Musician's Thread

Alright, so I have a question or two. I've recently been enlisted to teach some younger kids how to play guitar. I've never had to teach anyone that young (probably between 9 and 14, skewed younger) and I'm not sure the best way to approach it. Does anyone have any advice/ ideas as to the best way of going about something like this?

 

A guitar is a stringed instrument. A lot of the fundamentals of playing viola will also translate to guitar and I wouldn't be surprised if you could pick it up fairly quickly depending on your natural talent level. Playing guitar is all about muscle memory. There are some riffs and chords I could play upside down, blindfolded, underwater...whatever. Having some calluses would be a big help too because until you get some practicing is painful.

Guitar is a much different beast than the tiny neck on violas and violins though. The elongated neck, 6 strings, and frets might throw you for a bit. Proper picking technique is also something you must learn. Barre chords, fingerpicking, arpeggios...I can't think of anything that won't come easily after lots of good practice. Over time you will start visualizing how to make the instrument sound like you want, it will come naturally and be like an extension of the sounds you hear in your head.

 

I have some experience with this. I'm going to warn you, though, if you love music/your instrument, in general, teaching is going to be one of the most painful things you experience. These kids, for the most part, don't actually care about music or the guitar, they just want to be able to play the songs of whatever crappy band it is they're listening to at the time. That and "Thunderstruck".

Keep that in mind when you're designing your lessons; save for the rare kid who will be great, these kids don't care about the theory behind the music, or understanding why things work, they just want to sound good, and they want it now.

Find out what these kids want to learn, and start from there. You can normally convince them of the necessity of learning how to tune their guitar, but beyond that, it's a bit of a crap-shoot.

If you want to get kids interested in theory, though, and more sophisticated improvising, a good trick I've learned is to introduce scales with the pentatonic scale as "the scale all rock guitarists use" and how "you can't play a wrong note, so long as you play within this scale", and show them some cool rock licks. That's the hook. Then have them notice how the same licks sound different over different chords. This motivates the question "why?" and you can start teaching some improvising theory. Rock on.

Hope you have some good students.

 

I think more what I'm concerned about are the kids who haven't taken any sort of lessons before and have no idea how to play anything/ are too young to have like favorite bands or know what they want to learn yet. The "I want to learn what amounts to power chords" kids will be easy, but I know that there's a kid or two who haven't had any sort of instruction, and starting someone that young at the very basics is something I've never done.

 

Nice to see other musicians on here. I've played guitar for about 10 years now, play some bass, played drums in a band, can do a bit of piano.

As far as music theory goes, the best advice I can give is to play with other people, to think about what your playing, and to listen hard to both the music you make and the music you enjoy. Finding another guitarist out there isn't that hard to do; come up with a chord progression and just jam on it for a while. Force yourself to do new things; maybe play melodies on only one string at a time, maybe try to hit the 5th of each chord as the progression changes to it, while do runs in between. Try to play melodies to songs you like, and really develop your ear so you know what a note is going to sound like before you play it.

That's for leads. For the theory behind chord progressions, learn a lot of progressions to songs you like. When you listen to a song, take note of the chord changes that sound really powerful and dramatic, the ones that sound dark, and so on. Within no time, you'll be able to listen to a song and call out the chord changes as you hear them, "I-IV-V" or whatever the case may be.

I did jazz lessons for a while, and was able to learn a bit of theory but always felt constricted by it and thought too hard about it while I was playing. I think I became a much better musician by not studying music in school, and instead living with 3 guys who all play. A lot of time behind the wheel - after knowing the basics, which aren't hard - has made me really comfortable playing leads, writing progressions, making different arrangements with the same chords. Being a guy who used to practice scales in the hopes of being a jazz shredder, it's great feeling like my musicianship has finally surpassed raw technique.

Anyway, I'm definitely not an authority on music, but I've played for a while and taught lessons, so if anyone wants to talk shop, you can shoot me a PM or ask on here.

 

Ok, so aspects of this have already been answered but I'll formulate it all here anyway. I've been playing guitar for about 5 years now on and off. I've always done it as a strictly for fun kind of thing and never really wanted to pursue it more seriously. This means that I mostly just fucked around, learned songs and practiced scales for speed/technique. What this has resulted in is that I am a fairly good technical player. I used to listen to a lot of metal which i've moved on from but sweeping and shredding are the things I am pretty good at since a lot of the music i listened to incorporated that.

That being said, aside from my technique I am quite green. I'd like to start writing music maybe even play with more people now and essentially become a better musician. I know some minimal theory. Concepts like the circle of 5ths, cadences and chord construction. That being said, I am not really sure how to go about being a better musician. Any thoughts?

 

There's a number of ways to do this. I actually took the route of going to music school but realized later that a lot of what I learned didn't necessarily need to come from there.

I'd say brush up on your theory, maybe not on the note for note specifics but definitely on the numbering of chords and what to play over them in instances where you're just not feeling it. Learn enough theory to practice over common progressions like I-IV-V's and II-V-1's and try them in a number of different keys. Theory is next to useless without practical application so try to make sure that you physically play anything that you study. Find some good backing tracks to solo over and vary them up in your daily routine and try to mix up the styles so that you can become more proficient and playing across a variety of styles(PM me and I can send you a folders worth or so).

As for playing with others, generally the more experienced players are, the more likely they are to understand a chart. If you start writing and jamming with more experienced guys, drawing up a chart for them to go off of can be a major time saver as opposed to teaching them your song chord by chord.

If you put in some time on covering these things then your general musicianship will definitely go up.

 

I've had some experience with the guitar but have been playing the bass nonstop for about a year. I have come further on my instrument in that amount of time than I ever thought I could with any instrument over any period of time. My success comes from two things, practice and passion. And both are based on the same thing, playing with other musicians wherever, whenever and as constantly and consistently as possible.

Play with people who share your passion, and at least from my experience don't just worry about getting songs down pat - fucking jam. There is no better way to unconsciously imprint the sounds your instrument can make onto your brain than by experimentation. Learn some theory to get the foundation to be able to do that, and then just take off.

I have also recently found how helpful it is to play with a metronome. I noticed a drastic improvement in only a few days after not having used a metronome for months.


Also, any advice on how to improve jamming ability or general bass advice would be awesome.

 

I'm not really a big gear head when it comes to equipment so my collection of guitars and pedals is fairly small. I was wondering what guitars and accessories the rest of you might have and/or recommend. So far I have

Gibson Les Paul Studio Silverburst - Nothing special hear except that I put EMG's in place of the passive pickups.
Gibson Les Paul Studio Gothic - Was the first guitar I bought with my own money, it got destroyed by my mom and rebuilt by a friend with a few additions. I'll post a pic below.
Marshall Solid State 100W amp - Nothing to write home about and gets drowned out if another guy has a tube amp.
BBE Sonic Maximizer Stomp Pedal - Partially solves the problem of my solid state amp getting drowned out by tube amps.
Boss SD-1 - I've never used this
BBE AM64 - Sounds like dog shit

Do any of you have any devices in particular that you like and would recommend?

My rebuilt guitar below. Don't worry, the staples are purely for decoration.

 

I got bored and recorded this thing that sounds like Iron Maiden and then did silly doohickey garbage over it in one take. Took me like an hour. Let me know what you think? Granted this is just a little thing, but if you guys write and record stuff feel free to, y'know, post it here.

 

May I ask what equipment/software you use for recording? I'm looking into recording so I can send out some demo cd's to people in the area I'm interested in trying to get some work with, or just get together to play for fun. I think it would really help me if I started recording any and all noodling I do when practicing. Too many times I've landed on something which at the time I didn't think much of, then a few hours later thought to myself, "That sounded good, try it again" only I can't remember much of it, also I'd be able to analyse what I'm doing and take a more objective view over what I should be working on improving.

 

...so I just typed up a huge thing and then hit the X in Firefox somehow. Fuck. Me. I. Am. Dumb. Second Try:

All it takes to record something on that sounds as good as what I posted (plus or minus some depending on the time you put into it/the equipment you already have) is 100 bucks and some technical knowhow (to find the other things that cost money and get them for $Free.99. You're all big boys, you can handle finding it on your own).

The ~$100 is for the hardware, which you need. I use the Fast Track Pro, and it works great. Low latency, handles pretty much exactly what I need input wise, haven't had any problems with it. There are other things available (The non-Pro Fast Track, Mbox 2, Mbox 2 Mini are your best bets). The preamps on all of these are going to be very similar in quality, so the big difference are the number and type of inputs. Check around, I don't know specifically what you need for your productions. Also, there's some version of the Fast Track that comes without phantom power (48v). You need phantom power if you want to use any mic other than a dynamic (if you're singing/recording guitars with microphones, you will). Just make sure, I almost bought one for my friend that didn't have phantom power. That woulda been stupid.

As for programs, I've used all the big audio programs, and the one I use all the time now is Reaper. Hands down, quickest and easiest way to go from plugging in your guitar to a finished product, especially if you haven't used anything like these programs before. It's honestly awesome, and I'm so glad it was recommended to me. Ableton Live is another program that has a lot of functionality, however it takes a while to get used to the interface. Pro Tools is wayyyy to much for what you need. Hell, I use Reaper over Pro Tools 80% of the time.

For guitar emulation, Guitar Rig 4. I've used Amplitude (Guitar Rig's competion) and thought it sounded like asshole. Tons of options, and sounds pretty much as good as you're gonna get without actually setting your amp up in a studio and micing it. However, if you're going to be doing a lot of heavier stuff, I'd recommend using some sort of amp or pedal on the way in, as for whatever reason a lot of the distortion options never feel quite right. I actually don't use the amp modeling, just the speaker, as I generally go guitar-> my pedals-> Orange Tiny Terror Head-> Fast Track Pro-> Guitar Rig, and just delete the amp and leave the speaker. If you don't know waht I mean, you will when you open it. If you don't have an amp to go in, you'll get some pretty good results just going guitar-> Guitar Rig. But the quality of my sound definitely improved once I started going into Guitar Rig from a real live amp.

For drums, I use Superior Drummer 2. Has a ton of different kits you can use, and you can mix and match them however you see fit. Also, it comes with it's own mixer, which is SUPER AWESOME and has the most functionality I've seen out of a drum sampler. Also, sounds great. There are others (BFD, Addictive Drums, and Mixosaurus, but Mixosaurus is HUGE and probably not worth it) but I prefer Superior. Check out the samples, and go with what you see fit, but I am firmly in the Superior camp.

Annnnd I think that's most of it. If you have any other questions lemme know.

 

I thought I posted this last night but somehow it did not or I just imagined the whole episode:

I'm looking into getting a looping pedal. It will need the ability to loop two separate tracks but more is better; it doesn't need to keep the looped tracks afterward but a memory on it would be cool. I don't know anything about them, so any information would be nice; I will be using it with my bass.

 

For effects I'm running an Ibanez weeping demon wah, a mxr evh flanger and a boss dd-20 delay.

The boss isnt bad it's not super super customisable though, but I love the flanger and the wah.

I'm using an engl screamer as my amp and I aboslutely love it.

 

I figured this would be the best place to ask.

Currently have 8-10 years of experience with the piano, been off of it for about 1.5 years though (university/xc&track has kept me busy, no excuses I know). This questions isn't about the piano though:

How tough is it to learn the drums? I am a big fan of many rock bands, but also a fan of a lot of hip-hop music--I kept wondering why that is, and besides the creativity that each genre has I keep coming up with the beat that is being held. I love listening to the beat of a song. That being said, I was wondering that if I wanted to learn the drums, how tough would it be for someone who already has experience with another instrument, the piano in this case? I know it's a different beast and requires great rhythm, but does knowing another instrument help a lot?

Also, what is the best way to start learning the drums--should I pick up beginners books and start playing through them, get an instructor (don't have a lot of money though), or what? Any suggestions would be great here. Thanks guys.

 

I don't play drums very seriously, I just play them on top of playing guitar, but I think I can offer you some advice for starting out.
I think that it's very possible to teach yourself drums. When I got my drums I got Realistic Rock by Carmine Appice. It teaches you pretty much everything you need to play rock drums. One thing I can recommend with drums is that, more than any other instrument, practicing with a metronome is essential. If you have poor timing while playing drums you are useless.

 

Thanks. I'll look for that. In terms of the actual drum set, what should I do? There are a couple free ones on craigslist (kick, hi-hat, etc for a basic 5 piece set)--Is your recommendation that I should just grab one of those?

 

I taught myself how to play drums with a $200 ebay purchase which was one of the shittiest sets I've seen to this day. My ride cymbal was a cracked student crash/ride and my crash was a marching band cymbal...also cracked. The toms had no bottom skins so they sounded like hitting a cardboard box. Eventually I recorded an entire album with those drums. You can learn on anything. It will help to get a set that is in good enough condition that it isn't falling apart or warped or cracked. Hell you can learn almost everything you need to know on a bass drum, snare and hi-hat.

A few caveats. If you are young, wear ear protection or get some old washcloths and lay them over the skins. Playing drums for hours on end, especially in a small space, will make your ears ring and lead to hearing loss...a big no no if you are interested in music or being able to hear well when you're old. I personally like hearing hi frequency sounds.

As with learning any new instrument, study up on the proper technique. People have developed a system over the years that will put the least amount of strain on your hands as possible. Before you get some bad habits you owe it to yourself to at least try to play how the experts tell you. After you have learned proper technique you can experiment and find what's best but if you start playing drums with a style that makes you cramp up after a few hours, it's going to be a lot harder not to fall back to that.

Drums are fun as hell though. Guitar is my first love, but put me in front of a set with the rest of a band and I'll rock out like none other.

 

I don't know if this is the right thread to post this in, but does anybody here have any experience with gigging? I've never really done it before, but I am heavily considering it now. It would just be me with a one act show.

Anyone have any advice?