Can Billie Eilish Play Any Instruments?
Billie Eilish is one of the world’s most prolific musical sensations, screaming into success from a young age. How deep does her ability truly run?
Billie Eilish certainly can play musical instruments – several, in fact. While her success has come from her vocalistic skills, she has also been known to play piano, ukulele and guitar.
Read on to learn more about Billie Eilish’s skills with musical instruments.
A Musician From Birth
Billie Eilish was born into a musical family, with the biggest influence coming from her singer-songwriter mother, Maggie Baird.
She actively encouraged Billie and her brother Finneas to pursue their love for music at a young age, opting for homeschooling to ensure they had adequate time to develop their artistic skills.
Her brother, Finneas O’Connell, is adept at several instruments (more so than Billie) and often provided insight and assistance to Billie as she was growing into her musical form. He has been known to play drums, guitar, bass and piano at an accomplished level, something which undoubtedly left an impression on Billie from a very young age.
In an interview, Finneas explained how his and Billie’s parents played piano and guitar, and how he talked his father into teaching him a pop song on piano (against his learning thus far). This spawned a love for the style in him which he rolled with and continued learning.
As a child, Billie sang in the Los Angeles Children’s Choir, something that actively enabled her to develop her vocal skills. She quickly blossomed however, and began writing music at the young age of just eleven years old. It was likely around this time she began playing musical instruments to supplement her already-impressive voice.
Not Afraid To Play
There are plenty of examples and instances online wherein Billie Eilish can be seen playing musical instruments. In a lesser-known example, Eilish was on stage at a show in Orlando, playing a beautiful and rather melancholy piece on a small piano.
In another setting, Eilish took her place as a guest on Carpool Karaoke with James Corden, providing the users with a glimpse of her ukulele skills as she both played and sung a tune at the same time.
The year before that in 2018, Eilish covered the popular pop hits Hotline Bling and Party Favor while playing – once again – her trusty ukulele.
You can see the full video of this performance here.
Onwards To Development
When it comes to the documentation of everything she has used over the last few years, Equipboard has a fantastic breakdown. This chart shows how her equipment has developed over time, and how it continues to do so.
This awesome resource details everything from the microphones and studio monitors, to the specific ukuleles and pianos or keyboards used.
It’s safe to assume that Billie Eilish would look to expand her repertoire as years go on, particularly as she is still very young. There is every opportunity for her to learn how to play more instruments, especially as her brother is so skilled in their usage.
While her music tends to be of the pop genre and produced primarily through electronic means, there is still plenty of opportunity for Billie Eilish to pick up a guitar or sit at a piano to change up the pace of her productions.
In a general sense, Billie Eilish is a musical prodigy, and her limited knowledge of instruments isn’t likely to slow her down any time soon. She entered the scene at just fifteen years of age, carving out a name for herself with her brother and finding a spot in her niche in an extremely short time.
While she might not be a whiz on guitar or a killer drum player, there’s no doubt that Billie Eilish will be around the music industry for a very long time to come.
ncG1vNJzZmiblaGyo63NrK6eqqNjsLC5jpyYp2WSnrmttcRmnKKkmai1brzLmrBmmZ6ueqq60q2prqWVo8G0ew%3D%3D