Wondering out aloud-how many will atest to playing more instruments-guitar, fiddle, whistle, pipes, hammered dulcimer, bohran. In my case, fiddle, guitar, and pipes ( BUT NOT THE MASTER OF ANY!!)
The reason I ask, my thinking is is that playing anoither instrument is akin to speaking/learning another language-(how many R&R lead singers play lead rock guitar, for instance)… so how many are fluent???
I gave up seriously playing the hammered dulcimer about 2 years after I started playing pipes. I plunked around on them until 3 mos ago (now over 6 years into piping) until I took them off the stand…now they rest in peace. (No E sez WhoHoooo!) I also gave up playing the rather annoying thing we call a tin whistle. I have 2 really great HD’s and several nice whistles if anybody wants to buy them!
I will likely one day travel down the road with Northumbrian smallpipes for the fun of it but do not anticipate that I will work as hard to become proficient on that instrument…I’ll just learn to play the simple yet lovely airs and a few of the nice hornpipes of Northumberland…mainly to add variety…but, as it is, I play Northumbrian tunes on Uilleann pipes so I’m not sure why I want to bother???
I’ve had my fling with guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, bass, flute, whistle, Northumbrian smallpipes, Scottish smallpipes, Border pipes and Uilleann pipes.
I gave away the mandolins, loaned out the bass and sold the banjo in order to acquire the down payment for the Uilleann pipes ( one of my better decisions in life 
). I rarely play anything except the Uilleann pipes and the whistle these days - and the whistle has become just a convenient way to get a tune into my head quickly.
Glands: You are right! I think Northumbrian pipe tunes sound great on Uilleann pipes. Now, if only Irish tunes sounded as convincingly good on Northumbrian smallpipes …
If I had known I was string impaired as a youngster, I might could actually play the pipes today. I wasted many years on guitar but never satisfied myself with my playing of it.
I still consider the tin whistle my main instrument (I play it more than anything else in the band), the pipes next, then low D whistle. I play bones and also the bodhran when our percussionist can’t make a gig.
Our bouzouki player (ex rock band, still teaches rock guitar along with classical, bluegrass and old-time and one Irish DADGAD student) throws in the odd rock or bluegrass lick on it occasionally.
My older brothers are string and keyboard wizards. I went the brass direction primarily to escape them. Turns out they had as little ability for wind instruments as I did for strings. Long road of trumpet, F-horn(emphasis on F), mellophone, flute, tinwhistle(at age 16) then on to the sad sick world of piping at 17: GHP, SSP, UP. I’d still play trumpet, but no one plays hot jazz and strip clubs don’t have pit bands anymore. 
Here’s my list of instruments that on which I’ve performed professionally:
Silver flute
Baroque and renaissance recorders
Hammer dulcimer
Octave mandolin/tenor banjo
Pennywhistle
Irish Flute
DADGAD Guitar
Uilleann pipes
Grew up in a family where most of my relatives were either classical violinists or pianists… Still its strange to me that through whatever circumstances, I, a full-blooded Russian Jew, ended up playing the Uilleann pipes…
Cheers,
Michael
Let’s see, instruments i play. Some better than others. I’ve performed on these ones, anyway:
whistle
flute
recorder
uilleann pipes
scottish small pipes
cornemuse du centre
willow (overtone) flute*
didgeridoo
mandolin
cittern
(also direct cousins of these, like mandola, banjo-mandolin and waldzither)
jew’s harp
bodhran
bones
“Master of none” here, too. I’m sure i could become a pretty good piper if i’d stick to it, but life’s too short to specialize. Every time i hear a really neat-sounding instrument, i fall in love all over again, and decide i have to be able to make that sound. If i had to pick one, it’d probably be the pipes, but i’m glad i don’t have to choose. 
It’s also my belief that learning any new instrument will reinforce the old ones, not limit them. Playing the same tune on a 2-octave wind instrument vs. a 4-course stringed instrument really gets you thinking in different ways, and different settings and variations make themselves known easier.
Be seeing you,
eric.
Speaking of overtones, I forgot jaw harp(accoustic techno) and lots of experiments with Tuva throat singing(invisible didgeridoo). Bodhran also but it was only once and I was really drunk…I swear.
Marc
By instruments you can play, do you mean get a tune out of or get many tunes out of?
If you mean the latter i play fiddle, clarinet, whistle and the uilleann pipes almost in the first category!!
Dan
Many years on electric guitar, then more on acoustic guitar (I count them separately as they are played so differently), bass guitar, a few years playing piano and keyboards, a couple of years on fiddle, and then into this totally bizarre world of UPs. No other pipes attract me (I find most smallpipes sound comical).
I would like to get back into fiddling a bit as I enjoyed the sound, though I found the physical movements counter-intuitive. As others have mentioned, whistle is handy, but I don’t consider myself proficient on this instrument, or on flute (too many years as a heavy smoker).
I don’t give a s**t about the snide remarks regarding bodhrán. I like it, but am too spastic to play it well. Still, nothing puts a kick into the music like that underlying whump of a deep-voiced bodhrán.
djm
What I have played well; trombone, upright bass, bodhran, and shakuhachi. I have played violin (poorly), concertina (only for fun), mandolin (stopped cause I got tired of the pain in my fingers), and tin whistles (too shrill for my taste.) Now I am learning the UP and I love it. I just got a practice set together, just this week, thanks to a kind soul for loaning me a chanter, and Kirk Lynch for making me a bellows and bag set. Now I am getting to the business of learning a new language. (Good analogy)
I find the subject of musical heritage pretty interesting in relation to this topic. I imagine most of us came from families where at least one person played a musical instrument. My dad plays tympani and traps, my mom plays cello, and my brother plays cello and electric bass.
The reason I bring this up is because of the contrast between my family members and me. They all concentrated on one or two related instruments, but I’m a singer and I play recorder and Bulgarian bagpipe, and I’m learning uilleann pipes. I’ve also dabbled in guitar, didjeridu, jew’s harp, throat singing, whistle, bones, and probably a few other instruments I’m not thinking of at the moment. I also used to be quite good on boehm flute (alas, neglect while learning recorder did in my flute skills).
But if I had it to do all over again I would play some sort of bagpipe from the start. I just think it’s the coolest type of instrument, with UP being perhaps the coolest of all bagpipes. But if I were rich I’d get one of every kind of bagpipe I could find. I’d be as cool or cooler than Sean Folsom
-David
-Not a piper & may never be, but messed about with instruments for decades-guitars, banjo, mando, viola, fiddle, flute, accordion & family piano. No virtuoso on any, but decent on guitar due to the triumph of tenacity over talent.
-Never could make sense of piano-am even more astounded by good piano than by good piping, though both are inspirational.
-Once got free lunch & unlimited beer in a cafe run by a homesick Russian in exchange for mando tunes. It was a good deal until the beer/music ratio tipped in favor of the former to detriment of the latter.
I’ve been doing the piano thing ever since I started lessons at 5. I’d thought about getting some sort of degree in it, but I want to keep it something that I do on my own - as a hobby for myself I guess.
I’ve picked up a few others in the meanwhile (I think it gets easier picking up ANY instrument the more you practice on another.) But right now I’m really having a good time with the Native American flute. I’ve played it long enough now that I just started making my own. There is nothing like MAKING your instrument to really get you to appreciate it IMHO!
I did a sculpture based on piano keys awhile back, and it’s crazy how something that looks SO simple has such insanely intricate design and measurements. Honestly I made alot of firewood before I finally got one octave of keys to come out fitting together right…
-Joey
I agree with Brian. I’ve listened to a few amazing classical pianists in person and it’s…well…AMAZING. Hearing a perfectly timed run of 32 notes in both hands simultaneously is one of coolest things in the world, IMHO.
Joey
so far..
i play recoder, harmonica, and ocarina by ear.. usually playing korean children’s tunes (in korea we used to call them “children’s tunes” becuase they were sang by k-12 kids). i occationally play them for my kid. play highland bagpipes.. tried piano, trumpet, some string instruments, and drum. never really got any where with them. highland pipes has been my main instrument for last 20 years. really want to play UP.. but, i’m having second thoughts.. but still want to learn UP. just ordered whistle. thinking about flute.. since the fingering from what i hear is same between whistle and flute.. and while i still think about UP, i could learn some irish tunes other than jigs and hornpipes that i used to play on the GHB.
peter kim
with varying degrees of proficiency, UP, tinwhistle/lowwhistle (of course), bodhrán, violin, mandolin, harp (and I build these, too), piano, concertina, trumpet, guitar (under duress)
Once i get the guitar under my belt to my satisfaction, I have a flute laying around.
My brother is a composer (junior in college), and plays:
trumpet, trombone, french horn, flute/piccolo, clarinet, oboe, violin, cello, piano, bass, guitar, pan flute, tinwhistle, tympani, alto sax, tenor sax, bassoon, harp, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet (4 valve), baritone sax, vibraphone, zylophone, and a number of one-of-a-kind microtonal instruments designed by Harry Partch for NewBand at Montclair State University.
And with all that, he won’t TOUCH the uilleann pipes!
lol
Hi all;
First off, noone in my family plays any kind of instrument at all. One of my great aunts owned a pump-organ, but that’s about it.
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to play acoustic guitar (mostly bluegrassy stuff), fiddled about with pennywhistle, celtic flute, bodhran and bones and low whistle.
I’ve been paid to play djembe (Mande hand drum) and the set of bass drums that are usually played with djembe (kenkeni, sangban and dunumba, from highest pitch to lowest), krin (log drum) and tama (talking drum held under one arm and struck with a stick and your free hand), aslatoi or Kashaka. Essentially simple toys but difficult to describe so here’s a website to look at http://kashaka.com/home.html
I also play around with digeredoo and berimbau, and recently I’ve gotten my hands on an mbira dva vadizmu
http://shc.stanford.edu/shc/2001-2002/mbirasched.html which is a lovely lovely instrument but it’s ripping my thumbs to peices and taking up way too much of my time. Oh, hey, one of the tracks on Keenan’s The Long Grazing Acre starts off with an mbira. I don’t remember which one, but there you have it if you’re interested. Which brings me to the UPs, which I doubt very much I’ll ever master. I’d like to journeyman them someday, though.
That’s my list of instruments. Needless to say, I am master of none and a gawky, pimply apprentice on most of them. I agree with Eric that playing lots of different instruments can make you a better player overall-- at least I hope that’s the way it works-- but the three that I practice are djembe, mbira and UPs.
Mark
I am a Newbie at Uilleann Pipes but have play Highland Pipes for 18 years, Piano and keyboards about 27 years, guitars 7 years. dabled in flute as a little boy but don’t recall much of anything there, so that doesn’t count.
My parents do not play any istruments, tried but gave up. But my kids seems to have inherited a musical ability. My wife actually asked me to drum on her tummy when she was pregnant with our first because she has absolutely no rythum, I think it actually goes into the negative scale, she can’t even clap in time, it is amazing. She is very intelligent though.
The interesting thing is this comparison to different language, and also the issue of playing the same piece of music on very different instruments.
The list of what I have played is quite long, and started with the piano. I believe that there is a limit to how many instruments one can be ACTIVELY HIGHLY PROFICIENT with at one time. I believe my limit to be two.
For most of my life the two have been bass and saxophone. But when I started studying bass in college, the sxaophone drifted away and I automatically filled in the empty space with the upright bass. I found that at the level of my study, there were profound difference in how I would approach the very same piece of music just between upright bass and electric bass. The fact that I have always played many-stringed electrics added to this. My cutsom built 7-String should be here by the weekend (months late, BTW).
I find that it really enriches both instruments when you compare your own self on each. I hope that I can soon get a set of pipes and examine the way they will enrich my bass playing and vice versa.
Tumble-Tumble