Recorder was mandatory in third grade. Started in orchestra in sixth grade and preferred "that big one" and so started on string bass. My dad played organ in a roller rink when he was younger, so we he got one of those I picked it up from watching him play. "Everyone" wants to play guitar, so I picked that up. Hearing an old Steve Martin comedy album as a kid I heard Foggy Mountain Breakdown and decided I needed to learn to play that. Thus I started messing with the banjo later in life. Then learned that there was more to banjo than three finger. So I've been working on clawhammer also. Lap dulcimer I started playing after I made one (that was the easiest stringed instrument to build from scratch). When I became homeless the bass was too much to drag around, so I started on tin whistle. Messed with panpipes - again, when I was building them.

Still can't play any of them worth a damn. Enough to keep myself amused, but I wouldn't want to go on stage. I guess proficiency would follow if I were to ever choose one.