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[TheSteppeWolf]

Do you know how to play any musical instruments? At what level? I sort of know how to play an accordion, though my friends tell me I am not very good at it. I only saw a thread about sharing music links but not, about, discussion making music yourself if that makes sense.

[Akura]

Flute; very basic. Haven't actually touched it in years. Probably tarnished to all hell and in poor working condition on top of that.

I could probably play other instruments if I tried. Except I've tried to(decades ago) to play the trumpet, clarinet, and instruments similar to both and found I'm completely incapable of getting any noise out of them.

[delphonso]

Harmonica, best of all - which isn't saying much.

I moved countries every year or two for a while, so the harmonica just happened to be the perfect instrument that I could actually take with me.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

I learned a little guitar, a little piano--very bad at both, but they're fun. Mostly I think digital instruments are cool--if usually unwieldy.

[Frumple]

At one point, I could manage Copland's Simple Gifts on piano!

... that was pretty much it, though. Never put the time in after learning a bit in school to really gain much actual proficiency. I got a decent electronic keyboard in the other room, if I ever get around to mustering the gumption to relearn.

If you count "nearest available surface" as an instrument I'm pretty okay with impromptu percussion, though, generally. If you go further into whistling I'm... well, fairly mediocre, but did once whistle more or less nonstop for three hours straight.

Turns out there's whistling muscles and they can get sore. You don't notice that with normal whistling, but it's true.

Oh, and performance trick I learned from a pervert author, decades okay: If you're playing for a crowd and tapping your foot to keep time, tap with you heel. It'll move basically your entire body, makes for a more dynamic performance for audiences.

[Bumber]

Used to play the viola in elementary school. Basically a large violin.

Very limited experience with the piano.

[martinuzz]

I played the violin and the viola during elementary and highschool. Even played in one of my country's largest classical youth orchestras and toured the world.

Haven't touched it for 20 years now though. I sometimes do touch my guitar, bass and piano though.

[Loud Whispers]

What is a cheap instrument I can learn to play without pissing off a bipolar flatmate? Ideally something I can plug some headphones into

[martinuzz]

Electric guitar + amplifier + headphones works like a charm. Shouldn't be too expensive either, guitar stores usually have second-hand equipment as well as cheap starter guitars.

[Bumber]

IDK about bipolar flatmates, but the cowbell is cheap.

[Loud Whispers]

electronic cowbell
at last I see the light

[None]

French hornist primarily, trombone/tuba/trumpet with some rust (pretty sure I've forgotten all the trombone slide positions), and more than my fair share of dabbling across a piano/guitar/bass/bassclarinet (reeds, oogh, bad memories of wood and plastic vibrating through my jaw) cymbals, skin flute etc.

I thank the horn for my sense of pitch, I can generally tune by ear or identify a pitch, it's just got the caveat that home is F and F is C on a horn and boy howdy did I fail my scales back in school because I had no fuckin' clue what was where as a result. Concert Eb or bottom of the staff Eb, right?

Don't play nearly as often as I did in my school days, but I joined a community band recently and I come out of every rehearsal feeling rejuvenated. We get funny masks with flaps over the mouth bits that you can tuck your mouthpiece into in order to kinda sorta suppress the exhalation of spitticulate matter, which is considerate. No shortage of nose goblins there, even, but, well, if everyone did the right thing we wouldn't have a pandemic, right?

Closest I've come to making 'music' is hacking up voice lines from a video game in Audacity to make people say stupid shit. Not sure I have the bone for composition, but I do enjoy the performing!

[delphonso]

I played French horn in High School and honestly miss the ability to blast a room with noise. The harmonica just doesn't have that power.

[Frumple]

You just got to harmonica harder, del. Those things can shred like crazy if you're workin' them right.

[nenjin]

Played a Recorder for almost no time as a young kid. I always felt like it was the poor man's flute but to my dad I think he figured it was a good musical instrument to try to get me involved with, that had a low barrier to entry and exit.

Also took a stab at the guitar about 15 years later, with similar results. I love music but I dunno, I've always lacked the discipline to learn how to play. I could manage a few chords by the time I was over the guitar but that's it. I totally appreciate the manual dexterity alone you have to practice and rehearse until it starts feeling natural and you're actually playing music instead of thinking about playing music. I just didn't want it that badly I guess. That and I've always found sheet music intimidating to read and remember despite several tries at it over the course of school. Musical talent has always seemed quasi-magical to me, the way any skill you don't possess does.