unusable. I'll try to request a replacement since it was a $40 investment, but since I'm looking to purchase other such instruments in the future I'd like to know more about the ground rules.

How long does it take to learn the guitar?

CarlRossi — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:44:26 -0800

How long does it take to learn the guitar? I'm toying with learning to play guitar. I understand there's work involved and I'm willing to do it, but I'm curious how long it would take the average person (me) to reach a point where I'll be good enough that I won't piss off other people in the house?

David Bowie

gnutron — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:57:42 -0800

Bass player. Long time pizzicato, first time arco. What do I need to know about my bow, specifically regarding rosin? I have played bass for 15+ years, with almost no formal teaching - mostly electric bass guitar.

A few months ago, I invested in an electric upright bass - which is really freakin' awesome, and has added a new dimension to my playing style.

In the spirit of exploration, I picked up an inexpensive bass bow on ebay - although I am sorely lacking some practical/technical knowledge on how to use it.

So my main question...do I *need* to rosin the bow? Will the rosin leave gunky residue on my bass strings? Any other tips or techniques would be greatly appreciated.

I'm buying a drum set for the first time. What advice would you offer me?

Afroblanco — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:01:11 -0800

AskMe Musicians - I'm buying a drum set for the first time. What advice would you offer me? Hey all,

I've been playing hand drums for the last 11 years, and a few months ago I decided to make the switch to playing a full drum kit. I've been practicing on a friend's set for the past five months, and am finally ready to buy my own. However, I don't really know where to begin!

I'm looking for a pretty basic kit - snare, bass, tom-tom, floor tom, big crash, small crash, hi-hat, ride, and throne. I don't need anything fancy, but I do want it to be durable and high-quality. Even though I'm a beginner, I don't want to buy another kit any time soon.

Although I would appreciate any help that you have to offer, a few big questions stick out in my mind :

1) How much should I spend, really? Some kits are ridiculously expensive, some cheap. How much should I expect to spend for a decent kit?

2) Does it make sense to buy a full kit at once, or does it make more sense to buy the kit piece-by-piece? I don't really know much about drum kits, so I'm a little hesitant to put it together myself.

3) What brands are good for the various pieces of a drum kit? Are there any particular models that you would recommend? Any that you would stay away from? I've noticed that some of the name brands have subsidiary "discount brands" - should I avoid these?

4) Where should I buy it? I live in NYC, and if I bought it locally I'd have to pay NYC sales tax, which is almost 9%. Plus, everything here is ridiculously overpriced. Are there local stores that would give me a good deal? What about online? Will I lose on shipping any gains that I would otherwise make from buying online?

5) This is more of a general question - what should I know about the various pieces of a kit before making this investment? As I said, I don't know much about drum kits, so I wouldn't know, say, the difference in sound between one type of crash cymbal and another. Are there any websites that you would recommend for this type information?

Thanks for the help.

Trumpet-playing in the century of the Interwebs

bobot — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:41:06 -0800

I haven't played trumpet since I was a senior in high school in 1994. Recently, I picked up a good used student horn on eBay and am excited to start practicing again. Trumpet players of the green, I ask you- what are your favorite websites? I've done some rudimentary googling, but haven't found anything that exciting. I know there have to be some fabulous resources out there, and I bet that people playing the horn now frequent some of them. If you're one of those people, what advice do you have?

Also, if you're in the same boat (or were), I'd love to hear your advice on picking up an instrument after a long time away. It was incredibly gratifying to unpack the horn and play a scale right off the bat, but I also know I'll need a lot of work to develop. That's why I want to find some good resources online.

Also also, since I can't sign up for high school concert band again, what are the opportunities for adults to play in public? Again, I'm not so much looking for a list (I can find that out myself) but I'm more interested in hearing from folks who are actually doing it.

Experience with a Boss DR-5 sound module?

sleepy pete — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:29:25 -0800

Does anyone have experience with a Boss DR-5 sound module? Are there other sound modules worth checking out that are in the same price range/usability/portability scale? I've used a DR-5 before and liked it, but it's been years. I want something that we can use live either as a real time instrument or as a backing instrument (pre-recorded parts to play over with live instruments and in conjunction with an older sampler--usually for atmospheric sounds/layers). I want something that I can use as a drum machine and a sound module. I think that covers "wants". As for "don't wants," I don't want to have to deal with a laptop live because of the nature of the music we play, which is why I'm looking at sound modules.

Is the DR-5 easy to use in a live situation? Is it easy to move between sound patches and the songs in memory? Are there any problems with recording onto a computer or tape with a DR-5? How is the sound quality? Are there memory problems with the system?

For what it's worth, I also like the Roland MC-307, but they're a little harder to find at the moment. How are the 303s?

I should also add that I'm not necessarily looking for vintage instruments, but I think it's closer to the price range I'm looking at than newer models.

Thanks for your help.

da dum dum tsssshhh

Neonshock — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:09:23 -0800

I wanna learn the drums... ...but I have a few questions before I embark.

a) How loud actually is it if I'm gonna practice in my house, I realise thats a pretty open question...but my parents are freaking out, I never have seen drums as extremely loud....so any annecdotes will be fine. And are practice pads any good?

b) what will I need, or what brand will I need, or what should I look for in buying my first drum set, any dvds/books that are helpful? or tips you have? how much will I expect to spend on getting myself set?

c) how hard is it to store drums?

Anything else about learning the drums would be helpful also.

Thanks.

Would this proposed guitar modification work?

primer_dimer — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:40:37 -0800

Crazy idea for a modified guitar - has this been done? is it feasible? Imagine you took a normal steel-string acoustic guitar. On the fretboard, in each of the spaces between the frets (where you sometimes get dots or other types of inlay) you inlay a thin bit of metal, parallel to the frets but flush with the surface of the fretboard, stretching the width of the fretboard. These bits of metal are actually powerful electromagnets (so they have some arrangement of coils inside). Therefore, when you press the string down (in between the 2nd and 3rd frets, for example), assuming the magnets are turned on, the string "sticks" to the fretboard (held by the magnet). So if you were to take your fretting hand away and pluck that string, it would be 3 semitones higher than the open string. To release the string, you just turn off the electromagent with a footswitch or something. It's like having a capo that you can set individually for each string. Using a guitar like this you could play stuff that wouldn't be possible on a normal guitar - for instance, you could fret a C chord (which would then stay effectively "pressed down") and then play a melody much higher up the neck while continuing to play the chord using the lower strings. I'm imagining a fingerstyle type of playing here.

Has anyone made such a guitar? Is it technically impossible?

Kora (musical instrument) advice please.

takeyourmedicine — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:35:40 -0800

Can anyone who has experience learning, buying or listening to a Kora (musical instrument) please share it? I've been very interested the music of the African musician Toumani Diabete lately and have been searching for a musical instrument to learn for a while. So any advice, experience or knowledge you can impart would be very useful, regarding learning or buying especially. (For those not in the know, a kora sounds like this)

Help me identify and hear a musical instrument I saw on TV about 20 years ago.

rdauphin — Thu, 24 May 2007 08:38:57 -0800

Singer Linda Ronstadt appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson years ago (20 or more?). She sang a song that was accompanied by a strange looking instrument. My faulty memory bank says it looked like a ceramic pot turning on a horizontal rotisserie! Can you help me identify it...show me a picture...let me hear it?

Help my baby not get broke! Delicate musical instrument as airline baggage.

allterrainbrain — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 16:46:42 -0800

The great musical-instrument-on-plane paradox. How do you prepare (what case[s] do you buy and what strategies do you develop) when you need to travel on many different kinds/scales of airlines, with a delicate wooden instrument that MAY or MAY NOT be allowed as carry-on baggage (depending on circumstance, how full the plane is, and how much or little the inspectors care that it looks large, solid and "middle eastern")? I've found a huge range of conflicting advice about transporting what I'll call "gray-area" instruments by plane (i.e., instruments that can *sometimes* be carry-on, if you're lucky and friendly/convincing, because they exceed carry-on size in length but not in perceived 'bulk' -- examples would be electric guitars, saxophones, or small dulcimers).

My instrument is a santur, which is like a delicate hammered dulcimer, but mine has the added funtime bonus of "looking middle eastern" based on the shapes used in its decorations (although I look white-young-female and am a U.S. citizen, so I don't imagine that will be an issue as long as I'm next to it). It's very tightly strung so changes in temperature and pressure are not good for it (I'm also getting conflicting info re. baggage). In other words, I REALLY want to carry it on if at all possible. It's 36 inches long, 4" tall including its strings, 14" wide, and about 10 lbs.

Mailing it is not an option because I'll be taking it on many flights of many kinds/scales -- sometimes performing with it in different places in rapid succession. Buying it a seat is almost never an option since these are mostly self-funded & mostly very-low-budget travels.

The basic catch-22: because you can't count on being allowed to carry on, you have to be prepared to check -- but being prepared with a rectangular ATA/flight case makes it basically impossible that you'll be able to carry on (since the case is too big and heavy), and being prepared with anything less makes it very possible that you'll have instrument damage (since non-ATA cases are routinely damaged when checked as baggage... although MUCH less often if you gate check).

The most-recommended solution I've found so far would be ordering a fitted internal-fiberglass case from Colorado Cases. I would try to touch one of these before ordering one, since they're a BIG investment on my scale.

Opinions (especially about Colorado Cases??) or experiences? Thanks very much for any input!

Hack guitarist wants to become less of a hack.

bondcliff — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 09:16:22 -0800

What little things separate a hack guitarist from a decent one and how does one make the transition? When I see an amature guitarist play, the ones who stand out are the ones who add little bass runs in between chords or they might throw in a little lick here and there. They're not just playing the guitar part to a song, they're playing the whole song. They take a song that was recorded by a full band and make it sound complete on a single guitar. I want to be able to do that, or at least get as close as I am able to.

I've been a guitar owner for about 20 years now. As is required by law, the first ten years were spent learning Van Halen intros while high. I've since grown up somewhat and now I strum chords on my acoustic. I can play chords just fine, I know about the 12 bar blues and I, IV, V, I know a scale or two (though I'm unable to utilize them when I play), if I have the chords or some tablature I can fake my way through a lot of songs. But my playing is so amateurish. I might play a little intro and then start roboticly strumming the chords. It doesn't... flow.

First off, The Answer is "take lessons and practice a lot." Life is busy and unpredictable, and while I'm not opposed to lessons, my experience with them has not been good. Young Berklee grads who think everybody wants to play Korn songs. \m/. If I took lessons I would need the right sort of teacher. Where do I find them? (Metrowest / Boston)

Specific questions that can be answered:

What are the little tricks I can learn that will help me sound less like a robot when I play? (example: When you switch from C to G, this little run will make it sound really cool...)

Where do I learn said tricks? Any good books that go beyond the basics without focusing too much on just teaching scales? Every book on scales I've ever seen teaches them without teaching you why you should learn them or how you can use them, other than in your totally awesome solo, dude.

Free on-line resources that do not suck. Good lord, there are a lot of bad guitar sites out there. I want sites that have interesting and clear articles, preferably with MP3 examples. A couple good ones that I am aware of are Guitarnoise.com and howandtao.

Tab and chord sites that are not Olga mirrors, tab search engines, etc. What I'm looking for here is someone who has posted their own transcriptions of well knows songs. whotabs.net, Ron's Folk Chords, etc.

Without hopping a train to memphis or going to prison for shooting the man who stole my old lady, how does a nerdy white boy from the 'burbs learn about the blues?

How does a 30-something hack find other 30-something hacks to play with? I don't want to play clubs, I don't want to show off, I don't want to tour, I don't want to start a band in the styles of Slayer and Pantera, I don't need to stay in to do homework, I can afford to buy strings when I need to. As far as I can tell, I'm the only one.

I'm interested in mostly focusing on playing an acoustic. Rock, pop, modern folk (Eddie From Ohio, Moxie Fruvous, Dar Williams, etc...), kids songs, blues, etc. My knowledge of rock ended around the time Pearl Jam hit the scene, so any recommendations of modern bands/artists that might be inspirational would be welcome.

Again, I don't want to dazzle anyone with my chops, I just want to be able to lead the group in a drunken Beatles sing-along or play Old McDonald for my kid's preschool.

Wow. Sorry about the length of this post. Next week I'll ask how to get to the point in under 10,000 words.

Can you teach yourself to play the drums?

gottabefunky — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 10:00:13 -0800

Any drummers out there? I've been wanting to learn to play the drums for a long time. I have a solid musical background - years of piano, saxophone, and guitar - and a good sense of timing. Without much spare cash for lessons, I'm wondering if it's possible to teach yourself to play. If so, any good instructional books/CDs/techniques? And what about a starter kit - features, brands, models, price range?