Do You Play Any Musical Instruments?

[TheEvan]

Microphone? What microphone? Can't I just play 'real loud' and the 'puter will 'hear me'??

;)-->

Condolences in advance for LSU whuppin' up on the Rebs...

[Sudo]

Evan,

Re:"Condolences in advance for LSU whuppin' up on the Rebs..."

I'm afraid you could be right. LSU has a powerhouse this year in all positions. I remember another time this game was on national television. I was there. 1970. Archie Manning's senior year and Ole Miss got whupped 61-17. I'm sure hopping it's a lot closer than that this time :(-->

Howsomeever.. if we DO manage to eek out a win, it'll be one for the history books, huh?

sudo

[Kit Sober]

It was me.

(I thought I'd moved it to an archive forum. . .)

But since it's active. . . will put it here.

Hopefully,

:)-->," God

[TheEvan]

Well, that was quite a nailbiter of a game. (Archie will Never grow his nails back, ever!) Ole Miss played magnificently. One made field goal and we're talking overtime. 2 and they win.

So, LSU didn't really beat ole Miss. They were just the lucky winners...

[suz]

Z-to REALLY get some learnin about the banjo check out Bella Fleck and the Flectones.

He plays the banjo amazingly, he playes lead banjo for the band!! Has a unbelievable group of musicians also. Bella can play classical on the banjo, hell he can play anything on it!

Anyway I won't write any more in this thread cause I play NOTHING!!! (in my heart I play the piano)

(someday.....)I have 3 kids that play(trombone, guitar & baratone) tho does that count?? I love music also.

Anyway guys, back to your discussion...but check out Bela, he is absolutely amazing!!

Now back to the schedueled discussion...

suz :D-->

[Zixar]

Suz: Never too late to start... ;)-->

Secret Signature of the Day==v

Terribly sorry, I have a cold...

[Zixar]

bump

The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police.

Or so the Germans would have us believe...

[TheEvan]

Well, thanks for the bump. Just after Christmas I received the new guitar I'd ordered from Darren Hippner, a Washington luthier that builds better for less. This time around I got a classical braced on the Bernabe pattern, cedar top, Brazilian rosewood back & sides. I ordered it with a short scale because of reach problems with my (old injury) left hand. Also, it features an elevated fretboard for easier access above the 12th fret. And it's all lacquer instead of the incredibly fragile French polish I usually prefer. Santofagunn but the thing is responsive and plays easy. I will use it at my big "graduation" recital this summer, unless my next guitar is even better. Yes, I have another short-scale on order, from Lucio Nunez of San Antonio. It will be spruce over Ziricote and the bracing is a variant of the unique lattice bracing popular in Australia. Okay, so I've got it bad.

My recital program:

Dowland: Fantasy #7

Bach: Cello Suite #1

Domeniconi: Variations on an Anatolian Folksong

Albeniz: Caprichio Catalan

Albeniz: Torre Bermeja

Intermission

Jorge Morel: Cancion y Danza

Antonio Lauro: Maria Luisa

Antonio Lauro: El Nino

Antonio Lauro: El Marabino

Paulo Bellinati: Aristocratica

Bellinati: Un Amore de Valse

Bellinati: Alvoroco

Augustin Barrios: La catedral

Encore (like I'll ever get one!) Kern: Somewhere Over the Rainbow/If I only Had a Brain

[Zixar]

Evan: Sounds very cool! Wish I could afford a custom-built instrument...maybe one of these days. Sounds like you've contracted G.A.S.--guitar acquisition syndrome. Usually, the only treatment is a sharp blow on the back of the head from a wife's frying pan...and that's just a temporary fix. ;)-->

Play on!

Zix

(Sufferer of TAS, and showing symptoms of MAS and BAS. [telescopes, mandolins, banjos])

The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police.

Or so the Germans would have us believe...

[Mister P-Mosh]

I'm planning to pick up playing the guitar again. In fact, I plan to go to The Great Evil™ within the next few days to look around and find myself a decent (yet cheap) classical guitar.

[TheManOfa Thousand ScreenNames]

I don't know what you mean by cheap, Mister P, but I happen to like Takamine guitars. I bought one in the early 80's and when I sold it, got fairly close to the original sale price.

The lessons repeat until they are learned.

[tcat5]

Hubby and the kidlet are the musical people at our house. Hubby plays guitar, banjo, violin, mandolin, basically any thing with strings. Kidlet has picked up guitar from her daddy.

Me, well I screech the violin quite well thank you. I can make all the humans and four legged beasts leave the room quickly.

Except for our Yorkie she seems to like my "playing". She sits there and turns her head from side to side....what an idiot!

[dmiller]

what is life without music, and what is life without making your own music??

I pick banjo, guitar, bass, dobro, mandolin, and fiddle. I do piano and organ too, but I guess you don't "pick' those!!

As for me and my house, BLUEGRASS RULES !!

Mando is very easy to learn, but I agree with whoever said "it is easy to play an instrument poorly, and hard to play one well". They all have their intricacies, nuances, etc. that make them both easy, and hard at the same time.

Altho I am somewhat accomplished at banjo, my picking there-of has been described as "something that would remove the most stubborn of wall-paper"!! >>> oh well -- best get back to practicing !!

Keep on picking!!

[TheEvan]

My latest theory about playing an instrument well is to quit practicing. Yes, stop now. This is urgent.

Every time you practice you are ingraining mistakes into both muscle memory & auditory memory.

Instead of practicing, commit yourself to "learning". Take apart what you've been playing and analyze your fingerings, shifts, etc. Find the little faults and learn how they can be corrected. Slow the pasage down until you can solve the problem. Then gradually work it back up to speed in the new way you've learned.

In this way (and with ample help from a good teacher), I've gradually remade my playing into something a bit better.

Don't practice; learn!

[TheManOfa Thousand ScreenNames]

I recently read a book called "Effortless Mastery" by Kenny Werner. It is sort of the 'Zen' of music playing. I would highly recommend it.

The lessons repeat until they are learned.

[Mister P-Mosh]

My fingers hurt this morning. I bought an Ibanez acoustic guitar yesterday afternoon and spent most of the rest of the day playing. Although I had forgotten much, I was able to play a few songs from memory. Plus, I found a tab site and played an impromptu "name that song" with my wife, who lost miserably I think.

[dmiller]

The Evan ---- good point about practicing. Was in a workshop with Dan Crary (bluegrass guitarist), and he made that same point, and also mentioned that no-one really LEARNS something, unless they set their mind to it.

He suggested actively trying to LEARN for 10 minutes a day, and go up from there. He mentioned that the 10 minutes would get us more, as musicians, than 5 hours of "practice"

[Zixar]

I don't know exactly why I've gotten so interested in playing bluegrass over the past year, but there's just something refreshing about the style. Maybe it's that it sprang from the dance music of the early settlers so it's more outgoing and crowd-pleasing than introspective.

Or maybe it's just that the chord progressions are fairly elementary and most of it is pretty easy to play for a beginner...

The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police.

Or so the Germans would have us believe...

[CircleGame]

I like to play piano and guitar just to relax. Most adults get bored by my playing, though 10 year olds like it and adults who don't know much about music. Took up the violin a few years back, could play several one-note simple songs by ear, but I could do that on the piano when I was 10 years old!! I wish I took violin when I was young and possibly gotten good at it? I never took any lessons in anything.

[Zixar]

I'm still not very proficient on the banjo yet, but the odd thing is that after practicing a while on it, my mandolin playing improves! The scales on the banjo aren't intuitive like a mandolin, since they jump all over the neck. Perhaps I should have started with the 4-string tenor banjo first, since it's strung in fifths like a mandolin/mandola/octave mandolin, but there is something to be said for taking up something completely different so bad habits from one instrument don't carry over to the other.

I'm still thinking about picking up the fiddle, since the fingering is the same as the mandolin, but when you haven't mastered bowing, the screeching of the practice would probably lead to my untimely demise... (Zixette does have her limits, after all.) That's the saving grace of the banjo. Since it's tuned to an open chord, if you hit the wrong string it still sounds harmonious.

Oh well, if it was easy, it probably wouldn't be any fun...

[CircleGame]

Getting a decent sound on the violin isn't that hard Zixar - I only screeched a couple of times and I am not really "musically talented". You can learn one note songs on the violin by "finger picking" them first, then bowing. So it's pretty easy to teach yourself one note songs but anything else is beyond me.

[Zixar]

Well, I finally went ahead and bought a guitar last week. Jury's still out on whether or not it's worth pursuing, though. Melodies are easy enough, since the fret spacing is close to what I'm used to on the banjo, but some of the chords are unusually hand-contorting. I don't know if it's because the fingerboard is slightly radiused, or perhaps the neck is a bit too narrow, but it doesn't seem that there's really enough room for six strings to be individually fretted without accidental muting.

On the plus side, it is nice to have the extra low-end strings, since both the mandolin and the banjo tend to be high-pitched instruments. There certainly is a lot of music to be found for guitar, and accessories are plentiful and widespread. It was also much cheaper than either of my other plucked wonders.

I suppose you get used to the quirks of each instrument with time. I may set the guitar aside until I can get better on the banjo, then come back to it. Maybe not. Too soon to tell.

[Mister P-Mosh]

What sort of guitar did you get, Zixar? Brand name and model would also be welcome.

[TheEvan]

Zix, that's why God made classical guitars.

There has been a trend of late to offer steel string gutiars in wider fretboard to facilitate fingerpickers. The narrower boards suit flatpickers & strummers. An 13/4 or 17/8" board is likely to feel much more comfortable.

Ditto the radius. it haelps facilitate the barre for the weak of technique, but it makes other things more difficult. So, some, not many, steel strings are now availbale in somewhat flatter boards.

Incidentally, I'm leaving for Africa this Friday, and I don't want to schlepp a guitar this time. It was a royal hassle last time. So, I made an offhand comment that I'd like to try a travel guitar like the Solette or the Yamaha SIlent Guitar on the trip. Heck, folks were tripping over themselves offering me their version to try. None of whom I've met. SO, I have a Yamaha S. G. and an Aria Sinusido in hand. Looks like the Aria breaks down into a smaller package so I guess it wins, though the Yammie is a nicer guitar.

See, I have a full recital, hour & 45 minutes with intermission, the whole bit, coming in May. I have a lot of music to memorize & master before then and I can't afford to lose the 3 weeks I'll be in africa. Aren't people awesome?

[TheEvan]

As regards the mandolin, didya hear Bush on Prairie Home Companion saturday 'fore last? No, not that Bush, the REAL Bush, SAM Bush. Now THAT'S a player!