My mother chose piano for me when I was five. When I was 11 she decided I should learn guitar so I'd be able to play a "portable instrument". She was digusted when the teacher started me on folk music rather than classical, and discontinued the lessons. When I was 13, after watching the John Campbell Show and The Smothers Brothers Show, I turned down the sound on The Carol Burnett Show during one of its musical numbers, got the guitar, and started working out the chords for myself.

I learned banjo because a couple of friends said I should. I picked up concertina because of The Boys of the Lough and Alistair Anderson. I picked up autoharp because of Mike Seeger.

In between I tried fiddle (utter failure), mountain dulcimer (love it, but it's easier to retune a guitar), bamboo flutes (can't sing with them, and replaceable by concertina), and no, I do not want to experiment with anything more no matter how often you show me a shruti box knowing I love drones.

wg