Musician's Thread

[Anonymous]

I am wondering if there are any other musicians on these forums - if so what do you play? Do you write / record music? What got you into playing music? What is your gear?

I play bass guitar, guitar,synth and function as the audio engineer for my band.

It was Nirvana and Much Music (Canadian MTV) that got me into music - though I moved on from that influence early on after starting to learn how to play. I started on bass guitar at 13 and playing guitar at around 22 (I am 31 now) - when we play live I function as the bass player and in the studio I remain multi-instrumental focusing on support parts.

My main gear is:

'97 Fender Precision Lyte Deluxe
Ampeg Micro-VR with DI
Ampeg V6B
Presonus Studiolive 16.4.2 running through Logic X

[Anonymous]

lukeskywatcher said:

Totally agree with you on the long slow painful death of Live Music by Electronic Music! Filling out blocks on a sequencer grid, cant match the nuances that can be expressed when playing/recording live (volume, tempo, pitch, energy of the band or crowd etc). When i grew up 80's(cough), you could see live band in every pub/club 5 nights week. Now software and XFactor means the churning out of same bland repetitive noise. Feel sorry for the new generation, who dont know what they missing.      ps i'd call it cheating (or taking v large shortcuts) 🙂

I agree - I mean I feel lucky to live in this day and age for the sheer access to music, and the cost affordability of studio equipment to be able to contribute to the art form. But I find it sad and funny that with all that access and ability - most kids my age or younger want to listen to and make music that is quantized to perfection without understanding the subtlety and nuances of organic playing. Not that it isn't out there - it is, it just isn't the mass marketed art form anymore.

LOL - as for cheating, I agree to a point. I mean I can't say that all electronic music is bad (Jeff Beck's experimentation with the genre yielded a few really great albums of Jeff Beck guitar parts) and I have used the form myself. Even though I 90% of the time replace the drums with real drums - and I record real instruments over top. I also avoid quantizing notes when I am using VSTs and a midi controller - I find that when I do quantize notes it sucks the life out of the take even if it is technically more on beat.

Phaserlight said:

Voice, guitar, hand drums, and didgeridoo.

The violin was foisted on me by my parents around age 5, but after Suzuki book 4 or so I didn't continue.  I practiced piano off and on since age 12, but I don't really play.  Voice began when I joined a boy's choir; I was a boy soprano, then tenor once my voice dropped.  When I sing casually I like to think of myself as baritone, but who knows really.

I started guitar around age 17, when my dad handed down his 1975 Yairi acoustic to me.  I still have it, along with a Gibson Les Paul and a Martin Backpacker.

Hand drums and didgeridoo are more recent; I just like the way they sound.

My parents again saw to it I had lots of exposure to classical music as a child; Prokofiev, Debussy, Saint-Saens and others.  I used to be able to hear a piece of classical music and name the time period it was from if not the composer.  Beethoven's 9th symphony on CD-ROM.

When I began to learn guitar and branched out into my own musical tastes I found I enjoyed bands like Live, the Smashing Pumpkins, and U2.

Awesome - I wouldn't have dropped the violin though, I've always wanted to be able to play it. I love the tone of a violin / fiddle in music and have almost bought a starter model 4 or 5 times. I also want to buy a proper Piano / Digital Keyboard - I don't really play I know enough to get around and to overdub parts in the studio but I'd love to have access to a really nice keyboard with the proper weighted keys.

Classical music is not my forte - I know it and enjoy it to an extent when I hear it. I had two years of band in school where it came down to - either going that route or following my influences and taste. I chose the latter - and my interest in music falls between about 1920 to Present Day in most genres.

I grew up with Nirvana and The Pumpkins, I loved Adore when it came out - I was 11 and it had a weirdness kind of like Marylin Manson without all the cheap horror. But I had been watching since 1979 and Tonight hit Much Music.

I love various hand percussion instruments - my friend as a didgeridoo, I have always been curious about miking it and adding some delay and distortion to the output.

Brixmis said:

Hey, I finally found which model that Ibanez was - an AFS-77T. Although I've seen it now referred to as an "Artcore" range guitar and it looks similar, I distinctly remember that it never said that on the guitar, in the ref info or the paperwork.

This is the only video I've been able to find of it in use:

https://youtu.be/h5lGYBr_BrE

also here:

https://reverb.com/uk/item/6504734-ibanez-artcore-afs77t-semi-hollow-electric-guitar-w-hardshell-cas...

even found a review:

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/electric_guitars/ibanez/artcore_afs77t/

I really miss that guitar and have been kicking myself regularly ever since I sold it (for £200 to a guy I was jamming with at the time - haven't seen him since he collected it!).

Man that sounds nice - really nice and round. I would have been hard pressed to sell that - but I have never sold a guitar so far. lol

[JohnnyDioxin]

Yeah - I had never considered hollow bodies up to that point. Then I saw David Gilmour with a Gretsch hollow on his acoustic showdown gig and was very impressed.

Unfortunately, my budget won't stretch to a Gretsch (hey, I'm a poet!) so I got the next best thing 🙂

[Bagnet]

lukeskywatcher said:

@SimonSays28

Totally agree with you on the long slow painful death of Live Music by Electronic Music! Filling out blocks on a sequencer grid, cant match the nuances that can be expressed when playing/recording live (volume, tempo, pitch, energy of the band or crowd etc). When i grew up 80's(cough), you could see live band in every pub/club 5 nights week. Now software and XFactor means the churning out of same bland repetitive noise. Feel sorry for the new generation, who dont know what they missing.      ps i'd call it cheating (or taking v large shortcuts) 🙂

Not everyone has access to a live band though. I use sequencing for drums, nothing else.. i will play keyboard parts etc but without being able to program drums i would simply not be able to record the music i want to. Its not electronic and even the main live bands are now using drum replacement technology to improve the sound, i fully agree that a fully programmed, autotuned song is cheating but these things have their uses, especially for home lone musicians

[Anonymous]

Brixmis said:

Yeah - I had never considered hollow bodies up to that point. Then I saw David Gilmour with a Gretsch hollow on his acoustic showdown gig and was very impressed.

Unfortunately, my budget won't stretch to a Gretsch (hey, I'm a poet!) so I got the next best thing 🙂

I know I want a Gretsch so bad - I played a New Yorker model that was
about $1400 list CDN and fell in love with it. But it was eventually
bought by someone else 😞 lol

I have played 3 or 4 really nice
Ibanez hollow bodies that are more within my normal price range ($600-$800) - and there have been a couple of times when I nearly bought one, but just couldn't justify the expense at the time.

The next guitar I buy is either a Fender Bass VI - I still can't believe I had to let the last one go, or a hollow body. I really want the Bass VI because it feels about a register lower than other baritone guitars I have played making it more than capable of true basslines - but it also allows for some really nice sounding mid-range chord patterns for when the guitar player wants to play lead and not completely drop the rhythm guitar parts (working in a trio format live is always a game of trade offs).

Bagnet said:

Not everyone has access to a live band though. I use sequencing for drums, nothing else.. i will play keyboard parts etc but without being able to program drums i would simply not be able to record the music i want to. Its not electronic and even the main live bands are now using drum replacement technology to improve the sound, i fully agree that a fully programmed, autotuned song is cheating but these things have their uses, especially for home lone musicians

I use drum sequencing, midi programming, etc. to write songs too - I also have access to a live band and write that way as well.

All these tools do have their use - it is just unfortunate that there is a lot of music that is created on auto-pilot these days with these tools. But it is very easy to tell the difference between something that uses these tools in conjunction with clever songwriting and real instruments to something that was created to provide a poppy back track to a sing song dance routine.

I do not like drum replacement technology - I have Drumagog, and have used it in the past in order to fix live takes that were great takes but just had some issues with the miking of the drum kit (normally a clipped bass drum). But I find it takes the feel of the drums away - if there is one thing I can't stand that I have seen more of in the last few years with this tech becoming increasingly affordable and available is when I do go to shows I am seeing way more use of backing tracks than ought to be necessary.

I get that bands want to present the fullest sound to their audience - and if they do have a fan base that listens to their album they may be expecting certain parts from the studio version that just aren't possible to play without a backing track or an ensemble of additional musicians on stage. But the backing track just kills all the vibrancy and life in a live performance. If you can't afford additional musicians - make the song sound as good as you can without a backing track even if it means changing the arrangement to better suit the instruments you do have available.

When I record songs in the studio - I use a fair amount of overdubs, effects, etc, - because it is an endless canvas of interesting stereo space. However when we do play live - we are a trio, and that means focusing arrangements that are compact and open for experimentation. I would hate being locked into a backing track just so that someone could hear a little synth line from the album.

When I saw Bob Dylan the first time in Calgary almost 15 years ago - half the audience walked out on him (in fact it happened again the second time I saw him 7 years later). There was an older couple behind me - and the lady said to her husband/boyfriend - "why doesn't he just play them like on the album." - they left.

Now I'll admit that both concerts were kind of bizarre - he only played piano of which he is not very accomplished, and he played lots of non hits. He was also very pissed off - at one point walking up to his guitar and looking out at the audience before murmuring something to himself and walking back to the piano. I thought it was great - I am not really someone who goes to many big concerts but I felt privileged to witness an angry Bob Dylan concert.

I probably would have walked out if he had come out with a competent band and played note for note renditions of his hits - why? Because I can just listen to an album for that. Live roots music (blues, country, rock and roll, etc.) should have an element of danger and chaos to it - it is a trapeze show with no net, and the best performers are able to work arrangements that allow for freedom of momentary expression within the framework of the song.

Wow totally a long post - sorry for the rant! LOL

[Bagnet]

have to admit.. U2 annoy me with their backing track and hidden understage effects operators and musicians, Seems like edge just strums pretty simple tunes and goes to very little effort. When i last saw them (Bloomin years ago) he had someone under the stage operating his wah wah fgs. Bands like Carter the unstoppable sex machine had to use backing tracks as they were a 2 piece so understandable.. but then you get a band like Primus who can fill a stadium with sound as a 3 and you wonder why 4 and 5 piece bands need to add any backing at all!

would have loved to have seen a Dylan concert. Never really saw any of the old greats.. Rolling Stones are playing this year but you need a mortgage to get a ticket. I guess someone has to pay for the mobility scooters and oxygen tanks though haha 🙂

[Anonymous]

Bagnet said:

have to admit.. U2 annoy me with their backing track and hidden understage effects operators and musicians, Seems like edge just strums pretty simple tunes and goes to very little effort. When i last saw them (Bloomin years ago) he had someone under the stage operating his wah wah fgs. Bands like Carter the unstoppable sex machine had to use backing tracks as they were a 2 piece so understandable.. but then you get a band like Primus who can fill a stadium with sound as a 3 and you wonder why 4 and 5 piece bands need to add any backing at all!

would have loved to have seen a Dylan concert. Never really saw any of the old greats.. Rolling Stones are playing this year but you need a mortgage to get a ticket. I guess someone has to pay for the mobility scooters and oxygen tanks though haha 🙂

I saw the Stones on their Bigger Bang tour in Vancouver - it was awesome, the stage is too big though. Best part of the night was when they came out on a floating stage to the middle of the stadium and played a bunch of classics - Keith even sang Silver.

Our tickets were upper level but centre and not nosebleeds - I believe it was $150 a ticket (expensive for me). I also saw Paul Simon and Sting on their tour in Vancouver - floor seats tickets about the same price maybe a little less.

Other than that - I have been to very few concerts for bigger acts. Fewer than 10 I'd gather.

U2 were only really cool in the early to mid/late 80s - I really love the sound that Edge had circa Rattle and Hum - lots of echo and everything yeah, but you could still hear the real guitar parts and I mean seriously, he can't operate his own Wah pedal? ugh.

Primus are wicked to because they understand that with a little bit of a volume and raucousness that the trio format is very free for interpretation. I love going to a concert and walking away knowing that the versions of the songs I heard are different from the ones heard on earlier or later dates in the tour and especially different from the studio version. To paraphrase Gord Downie - I like the dance and it's disappearance.

[JohnnyDioxin]

What really gets my goat up is DJ's calling themselves musicians.

Discuss.. 😛

[Anonymous]

Well if a basic understanding of tempo and 4/4 rhythms is all it takes to be a musician - I've been doing it wrong for 20 years. :tongue:

[JohnnyDioxin]

lolz.

I had an internet 'friend' (bit too strong a word - acquaintance more like) that used to play on my game server and he kept going on about these "gigs" he was doing. He kept coming out with all sorts of musician related slang and so on (I'd told him I played guitar). One day he said he had another one that evening, and I knew he had done one 2 days previously, so I asked him how he had so many gigs. That's when he said he was a DJ.

Funny how one very simple thing can suddenly make you lose all respect for someone...

[Bagnet]

i don't consider dj's musicians but i have to say having tried it, there is a musicality to it, knowing which tracks will mesh together, beat matching, mixing the two together to make the uplifting kick offs etc. It's definitely a talent when its done well but musicianship? i'm really not sure! Maybe more percussionist?