Musicians?

[funneman]

I've noticed a few avatars featuring FL members performing, some have made references to performing and even in some other rooms of the lounge I've seen some pretty nice instruments.

So, here's the questions, what if any instrument do you play. Do you perform live and do you wear your fedora when you are performing.

I'll start:

1-Guitar, mandolin, harmonica.

2-I played out all through high school, and then from '91 to '01, then started having kids.

3-Hatless in my R&B band, (my partner wore a Panama). An "Open Road" style Resistol and a Tom Mix style Larry Mahan made by Milano in my country band (not at the same time, LOL.)

And you....?

 

[KAT]

used to play the violin for a year, some flute , changed to piano, took lessons for 6 years, performed as a kid, got annoyed cause my teacher started calling me sweetie and i thought thats weird when i turned into a teenager, and he spit on my keyboard when he explained something (his german wasnt good enough) i wrote him a letter and stayed in my room until my parents understood im not joking about it (yeah heard to understand when im not jokinglol )
always hatless

 

[Pilgrim]

Started on violin in Jr. High, changed to string bass a few months later then the orchestra director needed a bass player. Played string bass through High School, and got an old Fender Precision bass then. I had a 25-year layoff, but am playing electric bass again and enjoying it.

Can't say that I've ever worn a fedora on stage. Usually I'm playing surf music, and that's more of a hawaiian shirt setting so the fedora doesn't really fit that well.

 

[Magus]

Me Too

I've been a musician most of my life. My mom says I could sing before I could talk, and I used to doubt her until we had our second daughter...she was the same way. (She's currently a Music major in college) My first perfomances were singing in church starting about age 4. Piano lessons from 8-17. Saxaphone from 12-21. Percussion some in HS. Guitar from 15-present (29 years). Bodhran for the past 4 years.

Now I play professionally as a session/studio musician with the occasional rare live gig. I wear a fedora in studio regularly. Not much on stage because of the heat from the lights...just toooooooo hot.

M

 

[Uncle Vern]

I've been a musician for over 50 years. I've played everything from laundromat openings to record label-financed tours. I play acoustic and electric guitars, bass, clawhammer banjo, and although I don't own them right now, alto, tenor and bari sax. I can produce, conduct and arrange most any kind of popular music. I've been taking formal instruction on both Arabic and Turkish ouds for about 5 years with a professor at the University of Texas in Austin. There have been gaps--time out for painting and writing, and I just finished recording a solo, fingerstyle acoustic album which will be presentable in a few months. I pay the bills these days by working as a horticulturist and garden consultant.
I've seen several fedora revivals, during the the 60's, the 70's, and even the 80's. The difference between now and then is that you all share a classic aesthetic, and a formal appreciation for fedoras and all the vintage clothes to go with that appreciation. Back in my younger days, in Southern California, fedoras were worn with more than a touch of irony and humor rather than the the more straightforward attachment that many of you share.
I've been living in Texas for 23 years and it's rubbed off on me. I own 17 mostly-vintage cowboy hats (and counting,) including a few Open Roads, and I'll be wearing those in rotation when I start performing again.

 

[Samsa]

I played the cello from elementary through high school, but stopped playing part way through my last year in high school. I've been playing guitar since middle school as well; I still play, but for the past few years I've almost exclusively played classical guitar. I still have my electrics, but they're definitely neglected. I don't have the chutzpah to perform though.

 

[shoeshineboy]

i play attempt to play a guitar in my comedy routines...mostly country stuff...use to be in a very unknown band that toured three small towns in southeast missouri...

I play something in between willie nelson and bluegrass. Something about Willie and grass...what a connection...

I like country...but i have always enjoyed the humor or Homer and Jethro...Lonzo and Oscar...the Duke of Paducah, Jerry Clower, and of course Minnie Pearl...

Hey, she wore a hat !!!!

keep pickin'

...i'm too late for hee-haw



mark the shoeshine boy

 

[RedPop4]

Uncle Vern, what a life!!!

I took piano lessons from 7-17, and organ lessons in my 20's I've been singing and playing piano and organ in Church, in one capacity or another for 25 years, since I was in high school.

Currently an organist/Director of Pastoral Music at a Church here in New Orleans. I'm not a recitalist by any means, and rarely even play through "organ literature." But then, that's not why I do it anyway.

 

[Tangoman]

Have played the bodhran (Irish drum) in ceilidh and Irish pub bands for last 15 yrs - and yet have never actually danced at a ceilidh! Have worn Panamas at many of the outdoor events.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

I'm a guy who hangs out with musicians...

....I'm a drummer! ("and when they start throwing things, that's the best place to be!" - Ringo)

yeh! I've got pictures of that too!

-dixon cannon

 

[RedPop4]

Tango Man, that's interesting. I really enjoy Irish music.

 

[Tangoman]

The bodrahn is played one handed with a double headed stick. Some 'real' musicians who play melody instruments have suggested it sounds better if played with a penknife!!

 

[RedPop4]

lol lol lol lol They would. Guitarists wish that organists could play without wind.

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

So, here's the questions, what if any instrument do you play. Do you perform live and do you wear your fedora when you are performing.

I play 'ukulele with a local Hawaiian band. I'm not Hawaiian myself, but picked up the 'ukulele about 10 years ago. To me it's the perfect instrument. Pretty easy to learn, but hard to play well, very portable (can put it in my suitcase), and always brings a smile to people's faces.

Since we're playing Hawaiian music, I wear my Panama if we are playing a live, outdoor event.

I collect vintage ukuleles and have several Martins from the 20s. Martin (yes, of Martin guitar fame) made the best ukuleles ever produced.

Here's my website for anyone interested in the little four stringed wonder:

http://www.ukuleleheaven.com

My avatar shows the great Ukulele Ike (aka Cliff Edwards) stringing a Martin tenor.

Aloha, Kaleponi Craig

 

[Magus]

Have played the bodhran (Irish drum) in ceilidh and Irish pub bands for last 15 yrs - and yet have never actually danced at a ceilidh! Have worn Panamas at many of the outdoor events.

AH...a fellow Bodhran player! I had the gent at Claddagh Bodhrans make me a custom professional model a few years back and I love playing it. Very natrual transition from guitar. I play it some sesson work but mainly with friends. One of my goals in life is to sit in wiht a group at a pub in Ireland (you know...that "list of things to do before you die"). lol

Greetings,
M

 

[dr greg]

shobiz kid

I was a professional performer at the age of 11, and these days play funk/soul covers around the bars and clubs, so I'm coming up for 40 years in the biz, I'm a bassplayer by trade even though I was originally a singer in musicals and opera. I sure do wear a fedora on stage, not least to keep the lights out of my eyes.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Rockabilly, Swing, Jump blues

I started playing bass at 15 and then guitar at 16. I've been performing professionally as a singer and guitarist for 15 years now, starting off with a Rockabilly band called Tennessee Thunder in late 1990. I first performed jazz and Swing in 1995, when a friend and I formed a six-piece combo called the Radium Club Hepsters (named after a Harlem nightclub of the 1930's). A couple of us used to wera fedoras, but after living the 30's-40's lifestyle a while, it looked a bit costumey. Now I wear my lid to the gig and take it off when I go indoors, same as I would any place.

I've sold my most CD's as a Rockabilly artist, though, and it seems I can't escape that genre. Not that I entirely dislike it, but like every musician I've grown in my music and want to do so much more in the jazz field. My audience, it seems, has other ideas!

My current bands are Wes Pudsey and the Sonic Aces (Rockabilly) and the Hollywood Hombres (Swing/jump blues).

 

[Cabinetman]

voice, yes; hat, no

Like Benny, I wear a hat to the door, then take it off. It's no good to wear it on stage. If I am tuxedo clad, I don't wear a hat at all. My mom has taught piano all of my life and more (I'll be 35 in November), and I have not taken lesson one. Voice is the only instrument I know how to "play".

 

[adamgottschalk]

Guitarist for more than 20 years who realized in the last few years that I've actually been a BASS player this whole. I love the bass. I love jazz, not traditional or neo-traditional stuff, but "cutting edge", modern, no progressive and ugly, sweet, groovin. I listen to all manner of music. I aim to make a whole new cannon of jazz standards (using the best pop/rock/soul of the last 40 years or so). Number one rule in the band I'll make: no solos more than two choruses long!

I love the fact that bass playing lends itself naturally to leading bands (you are de facto leader anyway, whether or not the guitarists admit it ). I'm also a trained singer (which is great in the jazz world because I know melodies and lyrics that go with them better than most pure instrumentalists). One tough project for me is learning to do a smooth swing walking bass line while singing at my best simultaneously. It's so much easier to play guitar and sing at the same time, it's like a totally different game.

Studying with a world-class jazz bassist now (Dan Schulte), and I'm working on charts and arrangements that will be played in time soon with quartet and sextet. When I play out, I still play my acoustic guitar at open mics; I just love that HUGE Hedges sound, and it works great for covers (open tunings, etc.) Funny that I find it harder to play bass in front of folks so far than I ever did guitar/singing. I think that's because the rhythm is the most critical aspect of bass playing, my bass teacher is a hard ass, and I just don't feel solid enough yet that I can play 1/4 notes for 2 hours straight and never **** up. Soon enough.

 

[Cabinetman]

Guitarist for more than 20 years who realized in the last few years that I've actually been a BASS player this whole. I love the bass. I love jazz, not traditional or neo-traditional stuff, but "cutting edge", modern, no progressive and ugly, sweet, groovin. I listen to all manner of music. I aim to make a whole new cannon of jazz standards (using the best pop/rock/soul of the last 40 years or so). Number one rule in the band I'll make: no solos more than two choruses long!

I love the fact that bass playing lends itself naturally to leading bands (you are de facto leader anyway, whether or not the guitarists admit it ). I'm also a trained singer (which is great in the jazz world because I know melodies and lyrics that go with them better than most pure instrumentalists). One tough project for me is learning to do a smooth swing walking bass line while singing at my best simultaneously. It's so much easier to play guitar and sing at the same time, it's like a totally different game.

Studying with a world-class jazz bassist now (Dan Schulte), and I'm working on charts and arrangements that will be played in time soon with quartet and sextet. When I play out, I still play my acoustic guitar at open mics; I just love that HUGE Hedges sound, and it works great for covers (open tunings, etc.) Funny that I find it harder to play bass in front of folks so far than I ever did guitar/singing. I think that's because the rhythm is the most critical aspect of bass playing, my bass teacher is quite demanding, and I just don't feel solid enough yet that I can play 1/4 notes for 2 hours straight and never make a serious mistake. Soon enough.

Not trying to be a moderator, just offering a suggestion or two.