![]() |
|
|
Register | Netphoria's Amazon.com Link | Members List | Mark Forums Read |
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
![]() |
#181 | |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() Quote:
But as a writer (like as in pen on paper/hands on keys), all my education and practice says write and then rewrite and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite, and each time you edit you will come closer to something actually meaningful that others might want to read... and in this way, the only question is at what point do you need to let something be done vs. forever keep making it slightly better, because your ideas will never reach a maximum amount of "honing." |
|
![]() |
![]() |
#182 |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() but certainly I like the idea of something coming out the best first because it saves a lot of time. I'm not sure what I think. A paragon of my songwriting: five years ago I came up with this simple little arpeggio thing in A as an intro/outro to a song. I felt it had something naturally good about and kicked it around for half a decade, trying to write the rest of it from time to time. Last summer, the chorus part just came to me when I was in the shower. Like just popped into my head. I picked up the guitar and in an hour had written three choruses. I've been working on it a few times a week since, and have been unable to come up with anything for the verses that feels compelling. I know the chorus parts are good now, but I'm seemingly stuck until something else falls into my lap at a random time.
|
![]() |
![]() |
#183 |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() hey teh b0lly, thanks for all the advice btw
do you have any recommendations for getting better at playing with a metronome? I have basically no natural rhythm and I have been aware for a long time that one of my biggest weaknesses is that I can't keep a steady speed when I play and sing. I've tried and tried to play with a metronome but moving focus onto following the sound of the click or the flash of the light actually seems to make the problem worse. Playing with an actual percussionist or a guitarist with better rhythm is not really an issue because I can easily visually follow the beat by following that person's movements. But it almost feels like my brain does not have enough RAM to run the playing guitar and singing programs and the listening/watching a metronome program at the same time. |
![]() |
![]() |
#184 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: TX
Posts: 16,446
|
![]() I feel like playing an accompainment instrument with out other musicians is uninspiring
Learned more in the last month of playing with other musicians than I did in the last 2 years of playing by myself |
![]() |
![]() |
#185 | |
Minion of Satan
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 5,596
|
![]() Quote:
it takes some practice but you can do it... One of my bands, we lost our fucking amazing drummer this summer, and we moved into Drum Machine Land (and now apparently we're thinking about getting an electronic/laptop/programmer person to create synthetic beats & manipulations live--being the rockist I am, I am totally afraid of this, going out of my comfort zone, so it's going to be an adventure I'll be diving into!) and it took a while to get used too. After playing with live musicians for nearly 20 years, it was difficult to play to a drum machine, which was theoretically more accurate and predictable than a human drummer. But I just had to "channel the rhythm" a little bit harder and make more effort for my body to exude the rhythm itself (and to fucking crank the drum machine in the PA!). |
|
![]() |
![]() |
#186 | |
Minion of Satan
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: Banned
Posts: 9,237
|
![]() Quote:
Other than that, I've never played with other people, because I always feel like I need to be "better" before I'm worthy of playing with another person, so that I don't have to be embarrassed by how shitty I am. But if I had just played with other people, I would probably be better today. Kinda sucks that I turned down some requests to jam in the past, and now that I do wanna jam, I don't really have anyone to do it with. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
#187 | ||
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() Quote:
Quote:
|
||
![]() |
![]() |
#188 |
Minion of Satan
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: Banned
Posts: 9,237
|
![]() I would imagine that the musical collaborator would have to be near enough to you in skill that you can learn new things from them without them just leaving you in their dust. Unless they are just very patient and generous, like a teacher.
Yeah, it sucks to work with people who are so particular, they aren't willing to meet halfway. Like, I have specific ideas for some of the music I want to play, so if I were to form a band, I can imagine being a bit precious about some material, but I'd definitely be open to working on material in addition to stuff that I don't have as much control over. Being collaborative would make a musical project more diverse anyway, and prevent it from sounding like one of those bands where all their songs sound the same. I know there is a guitar/music club at my school that I could probably check out for jam partners and whatnot, but I somehow get the feeling that it's going to be a bunch of guys playing Bruno Mars songs or some shit. |
![]() |
![]() |
#189 | |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() Quote:
I played with 28if for many years regularly as well and he was a lot better than me for a long time, but he stopped practicing and learning new stuff and eventually I surpassed him and now have far surpassed him. So I guess that's a good lesson on the virtues of regular practice and learning new things outside your comfort zone. And yeah these days I have no idea where to find people to play with. A guy I went to high school with saw a video of me playing on FB and asked me to jam with him. Said he had a bunch of blues songs written and was looking for someone to start something with. Honestly I just felt too weird about seeing this guy I haven't seen in 8 years and then jamming with him. I have too much social and performance anxiety, which I guess is why I have never been in a serious band after high school. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
#190 | |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: PROWLING THE BADLANDS
Posts: 17,399
|
![]() Quote:
my recommendation would definitely be: 1. to practice playing along to other music either with an acoustic, or with an unplugged electric (or, just play completely dry. no delay, no verb, no nothin' to mask inaccuracy). try to get used to listening and following the "band", and the drums, and to your own playing simultaneously. 2. record yourself playing to a metronome, or a backing track, whatever, and listen closely. i needed to develop an ear for it - your notes need to sound as if the drum, or the click, punches through them, if that makes sense. like your note is getting "wrapped around" the kick or snare. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
#191 |
Apocalyptic Poster
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
Posts: 2,173
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#192 | |
Minion of Satan
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: "I'm a quivering collection of the worst and least helpful emotions: fear, anxiety, terror, paranoia, indigestion, dishpan hands..."
Posts: 7,765
|
![]() Quote:
Anyway, lack of technical skill should never prevent anyone from writing music. Also all my tunes sound the same. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
#193 |
Minion of Satan
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: Banned
Posts: 9,237
|
![]() I guess there are things I wouldn't do. Like, I'd be pretty unwilling to play pop-punk or kinda jokey novelty stuff or something. And if I wrote something with a particular vision, I'd be hesitant to accept ideas that take it in a different direction.
But, like, I'd play stuff that I don't typically play or listen to if another band member wanted, or play songs they've written that are outside my immediate interests, if it were the sort of thing I can respect without necessarily being super interested in. Like, I don't listen to ska, but if a hypothetical bandmate wrote a good song with ska influence, I don't think I'd be unwilling to play it. I also think I gotta stop letting my lack of skill prevent me from writing music. I always go like, "my songs will suck anyway, so may as well get better first," but that's dumb because songwriting is valuable practice in itself. I'm gonna try to write more. I was in the middle of writing a song yesterday. It's not a song I'm totally in love with, and it's a little derivative of another musician's stuff, but I'm going to try to finish it and record it anyway, or else it'll be another song I'll never finish. The half-finished songs I have so far don't have the problem of sounding the same, but that doesn't mean much when I have so few of them. But so far, out of my favorite ideas that I actually intend to finish eventually, it kind of ranges from shoegaze to riffy/doomy rock to psychedelic rock. I wanna write more quiet acoustic songs, but that requires actual songwriting, like good vocal melodies and lyrics that work with progressions, instead of just rock riffs that you can just sort of mindlessly throw around. |
![]() |
![]() |
#194 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: PROWLING THE BADLANDS
Posts: 17,399
|
![]() yeah i find myself more and more into folk/acoustic music as the years go by tbh
many people would say it's boring but i say fuck them |
![]() |
![]() |
#195 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: PROWLING THE BADLANDS
Posts: 17,399
|
![]() i want to take this opportunity to mention how much i hate people whose reponse to quiet music is
I'M LUVIN' THIS SOOOOO RELAXING I LOVE HOW YOU CAN CHILL TO THIS MUSIC |
![]() |
![]() |
#196 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: TX
Posts: 16,446
|
![]() Just to throw out my general advice on getting better
What you do with your strumming hand is about as important as learning exotic scales and with your fretting hand you can get a ton of mileage out of bending strings You can play a guitar solo with 2 notes really |
![]() |
![]() |
#197 | |||
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
|||
![]() |
![]() |
#198 | ||
Minion of Satan
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: Banned
Posts: 9,237
|
![]() Quote:
Quote:
I haven't practiced my right hand chops nearly as much as theory and left hand stuff. Haven't done a lot of sweep picking. Artificial harmonics (I think those are the strumming-hand ones) are easy to just do, but integrating them smoothly into actual music is hard (hard to move the position of the pick in your fingers fluidly). I can't really fingerpick, either. |
||
![]() |
![]() |
#199 |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() I think sometimes you can get so used to the way you yourself sound when you play that you become cynical or jaded about it, but it doesn't necessarily sound boring or rehashed to others. Unfortunately I am very affected by the input of others, but I find that if you can find people who like to listen to you play, even casually, it can help you get out of your own head and appreciate your own playing again.
My style is generally just open chords (although I like songs with lots of chords) and I do a lot of hammer ons, pull offs, and little variations within chord progressions to create melodies within the rhythm if you know what I mean. It's very country folk I guess and pretty simple, and can easily start to sound to me like something no one would want to hear. So for me, playing only in my room by myself with no one around to give me feedback is like my biggest enemy Fingerpicking can get really complicated, but you only need to know the basics to make it sound good (like many aspects of the guitar I guess). I only use my thumb and first two fingers which is like totally bad form or whatever, but it's good enough to play any SP song with fingerpicking for example. |
![]() |
![]() |
#200 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: PROWLING THE BADLANDS
Posts: 17,399
|
![]() i love fingerpicking.
i'm one of those guys with really long fingernails on my right hand and zero fingernails on my left hand. it sounds too good to give up on though. much better than nail-less fingers or any pick. nick drake mothafuckaaa. redbreegull, while not incorporating your third finger is perhaps not preferable, you can still make plenty of it. i just found some acoustic bluesy folk singer i love who plays like that and his fingerpicking is decent that way. |
![]() |
![]() |
#201 |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#202 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: TX
Posts: 16,446
|
![]() but also that folky guy who learns to play guitar just well enough to impress people around campfires is super obnoxious and you said something about doing that itt
|
![]() |
![]() |
#203 | |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() Quote:
so in a way yeah I am the guy with the guitar at the campfire, but not quite in the pejorative way you mean, at least that's not how I see myself. I think that people generally enjoy when I play. Honestly though, I think the omg that guy just took out a guitar what a fucking douche I hate him thing is mostly the "guitarist's gaze," which is another reason I have trouble with other musicians. So many guitarists have this nasty competitive streak... probably anyone who has a guitar and has played long enough knows "that look" that another musician gives you when you take your shit out of the case. I don't truck with that shit cause I have zero interest in competing with anyone else's skills and I am not impressed by technical accuracy. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
#204 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: PROWLING THE BADLANDS
Posts: 17,399
|
![]() just hollarin' that i agree with elph that obnoxious guitar dudes at campfires are obnoxious. it's usually the ones who think they're hot shit though, even though they suck balls.
also, redbreegull i think you just coined "guitarist's gaze"! it's probably what i hate most about the guitar - that so many of its users are snobbish, competitive know it all's, who ironically are usually not even good musicians (even if they can "shred" or play run of the mill blues licks or whatever). |
![]() |
![]() |
#205 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: PROWLING THE BADLANDS
Posts: 17,399
|
![]() i'm getting a "post ur musics" vibe in this thread can you guys feel it
|
![]() |
![]() |
#206 | |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
#207 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: TX
Posts: 16,446
|
![]() Nah it's like when I started and was bad I wanted to show off this new thing I learned
But now I play in a group and don't need to break the thing out on my friends, I don't even mention being a musician |
![]() |
![]() |
#208 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: TX
Posts: 16,446
|
![]() Plus almost none of the music I like anymore features guitar that would sound good by itself
Abstract noises and funk chords Unless you're goddamn Dylan Idk that I can dig acoustic Hold on guys let me play this Pere Ubu song acoustically gonna impress the ladies lol |
![]() |
![]() |
#209 |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
![]() Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 33,238
|
![]() nah man there are few things on Earth more perfect than a good musician with an acoustic guitar and some songs to sing. The acoustic guitar is beautiful because in its simplicity, it needs nothing else to sound perfect. It doesn't need an amp and a speaker and a never-ending chain of expensive effects. I love me some good electric guitar, but especially if you mostly play without other musicians, I feel that all that stuff becomes more limiting.
My attitude towards covers is usually that it's not compelling to me unless I can add something or do something different than how the song was originally recorded, so I play plenty of songs that were full band or heavier as recorded by the artists... the challenge is in making it sound good with only one instrument. part of what I am most interested in is getting the guitar to emulate more parts of the band than just a guitar playing open chords. Changes to strumming that evoke the drums in a song, or inflections and harmonic changes within chords that create an internal melody like an orchestral part or a second guitar... that's my shit. |
![]() |
![]() |
#210 |
Braindead
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Location: TX
Posts: 16,446
|
![]() Elliot Smith was pretty cool too
|
![]() |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Pearl Jam Discussion | Pretzel Logic | Music Board Archive | 1279 | 04-18-2020 11:24 PM |
can somebody explain okcupid to me | Order 66 | General Chat Archive | 473 | 04-02-2019 04:55 PM |
New Matt Pinfield Interview | iPumpkin | Pumpkins Archive | 61 | 11-25-2011 12:48 PM |
OMG...the Billy article in RS. | Rickpat12 | Pumpkins Archive | 595 | 09-07-2010 09:49 PM |
stupid guitar gear question #593749582 | ??? | Music Board Archive | 61 | 03-21-2009 02:49 PM |