I've always thought of the human voice as another instrument. I can't remember a time when I didn't sing. In fact, I come from a long line of singers. Later on, in high school, I started going to choir practice with my parents every Wednesday night. Started piano lessons about the age of ten. That was my idea, not Mom's. Lost insrpiration about the time I started playing guitar. Began guitar Christmas Day, 1969. By the time the pumpkin pie was served, I had Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" down pat in the key of A.Left home for college at age 18, finally settled on a major in music, and voice seemed like the best thing, since I had let my piano slide, and they didn't have a guitar studies program at my school. A little later, I heard this guy playing frailing style banjo. I thought that was pretty interesting sounding. I remember thinking one evening as I heard him play "If ever I decide to learn to play the banjo, I think I'd like to learn to play like he does." Some years later, in the early '80s, I had this bar gig every Saturday night. I was doing OK with the crowd, but I felt that my act need a little spicing up. That's when I decided to take up banjo. Clawhammer seemed like the perfect style for the soloist. Then, word got around, and I met a fiddler who was into Old-Time music, and I learned a bunch of the tunes he played. Eventually I thought to myself, "Since I know all of this guy's repertoire on banjo, I may as well learn them on the instrument they were made for." So I took up the fiddle. Been playing fiddle since the early '80s.
Messed around with recorder some, pennywhistle some. However I never got very good at them. Lost some interest and only take out the recorder about every Christmas time to play a few carols with a friend of two.
The most recent instrument I have taken up is an 18th century parlor instrument called the English Guittar[sic]. It is a sort of cross between a lute and a cittern. Tons of fun to play, easier than just about anything else. And practically no one has one. Rather than take up a bunch of space here, you can read about the English Guittar here