My interest in playing Music started completely by accident really. In high school, I joined a musical group called the Believers (yeah sponsored by the church, but i tried to keep a blind eye to that). We traveled to many of the nursing homes in the area and sang and performed skits and such for the old folks - community service. A year or two after joining, our drummer graduated high school, so the position was open. So I asked a friend to teach me how to play so I could fill the position. I was basically shown the quick and dirty way to play - good enough to get me going.
I kept at it for several years and eventually joined a Blues band, doing Stevie Ray Vaughan covers. It was during this time that I think I learned the most about playing. After a few years of that it was time for me to head away for college so - at first at least - the drums had to stay behind and my learning came to an abrupt halt. I eventually brought them down with me (much to the dismay of girls dorm upstairs, hee hee) and joined another band, this time writing our own music. We called ourselves Leroy the Atomic Hippo (I love that name) and me and the bass player pretty much played the same beat for just about every song. It became a running gag. But soon that too came to an end with the end of classes. No longer having my drums soon got to me - a sort of musical itch. That’s when I picked up the Guitar. Never did get anywhere with that, though it’s still on the “to-do” list.
More recently, I picked up a cheap violin on Ebay. I think that if I could spend the time to really focus on it and take lessons, I think I could get really good at it - however as I should have learned with the Guitar, Strings just ain’t my bag, baby. And now the next step in my muscial evolution is a Native American Flute and the Didgeridoo. I’m having a blast (ha! that joke blows ha ha ha…). If you’re not familiar with either of these instruments you should at least hear them - or better yet, buy one and learn! Here is a link to hear some samples of the Native American Flute (scroll all the way to the bottom). And here is a link to a video of a Didgeridoo player.
I never really thought of myself as a Wind Instrument type of person, after playing drums for so long I thought I was strictly a percussionist, but the change has been really exciting and I can’t wait to see where I go with it.
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