Why Don't More People Into Music Reproduction At Home Play Around With Musical Instruments


 In the pursuit of music reproduction in the home it is my firm belief that you must listen to live music every now & again so that you know & understand how real music,with real instruments,in real physical spaces sounds...
 With that as a foundation I used in judging equipment's "voice" I also believe that playing around with a musical instrument is an excellent way to gain first hand experience with musical sound...EVERY person that reads this can learn a few musical notes,on ANY musical instrument on the planet..For instance I play around with electric guitar.NO I can NOT play,but I can play the notes EFG,on first string & BCD on the second string...Now  I know those few notes & easily recognize them in any song..I am just this coming week going to start playing around with an electric keyboard....So I wonder,why don't more audiophiles simply play around with real instruments as part of their pursuit of honest reproduction in the home?Surely the education in reality is worth the $100.00 it takes to get an entry level guitar,keyboard,horn etc...
freediver
I play classical piano, harmonica, song and have electronic keyboards for other instruments. As stated above, playing an instrument is hard. Playing an instrument very well is very hard. Some talent and hours of practice. Listening to music is easy. I’m no longer surprised that musicians rarely invest in and listen to fine audio systems. Fine instruments can cost less and they spend time playing instead of just listening. Here’s to fellow audiophiles who also play!
One of the coolest CES shows, I evers attended, had a "LIVE" show, that was recorded, then played back to the same audience. The owner of the speaker company, was in the band... He never followed the rules, compared, to other speaker manufacturers. Pretty good percussion guy in an little Jazz Band. James B. from Ampzilla, stood in on Keyboards.

Me I tinker with everything from my mothers 130 year old upright piano, 3 different types of guitars, one really nice classical, they were fun to tinker with. I love flamingo... I gave up all the congas and hand strikers, years back, I still like pans and xylophones... It’s fun. I don’t have the wind any more, but I could tear up a mouth harp, with some pretty good blues. ALL the instruments, were gifts, I've never even bought a guitar string..

LOL I never learned to read music, BUT.. I could keep up... The sheet music was there so WE could remember the words..when we would sing a little backup, at the OLD family get togethers. 1960-80s

I was really into bagpipes, when I was in my 20s and 30s..My uncle taught me. He couldn't read a note. That was cool, too. He was GOOD..

Regards
I'm addicted to both playing musical instruments and listening to good audio, but despite the fact that both obsessions have to do with the love of music, society considers them very different beasts.  A lot of society thinks of audiophilia as nothing more than the wallet-emptying exercise of plugging a bunch of overpriced stuff together to get something they could easily get by pushing a button on their car radio.  These same gimlet-eared folks, however, will at least admit that getting good on a musical instrument does take discipline and resolve.