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've been fortunate to have my son and his and our musician friends to perform and practice at our house.I know exactly what many instruments sound like.I have some recordings of a few sessions that I like to play when deciding to keep a new component or not.
My assumption has always been that the percentage of people who play/played musical instruments and who are also audiophiles is a good deal higher than the percentage of instrument players in the general population.  The one thing naturally leads to the other.  Though it must be said that many professional musicians notoriously have highly deficient audio systems (I know there are exceptions).
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