The best way to pick up girls

About 5 1/2 years ago, I sat at a table at a family reunion, imparting my wisdom to my cousin's high school-aged son. He was getting into higher level classes and had to make choices about some things, such as whether to keep playing the piano or the trumpet, both of which he was apparently very good at. I had some similar experience playing multiple instruments through school and I gave him my two cents, perhaps the wisest thing that's ever come out of my mouth:

Chicks dig guys who play the piano.

At these words, all women within 10 feet sighed, smiled, and said, "Oh, yeah" in a soft, airy voice. It didn't help that we were related to all of them.

Playing the trumpet carries with it the bank-geek stereotype that's nearly impossible to shake. I played the trombone--there were even other stereotypes piled on top of that. 14th century liturgical composers would not include trombone parts in their music because it was a given that trombone players could not get up Sunday morning after their heavy drinking Saturday night. There is still some truth to that.

Guys in the orchestra didn't fare much better, unless they were either phenomenal violinists. And playing bass in the jazz band doesn't help on the girl front a great deal, either. And don't get me started on guys who only play the guitar to pick up girls.

But the piano is an entirely different story: it's got class. Playing something either popular or moody will always bring girls to the side of the instrument, even if you had never seen them before. When I was in high school, all I had to do was start playing "My Heart Will Go On" or "Seasons of Love," and I would not only be surrounded by girls, but girls willing to sing along while fighting over the empty spaces of the piano bench next to me.

Billy Joel even said in an interview that when he was younger, he would sit at any given piano, start playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata , and then look up after a couple minutes to see several girls standing around him.

You don't even have to be very good at the piano, just play the right pieces, and the girls will follow. There must be some magic to a guy making music, the stereotype of the tortured artist (thanks, Ludwig), or that the piano can either be a solo instrument or--wink, wink--used for a duet.

Because it certainly helped these folks:

How do you think he got the girl? Playing the piano. Which was a good part in how I got mine. ;)