# Do You Double?



## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

I assume most folks on this site play guitar as a first instrument and maybe as an only instrument. Anyone play something else? To quote a friend, which one is your wife and which one is your mistress?

Piano is my wife at this point but I've had a fifty year flirtation with guitar.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Play guitar, mandolin, and bass. Stringed instruments are my wives. I try to play keyboard but it is just a flirtation that I would like to someday marry.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Guitar, mandolin, flute, sax, harp, spoons, bugle and tin whistle .. lol


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Mainly guitar but I also dabble with bass, keyboards, drums and harmonica.


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## Grab n Go (May 1, 2013)

Mostly guitar. That keeps me busy enough. Bass would be my second.

I learned piano as a kid but didn't keep up with it. I can hash out some parts when writing or recording, but that's about all I got now.

I've studied a bit of hand drumming (had a teacher from Ghana). I sing. Not a trained voice but I've done the volunteer choir thing for years.


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## snacker (Jun 26, 2008)

I play most plucked and bowed stringed instruments, single reed instruments, kit, hand percussion, piano and voice. As long as I learn how to play it, I can justify buying it.......and so it goes...


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

Like others, guitar, bass, and vocals with reasonable proficiency; mandolin and ukulele with some practice; and, in a pinch, I could find my way around a keyboard well enough to fill out the mix.


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

Almost too much to mention!

I worked as a professional woodwind player for years, including seven seasons at the Stratford Festival. I played flutes (including piccolo, alto flute, and bass flute), clarinets (including bass and contrabass), oboe & English horn, bassoon, saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass), and recorders (tough not to when you do music for Shakespeare plays.) My stringed instrument skills got put to use there in a few shows - particularly Twelfth Night, which Stratford is streaming for free at the moment. I played six instruments on stage, plus another 11 on the tracks.

I’ve also played orchestral percussion, drum set (led my own jazz jam in Stratford, so I had to supply the house kit), and likely a few other things that have escaped my memory.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Guirar and less bass than I'd like to be learning. Im not counting building synth pads on a midi keyboard as a 3rd lol. I guess technically vocals too, as I do like to sing but dont record.


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## b-nads (Apr 9, 2010)

I'm probably more of a singer than guitarist, but I seem to be able to pick up any instrument and get something out of it. I dable with mandolin, fiddle, accordion, piano, and bass. I can't do percussion for some strange reason.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

If it has strings I'll strum it, but bass was my first wife and she's making a comeback. I also sing and dabble on piano. Keep me away from the drums.


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Guitar, bass, rapping, singing (low baritone range), and some drums/keyboards.

I'd probably be considered good at guitar and bass by most people. Passable vocals, in my range. I can play drum covers by hitting the right drums at the right time, but I'm no drummer. Bad feel, and don't ever ask me to write drum parts or improvise. Same story goes for keyboards/piano.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I used to play the sax before i learned guitar. Give me one now though and I couldn't remember a thing


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Primarily guitar, but I've gigged almost as much on bass, some gigging on other instruments. 

My first instruments were piano and voice, with formal training, so I can read in both bass and treble clefs. Before my first bass job, taken because the guitar player who auditioned ahead of me got hired on guitar, I'd never played bass, but could read bass, play bass lines on guitar and keys, and only needed gear to get hired. The technique followed hard and fast by necessity. I've played a lot of mandolin as well, and fifths tunings are something I love so tenor banjo, tenor guitar, and bouzouki/octave mandolin are on hand all the time. Ukulele is a no-brainer basically because it's so guitar like. Once upon a time I played flute but haven't seriously touched one in decades. I own a drum kit but wouldn't say I'm a drummer, in the same way as I own a violin and accordion but wouldn't say I'm a violinist or accordionist...I just mess around with those things, and confess to sometimes recording a few notes with them.

I tend to play to my strengths, exploiting myself somewhat. To Revenue Canada I'm a musician, folkie looks too hippy-dippy for my tax return.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

I played sax in high school and sang with bands and with friends around the campfire, then guitar, then along the way picked up bass, drums and ukulele.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Merlin said:


> and likely a few other things that have escaped my memory.


how're you on kazoo?


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## LouisFNCyphre (Apr 23, 2021)

I rap, sing cleanly, I do harsh vocals, play bass and sometimes program drums. I've made industrial music without any traditional instruments and I've made hip-hop tracks entirely from samples along side stuff that's more punk/metal rooted.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Primarily guitar & bass
I sort of play mandolin, although not necessarily in a traditional way.
I know the notes on a keyboard and some other stuff about it, but you probably don't want me playing keyboards in your band.
At one time I did consider doubling on guitar & keyboards for a band--but that never panned out.
I have a harmonica I hadn't played in ages.


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## Permanent Waves (Jun 2, 2020)

Drums was my first interest, but I went with guitar for practical reasons. I did have a chance to pick up drums later on but my timing simply isn't good enough. I love to dabble on drums, but I could not play in a serious band, so guitar is where I put most of my efforts. I play a bit of bass and like to write, arrange and record my own songs, even if the vocals and percussion leave something to be desired. Regardless of how poorly I play the other instruments, having a bit of experience on them always helps me have a greater understanding of rhythmic dynamics in a band context.


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## StringNavigator (May 15, 2021)

Please know that I'm posting as a Dedicated Amateur Musician, like many other retired geezers who park their wife's car on the street and set up oversized train sets in their garage. I simply earned more income and pension from working than I ever could earn as a musician in Canada.

Instruments - Guitar/Bass/Banjo
I enjoy the chordal aspect in all musical styles - grips, voicings, voice leading! I listen to famous jazz pianists of the distant past, but I only keep a small keyboard to study harmony, changes, and chord voicings. Instead, I've selected three types of guitars, depending upon the music: archtop, electric and classical. Yes, I prefer Eddie Lang and Johnny Smith to John Scofield, but it's not because I'm judgmental. I just like tunes that simple folk can whistle.

Bass lines always called to me from the big juke boxes of the early sixties, so I also play double bass, a fretless and a fretted electric bass guitar. Bass is universal to all musical styles, from Classical to Jazz to Rock. I also play plectrum banjo, which covers a whole style and era of music that a guitar just can't produce authentically. Riverboats On The Mississippi always comes to mind...

A String Player At Heart
The common thread for me is, of course, that they are all stringed instruments, but with different sounds. I like being a string player, however I have some harmonicas for blues-harp playing and I'm working on a tuba with Dixieland music.

Subliminal Improvement
I dabble with sticks and brushes on a drum pad as I practice along with Buddy Rich's Snare Drum Rudiments. Who would have thought that brushes are all about patterns...? Like painting shapes on a canvas. Even bongos sound cool... Percussion helps me become a better musician. Every guitarist should venture out and dabble in a sideline. Don't Music Colleges require a Second Instrument? I'd probably go with guitar and bass, but a smart guitar student would take up piano.

Trade Offs
Well, will I ever master them all? Well I can't sing or dance, (I howl and cavort), or more to the point, I don't really enjoy warbling. You know, most of us don't appreciate that singing is hard work. For me, sometimes the Primary is guitar, sometimes it's bass. The bass is the only instrument I've ever made pocket change with. But who cares... It's all about the journey.

Double Your Pleasure - Get Married Twice!
Anyone who plays more than one instrument gains more than they give up. It allows one to be versatile in musical styles and eras. It behooves one to be versatile. Even opportunities to play are increased when you dare to double. It can also be a form of cross-pollination, as one instrument inspires the other and improves one's weaknesses. And it beats the bottle... and you can chime in on multiple music forums like GUITARSCANADA!

"Come On, Man!"
Yes, you will not have enough time to master them all, but who needs to be a virtuoso, anyway? The world has had plenty of virtuosos who died young from all that drama. That kind of obsession leads to where, exactly? For me, it's all about the fun of producing music. Just earning the right to call myself a musician is worth the price of admission.
...


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## DavidP (Mar 7, 2006)

... lap steel, mandolin, bass if really required to fill. 
I once tried pedal steel but I think you need to be from another planet to master that instrument!


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

So inspiring to read you all guys.
I still long to add keyboard to my six stings instruments...


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

I went through the usual process of owning a banjo, mandolin, autoharp, whistle etc. but that was fairly harmless consumerism.

When I was "coming back" to music after being distracted by having kids I played hand percussion and drums. Very handy for recording and whenever I don't know the chords but I haven't kept them up. That's okay -- low-hanging fruit.

My doubling of piano and guitar, though, has been more problematic. If I could take the time and mojo I've put into guitar and add that to what I now have on piano, I'd do that in a second even if it meant not being able to play guitar. Or vice-versa, maybe. On stage, you can only play one instrument at a time and multi-instrumental is just more to carry. On the other hand, having guitar and keys for recording is handy. Trade-offs.

And then there's organ. I swore I'd never take up the organ because it would just stretch me thinner. Though they both use a keyboard, organ and piano are _very_ different instruments. Anyhow, I got hired to play organ and lead the choir for funerals at my wife's church. I got them to pay for lessons and now I'm a just-competent pipe organist. So you never know.


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## Midnight Rider (Apr 2, 2015)

Guitar is the wife since age 8. Also play bass, percussion, mandolin and some harp. Last 5 years or so I have been working on the drum kit.
Had a friend try and teach me piano three years ago,... after about 20 lessons he half jokingly told me to get out and only return for visits that did not require keyboard lessons of any type, ,... just strictly other leisure activities,... beer drinking, B.B.Q.'s, hockey telecasts, etc.. Says I have two left 🤚🤚,... 🤪 .

My sister inherited the piano talent in the family. Tickling the ivories is not in my future, 🎹🔨.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Each new instrument, at least to me, has become easier to understand and play. I remember marvelling at my father who could play a tune on my sister's french horn within moments of picking it up, and he wasn't a horn player. I saw him do the same with other instruments, but it was years before I grasped what he understood natively, that instruments are just physics and math in action. He kind of thought little of his ability while we thought it was otherworldly. 

Doubling will open whole new avenues to creativity. It instructs and informs your other disciplines, and by no means dilutes them. The cliche 10,000 hours might apply to the first instrument but not the subsequent ones, though that's not to say it doesn't take several lifetimes to become masterful at anything.


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