Grades 1 thru 6 Catholic/public school music education was atrocious, so for junior high we were required to have one semester of music for the three years and I picked “Choral Arts”-- get it over with. I somehow got assigned to Guitar. Went to the guidance counselor to get it switched and he told me to just stick with it (Apparently failing guitar doesn’t affect your GPA worse than failing choral arts.). Short story: fantastic, supportive guitar teacher with a unique approach made me not want to put the guitar down, and 50 years later I’m still butchering John Denver songs. I need to work on my calluses.
I played the clarinet in the school band. I picked it because (a) it’s not particularly heavy to carry around and (b) the school showed us a price list and it was on the less expensive end (relatively speaking).
I haven’t played it since high school, though.
If you had ever heard my attempts at viola you wouldn’t say that! Seriously, not a fretless player. I’ll stick to piano, woodwinds, and maybe a little drums. Which will still make for a nice ensemble.
I started with the trombone in the fifth grade, partly because it was something that a boy would play. It was hard and I hated it and stopped after a few months.
About the same time, my sister was getting recognized for being a really good French horn player, and a few years later she let play her horn. It was a much better fit for me, and I played it in band starting in seventh grade and all through college (which was a great way to meet girls!). I never got as good as she was, and haven’t played since college.
I can’t play any instrument, much to my regret, but my wife has played guitar since the age of 13. She enjoyed folk music (this was the mid-1960s) like Simon & Garfunkel, Peter-Paul-and-Mary, and Bob Dylan. She saved her allowance and bought an inexpensive acoustic guitar and taught herself to play. She no longer has that guitar, but she now has several others, including a beautiful 12-string, and still plays today, some 58 years later.
When she bought her first guitar, it was practically unheard-of for a girl to play guitar. All through school, she was the only one. Somebody actually signed her senior yearbook to the “pretty long-haired blonde guitarist.” Even today, she only personally knows one other woman who plays, and she does it professionally.
I unenthusiastically (and badly) tried the trumpet in elementary school and junior high. I used a beat-up old trumpet we had around the house. The school paid for the lessons and it was all oriented toward being in the band. I hated being in the band and gave it up after 9th grade.
The three I can play at present are:
Recorder. Had a smattering of lessons (as is typical) in elementary school in Grades 3 and 5. No great interest at the time, but then in Grade 7, I heard my school’s recorder band at a concert and was very impressed. That summer, I picked up my old school Yamaha recorder. I now also own a Moeck recorder from Germany, made of maple.
Bagpipes. I have been drawn to this instrument ever since I was 5 or so and saw pipers for the first time on TV. It could have been a St. Patrick’s Day parade, and they would have been playing “Scotland the Brave”. Over time, I was increasingly drawn to Scottish and Irish things, and when I was 12, read Jane Yolen’s retelling of the ballad “Tam Lin”. Though this is not about bagpipes, my interest in Scotland increased at the time and the idea of learning the pipes came to my mind. However, I had no family support for this. At 16, a schoolmate played the pipes at the Remembrance Day assembly. I had had few occasions to hear the pipes live, and now I started getting more serious about learning to play. I started learning on my own at 18, using a cheap Pakistani practice chanter (for the uninitiated, a soft, mouth-blown pipe with the same fingering as the bagpipe chanter [melody pipe]) and my schoolmate’s College of Piping bagpipe tutor book. I not only learned to play, I began to seriously research the history and development of the Highland bagpipe and am in touch with some of the world’s foremost experts on this topic. I currently have three sets of bagpipes: A plastic set of Dunbars from Canada, an African Blackwood set of Fletchers from Scotland, and a plastic reproduction of a set claimed to have been made by Alexander Glen in 1847, made by the late Pierre Blanchet, a pipemaker in France who specalized in historic reproductions. I bought this at the instigation of a fellow researcher, who has a collection of something like 60 sets of old bagpipes. It came without certain parts; I am now waiting to take delivery of a bag (I play under the right shoulder like some left handers do, so I need a left hander’s bag); when I get this, I should finally able to put these pipes together and see how they sound.
Musical spoons. I was inspired to take these up by the example of our Spoons above. Thank you, Spoons! (Not least for your instructions and guidance on how to play.) I wanted something to be able to play along with my friends, who have pub and fireside Country / Bluegrass / Folk sessions.
I am also considering taking up bones (an analogue of the spoons - you get some ribs and you clack them), and can also play just a bit of the tin whistle. I am hoping the day will come when I will have the time to expand my abilities in that department.
Rock band dreams are quite teenagery, while starting out on an instrument in one’s teens is generally woefully late. So the two don’t really match.
Of course, there are those who played whatever instruments in their childhood, but later chose the guitar etc. to conquer the world, get the girls etc. So maybe the nerdiness of SDMB is showing here.
I began learning the bagpipes at 18 with no family support. Motivation is key. At first a self-learner (NOT recommended for the bagpipes) using a standard textbook, I later had some rudimentary lessons from a Pipe Major, followed by some from the National Piping Centre in Scotland.
No family support? For bagpipes?
I must say I’m just shocked. 
Fun thread to read. 
My father has been a pianist and church organist since he was in high school (he’s 74 now and still a church organist), so we always had a piano in the house and my brother and I got classical lessons as kids: mine started when I was 7, and I was allowed to stop at 13. I took piano lessons again very briefly when I was in college, but ultimately I topped out at somewhere around “intermediate” and I’m happy enough there. I played for one or two college wine-and-cheese events as an undergrad, but I was never going to be a professional pianist. I have my books of stuff I’ve been playing for decades, and every now and then I tackle something new. I can sight-read pieces that aren’t too complicated. I’ve had either a piano or an electronic keyboard everywhere I’ve lived, and for the past 7 years I’ve had a hybrid Yamaha AvantGrand (N1). I love it. Playing definitely helps keep me sane (relatively), though it’s never for other people.
Sometime in grade school – maybe 4th or 5th grade? – I started also playing the flute. I no longer remember what prompted it, or why I wound up playing that instrument. My brother started also playing the clarinet. I think maybe my parents thought it was important for us to be in band, and that wasn’t going to happen with the piano. 
I remember being technically proficient, but the quality of my sound wasn’t great. Flute only lasted a couple of years, mostly because we moved overseas at the end of 6th grade. I tried to pick it up again a little in high school (when we were back in the States), but on my own – not as part of a band or anything – and it turned out I wasn’t willing to practice.
Also, by high school I’d discovered that I could sing: classical voice lessons started when I was 16, and voice has been my musical focus ever since. I’ve taken voice lessons and master classes and vocal workshops off and on for the past 35 years: in '98-'99 I co-fronted a band that performed a mix of covers and folk-y/rock-y originals, and I’ve been a jazz singer (with a day job) since 2009.
When I was a kid we had an old upright piano in the basement and one single music book. Of Christmas songs. Parents didn’t play and I still have no idea how/why we had a piano. By knowing how the xmas tunes went, I started trying to figure out which notes were which. Parents noticed, and I started taking piano lessons in the 5th grade. I got pretty good over the years but wish now I had less classical and maybe more jazz or pop. I own a piano and still play some. And I have virtual pipe organ software and use MIDI keyboards to play around with that.
Bought a guitar in my 20s so I could play Gordon Lightfoot songs. Learned a lot of chords but not much else. Now in my 70s, teaching myself to flatpick.
Bought a cheap mandolin at a yard sale a few years ago and started taking lessons at our local Folk School, along with some guitar lessons. (Unfortunately the school seems to have not survived covid.) I did however meet some classmates who wanted to continue playing together so we play in a basement one night a week, using guitars, mandolins and a banjo.
When I was a child I fell in love with the harp at a symphony concert. When I asked for one, my Mother suddenly develop a desperate need for a piano. So my Dad said if I learned to play the piano, he would buy me a harp later on. I became fairly proficient, and am still waiting for my harp. 
You are most welcome! I just hope that my instructions and guidance, written as they were, were good enough to be able to play with your friends.
Bones are difficult. Yes, I have tried them. Note that while you need two hands to play spoons, you only need one for the bones. Bones players usually use two pairs, one in each hand, and bones are held in an entirely different manner than the spoons. Give them a try–I’m sure that there are YouTube videos of instruction. The folks I know who can play them, love playing them.
But thanks again for your kind comments. I’m glad to know that you are having fun with the spoons!
In 1987 we got cable TV. When we first turned it on the box was tuned to MTV and they were playing the video for “Welcome to the Jungle.” I instantly knew it was my life’s ambition to be Slash. It took me two years to talk my father into buying me a guitar. We went to the closest pawn shop and bought the best guitar and amp they could sell us for $100. The deal was if I stuck with it, in one year we’d go to a real music store and buy a good guitar. I stuck with it and the next fall we went to a music store and he bought me a Fender American Strat Plus and an amp. Sold the amp years ago but I still have the guitar. Every time it sees the light of day someone tries to buy it from me.
Prior to that, my mother made me take piano lessons after I was playing around on the upright we had. Took piano lessons for 3 years before my piano teacher gave up on me. I still only remember how to play one song (The Muppet Show Theme).
Indeed they were! You explained it very clearly, and made it easy for me. Now I have something I can do with multiple friends!
The bones will probably be a project for later this Spring or for Summer. I’m asking around who can provide me with the necessary meat as I intend to make them myself. I’ve already checked out a few Youtube videos, it does look challenging, but I think I can get the hang of it.
Piano lessons throughout grade school. When I started HS, my mom gave me the option of stopping and - idiot that I was - I did.
When I was in college I wanted to be in a band. Bass was the obvious answer. Too many guitarists had been playing since they were kids. With bass, you get a bass guitar and an amp and show up reasonably on time, and you’re golden. Plus, my roommate was a bassist who was converting to guitar/singing, so he taught me enough to play bass in his band. Pretty much stopped all music after college.
Around age 45 or so, my wife started playing violin/fiddle. I tried many acoustic instruments to be able to play along w/ here. Mando ALMOST stuck, but no. One winter I rented an upright and had to admit that I’m a bassist. That’s just how I hear music.
A few years ago - at age 60 - I realized most of the folk I play with are in their 70s and up. When I’m that age, I won’t want to be hauling my bass around. So I picked up clawhammer banjo figuring if. start now, I won’t suck 10 years from now. I had been attending a banjo camp that had a bass curriculum, which had revealed the incredible range of banjo music. Plus, my wife still plays fiddle and banjo and fiddle is tough to beat.
I took up the mandolin when my back started to deteriorate. Very easy to carry from place to place.
I tried!
One reason I picked the violin is for practical reasons: I wanted something smaller to lug back and forth between home and school. I recently retired (last November), and taking violin lessons again is one project I was (and still am) considering.
Nobody else chose trombone when we picked band instruments in 5th grade, so I chose it. I remained the only trombone player in my grade for all 8 years of school band.
Recorder : at primary school.
Violin : from about 10. I suspect the conversation went something like …
Mum : Do you want to learn a musical instrument ?
Me : Yes, saxophone !
Mum : well, i don’t think the school has a saxophone … how about violin ?
Me : Awwww … well … ok then.
Clarinet : at about 15 i switched to clarinet … 1 step closer to sax !!
Saxophone : As soon as i’d left school and earned enough money i brought my
first sax ! (The guy i bought it from told me he’d played it with Joan Armatrading !!)
Bass guitar : I’d always loved bass - inspired by Jaco Pastorius and, later, Mark king and
Larry Graham.