what is going on in your musical life

I got to play bass with a drummer and guitarist last week and boy oh boy I'd forgotten how fun it was. We were really running through a few half-constructed songs written by the guitarist, but I really enjoyed having a drummer to play along with, especially since she had a very different, almost textural style of playing compared to the guy I was used to playing with (for whom louder = better).

my guess is the drummer probably also enjoyed having people to play music with
everyone wins :)

As a drummer I aspire to being "textural," and would consider it the highest compliment btw

used to be a guitar player in high school. was a competent rhythm player, could do simple leads, fell out of love with right as I was getting into metal (mostly due to not being able to have my amp in my dorm) and gave it up at 23. picked it back up at 28, only to barely touch the guitar and amp I bought the entire year I had it, and sold it a year later.

had an itch the last two years and bought myself a Dean (Dave Mustaine brand) and an amp and feared the same would happen but I've been hacking at it for hours a day and it's almost like being 18 again.

weirdly, despite having not played an electric since 2009, being terrible at acoustic now, and being rusty af, I've regained most of my skills in the last week and am stronger in some areas than I ever used to be. I mean, my picking needs improvement, my speed as well, but stuff like tapping that I used to be awful at, I'm picking up rather quickly. My pinky finger used to be so terrible at everything and it is suddenly able to do the things it couldn't do at 18.

I suspect I had shitty instruments too back then (Fender Squier with neck warp) but this is a fucking blast.

so...I don't plan to be a recording musician or a gigging musician. this is strictly for hobbyism and fun. but any suggestions as to exercises to improve speed, particularly with tremolo? I've watched a ton of internet videos and they've helped, but curious what anybody here has used.

I think most of my trem issue isn't as much the speed, but the accuracy. I tend to 'jump' the rhythm if that makes sense.

tremolo picking or whammy bar or vibrato/bends?

it's so true what you said about skills coming back better somehow after time away. there's this riff I taught myself 3 years ago that I hadn't played since and when I went to look it up last week I could play it better than I ever could before in about 10 minutes.

the thread where we discover we are x-men

Going to give a recital along with my friend who has been taking voice lessons this year and invite some people over and actually play something and try to do a good job, and then also accompany her which is a whole other thing that we’ve only partially figured out so far.

xxxpost tremolo picking

Practice really slowly, play whatever the part or "move" is really slow over and over.

Use a metronome if you're having tempo issues

^^Metronome is U&K. You'll also want to practise the transitions into and out of the part. If you're mainly just concerned about the right hand picking aspect, you can even practise with open strings so you don't fatigue your left hand with repeated practice.

Are you mostly looking to do tremolo picking with chords for a rhythm guitar part (with palm-muting?)? In a lead context? Tremolo on a single note or do you mean rapid even picking while playing a melody? (The above advice will working with anything, of course.)

does anyone have any recommendations for portable lights or places to shop for them? i am not looking to light up individual drums, just to create some sort of light element. i have googled and haven't found much that i like.

idk but there's a DJ gear place on Lawrence that I always think about stopping at when I drive by. :) I have one of these, maybe it's corny but it works when the only other options are lights on or off in a diy space.

DJ gear place -- good idea! Your link didn't work...

Oh well, I think it's this
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EZLaserRGFX--chauvet-dj-ez-laser-rgfx-red-green-battery-powered-laser-effect

thanks -- that is sort of the situation i am facing, not immediately but long term
doesn't seem corny from the video i watched but i wondered if it was easy to program or to choose one effect to repeat
i have neither owned nor operated a light like this so I am unsure of what to google for -- like what the search terms are. the ones i have tried have yielded much cornier results than this one!!

this is the one i watched
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wiwqB3ptmg

xp back to Neanderthal’s post - quality of gear is something I used to dismiss when I was younger, a guitar’s a guitar and all that, buuut last summer I bought an actual Fender bass and the difference in comfort playing that vs the Cort I’d been playing for years and liked was really noticable!

I’ve really slipped with practicing and playing, I just don’t have room to keep gear set up at the moment. I do actually have at least one musical project on the horizon so should be pushing myself to get in with it.

managed to learn the first part of the solo to Hell Bent for Leather. basic tapping and pulling off, yeah, but I couldn't do it when I was 18. am noticing my speed improving.

i should probably stop just playing my favorite songs and do some exercises now and then but hey

Always learning other peoples' songs is great & helps my playing & writing just as much if not more than exercises

I find i like the shit that tears up my fingers right now. Getting the callouses back

I had my first experience with publicly performing a straight jazz standard with jazz players on Monday. A friend who's a pro jazz pianist is leaving town and had a goodbye jam with a band at a jazz bar. I practised and led a version of "Take Five" with them. I had fun and got some invitations to play more so I'm thinking of doing more of this. I'd been wanting to try this revolutionary idea of playing with other human beings; also playing tunes that don't take months to learn.

That is awesome! Any recordings of it?

Ha, that's great Sund4r.

I've been enjoying playing drums more than I have in awhile. I feel like I'm playing better than ever, but not by actually being any better. I still have pretty poor technique but the continuing process of embracing my limitations and trying to be relaxed at all times goes a long way. I have a gig backing up a pretty legendary New Orleans trumpet player in a couple months, so I've been doing a lot of mental practicing for that.

(but really I'd rather be getting DJ gigs, lol)

Here's a video that someone took at a recent show with a New Orleans jazz group (not the brass band, this is the indoors version, some of the same musicians though)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN43JLwCPDc

Thanks, guys. I don't have a recording of the jam.

embracing my limitations and trying to be relaxed at all times goes a long way.

Something I've been learning for a while. Your upcoming gig sounds really cool; hope it goes well. The video looks like a really fun gig.

Been trying to play more guitar lately. Coming up with some new chord progressions, and also figuring out "Knives Out" by Radiohead and some bits of a Bill Frisell track.

I guess this counts:

My wife and I taped an episode of Beat Shazam that airs on Tuesday, Aug 14 at 8 ET/7 CT on Fox.

So stoked!!

!!!

Ayyyyyy!!!

hope you won a million dolloars!!

embracing my limitations and trying to be relaxed at all times goes a long way.
my mantra!! stay cool, fool ;)

Don’t forget!

Working towards having my first 'band' space in my own house, which is pretty cool. I'm getting my music computer setup in the new space this weekend and will start mixing the record we got in the can. I got a few vocals to cut but held off as this space has a nice high ceiling, which I am curious to see how it sounds recorded.

I'm really psyched as for the first time I will have a drum kit in my house that I can play whenever I want (within reason). I'm also psyched to have space to finally get the whole MIDI rig up and setup for the first time in years.

Guitarist is back in town for a few months, so we are probably going to play a few more gigs and do a a bit more recording. Could be cool, we will see.

Bought a used Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster because I wanted something to practice on with setting up and soldering and etc. - this is a seriously nice guitar for $300.

nice. that's a great price, I didn't know they made a Squier model

Yeah, I got one of the J Mascis Jazzmasters when they were new. It's a rad guitar, though kind of spendy for a Squier. I didn't end up keeping it because the tones I was getting out of it were just too similar to my Telecaster.

going through my SD cards and making ruff mixes, may interest the lovers of messy electronics

power ambient

a nastier one

At the new music school job(s), they want me to be able to teach some bass, ukulele, and keyboard as well as guitar so I'm practising those whenever I can and taking the odd keyboard lesson. Bass is fun. I've got a little less time for my own music rn, which is frustrating.

Second jazz jam was less of a success than the first; still want to keep working on this.

Recorded, mixed, and mastered a friend's song a little while ago with two vocal parts, guitar, five violin tracks, and Hammond organ. It was nice to be able to do that kind of thing again, even if it was a home recording.

xp nice stuff haitch!

and Sund4r lucky duck working with a Hammond, I still haven't. when I recorded my last solo record I went to town on the Wurlitzer my engineer had, I think it's on every song? beautiful sound. he was really excited about the clavinet he got halfway thru recording.

I was the engineer in this case. My friend was doing all the playing but, for certain, it was still a pleasure to get the chance to record a classic Hammond. It's been in his family for a while, I gather.

Both of those (Hammond and Wurli) are so fun to play! Rhodes too.

I've been searching high and low for a pedal that will make my Telecaster emulate a Fender Rhodes. I was really excited for the Electro-Harmonix KEY9 pedal because it has a specific Rhodes mode on it, but I was really disappointed with it. It went for more of a cheesy soft rock Rhodes tone where I want more of an early 70s Bill Evans / Ahmad Jamal type Rhodes sound.

Anyway, first new composition in a while yesterday.

Recorded quite a bit this weekend. Couple new ones that I like here and here.

Also, if I ever start talking again about how I don't really need a phaser pedal, knee me square in the balls.

I ended up returning the Avalanche Run. It was really good, but I just wanted a little something more. Upon returning it, I noticed that the Guitar Center I was in had a used TC Electronic Triple Flashback delay. I loved the Flashback X4 when I had it, but I grew weary of its somewhat clunky integration of stacking the delays. The Triple Flashback came up as a possible replacement some weeks back, but I was not keen on spending another $300 to special order one, so I decided to wait it out. And my patience was rewarded for a change! The Triple Flashback is an incredible machine. I do miss the instant runaway oscillation that was built into the Avalanche Run, but the stuff you can do on the Triple Flashback more than makes up for it.

Anyway, the Triple Flashback, being used, was not even $200, so I had a good amount of store credit left over. Some of that I used towards a an MXR M107 Phase 100, also out of the used case. This makes for the seventh or eighth phaser I've ever purchased; I literally can't remember all the ones I've purchased and tried out for a while (though I do know for sure that this is the fourth MXR one I've acquired: Phase 95 (twice!), EVH Phase 90, and now the Phase 100). The Phase 100 is actually a much different beast than MXR's other one-knob phasers. I think it's even got the Phase 95 beat in terms of diversity. Phasers are actually a sound I really like a lot; I basically turned on the Phase 100 Friday evening and haven't turned it off since. I think that's maybe why I never kept any of the other ones: I relied on them too much. I hate when I start to play with a non-drive and / or non-reverb pedal that's always on; makes me feel like I'm cheating somehow —I think? I honestly don't know. Why else do I keep acquiring phasers, only to get rid of them and then reacquire another one a few months later?

I really dig your stuff. You should team up with a vocalist. I’m hearing shoegazey reverb’d-out vocals...

Thank you so much! That is amazing that you would say something like that about my sound doodles. I completely don't take making music that seriously. I mean, on a really personal level, I do. But that's just because I want to make stuff that I like. I don't mean this in a puffed up pretentious kind of way, but I honestly don't expect too many other people to hear my music and get something out of it; it's kind of filled with esoteric references and completely random ideas thrown together.

But, again: thank you. To suggest that I should work with a singer implies that you think my music is somewhat accessible; which is such a weird concept for me. Very humbling. Thank you.

i have a lot going on in my musical life and it's partially stressing me out and also i feel like these are probably relatively common issues and ones i shouldn't allow to derail me
lotsa good stuff though, things i am looking forward to and proud of -- i am playing a very short (all sets are 5 min) solo set and later that week playing with a band-of-indeterminate-size but both should be fun and i feel i will have accomplished something new each time, which is important to me.

this flurry of activity is definitely helping distract me from other harmful stressors swirling around at the highest levels of power in the country where i live :(