I'll give my full story then. I started out as a guitar player. I took some rec center courses in elementary school. I then got private lessons (mostly classical which was silly, I should have told my parents and the instructor I really wanted to play folk and rock). I did one book of accordion lessons (family instrument) and some trumpet (definitely not my instrument). The family had a piano but that was really my sister's forte. When there was a local music store with electronic organs (Lowery mostly) I lobbied hard for one and we got one. I did the self-paced instruction on that. I remembered back then I had a hell of a memory. I had a good amount of the Rogers and Hammerstein scores committed to memory at the age of 14 (wish I could remember that well now).
Anyhow, at college, there were lots of piano practice rooms available so I just used to go in there and noodle around until I could get my own synthesizers and piano. Still, I fall back a lot reading the guitar chords and faking the left hand.
I always just played for my own amusement and a few friends who would tolerate me. After I was married, my wife wanted to sing a song at church and since she was used to me playing for her in practice, she had me do so at church. That garnered me the backup-to-the-backup-to the-backup service musician. I played the organ at a memorial service and a couple of others.
A few years ago a couple of guys I knew with a local and played a party in our neighborhood and twisted my arm to play a song with them. We went to see them at a local bar and when they went on break they pushed me to play. Other than the couple of times at church, it's the only time I played in public.
I do enjoy blowing through a bunch of Christmas songs during the season. I play all sorts of things from broadway songs to Harry Stewart (if you saw the Charlie Sheen movie Cadence, he's the black guy who plays the piano there, that's the song I play). Again, it's just timewasting for me.
