Dr. Music

[notlob]

well, glad to be of assistance hehe.

[notlob]

right hehe, well i thought i'd bring this back, and i will sticky it. It's been a year and a half since this was last posted on haha, and i think, what with the upsurge in new members, i many people may want to know about certain things in music, which i am here to answer hehe

oh and Jason, if you see earlier in this thread... you still owe me a question haha

[The-Chadster]

Originally Said by ablethevoice

LOL... actually, I don't. When I say I play by ear, I mean that in the most literal sense. My fingers are like pieces of concrete and pretty much everything after the bass and rhythm lines are "felt/heard" out. I can have the bass and drum line laid out in CEP and I might do 20 takes on the lead line before I hit one I like. (Dark Strut comes to mind here. The atonal parts were deliberate. I was trying to emulate Keith Emerson's style of hitting deliberately wrong notes that sound "right" like he did a lot in The Nice, and to a lesser extent in ELP). What I decided to keep wasn't exactly what I heard in my mind but it was pretty close.

I get really frustrated when I hear in my mind a piece and literally can't pick it out on the keys. I have several huge and ambitious pieces still in my head that I've tried to get out into real sound, but they just aren't working out

Most everything on the podcast started in my mind as a much different piece. I admit that afterward, I am happy with what I've produced in its own right, but it really isn't what I had in mind when I started.

I realize that knowing this might take down the respect level you might have in me as a musician, but it's the truth. I must say though, that what I did in the first couple of months of playing keys (about 2 years ago) was noise compared to what I'm doing now. And , yeah, I admit that what I'm doing now probably isn't exactly "music" to a lot of folks who listen anyway.

I'll continue, though. I do this for fun (which it is, although it's hard work too) and I can only hope what I do is pleasant to others as well.

Wow, thats how i play guitar. I'm not any good, really, but i can play a few songs, and parts of others. I usually just pick up my guitar and play whatever comes out, and it usually sounds pretty good. I have been doing this for years, so I'm pretty good at figuring out which notes sound good together. But i can't stay focused long enough to write an actual song. I did try to study music theory online, and i understood it, but i don't remember too much about it. I guess i do the same thing with my keyboard too. I kinda want to make like an intro, like a lot of bands have for there first track on a CD, like AFI's Miseria Cantera. I wanted to do the violin on the keyboard, and play something from my acoustic guitar w/that, followed by a part with the electric guitar and maybe do a simple drum beat with the keyboard as well. I think if i could do that, i could start writing more music. I just wish i knew how to play guitar the 'right way'

[notlob]

well Mr Chadster, just thought i'd say that there is no 'right way' to play the guitar... everyone has their own way of playing the guitar, and that is considered to be their way.

Hendrix once said, 'you never learn to play the guitar, you teach your guitar to talk'

Everyone has their own style, For example, Marty Friedman of Megadeth has a picking technique which throws me off incredibly because unlike many other guitarists who 'achor' their picking hand (with their pinkie or whatever) for control, marty friednam doesnt... he has literally floatsover the strings as he plays, and he has the utmost control over it... and ontop of that, how he positions his wrist for it, cnfuses me even furthur, you have to see it to know what i mean.

that's his way of playing the guitar... we all have our own little things that we do to differenciate ourselves in our style of playing, so there isn't really a right way.

if the trouble is focus, then i suggest you record every little step that you play on a tape recorder or something similar of the sort, jsut so you can refer back to it and remember it so that you can carry on when you feel like it.. don't forget, you cant for music to be made, so don't rack your brains out,.. music will come to you hen it does.. you just have to be prepared with your guitar in hands, cos when it hits, thats when the best music is played, cos it's straight from the heart.

[EmperorChaos]

Anchoring your pick!? I've never tried that! Maybe that's why I've always failed at guitar!

[notlob]

haha yeah, that's the thing! i don't know where all the guitar beginners get the idea that they can't anchor your hand on the guitar while they play.. everyone seems to have the idea that you have to keep your hand floating hahah. sod that!

keep it anchored, make you life easier, you can un-anchor your hand later, if thats how you're comfortable hehe

[glubgluby]

a bass line i made

played on any string

||:000 3 0000 53 0, 0003 00. :||
it should sound like
bum bumbum baa bumbumbum bum bana bum, bum bumbum baa bumbum

what are your thoughts on it? its pretty easy to play,

[notlob]

sorry man, but it's kinda hard to tell how it goes...

its like saying:

it goes this fast, Da du du du Da du du du...

there honestly is no concept of speed or rhythm from words, you'll have to record a little clip.. doesn't matter how bad the quality is hehe

but sorry man, its difficult to tell, but from what i see in the tab you wrote up, it's a very typical simple bass line... or riff in general... i'll have to hear it to be more sure

[glubgluby]

here you go, i played another riff i made, what do you think? zi no im not that good at bass...

[notlob]

i'm totally digging the first groove on there.... very funky, almost RATM-worthy. very cool.

the second one however, seems to work more like a walking bass line, like something you'd hear out of a 12 bar blues song or similar, but dead cool all the same... when i get the chance, i'll record a coupe of basslines that i'm not using, and give you the tabs, so you can mess around with them and so it gives you more ideas and influence in terms of weird techniques.

but anyway, they're pretty good bass lines! i like em. keep it up and try more and more stuff, try unusual things, play out of key, play from the heart and not from the mind.. you'll get some incredible stuff then. if you think about it, you'll do typical stuff. whereas, if it cames from the heart, noone (not even yourself) will know what will come up.

[glubgluby]

ty, and I think i get what you mean about playing from the heart, ill try it

[Misfitboy]

hey so...
i need help
with my bass
slapping is so hard :S

and do you know of some scales i can practice with?

[EmperorChaos]

B C D A F G

I don't know what that means, but if you do it, I'm sure it would sound cool.

[Misfitboy]

E.C. are you telling me ? D:

[EmperorChaos]

No, I was drunk and didn't know what I was saying.

[The-Chadster]

Okay, so i was randomly playing one day, and started playing this, and realised it sounded really familiar. I don't know if i tabbed it just right, so if you need me to, i can record it. But i think its an 80's metal song. Possibly Kiss?

Drop D tuning btw:
e|-----------------------------
B|-----------------------------
G|-----------------------------
D|-7-7-5757--5-5-7575--3-3-5353
A|-7-7-5757--5-5-7575--3-3-5353
D|-7-7-7777--5-5-5555--3-3-3333

[notlob]

i cant quite tell the rhythm of it unfortunately...

so if you can record it, it'll help considerably

[ROSEWITHTHORNS]

so I play the piano, among other instruments, and I have difficulty getting my left hand to cooperate. any suggestions on practices/warm-ups/techniques to help???