Hi
I've posted something similar on PW, but here it all is again.
I started playing when I was about 8 or 9 (1969/1970), because my sister (2 years younger than me) started playing! My parents were both musical. My Mum was a reasonable classical Pianist and a good singer. In the 1980s she sang at the Royal Festival Hall a number of times in a choir. Although my Dad didn't play or sing he was nevertheless very musical, and a big blues and Jazz fan. Both these interests I've inherited, though my singing is pretty awful.
I had a few months of classical lessons from a local teacher when I first started, but this didn't last and I wasn't inspired, at that time, to play classical. So I drifted for a few years and then at some point I heard my first boogie-woogie record, which I knew immediately was what I wanted to play. But at that time I had no way of knowing how to do so. Inevitably in my teenage years I gravitated towards the pop music of the day. And who was the biggest pop star of the mid 1970s. Elton John. He remains a huge influence on my non-classical playing. I bought books of sheet music of his most famous albums like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. But none of these really showed you how he played. If you're interested in his actual Piano playing check out EltonsCafe.net, this is a treasure trove of transcriptions and analysis.
Then in about 1980 a friend of mine showed me that if you learnt to understand the chord symbols put in the music for guitarists you could effectively make up your own versions. After this revelation I spent several years learning chord structures, eventually becoming fluent at instantly translating these symbols, rather than reading the notes on the page. This was also my way into improvising. By this time I'd bought a home organ. These were all that rage in the early 1980s, but they didn't make that classic Hammond sound that I wanted.
In 1987 I was desperate to start playing with other musicians, but had no outlet, so I decided I'd take up classical Guitar. Fate and luck were with me. I took and passed grade 2 and grade 4 classical guitar with my Teacher. But once I got to know him I found out he was also an electric bass player, and after a couple of years I joined him in a band he was in. At this point I bought my first Yamaha Clavinova.
I also passed Piano Grade 6 Piano with him, and theory grades 5, 7 & 8. I stopped having lessons with him in the early 1990s, but we've remained friends ever since and he is depping in a big band that I play with (most recently on Sunday).
Since 1989 I've been in Rock, Blues and Jazz bands virtually continuously, and at one point was semi-pro, but that died a death when a recession hit.
I retired in 2020, just before the Pandemic and this gave me a lot of free time. So variously I tried Sax (for a 2nd time), Vibes and drums. For my 60th birthday I got a drum kit and I use these a lot and am good enough to keep time and play them in a band I'm in.
The Piano has remained my primary focus over all the years. In late 2022, having had some drum lessons and flirted with Vibraphone I decided I should return to serious classical Piano lessons for the first time since the early 1990s. Last year I passed ABRSM grade 7 and am working towards grade 8 now.
That's about it....
Cheers
