Musicians' thread

[Soruk]

Hey guys!

Recently started playing in a band with a couple of good friends.
I do most of the singing and lyrics, which so far has been great fun.

But I've started to feel a bit of a writers block recently.
Anyone know of some tips or good flintstone for writing?

[meatjacket]

I've got a show tonight, may post a video l8r if it goes well!

excited :-)

[bobo77]

I play bass guitar, tryna learn to play guitar this summer (and also sing lol). Any tips?

[meatjacket]

[youtube]dBAD6MXLvFI&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

not the best video/sound but you get the idea! hope u like my "unique" and "artistic" voice

[DeafIdiotGod]

I want something productive to do now my exams are over and I like playing music so I've downloaded FL Studio and I plan to learn how to make some half way decent electronic music.

Anyone here know any good tutorials?

[JewTurk]

Over the summer I followed the whole "justinguitar" beginners thing and got through the bulk of it, took a liking to the folk finger style stuff and I've just been playing with that ever since. Very fun style. Signed up for some bi-weekly lessons too, teacher knows uke/banjo/mandolin/guitar so I figure I'll probably start to explore other instruments as well.

Anyone have any good links to stuff for more finger style/folky stuff? I've just been googling/youtubing stuff and learning songs I like so far.

[meatjacket]

I just bought a delay pedal (first ever)

consider it a gateway holy shit its so much fun!

[meatjacket]

@Blastoise

I got this TOMTOP digital delay pedal. Mainly use it for my organ, but the guitar and mic are so fun too.
I plan on getting a looper, distortion and a compression pedal. Anything you recommend? I know you're good with this kind of stuff.

[JewTurk]

So all summer I tried to scrap together side money for piano lessons to kind of aid my learning with music. I definitely think it was a good move to get lessons for the piano geared towards music theory because I have a way better understanding of my other instruments now because of it. Pretty mediocre on guitar/piano but good enough to cover pop songs and jam with some people who live on my floor.

Decided to get a ukulele... Man, what a fun instrument!



Really excited to learn a bunch of Beirut songs and learn some finger style stuff along side that.

There's a really great independent music scene in Flagstaff, too. They have a TUF (The Underground Foundation) chapter, I know a handful of other colleges have them too, and they're a great community for people trying to learn. Every Saturday they have a fun little house show with 4-5 acts.

Excited to see what I learn over the course of the year! Music is such an awesome stress reliever...

[UnwashedMolasses]

Biggest recommendation for pedals based on my personal experience (I used to be a huge gearhead) is to only buy pedals when you've found yourself lacking them. I bought a lot of pedals when I was younger based on the the lists of pedals everyone should own that ended up having no relevance to the music I wanted to make. Best is to wait until you think "I want to make this sound but I can't because I don't have this pedal".

[Julio]

just thought i'd share a (somewhat) old video of one of my bands. i play drums; is what usually pays for flagrant purchases or jawnz but lately it's gone into just helping me move around and *live* without having to ask for things from my family so much, which i really like the feeling of.

[fun_yunchables]

i thrifted an akai lpk25 that i have no idea how to use properly. managed to mess around in garageband a bit with it but idk for sure

been shopping around for a new (used) axe too, but it seems like everything in the resale market here are squier strats. people who know more about guitars than me: how hard is it to install new pickups into a squier strat? worth it or just look for something else?

[Blastoise]

[Blastoise]

Picked up a Danelectro a little while back.

[hamburgerlady]

here's all the guitars i've accumulated as of late, with all the mods.
Fender Dakota Red Mustang (All Stock except for the tuners, which are Kluson's)
Fender Classic 60's Lacquer Fiesta Red Jaguar. (Mint Pickguard, Mustang Bridge, Japanese Tremolo Unit)
Fender Telecaster (Mint Pickguard, 4-way switch, Original Vintage Pick-ups, "Pat. Pend" Bridge, 3 Compensating Brass Saddles)
Fender Jazzmaster (Recently replaced the pick-ups with Seymour Duncan Antiquity II's. They're AMAZING. less harsh)

[iralanwitnuk]

[Redacted]

[meatjacket]

where should i go to help w songwriting

got some demos if u all wanna hear, open for suggestions if so

[JewTurk]

Looking at getting an electric guitar, best way to go cheap? Craigslist? Ebay? Used guitar shop?

e:

I'm leaning towards a epiphone of some kind (pri les paul std) around $300 , nothing gaudy.

[mc-lunar]

hey all

looking into buying a cassette deck for someone as a gift. is there anywhere i can check whether a certain model/manufacturer is "good"? can any casette deck be used for recording purposes?

cheers

[nick]

[hamburgerlady]

^ how do you mean?
pawn shops, guitar shops, online used pages (craigslist, ebay, reverb, facebook pages, etc...) i've found can
sometimes be great ways to find (relatively good) used gear.
also word of mouth if anyone is selling a guitar.
i think the guitar used-market is always circulating so sometimes something great pops up.

of course if you're buying online, it takes some research (in terms of quality, damages, any mods, if it's not fake, etc...).
all in all it really comes down to "feel" though, in my experience.
if you find something online, maybe going to a local music retailer that has that guitar and trying it out
first would be a good idea to see if you'd really like it.

[nick]

Yeah, not to say it can't be a good deal. Maybe it's better to word it as - it's not a guaranteed good deal, so you really need to know what you're looking for to get a good one, if that makes sense. As I said you can find awesome deals at pawn shops but they can also totally overvalue things, so don't just assume because somethings at the pawn shop its a good deal. Kinda like thrifting.
Buying from a friend, local FB group is totally a good idea though. And yeah, trying it out first is always best!

[ASTROCHIMP]

[Dingdongfootball]

Trying out to play guitar in a band for this school concert has lead to some troubling realizations about myself as a guitarist...

I've been playing for 7 years but it just feels like being a guitarist is not as important to me as it is to other people. I don't really identify as a guitarist, y'know? I guess I'd describe myself as a casual guitarist. Just something I do for fun. There's nothing wrong with that of course but it feels weird to say when I've dedicated so much time to it over the years. The other kids at this audition really seemed to derive a lot joy from playing guitar, sharing their talent with others, and showing their skills whereas I just felt kind of uncomfortable and self-conscious the whole time playing with the band. I'd rather just mess around on my own. i don't know. whatever.

[meatjacket]

coulda sworn there was bandcamp embedding

https://gildedgraveyard.bandcamp.com/tr ... l-man-demo

wrote this a while back, would love some criticism (an idea worth pursuing or no?) thanks

[JewTurk]

Been slowly teaching myself stuff over the course of the semester. Really enjoy finger style stuff. I'm wanting to learn some bossa nova and jazz now.

Think I'm going to get some formal lessons next semester to get better form/learn from someone instead of just online resources. I understand a lot of the theory, chord progressions, keys, arpeggios, and different scales but I feel like I'm really lacking in technical skill.

I covered Rodrigo Amarnte's The Ribbon below, it's a fantastic album. Love the multi-lingual aspect tbh. Pardon my terrible voice.

[Benson]

Really impressed with a lot of your stuff. This thread is moving pretty slow but I'd love to hear more of your music

Here is my stuff: https://sandalsband.bandcamp.com/

It's basically lo-fi indie pop stuff

If any of you guys live in Ontario and Quebec and wanna jam that'd be cool too

[bleeker]

I play bass in a band and we just recorded a demo! I'm pretty excited to show people.
We recorded at home with a couple of mics and pro-tools, and recorded the vocals over the tracks. It could be a little smoother but it's a just a demo so I hope you guys can still enjoy it. hopefully there will be more, better recordings to come!

[JewTurk]

Got some free piano lessons through my school's music program and I've improved my sheet-reading considerably and have a pretty confident understanding on some basic theory now. It was only an 8 week course so I've finished it but it was really cool and I can take it again whenever I want.

Got myself a cheap used semi-hollow fender thinline and an amp. I've been learning Jazz standards for a while now and I'm really enjoying it. It's such a great way to enjoy some free time. Jazz seems like such a huge field that you could study it forever and still be only acutely aware of it.

Going to try to pick up a loop pedal soon so I can comp myself but we'll see. I found one on ebay for $80 that looked pretty good for what I need.

Any recs on loop pedals just for simple accompaniment?

[UnwashedMolasses]

I just picked up a TC Electronic Ditto and it's been a joy so far. It's extremely sparse/minimal for a looper, with one knob for level and one switch. Record/Overdub/Stop/Erase are all controlled with different combinations of tapping and holding. It's missing a lot of features common on more complex loopers but I dig it for my purposes.

Boss's RC series is pretty much the industry standard as far as loopers go, so you can't go wrong there. Digitech's JamMan series is also comparable. I used to have the JamMan 2-Pedal model (I think it's been phased out since). If you're looking for the ability to store loops and create a log of them, import them onto your computer, match/set the tempo, and other non-playing features like that, you're going to want more of these style.

Final recc is to check eBay. Loopers tend to be useful tools for specific applications but not as handy as most think. This means there's pretty high turnover so you the used market is rich.

While I'm at it, I've been using www.learnjazzstandards.com as a resource for playing along to basic standard tracks for a few years now. They've also got a youtube channel, which is how I discovered them.