Post: #51

(01-21-2013 12:36 PM)Ringo Wrote:  Two questions for fellow guitar players:
1) Do you have your right hand finger nails grown out?
I've been growing mine and I love to play classical with them, but they sometimes drive me crazy. It looks bad, feels weird, and I've already scratched myself in the face a couple of times. Plus, I get paranoid I'll hurt girls when I'm fingering them

More than one year later and I'm still sporting long fingernails on my right hand.

Still feels weird sometimes, but I don't give a fuck what it looks like anymore. No girl has ever complained about them nor seems to have been scratched by them.

Playing sounds way better and clearer and so much easier. Only downside is having to sand them very often because of judo/jiu jitsu practice.

Post: #52

I really love this thread kudos to OP for learning blackbird

I've met mark and mlyles. Tremonti knows me when he sees me I'm such a fan.

Gear wise I love my Mcinturff Polaris (like a les Paul studio)

Looking to get a Les Paul with emgs

Amp-
Line 6

Stings-
Daddario 13s

Influences-
Joe pass Metallica (mid career ajfa black album) Bernard Allison Alice in Chains Alter Bridge Sound garden Queensryche Sevendust

Goals-
Keep writing original material love playing detuned Drop Db my favorite tuning

-----------------Questions----------

-----What city has a good scene on the West coast with aggressive rock bands and tons of shows???

------Why is Jerry Cantrell such a bad ass songwriter- guitar wise the dude can take two chords and make it the coolest thing ever?

Post: #53

Any drummers here? I played guitar for ~15 years, then impulse-bought an electric drum set. Now about 7 months in and playing it all the damn time. It's hard but super fun.

Post: #54

Kind of late to the Lounge...

I been playing guitar for almost 7 years now. I've had my on and off's and took a big break after I was not accepted into Berklee.

Initially I started playing rock and metal, which was my favorite music back then. I really developed good technique and speed in a relatively short amount of time, I learned and really improved Alternate Picking, Tapping, Sweeping, Speed picking, my phrasing and improvisation.

Then I moved onto Satriani kind of stuff, very different from the metal I was used to. This gave me more phrasing and improvisation skills. And I also managed to achieve a tone very similar to Satriani, which I fell in love with back then.

Then came the blues, which stuck me for a good while and I couldn't get it off. Started emulating the styles of Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Even today my improvisation has a lot of blues elements to it.

After I failed to enter Berklee, I got tired of the electric guitar. I wanted something different, so I got an acoustic guitar and started learning songs which I could sing to. This proved to be really difficult actually, despite my previous training. I could speed pick and play really good solos on the electric guitar, but I couldn't for the life of me play some simple chord progressions while trying to sing. Slowly though I manage to improve considerably.

Quick jump to 2014 (now), I have felt in love with latin guitar, classical guitar, and fingerstyle. I have regained my lost passion for guitar. Styles like Classical, Flamenco, Rumba, Bossa Nova, it's the only thing in my head right now.

Sadly I do not have a classical guitar with me so I have to play with a Acoustic Nylon string, which makes it a little harder and is totally a different feeling.

This is the kind of stuff I am practicing right now:

Listening to this just gives me the chills, this is the kind of fingerstyle technique I want to achieve:




Some rumba strumming exercises, which I am gradually starting to get the hang of them:




Some great arpeggio exercises:




Like I said, I have been practicing this with Acoustic guitar (steel strings), which makes the fingerpicking much harder (but not impossible to make the practice unproductive), makes the barre chords harder as well (the most annoying part).

Post: #55

I'm a classically trained musician: started out at age 3 with the violin, switched to piano, then played cello and piano for 5-6 years together, and focused on cello when my time became limited in my early teens. I've been playing cello for 20 years. I've performed countless times solo, in quartets, in orchestras, and I did a few gigs in pit orchestras for musicals.

I have a fretless electric bass that I restrung and tuned in 5ths to mess around with. I'm pretty good, it's an easy transition from cello to upright or electric bass. I also own a couple guitars and a mandolin that I sometimes dust off. I've never liked guitar much, and mandolin is fun but I need a lot more practice before I consider myself "okay" at it.

My singing voice is pretty decent, but I haven't sang in front of another human in a long time.

More than anything, I'd like to get back into playing piano for composition purposes.

Post: #56

Been on a gypsy jazz kick recently. Got into it in chicago while seeing some of the top local players at the green mill.

Insane levels of talent

This guy plays every wednesday...must see show if you're around chicago

Post: #57

I'm curious about RVF Musician's recording equipment.

Post: #58

I started playing bass in 1980, moved to LA and had a go at being a rock star, but that didn't work out. Eventually burned out on it and played sporadically for a long time, just occasional jams with friends, but started up playing again about 5 years ago. Also bought a strat back 5 years ago because I've been a frustrated guitarist, now I have a decent Yamaha acoustic, which I enjoy the most. You don't need an amp or anything, just pick it up and play.

I've signed up for a Groupon where they do group lessons at a local bar, I figure it'll be a good chance to socialize and do some guitar, maybe even meet musicians. I think the rock star ship has sailed but I'm getting the itch to play in a group setting again.

Post: #59

(07-27-2014 10:58 PM)FretDancer Wrote:  I'm curious about RVF Musician's recording equipment.

Best $499 I ever spent. No latency. Portable. 8 simultaneous inputs.

Post: #60

I play a black Essex MD160 acoustic guitar and a Washburn B12 bluegrass banjo. Most of the songs I play are rock (mainly punk and alternative), but there are some softer songs (i.e. Heard It Through The Grapevine and Wonderwall) in my repertoire and even some Celtic and Appalachian folk.

I also have a band and write my own music. Here's one of my tracks (about a Fijian cannibal king from the 19th century): https://soundcloud.com/fokkertism/the-ba...-udre-udre

Instruments similar to mine:

Post: #61

(07-29-2014 05:45 AM)fokker Wrote:  I play a black Essex MD160 acoustic guitar and a Washburn B12 bluegrass banjo. Most of the songs I play are rock (mainly punk and alternative), but there are some softer songs (i.e. Heard It Through The Grapevine and Wonderwall) in my repertoire and even some Celtic and Appalachian folk.

I also have a band and write my own music. Here's one of my tracks (about a Fijian cannibal king from the 19th century): https://soundcloud.com/fokkertism/the-ba...-udre-udre

Instruments similar to mine:

Nice banjo. I play a bit of tenor banjo (four string) but predominately mandolin. It's such a cool instrument and very versatile . I jam every week with anything from 6-12 others depending upon who can make it. Tonight is a jam session at a local pub.

I'll echo what previous posters have said about playing with others- it's a surefire way to improve your skillset in less time.

Post: #62

I am a lifelong guitar player from a very young age, both of my parents played. In the '80's I was a metal kid, studying metal guitar and classical from the local metal teachers in my town. I also played trumpet in school and was first chair at that. I also play drums pretty well. In the '90's I was in several bands playing mostly original alternative rock based on the popular bands then, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, etc. We played all over the midwest in bars and clubs.

Right now I am looking at my current axes hanging on my living room wall; a '94 American Fender Strat, a Godin parlor acoustic, a '69 Epiphone Semi-hollow electric hand me down from dad, a brand new Fender Jazzmaster bought from Jesse Malin, and a little pink Strat for my daughter. I currently play through a Tech 21 solid state 60 watt combo, with a variety of pedals when I feel it. I have gotten back into technical playing and right now I am working on expanding my scale repertoire, which is still based mostly in pentatonic. I have been listening to a lot of '80's metal that I loved then, anything with Vai, EVH, Iron Maiden, Pantera, etc. I have a new project going where I am taking an off the shelf Jim Root Jazzmaster and moding the hell out of it. It should look really good when I am done. I want to start another band, music is probably one of my best talents.

Post: #63

Another lifelong player here as well. Began piano at 6, flute at 8, guitar at 11 (saw the Beatles on Sullivan on 2/1964 - and had to get a guitar!) Although my undergraduate degree is in classical composition, I chose to pursue another career (finance) so that I could do my music for myself alone. I've done finance for 35 years, currently 2 years away from retiring (I'm 60) - at which point I can focus fully on composing.

My instruments include: all winds & reeds, keyboards, fretted strings, tuned percussion, harp, Theremin and many others. My influences include the masters of studio recording - Steely Dan, Zappa, Todd Rundgren, Prince - as well as progressive rock and jazz fusion. I prefer to work in the studio over playing live, although I've done my share of gigging in the past.

Current "secret weapons" in my arsenal: Omnisphere 2, Roli Seaboard Studio and a vintage Gibson Hawaiian guitar.

As Zappa once said, "Music is the best!"