List Day: Pragmatic Musical Instrument Selection

• In elementary school, I chose to play the trumpet because it was easy to carry, had all of the melodies, and didn't involve depletable accessories like reeds. Plus, it had a smaller section: does anyone really want to compete with 20 other kids just to play a clarinet or violin solo?


• I stopped playing the trumpet because you lose your tone quality every time you go for more than a week without practice, which means that there's always a rebuilding period when you want to start again.


• I briefly tried playing the guitar around 2005, but stopped after it exacerbated the typing pain in my left hand, which originally stemmed from writing code at $10 per line and/or mashing WASD in computer games.


• I briefly practiced jazz piano because I am incapable of playing separate rhythms with the right and left hand simultaneously, and jazz harmonizing is more of a cerebral chord-tracing activity than a need to perform a fugue.


• I would never be a drummer because there are too many bits to pack up and transport everywhere. Seasonal church timpanists must hate life -- all of that bulk for one pitch, and there's no way they could rewrite the Honda Fit commercial to fit a timpani next to that surfboard.


• I considered learning the accordion, but they're too expensive for a hobby that would likely last two months.


• I also thought about violin, but it seems like one of those instruments where I would permanently pick up a bunch of bad habits without starting from the beginning under the watchful eye of a teacher.


• Based upon all of these lessons, I am currently learning the bass guitar. My dad had a spare, it involves playing a single note at a time, I can learn it on my own, at my own pace, and a plucked string will still sound the same if I don't practice for a week.

Question Time: What was your "primary" instrument throughout the years, and why did you chose it or stay with it?