Who can play musical instruments?

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How come a lot of people on the spectrum can play musical instruments so well? You have to have good eye-hand coordination to play and i thought people with asd hand poor motor-skills etc.

Also, if someone has sensory issues involving sound, such as, being hypersensitive to sound, would they be able to play on a drum kit?

My larger motor skills aren't great (I sometimes bump into corners or miss picking objects up), but I can play piano, draw, and have decent handwriting. I also have NVLD and I shouldn't be able to do things like that, but I've heard that "asymmetry" of motor skills like I have is more of an autistic trait.

I've heard the poor fine motor skills thing before too. It seems accurate enough for my son, less so for me.

My fine motor skills were assessed several years ago in a battery of tests and they were "low average". However, I have very neat handwriting, can draw well (only things I can see), and play clarinet and violin.

Being able to draw real life very well is another stereotype...which conflicts with poor motor skills.

It sounds to me like you want to play drums and want to know if it's worth it. I vote yes.

While I admit, that I tried to play in a handbell choir and had to quit due to sensory overstimulation, learning to play an instrument is well worth the effort! I think it depends on your motivation. If it's to learn to play drums--do it. If it's to connect with someone else who plays drums--maybe, but keep your options open.

Will you be learning by yourself, with an instructor, in a group, or in a band? (None of these options are bad, but it helps to make a plan that works for you.)

No, you need good ear-hand coordination. You don't look at your fingers when you play.

I can play bass and some guitar. I don't know how to read music, I learn by ear.

I play guitar fairly decently.

I've played guitar for a while and I did have ASD related issues to start with. My tutor insisted I use a pick and I HATED the pick because I could hear it scraping on the strings and to me it sounded horrible. All I could hear was scrape, scrape, scrape instead of the music. I ended up parting with my tutor and teaching myself fingerstyle methods.

I´ve been a classical guitarplayer.
After that, I played the harpsicord, byt I have returned to playing piano, which I played all along for studying reasons and I love it. I have been granted practising time in our church, where they have a wonderful grand piano. Luxury!

I'm an above average sax player, serious about it.

There's a big difference in how fast I can play notes (and very often in the right place), and my general physical and social presence, which is ungainly.

I find that being onstage is nothing like functioning in society at all, the interaction is through the music and the sound.

You have interesting aspects. I can't play any musical instrument. You must like Baroque music.

The only peace I have found in this life, better than sex, better than drugs, is bicycle guitaring. It is a meditation in motion for me, a form of yoga. I am only graceful on the bicycle, and nowadays after decades of doing this find it much more difficult to ride without a guitar than with one. Off the bicycle I am very clumsy, very poor hand eye coordination. But as an earlier poster pointed out, with music what is more important is hand EAR coordination. I play by ear and cannot read music. This is one of my original songs just recorded last week. I am getting older and do not know how much longer I will be able to continue doing this, but I hope to continue until the day I die.

Many autistics have a specific thing that they are really talented in. I've read about a lot of autistics who are really good at drawing, and the same is probably true for music.

I am not one of those people. I don't have very good fine motor skills. I can play the clarinet, but it took me a lot of practice to learn how to play, and I still am not very good.

I picked up piano when I was about 10 because the chord patterns were easy to see. I got a chord book and learned all the triads in the various keys and then I learned all their inversions. Next, I expanded to jazz and started experimenting with 7th, 9ths, 11ths, and onward and upward. I have a heavy sensitivity to sound and I believe that helped as well.

I later picked up guitar, bass, and various percussion instruments when I was playing and touring (no bands you have ever heard of). I also learned to sing back-up and harmonize. It was tough on stage (sound sensitivity) but I usually wore earplugs. If my monitor was too loud I could not play properly. My ears still ring from tinnnitus. I should have worn the earplugs more often.

I want to learn how to play the accordion but I'm afraid I'll drive my wife crazy.

I like old jazz.. and old blues...

My great uncle was a ragtime/early jazz composer.

Wow! What´s his name?