Musicians: what's your experience with multiple instruments? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 6 days ago by schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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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?

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[-] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

Absolutely! But I think if you stay within in the same family, you're refining the same skills more than expanding on new ones.

Have you tried mandolin? It's just a violin with frets and doubled strings.

Yeah, equal temperment is sort of annoying. It's nice to be able to just play the exact right note on strings. I think reed instruments are pretty good about intonation, too, but I'm not good enough to play with other people yet.

[-] TechieDamien@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I have played the mandolin. I prefer to try to master one instrument than play loads, but piano is too useful not too know the basics. I still have a long way to go to achieve mastery of guitar...

[-] velma@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

Have you tried mandolin? It’s just a violin with frets and doubled strings.

Oh now that is tempting to look into. Thanks for the suggestion!

this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2026

17 points (100.0% liked)

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