Do you come from a musical family?

[Woodinblack]

None of those answers apply to me. My mother insisted I did piano lessons and lessons for every instrument that I ever wanted. Bought me my first piano, first guitar etc. Bought me a bass for my birthday last year (my 50th!).
Noone played anything when I was young, but my dad learned when we got the piano, and eventually he got a home organ. He was never great but he really enjoyed it.

[obbm]

I'm not aware of any inherent musical history in the family although I believe my paternal aunt and grandmother both played the piano.

I had trombone lessons at school from the age of 11 but after seeing Little Richard in 1962 built my first, truly dreadful, bass, bought a book and taught myself using the family radiogram as an amplifier. My mother was more tolerant than supportive however she did lend me the money to buy a proper Framus bass and allow the band to rehearse in the front room.

[Ghost_Bass]

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1475159947' post='3143584']
I've edited the centre option and added another.

Assuming we're all similar ages, I guess parents in the 60s had it tough and there simply wasn't the cash about to invest in instruments for amusement, where these days we as parents go buying games consoles just to keep kids up with their peer group. Maybe this is a way of making up for what we never had?
[/quote]

Even though you added the option i never had music lessons up until a few years ago, i learned with friends and picked up a few notions of theory along the way.

I'm in another age bracket, i was born in '81 but my village wasn't too evolved until this last couple of decades. About 5 years ago a music school opened just down the road of where i used to live, that would have been very usefull 25 years ago

I guess that my background clearly justifies my inability to sing the simplest thing or my ears recognize immediatly a given note.

[Leonard Smalls]

My mum was (still is at 83!) a piano teacher. Her teacher was one of Franz Liszt's pupils!
So I played piano as far as grade 7... Picked up the bass at 18 and never looked back.

[kusee pee]

My parents are both outstanding musicians, far better than I am. I really wish I'd kept up my theory lessons. But it was good always having music in the house and I passed various grades on piano and trumpet. I then rebelled against having lessons and gave up for a couple of years until I got my first bass.

[Roger2611]

My mum was a concert pianist, still is a fantastic player but never once did she offer a single word of encouragement to me in my playing, she has still never seen me play live and has never heard a song I have played on despite friends of hers telling her that she should have a listen as she would likely be very surprised at what the band sounds like.....I did put it to her once but never got a proper answer.

My dad was a decent drummer, who worked in the entertainment industry so I got good support there, my step brothers are all cracking guitarists who took up playing after coming to see me play when they were small

She taught my son to play piano to a very good standard

Nowt as strange as folk!

[scalpy]

Mum studied at Darlington and the Guildhall, a singer, pianist and conductor. Dad played Eb clarinet in the national youth wind orchestra. He taught me a bit on the guitar and then I worked everything else out. My sister played the violin and my brother the trombone. All of us have grade 8 at least. We all used to play in church and perform at the parish get togethers. I'm the only one who pursued music as a career after university. Dad ended up working with a guy in his physics department who had been a big cheese at Atlantic in the 60s and they spent a decade try to work the formula for the perfect pop song. It was an interesting if fruitless venture.

[BassTractor]

In our family, support was a mightily mixed bag.
On one hand, both our parents came from musical families as in that there always was singing and instrument playing going on. This was highly related to them being traditional Netherlands Reformed Church-goers, and granddad being the usher (access to the pipe organ!)

Then when my parents got kids, they would buy an electronic organ, and would force us to practise. My mom was a hardliner with zeal in this, and these days, neither KGB nor CIA frighten me.
They even wound up buying a 12K £ electronic organ... twice,

BUT:
The moment me or my sister wanted to do something musical, like playing live, buying a guitar or a flute, or getting tuition in another municipality, all brakes were used, and all techniques of convincing, threatening or manipulating were allowed.
Everything to stop us from following our own paths and to possibly burst my mom's little life's bubble.

[tauzero]

Somewhere between options 2 and 4. Dad played piano to a good standard, mum had no musical ability whatsoever. Paid for violin lessons for me and piano lessons for my siblings (I wasn't interested in the piano). Didn't object to me playing the guitar or bass but didn't actively support it either. My parents saw me playing once, about five years ago, coming on for 40 years after I first picked up a guitar.

[Painy]

My mum was quite a naturally gifted pianist (as is my sister although she doesn't play anymore) with a beautiful singing voice.
My dad is the real musical heavyweight in my family though. He plays trumpet, French horn, cornet, violin and cello all to a high standard (at least grade 8) but his main instruments are piano and organ.
Unfortunately he was very pushy with my sister and I and he would give us each an hour long piano lesson every day whether we liked it or not. Bear in mind that for both of us this was from the age of 3 as he had visions of us being the next modern day Mozart!
When my mum left my dad when I was 6 and my sister was 10, the relief and sense of freedom was unbelievable. It took me until I was 14 to take an interest in music for myself which is when I started playing bass. My sister was by far the more talented pianist of the 2 of us but to this day and won't touch a piano.

[Marvin]

No one in my family played any instrument at all, apart from a couple of cousins who like me are all self taught types.

None of the options, therefore, are really relevant to me.

[BrunoBass]

Dad was a bass player and played a Hagstrom and later a Hofner Violin bass in a couple of bands in Stafford in the early-mid '60s (The Countdowns and The Sneakers). I grew up on a musical diet of The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, The Small Faces... Mum was into Motown and Stax, I had a good musical education. Both my parents have fully supported me in any musical venture I've ever attempted. They still occasionally come to watch my band now (they're both in their seventies).

[KingBollock]

My parents listened to music, old 60s and 70s stuff and the top 40 on Sunday's. I used to spend hours listening to records with my mum.

Somewhere around the early eighties, my dad, for some unknown reason, bought a nylon stringed guitar, that no one showed any interest in, other than me, and that only a little. He also bought himself quite an expensive harmonica, but never played it.

Then, one day, when I was twelve, my dad decided that he wanted to manage a band and that his four sons would be that band. I desperately wanted a radio controlled monster truck (I still do...) but it was decided that I was to learn to play drums. I wasn't going to let him have it all his own way and, being a motorhead and Iron Maiden fan, I though bass would suit me better. My dad was actually quite pleased, because he hadn't thought of about bass.

He paid for a few lessons, but he did a deal to get them as cheap as possible. So, once a week, for a few weeks, my brothers and I went to the teacher's house and I played walking bass lines, that I had learned at home from a book (he told me that my timing was natural and spot on. Which was nice), while he taught my brothers to play stuff over the top for half an hour.

My brother Steven was a natural on guitar, but drugs and mental illness got the better of him and he didn't keep it up, which really was a shame. The other two were rubbish and soon gave it up.

I actually own that nylon stringed guitar that my dad bought, and I still play it.

[yorks5stringer]

My Dad had a large collection of Jazz 78's, so no musical help there...! Actually, a cousin of his played in the Squadronaires. My folks paid for piano lessons and bought me an acoustic guitar. Soon ditched those for Bass, my wife to be bought me a Gibson EB2 for my 20th Birthday!

[krismpos]

Nobody was related to music in my family. Even me, I developed an interest in music just in my late teens. My mother promised she would buy me a guitar if I succeeded at the exams to get to the university. Three years later, I switched to bass.

[ubit]

My mother sang in local shows , so there was always a show biz type vibe in our house, but that's nothing to my Mrs. Her whole family plays something and her two brothers are amazing guitarists!

[Bobthedog]

My father was a drummer with his own reasonably successful pro am band. Some well known pro musicians would sit in on many gigs and come to rehearsals at home for the bigger gigs. I grew up with both live and recorded music always playing in the house. My mother whilst no musician was heavily into music and for a brief while was an agent / manager to a short term famous singer.

I was given drumsets, violins and trumpets along with lessons for the latter two. In reality I was too young for the first two but stuck with trumpet for a while. There was a long break of about 30 years with me not playing anything and my love of music died when my father died. Two years ago I discovered bass and love it, although I have no natural ability with it.

Edited September 30, 2016 by Bobthedog

[FuNkShUi]

No one in my family plays anything.
My friend playing guitar when we were 12 was my influence

[BigRedX]

None of those really apply to my situation, or in a way bits of all of them do.

Let me explain - this might be quite a long post...

There was a piano and 2 acoustic guitars in our house when I was growing up. My dad could play the piano although I don't recall ever hearing him do so and I get the impression that it was just one of those things someone of his upbringing learned in the 1930s (along with Greek, Latin, Rugby and Cricket). He could also strum some simple songs on the guitar. My mum apparently played the violin at school, but didn't own one anymore. She could also play simple stuff on the guitar as she was a primary school teacher and singing with the kids was part of the job description. Later in life she went on to sing in several choirs (some fairly serious music concerns) and is currently in her 80s part of a Ukulele orchestra. My sister despite being completely and utterly tone-deaf expressed an interest in learning the piano and was duly sent off for lessons with the local teacher, and even managed to pass all her grades up to the point where her lack of being able to distinguish between notes or actually sing any of them with any accuracy prevented her from progressing any further. I can't really remember much music being played in the house. We did have a very old radiogram and my parents had a selection of classical and ragtime (my Dads) records but as far as I recall they were only played on rare occasions.

Apparently when I was young I had a pretty good singing voice, but TBH I don't recall having much interest in music of any kind. My parents dragged me along to various classical concerts where I can remember being bored rigid. All of that changed when I went away to Scout camp in the summer of 1971 where Radio 1 was on all day every day, and I came home infatuated with the music of T Rex and Slade. I also had the vague idea that I might want to learn to play the guitar. My parents were mostly horrified that I had taken an interest in "popular music" and did everything they could to discourage me. The only radio in the house was the radiogram in the lounge and I was only allowed to listen to it when no-one else was in the room. I was also seriously discouraged from buying any records of my own as it was "a waste of money", not discounting the fact that buying even a Single at that time was at least a couple of week's worth of pocket money.

The following year when I went to the "big" school I was offered the opportunity to learn a musical instrument (and consequently join the school orchestra). For some reason I decided that I would like to learn the trombone. My one lesson consisted of being asked the try one, to see how far I could push out the slide and when because of my size I wasn't able to reach to the full extent, I was told that there was no point going any further. No alternative instruments more suitable for someone of my size and age were offered or suggested. So as far as the school was concerned that was that.

However a couple of my school friends had discovered that there was a children's folk guitar evening class at one of the other local schools, and so I pestered my parents to let me go until they relented. Therefore aged 13, and armed with my Dad's all but unplayable steel strung £15 catalogue guitar off I went. For the first year I could barely play anything. Whether it was the unfeasibility high action and cheese wire strings on the guitar or the fact that I was only able to attend if I had already completed all my homework for the evening I don't know, but I suspect neither helped. I knew lots of chords but could barely hold any of them down on the guitar and certainly couldn't change between any fast enough to play a song. Not a brilliant start. Folk guitar was deemed acceptable by my parents so I was given some encouragement, but school work always had to come first, so I didn't have much time left over for practice, and it was always on my own and out of earshot of the rest of the family.

Then suddenly over the summer holidays something finally clicked and I went from being able to play nothing to being able to play everything that we'd been taught during the previous year. I'd also managed to master some of the simpler finger-picking patterns. Armed with this new-found skill I persuaded my parents to buy me a better guitar of my own for my 14th birthday. While we were in the music shop I did suggest an electric but that idea was quickly shut down (because it wasn't a "proper" instrument). I ended up with a £25 Kimbara acoustic, and copies of "The Beatles Complete" and "Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits" music books. And that was pretty much it as far as support from my family went.

The following year I sold all my model railway stuff, and with the proceeds bought a 10W practice amp and a pickup for my acoustic guitar. I didn't have enough for both an amp and even the cheapest second hand Woolies Special electric guitar, so it was either just a guitar or an amp and pickup, and I could't see the point in buying an electric guitar without an amp to go with it. My parents were not impressed and I was forbidden to spend any more money on "that awful pop music". It was then that I discovered that not having a decent (loud) amp or a proper electric guitar meant that none of the bands I wanted to audition for would take me seriously. Instead I formed a band with some other people from my year at school and we made recordings of our own quirky songs - mostly due to our quirky music equipment (no proper drum kit and we only had bass if we were able to borrow one).

I got around the electric guitar problem by building my own during the 6th form in the woodwork shop at school (it was a lot easier to hide a pickup or machine heads that I just bought from my parents than a whole guitar) and bringing the finished instrument home on my last day of school as a fait accompli when I knew I was off to university in the autumn and really didn't care what my parents thought any more. After that developing my interest in music was a lot easier when I was away from home and had proper money of my own to spend. I do think that my parent's complete discouragement of my chosen musical path set me back a lot. I didn't play my first proper gig until I was almost 21 years old, and until I had major record label interest in my band the following year I was always vaguely unsure of my musical abilities. I'm sure that if I had picked a "proper" musical instrument to learn and joined the school orchestra there would have been plenty of help and encouragement, after all my sister who had zero musical ability got plenty when she wanted to learn the piano. I'm also sure that those of you on here who weren't around in the 60s and 70s will find my parent's attitude hard to imagine, but for me and most of my friends it was the norm.

Ultimately though, if I hadn't had to battle so hard to be able to play the music and instrument(s) that I wanted to when I was young, there's a good chance that I would have given it all up long ago and wouldn't still be playing in a regularly gigging band in my 50s.

[TrevorR]

Neither parent did nor my eldest sister sang or played music but all three of my brothers played to one extent or another. However, Mum and Dad were always really supportive. Eldest bro became a music teacher, next bro up from me did cover band stuff and it was watching the bassist in his band and his Ricky that made me want to take up bass in the first place.

I also did a lot of singing in various sorts of choirs - school, church, gospel (plus a few years f piano lessons - which I hated and foolishly dumped age 11). So I guess that's how I got started.

[EliasMooseblaster]

I probably owe a debt of gratitude to my sister, and to a certain amount of serendipity.

The Mooseblaster family have not, historically, been musical. On my mother's side, Grandpa Molestrangler played the guitar and was briefly a member of some sort of band. Sadly he passed away before I was born, though his acoustic guitar is still in the family, and is utterly terrible. On my father's side, one of his siblings briefly played the trumpet. I can't remember which of my grandmothers had a few piano lessons before the teacher told her mother, "I think it would be better for your wallet and my sanity if [name] didn't have any more lessons."

That said, both my parents always enjoyed listening to music, so when my sister expressed an interest in learning the piano, they expressed a great deal of vicarious enthusiasm, and presumably hoped that she would get the musical education they weren't able to have when they were her age. After the first couple of months, she had to be badgered to practice (like most young children) but did, to be fair, make it all the way through the grades. It probably didn't help having a teacher who didn't appreciate that, whilst the work of JS Bach is technically fascinating to somebody who has spent their entire adult life teaching piano technique and music theory, it is terrifically boring to most children.

Of course these things don't happen in isolation - after the piano appeared at home, I began to noodle around on it cluelessly until my folks found a teacher for me as well. Fortunately for me, I ended up with a jazz enthusiast, who encouraged me to listen to [i]Kind of Blue [/i]and taught me how to improvise. I think it's fair to say I enjoyed my piano lessons more than my sister enjoyed hers; I still wonder, however whether I would have taken this first step if she hadn't instigated the piano coming into the house in the first place!

Edited September 30, 2016 by EliasMooseblaster

[Geek99]

My mum can pick out a tune on any instrument so I guess that's talent of a kind. My father had no discernible talent of any kind.

I had to buy everything myself and teach myself everything, just determined I suppose. The first time a crowd went wild made it all worthwhile

Edited September 30, 2016 by Geek99

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1475234057' post='3144229']
None of those really apply to my situation, or in a way bits of all of them do.

Let me explain - this might be quite a long post...

[/quote]

Long, yes, but well worth the read.

[alyctes]

My dad played double bass, and (folk/singalong) guitar a bit. Mum played piano, never really had the chance to do much with it (kids and a job and a different generation); now she plays harp.
I played cello as a youngster; quit when I was 17, school trouble and never picked it back up.
My sisters played violin/viola and cello. I don't think either of them plays at the moment.

But the idea of electric instruments? Not on the radar, not even vaguely.

[LayDownThaFunk]

No. I don't.