You're only hurting yourselves while depriving yourselves of these bangerz. I'll be deep in the valley of jeep beats when you decide to take things a little more seriously.
Welp, he we go. My drummer is in the house band for an open mic, and we're apparently going to give Schism a go. Should be interesting since his kit currently only has one tom. This could be a disaster. I'm going to record on my phone and see what happens. If the sound quality is semi decent, I'll upload tomorrow.
Three of my cymbal orders through Guitar Center (have received one, as it was in stock -- 20" jazz crash/ride) kept getting back ordered further and further out. Apparently Meinl is having production/distribution issues right now (Turks taking their sweet time to hand hammer for their German partner?). Anyway, I canceled the order since Memphis Drum Shop had all three in stock. Not only that, but since no Meinl Byzance cymbal of the same line, type, and size is truly the same, I was able to hear all three on their website/Youtube. The following three cymbals arrive Saturday evening (literally, the cymbals the guy is playing): Ride: Spoiler Hats: Spoiler Crash: Spoiler
Got through it. Sound quality sounds acceptable. What is the best way to upload an iPhone voice memo? Soundcloud?
All right, folks. Be gentle. Caveats: 1. This was an open mic night, so none of us were playing through our own equipment, except the drummer, who; 2. was playing a 3 piece kit that was comprised of a snare, kick (with double pedal), hi-hat, crash, ride, and one (1) floor tom; 3. I could not hear the vocals at all, and my singing was flat as hell; 4. I'm a fairly shitty singer anyway; 5. this was recorded on my phone sitting on the ground near me. All in all, I was satisfied with the performance. Our drummer is a goddamn animal. https://soundcloud.com/eho-478150403/schism
Played at one of my best friend's wedding last weekend. He put together a "supergroup" of his friends (He was the singer of my band in high school, and after graduation moved to LA and played with a band out there). He just had us play 5 songs, but it was cool getting together with a group of guys, most of whom I'd never played with before, and nail everything in 2 hours of rehearsal after everyone had practiced on their own. Crimson & Clover - The Shondells (First Dance) Music of my Heart - N'Sync (Father/Daughter dance) Nothing can Change This Love - Sam Cooke (Mother/Son dance) Sleepwalk - Santo and Johnny (Anniversary Dance) Secreto de Amor - Joan Sebastian (Bonus song, because the guitar player kills it on vocals and wins karaoke contests with it) It was pretty fun, I wish someone had recorded it
Can't say I've heard a lot of bands cover Schism, but if I had, I'd be pretty confident that this would be one of the better covers I've heard. Drummer crushes for what little he has to work with. He absolutely nailed it. Tool isn't an easy band to cover by any stretch of the imagination. Vocals sound great, again, for what you have to work with. Keep in mind Maynard has infinite effects at his disposal, you don't. Sounded great. Thanks for not trying to sing it like you're "better" than Maynard. By not doing that, you sound much closer to the real thing. Only complaint -- Is someone playing some kind of aux percussion along with it? It sounds like it, and it's kind of annoying.
Oh, other complaint... Bitch at the end: "Do ya'll know Chevelle? Ya'll don't know Chevelle!?!?" Shoot yourself, bitch,
Nobody else playing percussion. May be a function of the iPhone speaker, or could be some residual sound from the keys. Either way, thanks for the compliments. Not easy to concentrate on the vocals while playing guitar on that one. Drummer being such a badass makes up for a lot of our other shortcomings, for sure. I have no shame admitting that.
Not saying this because I'm a drummer, but having a great drummer is the biggest difference between being a normal cover band and a great one. A few people might notice when you fuck up a power chord... but EVERYONE will notice when the drummer fucks up.
Sounds like you're the only guitarist? Did a decent job for what it sounds like you're working with. Their sound system did your guitar no favors
Yeah, the amp looked like it had 1 12". Hard to get decent low end with that. The phone neutered a bit of it as well. The guitarist only had overdrive type distortion, and I would've liked something a little less punchy, but those are a little nitpicky. Listening back this morning, the vocals are cringeworthy to me.
He had a delay pedal that he used as his reverb, but I didn't want to fuck with it in case it was too much. Probably should've tried it in the little interlude at the end.
Delay pedals can also fuck up a song if the tempo isn't right on the delay... Which can be hard to get right sometimes
Agreed. It didn't have the tap tempo, so who knows what it would've sounded like. I was also kinda terrified of how the bar would react to that song. We had played "the shape I'm in," "Rosanna," and "Carry On, Wayward Son," leading up to it, and Schism is quite a jump from there.
classic case of having to make chicken salad out of chicken shit. instrumental sounded good but couldn't hear the vocals much (prob a combo of shit office speakers and iphone recording). All things considered it sounded good to me and I don't even care much for that genre. And I think everyone is a harsh critic of their own voice. Hell I've woken up the night after sending a 2am drunk serenading video |||hate shield||| and thought goddamn that was garbage but still get a "omg that was amazing" response. Have learned just to go for that gold star "you gave it your best" for singing and most people, at a minimum, respect it if not enjoy the hell out of someone trying and getting reasonably close to hitting all the notes.
after owning a keyboard and going to 1 30 minute lesson a week for a month (mostly learning theory and how to read music... don't actually "play anything" yet in said lessons) I finally got stoned AF friday night and sat down for a few hours and said it's time to actually figure out how to play this goddamn thing. Results so much better than expected. Especially since I know how to play all the chords and know the chords in each scale... which I've never taken the time to learn in 23 years of playing guitar fucked around for at least 2 hours just playing the Am-G-F progression trying to go between All Along the Watchtower and Stairway To Heaven type melodies at different rhythms and holy shit is that fun when something just kinda clicks (about an hour into it) and you actually sound like you know what you're doing. Moved on to Wish You Were Here just bc I know the chord progression from playing it on guitar. Was actually really really easy to play I guess "rhythm piano" could be the term and could actually sing along with it after practicing the progression a little while. felt successful and called it a night. went for 2 more hours right when i woke up saturday, kind of that new successful euphoria when i woke up, and talked a little shit to my brother about being able to play floyd on piano. He suggested learning the coda from Layla. googled to see what key it was in. C#. scary stuff - lots of black keys involved. went at it this morning after the gym and have the main riff down after about 30-45 minutes. Plan on getting the rest of it down after work today. That shit is fun as hell. Gonna have to take potassium supplements for forearm cramping though. dear diary
any piano players wanna save me the trouble of having to learn it by ear and feel like giving me the cheat code for the chord progression in the "bridge" part of this starting at 0:55 that'd be real tight. My sheet reading skills are about a D- at the moment
So about a week ago I decided I'm going to learn (or attempt to learn) to play the acoustic guitar. I have absolutely zero musical experience, but have been researching and studying a good bit online. My friend has offered to let me borrow his classical guitar, and from my reading, the consensus is that a classical guitar is best for beginners to learn, and then progress to acoustic. But, I'd have to drive about 2 1/2 hours to pick this up. How much should I expect to fork over for a used classical guitar, if I don't want to make that drive? Should I expect to spend $200+ if I want something that won't be a complete piece of shit? I'm also somewhat inclined to go straight to an acoustic guitar, but also worried about purchasing one, seeing as I would not have any idea what to be looking for. I am going to have my friend, who is a damn good musician, accompany me to a local guitar store and get some help from him. But I'd like to at least know what the hell I'm talking about prior to this. Have also seen that instructional videos >>> learning to play from a book. Would yall agree? Would you recommend trying to learn how to read music first? Or would this be easier after knowing the absolute basics about the guitar, and learning to read music with guitar in hand? Lastly, what's the opinion on starting with a classical guitar vs acoustic? For someone with zero musical experience, would it be that much easier on a classical? Part of me thinks that if I start out with acoustic it may help. How hard is the transition from classical to acoustic, once you have the basics down? I'll hang up and listen.
I'd like to learn to play some of the music that I enjoy listening to, whether it be learning chords or learning some songs from some of my favorite bands. I'm mainly an indie/alternative fan (more Indie than alternative), favorite bands are Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, Head & the Heart, Lumineers, that type music. Think Avett Brothers-type stuff.
Don't get a classical guitar. Totally not worth it for what you want to do. Unless you really want to dive into music theory or classical finger picking guitar, an acoustic will be way better for you. Here is the truth about guitar buying. If you know what you're doing and don't care about being a brand whore, you can find anything you'd need under $200. HOWEVER, unless you're a hippy who doesn't care about earthly possessions, guitars are really cool, and it absolutely makes all the difference in the world to get a ~nicer guitar. They sound better, they look better, they're easier on your hands, they make you want to pick it up, they stay in tune, etc etc etc. Buying a $150 guitar is the first step toward playing for a month and then putting it in a closet. Depending on budgetary constraints, I'd look at a $250-$350 guitar. You can find really nice stuff in that range. You'll want to play them to see which feels best to you (because that does matter, even if you don't know what you're doing). Here are a few in the price range that I would look at: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EEHBFCNH http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/WLD20S http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/WalnutSG I also like Alvarez acoustics a lot.
Much appreciated my man. I had already planned on spending about $300, +/- $100. My worry about "playing them to see what feels best" is that I know literally zero chords. I guess I could tell how it feels in my hands, but I was going to bring my friend along with me and get his opinion, too. It is good to hear that for what I'm trying to do, I can bypass a classical guitar. I'm not terribly worried about music theory or anything beyond an acoustic guitar, just want to be able to pick it up and strum it and be blinded by the pussy flung in my general direction.
Even if you don't know a single thing about it - it's smart to sit with it for a few minutes to see if it feels good in your hands. See if you want one with a cutaway or a dreadnought: See if you like the size, weight, how it sits on your lap, how it feels in your hands. Spend a minute or two with a couple different ones just to see, even if you're just strumming open strings.
I'm two months in on lessons and I've found that the proper fundamentals go a long way. I'm playing with a hand me down and the proper hand set up on the neck made a huge difference. Assuming for a right hand strummer, if your left thumb is comfortable on the back of the neck and you can move your fingers chord to chord, it has made a tremendous difference to me.
When I saw someone quoted me, I was really hoping to come back in here to find a YouTube of one of you guys playing Freebird. You've let me down.
Sounded pretty good IMO. Instrumentals were pretty strong. Vocals weren't as bad as you said. You were flat; it happens. All in all, good job.
BamaNug tl;dr - Agree with ditch the whole idea of borrowing/buying a classical guitar. Just go in for the real deal and get a lower-end acoustic. Just from owning a few different ones over the years and absolutely loving my current one that I've had since ~03: #1 priority would be having a built in tuner. Few different reasons - no telling how many times when I first started something didn't sound right and it was just being out of tune a little. Carrying around a tuner with you is a bitch and you could lose it. Pretty sure a few of the bands you named tune to different types regularly. Its so convenient when you're playing and need to switch tunings to just press a button and do it real fast instead of... go find tuner, get aux cord, tune, put shit up. Related to #1 unless I'm wrong about this (haven't guitar shopped in 12 years so could be) having a built in tuner would require acoustic electric guitar. Which it also convenient when/if you plug into some kind of device not having to get one of the pick-up converter deals. Get a cutaway, pictured on the left in EHOs post. Especially if you're going to have the thing for long enough that you may learn some guitar soloing. It just makes life a lot easier Also big supporter of Alvarez. Not as pricey as the super nice ones but mine sounds just as good as a $1500 Taylor or Martin and it was only ~$750 For shopping what I would/did look for: "action" would be #1. I believe is the term for distance between the frets and the strings. A lot of the cheaper guitars (and every classical guitar I've ever played) have a lot of distance between them. Makes it really tough on beginners, which is why a lot of people learn on cheap electrics instead. Common sense after you think about it when you're learning ideally you'd like to have the strings as close to the fret as you can you'll have a LOT less frustration with playing muffed notes thickness. this is all personal preference. I like a thinner one and got a "stage guitar" just for the smaller body. Makes it easier to play and not as bulky. This applies to the neck as well. Don't need to get into a hand measuring contest round these parts but I'd say from the bottom to at least the ~9th fret I'd want to be able to hold down the top E (thickest one) with my thumb while being able to play chords on the other middle/bottom strings. It's a pretty popular style for a lot of solo guitarists to add depth to chords "learning to read music" on guitar takes about 15 minutes and a cup of coffee. Guitar tablature is just numbers on 6 lines. Hell I used to write tabs and run a tablature page for Jupiter Coyote (I know you remember them if you're from AL) back when I was 14-15 years old and then Perpetual Groove when I was at Auburn. for real though less of a humblebrag more of it's that easy. "Play by numbers" if you will. As for the lessons vs videos... I would probably say lessons just to get you started and give you ways to practice that's more hands on. Granted I haven't looked at what any videos on youtube look like for teaching beginners it's just generally easier to have someone be hands on in helping you - and I've kinda learned this through piano lessons it gives you a slight sense of accountability, would be similar to getting a personal trainer to start you working out vs. just getting a program off the internet. I just kinda started by playing 90s grunge music by ear, which teaches you "power chords" real quick and the basic chord progressions in each key. you'd be surprised how far you can get just from fucking around trying to mimic nirvana, alice in chains, bush, and smashing pumpkins
Drop $500 on this one. You'll be set for life unless you just really want to buy something fancy http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guit...torium-acoustic-electric-guitar#productDetail
Awesome, thanks. I'm hesitant to order a guitar online because I'd like to hold it and feel it beforehand, so was thinking about going with my friend this weekend to look at some. Also would much rather do acoustic-electric rather than straight acoustic, seems like it would save quite a bit of hassle.
I've been thinking about taking up the guitar or keyboard this summer since I'll have a lot of free time. I have little to no music background, but I learn on my own pretty well. How feasible would it be to teach myself how to play either of those instruments? Is one harder than the other, or maybe has a higher learning curve? I envision putting around 5-10 hours of practice a week. I'm reading through the thread right now so apologies if someone else had similar questions that have already been answered.
probably one of those things that depends on the person as far as which one you can teach yourself the easiest. Lessons just expedite the process. I'd say guitar just because reading tablature vs reading sheet music is so much easier, which makes the piano curve a bit tougher. Also from learning both there's a lot less muscle memory involved with guitar vs piano - guitar you're doing a shit load with your left hand (if you're right handed don't let this scare you my left hand is retarded as fuck in all things not musical instrument related and maybe squeezing titties). But your right hand is a lot less involved unless you're finger picking or soloing. Those you just get used to with time. Piano has both hands doing a lot of shit simultaneously like you're taking the difficulty of the left hand on a guitar and doing it with both hands. if your coordination game is deluxe that may not be a problem at all. having said that, if I could switch guitar ability with piano ability at age 31 I'd do it in a heartbeat.
Learned some ole Bruce Hornsby "the way it is" this weekend. was completely floored after getting drunk saturday then running a 5k sunday morning. rainy day. got stoned and played for probably 5 hours straight. song is tough but I've got everything except the soloing. not sure which one to do next. building a nice little repertoire: Layla Great Gig in the Sky Wish You Were Here All Along the Watchtower (DMB version don't hate) that I segue into the end of Stairway to Heaven... Same chord progression so it's real easy but people are impressed none the less The Way it Is in about 2 weeks time. dad suggested Great Balls of Fire. channel my inner Goose top gun
My bassist, drummer, and I are really getting along well, and we're going to try to replace our key player who is lazy. Since we've got Schism down, we've moved on to Forty Six & 2. We're still perfecting Bridgeless by Umphrey's and we've now discussed going crazy and seeing how difficult we can get. We tossed around ideas for YYZ or some involved Phish tunes that I don't really know because I'm not a Phish fan. Always interested in learning new things though, so I'm excited. Fun to play with people who are as interested as I am.
Rush/Tool seems like an odd combo with Umphrey's/Phish. Obviously both take lots of instrumental skill, but does the audience for one dig the other?
We kind of do that on purpose and try to stay out of any genre or fanbase. Basically, we'd like to blow the mind of every person in the audience and also piss them off. We'll play a show that has Peter Gabriel Tool Hall and Oates Confederate Railroad Phish Paul Simon Johnny Nash George Michael Kansas Weezer Bill Withers Bruno Mars Tom Petty Oakridge Boys Aerosmith The Band Grand Funk Railroad Spacehog Justin Timberlake Rage Against the Machine etc.
Bold strategy I will admit, I've been in a prog rock project before where we basically tried to anticipate what the audience would think is coming next and do the opposite. I've softened in my old age though. I don't just dangle you over that E7 precipice.......I resolve you to that sweet sweet A Major
We're all dudes in our 30s playing covers, so we're all just doing it for our own personal enjoyment. In all fairness, if there are a bunch of girls dancing and having a good time, we'll play a bunch of pop tunes in a row so as to not kill the mood or the bar. Tough to get invited back if we lose all the customers. Once we had a bar manager tell us we could only play one more and that he was shutting it down for the night so we played "Snakecharmer" by Rage. Cleared the place out pretty quickly.
Going to my buddy's house on Thursday for my first "lesson,' which will include lots of weed and probably sore fingers
Perhaps not as odd as you'd think. Haven't listened to Umphrey's in years, but I've seen them cover YYZ live very, very well.
My vote would be to learn Soothsayer by Mars Volta. Would certainly anger people, and your drummer would have a blast.
I LOVE the Mars Volta, but that would be really hard to make sound good, let alone finding somebody who could sing it.
fun songs to play by Phish that are more rock and less trancey and also not the top popular ones that people would groan about and may not even know it's Phish: Down with Disease Suzy Greenberg Character Zero