Friday, July 19, 2013

Friday | My Secret Skills

I guess you could say that I come from a musical family. No, not that kind of musical family where we all had music lessons as a school subject and can sight read from twenty paces. No, in fact, none of us has ever taken lessons, we've all self-taught, and only a few of us can actually sight read music. But between all of us, we have 2.5 pianists, 1.5 violinist/fiddler, two (perhaps a little rusty) flutists, five guitarists, three mandolin players, one banjo player, and one guy who can totally rock out on the spoons.

Judging by most of those instruments, it might not be hard to guess that bluegrass is a common musical theme in our family. We practically breath it in and my dad and brothers, with the recent addition of Karis on the mandolin, have formed their own unofficial bluegrass band that has actually gotten some recognition, especially in our civil war reenactment association. Forgive my shameless bragging, but ya know, family pride fairly oozes out of me! Don't judge.

And me, I play guitar and have for almost ten years. It's been more off and on in the past few years as life has gotten bigger, but when I pull out my trusty Yamaha, it's still easy for my fingers to fall back into those familiar places on the frets. I only play cords, I never had the patience to learn actual notes, but since I've only ever played for my own singing backup, it's not been a huge loss.

I'm also that .5 on the piano, but I only play by ear in certain styles so it hardly counts.

22 comments:

  1. Love the family pride, Kellie - it's meant to be spoken of. :)

    Fun post!

    Hope you are doing well and you're enjoying a great Friday! :)

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    1. My Friday was lovely - so relaxed and schedule-free and ending with a girls night with my mom and sisters while my dad and brothers are gone for the weekend civil war reenacting! :D

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  2. That's neat that your family is so musical and that you play guitar! :) I played the flute for a bit in middle school, but I've played piano since I was about six...so about 16 years now? Unfortunately I don't have much natural talent for it. I read music but can't do anything by ear. Over the past couple of years I haven't practiced much at all so I'm probably a bit rusty. :)

    ~Kristin

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    1. Yah, my guitar skills are a bit rusty, but I'm always surprised how quickly I can pick it back up again! My biggest hindrance is that I LOVE wearing my nails long and that's not exactly conducive to guitar playing! :D

      I think I tried playing the flute for like one day...but I've never been known for my ability to stick with something. It's still a huge surprise even to me that I actually stuck to guitar without any struggle!

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  3. Patrick and some of his brothers are very very good bluegrass players. ☺ If they wanted to they could have played professional. Patrick plays mandolin & guitar. The other two really good brothers play guitar and fiddle....oh and another brother plays the base really well.

    Music is a very big part in Patrick and my life.

    You will have to make a video of you singing and playing!!!!

    Iris♥

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    1. Bluegrass is such lovely music, so fun and energizing! I'm glad that there are still people who staunchly hold to it's virtues! :D My dad really wants to get a stand-up base; with that added instrument, their band would be complete!

      Eeek, as much as I love to sing, I'm more of a background vocalist! My greatest regret on the day of my creation was that I wasn't given better vocal cords, but I still sing all the time with what I've got. :D

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  4. OOO! I have always wondered if you played an instrument! :) I have ALWAYS wanted to play the guitar...jealous

    How do you make that line between your posts?

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    1. Well, Madison, I'm happy to report that picking up guitar is actually relatively easy! And I learned on a mini guitar hardly a step up from a toy, so it doesn't have to be a fancy guitar to get started!

      Shoot me an email and I'll give you the code for it! I'm assuming you mean the gray line with the peach flowery-thing in the middle?

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    2. Actually I was talking about the extended line thing in between post titles
      i.e Friday (line thingy) My Secret Skills!

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    3. I actually didn't put that in there, it was part of my template! :D

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  5. Love it, this is awesome! My dad can play the guitar and he plays by ear as well. He tried to teach me back in the day, but I could never get the hand of more than a couple chords. We also learned how to play the harmonica together! That was a lot of fun. You guys should add a harmonica player! :)

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    1. That's right...I did pick up harmonica years ago and played it for awhile, it was pretty easy if I remember. Yes, we could do with a harmonicist, that would add a nice southern twang!

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  6. That is amazing! I taught myself the piano when I was younger... but probably don't remember anything now. I want a piano in my home one day and hopefully I can pick it back up again.

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    1. I hope that you can get one!! Even though I only play some by ear, it's probably one of my favorite instruments and when I have those days that just need some kind of emotional outlet, I often vent it on the piano, although am always limited by my own lacking skills!

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  7. I wish I could play guitar! My sister taught herself and I was always a bit jealous!

    Elena
    elle-alice.blogspot.com

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  8. Bluegrass! Yes!! My bro plays in a Bluegrass band, and we love jamming as a family and with friends. Music is so wonderful!
    And family pride, that's totally acceptable;)

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    1. Booyah for bluegrass!! I really love the sound of the mandolin and I have dreams of summoning up enough sticktoit-ivity to actually sit down and learn! If only it had the same fingers as, say, the guitar. :D

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  9. I'm feeling really bad for not remembering this musical side of you--but this is totally a creative side that you don't talk much about on your blog!

    And I hope to learn to play piano, guitar, or ukelele someday. I love the idea of being able to sing while you play. That's something that's proven to be pretty hard to do with chin and shoulder rests on my viola! :)

    p.s. Pretty photos, girl! I love the feeling that the black and white gives them.

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  10. I loved the photos of the guitar!! I WISH I could play guitar...one day. I used to play viola and piano but totally lost those skills as a kid who wasn't interested at the time. Now I would LOVE to have that back. Love your blog!

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