Anyone here play a musical instrument/drums?

[Part Time Junkie]

Doing a recording of a band next week in the studio, drop me a PM on friday n I'll send ya all the drum stems, gonna be a couple grands worth of mic's pointed at a very nice kit.

Cheers mate!!! Would very much appreciate that shit! chat fri fella!

 

[amnesiaseizure]

I was in a band. Fucking hated the first half day of recording which was used up solely by the producer and the drummer going "now tap the high hat" "ok, now tap the high hat"

Why does it take 4 hours to set the drums up while the rest of us get 15 seconds?

Oh god that brings back memories. By the time it came to even hitting an E on my guitar I'd of talked myself out of even liking the music i was gonna play due to the bloody drummer. Stick one mic in a room and good to go i say.

 

[pinkpapaver]

tin whistle, fiddle and spoons.

 

[ColtDan]

Guitar, got some stuff on youtube

 

[knock]

I used to play the piano, to Bill Bailey standard. That's an outrageous lie, but I did get my grade 2.

Handy on the recorder, descant and tenor.

Cornet, trumpet, euphonium and baritone. I played in an orchestra and a competing brass band! I was shit! Really shit! Despite that, we once won the UK nationals in our section. We played in the albert hall!

I have a concertina but I can only struggle through three blind mice.

I sing in the shower, and car, badly. Usually I do Doors and Björk numbers.

 

[Myshkin]

That's impressive, knock! I'd been under the impression that brass bands were a working-class Lancs / Yorks thing. Obviously I was wrong.

I used to play guitar and sing (properly). It's now degenerated into a semi-competent country-style strumming of the guitar (used to play electric - it's so much different) and a voice that used to be a perfect mimic before time and weed took its toll.

I don't always stay on key (I'm working on that, but it's hard not to go all club croonerish when you're a bass / baritone -hey ladies, wanna hear me sing a sad song? Suit yourselves.) but I have 'soul', a good 'timbre' and a fairly resonant voice still. If we were to use (totally flattering) Doors comparisons, I'm now the Jim of LA Woman rather than The Crystal Ship. Did those Velvets tunes that Lou just talks through now. Made 'em cry, I swear. Even did old numbers for the pissheads in my dad's local. To be fair, a loy of things made them cry.

I used to sing all the Scott Walker ballads effortlessly, well, almost. Those were the days I didn't spend so much time alone. Or, for that matter, on drugs.

 

[curious_24]

I used to be really good on the guitar but then married life and work took over. I'm getting back into it again now and it's frustrating not being able to play stuff I once found really easy (YYZ by Rush, for example).

 

[Ben So Furry]

I used to be really good on the guitar but then married life and work took over. I'm getting back into it again now and it's frustrating not being able to play stuff I once found really easy (YYZ by Rush, for example).

Sound identical to me mate. Bloody women. Love 'em but they do make us do weird stuff.

 

[Myshkin]

I used to be really good on the guitar but then married life and work took over. I'm getting back into it again now and it's frustrating not being able to play stuff I once found really easy (YYZ by Rush, for example).

You could play Rush songs easily? Man, I had a few party pieces (erm, mostly hair metal I'd rather not mention, but think Ozzy solo). Then I discovered punk rock, unlearned a lot of the things I'd practiced for hours upon hours, and eventually got exhausted being a tinpot dictactor in practice sessions and abandoned guitar in favour of singing. Which was silly, but if I'd got it together back then to concentrate instead of drinking and drugging, I'm told I could've been a contender if I'd have bothered trying. Pete Doherty nicked half my schtick, the Strokes the other bits. I'd already nicked from Keef and Thunders, but that was momentarily 'cool'.

One thing I'll say in favour of Doherty and The Strokes: they got me more attention than I get now that looking like a mugging victim / fat, balding tabloid 'paedo' is in vogue on the 'hip' scene, at least with the women my age. Which is a scene I always end up coming back to, for better or worse. Also, I'm usually the scariest bloke in there because it's whispered that I'm genuinely working class and have criminal Irish family. Which is all threat, but I've been a dick about on more than one occasion, though it's come in handy often too.

I was a pretty good frontman in terms of sheer arrogance and that effeminate / macho thing that Plant and Jagger do so well. Except I'm not saying I was on their level - just better than a lot of what was successful. But not at all committed, and I thought my voice was far better than it was, and didn't need exercises. Didn't help that people would butter me up in those days because I was semi-cool and even made it into 'London style publications'. There you understand a particularly strong source of my bitterness.

A local band asked me to jam with them recently on the strength of my swaggering about like a dick. Or maybe they thought I might have better drugs. I regret it in part, but I would've wasted their time; unrehearsed, unconfident and not anywhere near as talented as them.

So maybe there's still hope for local punk-cabaret stardom / notoriety, and a bit of the buzz that I used to get from music alone. Now if only I could convince my mate (a practical industry insider) that I'm ready. He's only been trying to encourage me for five years or so. And now he's busy. Just my luck, eh? I'll do it though, if just to be booed / bottled / laughed at.

Last time I performed anything was two a capella Irish songs, one Brendan Behan's The Auld Triangle and then a slightly more paramilitary-inclined one called Black & Tan Gun. I was told that the room went silent (I'm not making this up) but then again the guy did seem to be making some kind of advances before taking pains to point out he was sraight. I wouldn't have minded if he'd just told the truth - he was a good-looking chap, I was drunk and had to force myself to sing 'properly'. He could've done better, but had he convinced me, he might have got a little kiss; I was 26 or so, okay? He was prettier than most of the women I met, more attentive, and didn't spend all night on the phone to their respective spousal abusers whom they'd come out to escape. Desperate times, those.

And it was an open-mic night, so people tend to be kind. so I might be good, awful, but probably mediocre. I'll settle for that.

 

[Ben So Furry]

Bloody hell Myshkin tell me about it Rush are a right pain in the arse to play eh?

You look like a front man if you don't mind me saying that makes perfect sense.

 

[curious_24]

Nowt wrong with hair metal/Ozzy solos Myshkin. I used to play a few Mr Big solos back in the day. Colorado Bulldog was one of the most challenging things I could pull off. Wouldn't have a cat in hell's chance now!

My real musical passion is proggy metal stuff. Dream Theater and the like.

 

[Ben So Furry]

Curious_24. Bleeding hell mate you must be quite a player. I tried to learn Juda Priest Painkiller once. Fuck me that's a bastard of a tune. I wouldn't stand a chance at Dream Theater. Good for you man. Nice one.

 

[curious_24]

Cheers Ben, I can't really play any of the Dream Theater now but I still love to listen to them. Hopefully in a year or so I'll have my left/right hand coordination back and I'll be able to learn some of their new stuff. Until then I'll keep listening and enjoying.

 

[curious_24]

Oh and Myshkin, it takes some serious balls to stand up and sing at an open mic night, drunk or not!

 

[Myshkin]

Oh and Myshkin, it takes some serious balls to stand up and sing at an open mic night, drunk or not!

Neither you nor Ben need to be as nice and complimentary to me now, y'know. That Crew badge gives me no special powers, so just treat me as an ordinary joe, albeit an ordinary joe in suboxone withdrawal.

Thanks to both of you anyway, and I tip my hat to some of the more dedicated guitarists. I never 'got' Dream Theater fully, but I'd watch them live, and once saw them jamming with a member of Yes (whom I must admit a sneaking admiration for, just don't tell a soul, okay?); even at the height of my punk / generic rock 'n' roll orthodoxy I was open-mouthed in awe of not only their chops, but the sheer delight they had in playing along with this guitarist twice their age (Steve Howe, was it?). So I respect them in the jealous way I respect all committed musicians.

And I thought I'd out-metal everybody too! There are some seriously capable guitarists around here. I'm just a hack who used to be able to spin out the tapping section of Mr Crowley, the intro to Sweet Child... (sounds simple, but try it in standard tuning on any guitar other than a Les Paul and your hand will drop off). and various Maiden licks, with Phantom obviously the one that earned me the most props from metallers. That and the intro to several M******a songs, but we don't mention them. Ever.

All of this was pretty sloppy if I hadn't practiced, by the way. At least with three chords you never lose the knack, although I could really use a thin-necked acoustic, or ideally a White Falcon. A steal at over £2000 for a new-ish, soulless, Japanese model.

Still, if you're reading this, P, you still did a silly thing buying that Jazzmaster when you've got a perfectly serviceable (and cool looking, nice-sounding) Mosrite copy. Is it sadder to have J. Mascis as your guitar hero, or Keef Richards / Johnny Thunders?

Ah, I may be in the wrong thread to be asking that. Sorry!

 

[Everlynquinn]

I used to play the piano, to Bill Bailey standard. That's an outrageous lie, but I did get my grade 2.

Handy on the recorder, descant and tenor.

Cornet, trumpet, euphonium and baritone. I played in an orchestra and a competing brass band! I was shit! Really shit! Despite that, we once won the UK nationals in our section. We played in the albert hall!

I have a concertina but I can only struggle through three blind mice.

I sing in the shower, and car, badly. Usually I do Doors and Björk numbers.

All you need is a little more practice.

 

[Bleaney]

All you need is a little more practice.

Tragically Knock won't be able to practice any more as he died as a result of a drug experiment gone wrong.

Those were sad times indeed.

Apart from the sadness of that, it's interesting to look back on this old thread. There's been lots of talented and capable people with interesting posts on this thread.

As for me I still can't apply myself to practice for long enough to learn any tune properly on the acoustic guitar, which has been my instrument of choice for a long time.

On the first day on my ADHD meds quite recently I felt so euphoric and music was sounding so good I looked up the chords and a tutorial for playing Johnny Cash's version of Solitary Man.

This was the first time I'd looked into playing it, and turns out that it's one of those songs with very easy to play chords, and a simple rhythm / strumming pattern, but it sounds fantastic to me, and I more or less got the hang of it pretty much straight away, or within about 5 minutes. But that was it, I then stopped, leaving it at that, using the excuse that my finger tips were starting to burn.

I really hate that I keep leaving guitar pieces at 'more or less got it' and don't persist until I perfect anything. I struggle to remember all the chord changes for an entire song with all the different sections and variations from the verses to chorus and any bridge sections.

It would only take a bit of organisation to write the chords down in big print on a piece of paper and just stick at something until it's right.

Maybe when I get on the right dose of ADHD meds I'll actually be able to stick at things like this until I get good enough at them to play them properly and completely.

 

[blondin]

Wrote, produced and played on a number of 12" 88-92 - guess what genre lol. Play blues/jazz mainly on the piano (one of the few big purchases ever made that couldn't be consumed) Yamaha electric.

 

[Tranced]

If anyone can teach me music theory I will absolutely adore them for life. I can make music, but the music theory has me stumped.

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

If anyone can teach me music theory I will absolutely adore them for life. I can make music, but the music theory has me stumped.

It's a big ask on both sides of the coin.

You also run the potential (but definitely real) risk of ruining music for yourself by learning theory (have seen it happen with music, same as with art and literature). Suddenly there are "no's" and "shouldn'ts" etc, and stress where there wasn't any before, and so on. But yeah can also be v helpful for many, and i sort of wish I had learned music theory at an early age, but really only sort of.