Amen to that Dave!!!

God Bless,
Don

Started accordion lessons at the age of 13 yrs ... my teacher was very fond of classical music and the studio accordion orchestra played classical music in recitals and competitions - Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Rossini, Mussorgsky, et al ... each of us played one of the parts of the symphony orchestra ... we even played in Carnegie Hall !!! ...
This formed a great foundation, not only for my playing but for the appreciation of music in general ... heck, I even really like Country ...
Switched to Fender Rhodes in the early 70's when my uncle - who played classical piano - gave me the one he bought and it did not fit his needs ... Worked a lot on my own and then took piano lessons for about a year before moving to RI ... with the move to RI, I lost the 'security blanket' I had from playing with the same guys in a band for 26 years in NY ... I did not 'play out' for several years ... I finally started to play some solo gigs and then went to a piano teacher I had heard playing in a club ... I told him I did not have time to study scales, etc. but just wanted to learn better chord voicings and fills to back up my vocals ...long story short, he showed me in his own way that I NEEDED to study scales, etc. ... I studied with him for about a year and a half when I started to develop tendonitis in my lift arm ... that's about when I stopped playing piano and started playing KBs ...

Never had any vocal lessons, although Col has me thinking about it ...

Interesting post, Mark ... thanks ...

No formal lessons, but I learned something from every good player I've ever listened to...and learned what not to do from a lot of bad players.

Russ

Sums it up pretty good, Russ. That method has kept me in biz since 1959. Ain't nothin' gonna change now.

I was very, very fortunate in that I was always able to sing with a quality voice. However, vocal lessons at the local community college made me a much better singer, and I would highly recommend anyone that is seriously considering becoming an entertainer to look into taking singing lessons. It makes a HUGE difference.

As for the playing, I'm NOT a musician by any stretch of the imagination. Yeah, I can play, but I'm mediocre at best and freely admit to my transgressions. And, I did take piano lessons, but I was only 5 or 6 years old, and the teacher gave my parents their money back after 6 months. She said I would never learn to play. I guess I fooled her!

Gary