January 19th, 2014 - How to play the spoons

I have very musically inclined friends.  I've already learned the nose flute and the violin this month, and I've had several offers of piano lessons from others that I decided not to include in this project.  I have friends that have performed at Carnegie Hall, and I have friends that tour cross country.

The closest that I have gotten to Rock God status is a flawless performance of "Freebird" on Medium on Guitar Hero II.

So today, to add to my musical repertoire, I asked Wes Forbus to show me how to play another instrument.  His band, The Menders, have been tearing up the local music scene in Charlotte, and have even been featured on the new independent web series, Eat Men Like Air.  If you're in the area, check 'em out!

Wes plays a variety of instruments, but today he showed me something a little folksier than what he usually includes in Menders sets.  Today, Wes showed me how to play the spoons.

It's just that simple.  Of course, a healthy dose of rhythm is required, and I think that I used all of mine up during the course of this lesson.

This lesson does beg the question:  if spoons sound like this...what do sporks sound like?



Other things I learned/looked up:

1) Playing the spoons actually has it's origins in Celtic music.  Celtic musicians would use animals bones to create clacking percussion sounds (thanks for the info, Wes!)  Luckily for me and for this lesson, spoons were eventually used as a substitute.