Musicians thread.

[Baby_Sneak]

thread for musicans to discuss all things music from recording, mixing, to things like buying an instrument and what brand to look for, scales, chords, jazz theory, etc.. all things we understand.

 

[Plunder]

Man such a broad topic, it's too bad there isn't a musician sub-forum in the arts and entertainment forum.

I'll start off with telling about my current gear I use to compose and play live -

Roland Juno Gi
Alesis Micron
Fender CN90 Classical Guitar
Casio VL-TONE 1
Korg Kaossilator
BOSS DR 202 Drum Machine
Various loop and delay pedals
Yamaha PSS 480 & PSS 680

I won't go into details unless someone really wants to hear, some were happy accidents I found in the wild and others I paid top dollar for new.

 

[Baby_Sneak]

Yea, there wasn't anything for people like us so I thought I should create something for us. I'm not on that level you're on when it comes to a musician (I had to look up majority of what those tools were to see what you were talking about), but I have knowledge on chords, some scales, and intermediate music theory (I also play a Barcelona nickel-plated saxophone). I'm still working on perfecting my sound and embouchure, while working on my ear.

On the whole making-music piece, I haven't been doing a whole much besides helping my cousin out on his album. I've asked my mom for a keyboard here and there, but I'm not sure about it though. I'm thinking of having music as a hobby and have it run through my future fam.

 

[Baby_Sneak]

This thread needs some post

 

[Pachinkosam]

Fender mustang always wanted that guitar maybe because my role model is Kurt cobain.
Also Dimebag Darrell guitars were interesting as well.

 

[ZafKiel]

Man such a broad topic, it's too bad there isn't a musician sub-forum in the arts and entertainment forum.

True LOL

I'm a musician to who is looking to expand my field of music

I want to get into synths but I'm not sure if I really need to buy special software and all. I want to start with the Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators then move onto the OP-1 and maybe a microKorg?

I also play piano (mostly soundtrack/classical) but I want to learn Jazz but I have no idea where to start. Do I just learn the chords first? And how does one go about improvising

 

[FlanticPineapple]

I play trumpet for my school. I do jazz band and a concert band. Outside of school I play the ukulele and piano for fun. Both are being self taught.

 

[Draka]

I've picked up Piano a few months back. Really enjoying learning it (learning guitar as well on the side). It is my hope that I'll be able to compose music on the side as well. Currently tinkering with FL studio and utilizing this as a guided reference
in order to learn more about music production in general and pick up a few things.

 

[Mitsu]

Do you have lessons or self learning? Good luck btw it needs a lot of dedication.
I've been playing playing guitar(electric) for several years now and I've just found a tune I really enjoy to play with, that was quite an epic quest.

 

[Plunder]

I taught myself piano when I was 8

Honestly unless you have some actual professional award winning piano teacher, it's a waste of money if you're intelligent.

Learn chords, scales, key modifications, transposing, progressions, and correct fingering / posture.

Something that I regret not learning at a younger age is how to play by ear. It's extremely important.
Learn to recognize intervals, chords, progressions and most importantly the key of any song just by listening. I consider all of that more important than being able to reading music. Learning to sight-read instantly is probably a better skill to learn but that can take much longer for many and in a live environment it's much more powerful to be able to learn anything just by hearing it or making it up on the spot.

 

[Draka]

Do you have lessons or self learning? Good luck btw it needs a lot of dedication.
I've been playing playing guitar(electric) for several years now and I've just found a tune I really enjoy to play with, that was quite an epic quest.

Currently taking piano lessons. Guitar is self-taught. Aural training is probably going to be self taught as well.
It definitely is going to take some dedication and focus but I like it alot.

This is also a pretty good resource if you're looking to build up your music theory.

I taught myself piano when I was 8

Honestly unless you have some actual professional award winning piano teacher, it's a waste of money if you're intelligent.

Learn chords, scales, key modifications, transposing, progressions, and correct fingering / posture.

Something that I regret not learning at a younger age is how to play by ear. It's extremely important.
Learn to recognize intervals, chords, progressions and most importantly the key of any song just by listening. I consider all of that more important than being able to reading music. Learning to sight-read instantly is probably a better skill to learn but that can take much longer for many and in a live environment it's much more powerful to be able to learn anything just by hearing it or making it up on the spot.

Dunno about that teacher part. Having a second person be there to identify mistakes/bad habits that you form would seem like it would pay off in the long run. It's much harder to break habits once they form, even worse when you go on doing them for years and hit a wall because of it. The only pitfall with teachers is that you've gotta get one that knows what the hell they're talking about.

However, stuff that you mentioned earlier like learning chords, scales, key mods, etc. etc. is definitely something that one can teach themselves.

In my opinion: identifying notes by ear > sight reading any day.

 

[Rychu]

Hey, I'm not super sure if this is where I post this, but I recently started writing music and the first complete "song" I've written was posted. Would anyone maybe care to take a look and provide criticism?

Here's the link, I'm sorry it's to my personal tumblr account

 

[TimeChain]

I recently started learning the Ukulele. I thought it would be a pretty easy instrument to learn since its basically an easier and lighter guitar. I'm doing alright, I just need more practice

 

[Foxus]

My ideal thread. I'll start with the gear I'm fortunate to have.
Gibson SG Special (my main guitar)
Randall Half Stack
Boss ME-50 Multi Effects Pedal (the source of my distortion)
Roland Jupiter 50
Behringer PA Amp
Yamaha Drum Set
Some random mic
Ovation Celebrity acoustic guitar

 

[Mitsu]

Which Randall do you have? I heard that they hade a good distortion.

My current gear is :
Fender Stratocaster Yngwie Malmsteen
Backstar HT20 combo
MXR Zerker Overdrive, I mainly use it as a boost
Dunlop Crybaby
Alien Soundworks E.A.R Compressor

I also have a 94 Epiphone Les Paul frankenstein (changed basically everything on it) when I need a heavier sound.

 

[Foxus]

Which Randall do you have? I heard that they hade a good distortion.

My current gear is :
Fender Stratocaster Yngwie Malmsteen
Backstar HT20 combo
MXR Zerker Overdrive, I mainly use it as a boost
Dunlop Crybaby
Alien Soundworks E.A.R Compressor

I also have a 94 Epiphone Les Paul frankenstein (changed basically everything on it) when I need a heavier sound.

It's something like a RX120RH and RX412 or such. From my experience, I'd have to disagree. Even with the gain all the way up, I still don't get near the drive I do running through my Boss. It can get loud, that's for sure

How do you feel about Epiphones? I know the company is owned by Gibson, and the only difference can be the design of the headstock and the name-plate, but in my eyes, its not a substitute for a real, authentic Gibson counterpart that is made in America.

 

[Bassoonist]

Well, I think I've made it pretty obvious with my username what I play. =P I also am learning the oboe for real, and am really liking it. I feel so much more expressive with it than the bassoon. Not really the fault of the bassoon, and I'm not going to stop playing it, of course! But the oboe has won me over even more than I initially thought it ever would (it having been in my top three most favoritest want to play instruments for nearly a decade now - bassoon, saxophone and oboe).

I'm just a multi-instrumentalist at heart, I suppose. Someday I'll want to really learn saxophone, too. And bass clarinet, since I got one of those this year and fell in love with it a little bit too. =P This was the year where I said "screw it, I'll get every woodwind and brass instrument I could ever want!" Perhaps I'm seriously the wind instrument equivalent of a 'Crazy Cat Lady'. -_-

 

[Mitsu]

It's something like a RX120RH and RX412 or such. From my experience, I'd have to disagree. Even with the gain all the way up, I still don't get near the drive I do running through my Boss. It can get loud, that's for sure

How do you feel about Epiphones? I know the company is owned by Gibson, and the only difference can be the design of the headstock and the name-plate, but in my eyes, its not a substitute for a real, authentic Gibson counterpart that is made in America.

Mine is a 94 so it's been made in Korea in 1994 before they moved Epiphones' factory to China, the wood is pretty good quality. The neck is pretty thin and very easy to play, the guitar is not too heavy but not chambered so you still have a very deep sound and good sustain. Although the finishing touches are pretty poor, there are some polish stains on the body, freatboard's inlays are not aligned and the binding is not clean.
As I said I changed every parts in it so I can only talk about the lute-making, but I can say that with some good pickups (Seymour Duncan Alnico II pro here) and Grover oiled mechanics this guitar is insane. It sounds better than most of low-end Gibsons (Studio for example). If there is a guitar I don't want to get separated from that's definitely this one.

ALTHOUGH Epiphone now that are made in China are the complete opposite, they look great... if you don't go inside it. They feel "rigid" to play and even if they do not sound too bad you can definitely get some better stuff at the same price range (I'm talking about Standard Epiphone here, just run away from the low-end Epiphone like studio and special).

Tbh I'd say that Epiphones at the moment are decent but need a bit of upgrade to do well (and an adjusments from a professional) and you need to play it as much as possible before buying it because their quality is pretty random. In my opinion if you can't find one from Korea just go for an alternative like Custom77, Hagstrom or LTD Eclipse (made before 2011).