Ask Matt: What’s up with All Those Instruments?
In this new (and hopefully interesting) “Ask Matt” series of posts, I’m going to be answering questions from the public at large. Some of these questions might be directed to other members of the band, but I’ll still be the one answering them. Sorry.
Tonight’s question comes from Alison Kendrick, of Charlotte, NC, and hopefully answers a query from Lindsay Badeaux of Chicago, IL:
“Why do you play so many instruments? How did you learn to play them all? And when have you had time to do so?”
Thanks, Alison & Lindsay! Great question(s), and ones that I have been asked a lot, so it’s great that I’ll now be able to send people this handy URL for the answer!
The “Why” of this topic is easy to answer: I “suffer” from ADHD. I was officially diagnosed in my 30s, but of course have had it since I was little and my way of coping was to try and get my hands into as many things as possible. ADHD can be great. You’re never bored. You seem to know lots and lots of things. You can’t really become the master of anything, because focusing is extremely difficult and – ooh! Shiny! – but it makes you great at parties because you never have a lull in topics you know a tiny bit about. Side note: if anyone reading this knows of and trusts an ADHD coach, please send ‘em my way.
I can make decent noises on: the tin whistle, the recorder, the Irish flute, the accordion, harmonica, clarinet, guitar, mandolin, 5-string mandolin, ukulele, banjo, and a few others. How did I learn these instruments? Probably the easiest way for me to answer that one is to break things down by instrument.
Tin Whistle/Recorder:
I start here because the first instrument I ever played was a plastic recorder, given to all the kids in my elementary class to teach the very basics of music. You might have gotten one, too. I loved it, and was the only kid in my class that stuck with the recorder. The recorder is a flute that evolved from the tin (penny) whistle, a simple wind instrument that is tied to Ireland and Scotland. If you can play the recorder, you can make sounds on the tin whistle. I got my first tin whistle in Virginia at an “old timey shoppe” and it sat on a shelf for a long time. In college I started playing traditional Irish tunes on the whistle with my Irish roommate Christopher. I fell in love with Irish music and it’s still my go-to practice when I just want to play.
Harmonica:
My grandfather gave me a box of harmonicas one Christmas when I was around 11. It was the kind of weird gift John Frank (our name for our very tall, very austere grandfather) would give us: after all the flashy, fun toys there was one completely unwrapped thing that we were supposed to open. Usually pottery, or Russian stacking dolls, or other trinkets from he and my grandmother Honey’s trips around the world. Stuff that little kids didn’t really appreciate, in other words.
And I didn’t especially appreciate the harmonicas, to be honest. A box of harmonicas is such a strange thing to give a little kid, but I love that he didn’t just give me one. He gave me close to a dozen, in a bunch of different keys. The harmonica is a diatonic instrument, which means that you can only play a range of keys with one. If you’re in a band you need quite a few to be able to play songs in many different keys. I have about twenty accessible at any given time: major and minor tunings.
It’s normal to give a kid a harmonica in the key of C, say. They can learn how to play, see if they like it, and if so, they can buy any other key they need. But John Frank gave me a full set. It was as if he knew that I’d grow up and use all of them all the time.
Melodica:
The next year John Frank gave me a melodica that had belonged to him. It was a Hohner, but a very old one, extremely well made. Very little plastic on it…the thing had a gorgeous wood frame and Bakelite keys. It was still working (mostly) when we recorded Licorice Tea Demos, but the reeds finally gave out, and I spent a LOT of pre-internet time trying to fix it, to no avail. The new melodicas, honestly, are extremely disappointing. Cheaply made, cheaper sounding, not in tune, and they don’t last very long. As the US president says: “Sad!”.
Clarinet:
I thought that the clarinet was similar to the recorder, and I had to choose an instrument that I wanted to play in middle school. It isn’t that similar to the recorder, but the clarinet ended up being a big part of my life for many years. I know now that it was just a “gateway instrument” to the rest of my life; playing it allowed me to get on stage and perform. I was accepted into art school for clarinet. I don’t think I was ever really in love with it, and never miss playing it, but I’m grateful to it for setting me on a very interesting life path. And I still get psyched when I hear a recording of Mozart K622. That adagio is sweet as hell!
Accordion:
I asked to have piano lessons when I was small. It looked fun to me. I had a great teacher until she moved away and then I had a sexy but unpleasant teacher that replaced her and I stopped taking piano. My left hand is shit but you don’t really need a good left hand when playing piano accordion. Note to people that want to play the accordion but are scared of the left-hand bass buttons: don’t worry about ‘em. Find a bass player instead and get on with your life.
The first accordion I bought was during the making of the Licorice Tea Demos, and I bought one because my grandfather’s melodica was falling apart (see above). Buying accordions can be a sickness; I have owned a total of four in my time and they’re really hard to give away. Would anyone like to buy an accordion?
Mandolin:
Jay and Ward played guitar. I wanted something to play that would allow me to “jump around” and “rock out”. They didn’t want to have another guitar in the band, so I picked up a mandolin. Of all the instruments I have learned, this was the toughest, because I had no concept of stringed instruments. But you work through it. Later I commissioned a fellow in the depths of South Carolina to build me a custom electric mandolin with five strings (hot pink, SG style) and I still love that abomination. People always wonder what The Abomination is. Based on the way it’s tuned, I suppose you should rightly call it “an electric piccolo cittern”.
You may notice some patterns forming. Playing an instrument is like learning languages. If you learn one, fine. Learn two pretty well, and the third one is easier to pick up. Four, five, six…they’re all variations on a theme.
My love of playing the recorder led to picking up the tin whistle easily. Clarinet isn’t that similar, but once I learned how to play it, I was able to play other reed instruments like the saxophone and oboe. Taking piano let me be competent enough on the melodica, and the accordion is basically a melodica that you don’t blow into. The harmonica was tough. But you can fit one in your pocket and I had a whole box of them lying around. The good news is that I can pick up a button accordion or concertina and get around based on what I know about the harmonica. Mandolin was also a stretch, but once I developed some calluses I’ve been able to play the banjo, guitar, and bass guitar.
The best way to learn a new instrument, especially if you have ADHD? Make it hard to ignore. Put it in a pocket, on the living room table, visible on a shelf. You’ll find that you’re practicing way more than you think, just picking it up and playing for a minute or two. A minute or two can lead to half an hour, or six. You can trick yourself into learning things! This is how I finally cracked the embouchure for the Irish flute.
That should be the “why”, “when” and “how” of your question! If you have any follow ups on this topic, or actually do know an ADHD coach, you can write me at [email protected] or [email protected].
Next question!
