Folk music is what I have always played. Singing is what I've always done. I learned to play the five-string banjo when I was in high school and devoted to Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. Towards the end of school, I discovered girls liked the guitar much better, so I picked that up too, along with a harmonica around my neck. In the 1990s I made a living in an Irish pub band and added tin whistle and bodhran. Tenor banjo seemed like the thing to play when I joined a jug band ten years ago. But, for years, I always wanted to play the concertina. It wasn't until last year I realized there was more than one system. After watching lots of youtube videos, listening to recordings and reading pages and pages of information online, I settled on the Hayden system. I've had an Elise since April 2010 and I couldn't be more happy. It really fits me. It's almost never in the case. I can't keep my hands off it. I've already started saving for an upgrade, which will have to come sooner than later. The Elise is not made to last forever.
To recap, my instruments, in order of how much I play and/or perform with them are as follows...
1. Guitar
2. Tenor Banjo
3. Harmonica
3.5 Hayden Elise
4. Five-string banjo
5. Tin Whistle
Singing goes without saying.