General Music Chat

Maybe I should warm up my fingers?

I'm no spring chicken ... I'm going on 58 ... I soak my hands in very hot water for 10 to 15 minutes before I go on it helps get the blood running in your hands

Maybe I should warm up my fingers?

I'm no spring chicken ... I'm going on 58 ... I soak my hands in very hot water for 10 to 15 minutes before I go on it helps get the blood running in your hands

Good idea, well except for my finger tips. I wash my hands so much it's hard not to loose skin on the strings, though the Dit Da Jow helps.

Throw some fresh chopped ginger root and a dash of Epsom salts in that hot water.

Don't ask ... just try it.

If I'm not playing with others at least 4 days a week, I suck.
I suck

Well, damn, I'm only 37. This shouldn't have happened.

I couldn't help it, I had to pick up my guitar and play it today. So far, nothing really hurts. It was only for 20 minutes. Figures I had adhesive tape wrapped around my thumb and got sticky sh*t all over the damn neck.

Kinda curious . . .
Play with others once or twice a week.
.
And - why do you play with others as often as you do?

I rarely play alone. Music only really happens for me when playing/performing with others. Time alone with my instrument is usually just woodshedding new material or chasing that elusive guitar tone that always seems like the tall green grass just the other side of the fence. I prefer to rough out the basics of a song alone and then allow it to develop with others during rehearsal or performance. I am far more interested in a song developing a groove and taking on a life of it's own than whether someone misses the occasional chord or entrance. We can cover each other there. No one can cover a sterile groove.

I do have the good fortune of playing in a circle of musicians who mostly understand and appreciate where I am coming from. Listening carefully and responding to other musicians creatively makes music a living, breathing thing for me. The best musicians I play with are not necessarily the ones with the strongest technical skills or the fastest fingers but rather the ones who listen really well and are willing and able to go wherever the groove takes them.

I do still perform solo about twice a month but my goal is always to get the audience involved, singing along or filling in on percussion right away. The best music is when it takes you to a cool place that you never expected. I live for those little inspired surprises.

Solo recording is also a problem for me. The process is pretty cognitive while playing music is more about feeling and digging deep for inspiration. I don't change gears very well. I usually record all the other players first and then let someone else record my overdubs another day. Then I will get pretty experimental and bounce ideas off the engineer as to what works/doesn't work. My recordings always sound better this way. The best is when someone else handles all the technical stuff and I am free to just sing and play.

I hope those of you who play solo - or in their living rooms - have been reading this thread.

Oh yeah, I've been reading this, I've read it a couple of times actually. I'm like a leech when it comes to these kinds of threads.

I hate doing solos. I do but hate it. I need a full band to properly express my songs. The difference in solo and full band on my material is immense.

I have a great guitarist wanting to play for me, but the drummer and 2nd guitar/bassist are pretty lacking in motivation (every now n then when they can just don't cut it) so I'm still looking... since I seem to be doomed to this hell hole for life

Hopefully I can pull enough dedicated players to be doing the festival circuit next year.

Then it's 4 night's a week of either playing or rehearsing

Some of my songs are extremely difficult to play solo.
And - conversely - some of my songs are nearly impossible to play with a full band, because of the plethora of chord changes, and the fast alternating rhythms I use (I'm in tempo, however).
It could take someone 6 months to learn their parts - and/or the techniques required - for just a couple songs . . .
Yeah, sometimes it takes me 3 months to a year to master certain required techniques for a given song.
.
Anyway - playing solo can force you to be able to do MORE with your own music.
For instance, I have a song, 'Bradley Boogie' Which has fast chord changes, and a fast train-like bass pattern.
Took 2 instruments to play it, (never mind the harmonica and what-not).
Going solo with it almost worked; but it was repetitious with just a guitar.
So I alternated between the bass and the chords - 1 verse each.
Harder than it sounds.
(What!? You havent written a bass pattern for your song?)
Heh . . .
Being so fast, it was nearly impossible to switch between the bass and chords without missing a beat or 2. No time to think.
'Nearly impossible' - for the first month or two - if you catch my drift . . .
But I wasn't going to perform a song if there's a spot in it where I miss a beat.
Would you?
The audience doesn't want to hear a soloist who comes late into the bridge or chorus . . .
Don't let them hear that . . .
Practice, and improve.
Add something good, unique - and tight - and you can stand out as a soloist.
Whatever you perform, make it so it's not just another song.
.
If we're good in practice, what with distractions - we may become fair as a performer.
.
Drop down one notch - that's what your audience might hear.
If we want to sound good, we should sound great, in practice.
I've got another song, called "Let's Play a Funky Song." It started out as a funky bass-pattern. I recorded it, and added a cool jazzy-funky rhythm guitar.
The 2 together make a great song, even withoput vocals.
But there's a ton of cool, fast chord changes, and the bass is way complicated.
I can't play 2 instruments at once - or can I?
So, I started about a month back, working on playing the entire song w/both chords and bass. It's work, let me tell you.
. . . but the end product will be a stand-out song, although pretty hard to perform.
There's lot's of places where it'd be easy to make a mistake, because there's no time to think.
But - that's ok by me.
Practice, practice, practice - and I'll eventually have another solo song . . .
.
Don't let the amoint of time it will take you to accomplish something stop you. The time will pass anyway. Might as well put it to good use.
.
Push your envelope. Spend a couple minutes on something 'way too hard to play,' before every practice.
And in 6 months you will be playing 'stuff I can't play.'
.
Anyway, friends, if we take on that attitude, we can start performing stand-out instrumentals.
And - that will make it a LOT easier to attract a band . . .

When I perform solo I play guitar very differently. The guitar becomes my rhythm section and sets the groove and dynamics but the creative focus shifts to my voice. I really reach for phrasing and interesting vocal moments because they stand out so well performing solo. I try not to get too tricky with my guitar playing. I keep it simple cause I know I am completely capable of screwing it up.

I've held off on answering this thread, cuz the answer is so embarrassing.

The answer is, of course - "Not NEARLY enough, these days!"

I haven't played since September or so. I don't like it, but I haven't had the funds to go out & do anything, & I can't seem to get the damned band together, either.

I'm quite PO'd about it, too...but, you'll have this, in these economic times, I suppose...

I've held off on answering this thread, cuz the answer is so embarrassing.

The answer is, of course - "Not NEARLY enough, these days!"

I haven't played since September or so. I don't like it, but I haven't had the funds to go out & do anything, & I can't seem to get the damned band together, either.

I'm quite PO'd about it, too...but, you'll have this, in these economic times, I suppose...

For us this is always a slow time of year. Everyone and everything is "holiday" focused and people are really busy. Weather being inhospitable outdoors means less outdoor music events too.
We roll back a little and take a breather. Enjoy family time. Moving into 2011 we will renew our promotional push for the oncoming season.

Every chance I get to work with good musicians I do it.

That is pretty far between jams these days. But I get down wif my own bad self every day for at least an hour or more. But now I have to slow down because my fingers tips hurt too much. I re strung my guitars and they sound so good I couldn't leave them alone.

Weatherizing my house and having it re wired kept me away from my playing and off the Internet for the last couple of months. Now the house is a complete pile of clutter. But I tell everyone that I keep the house messy in remembrance of my ex wife. The only thing she left me was a messy house.

I am picking again rather than re organizing. I'm tired of cleaning too. When they blow in insulation, dust from the last 100 years that had built up in the attic, walls and roof covered everything in the house with a thick layer of gray dust.

I'm working my way back to making a few instruction oriented videos. So I get in plenty of practice since you have to do it right the first time when your making videos. As soon as I get a conversion and title editing program I am going to start recording again. Hard to find those editing programs for a reasonable price. Especially for the wide screen and the high def cameras that I am using now. High dollar stuff for doing the simple tasks that I need to perform. And from reading reviews from the people who bought editing programs, most of the programs suck.

I've been re-organizing the band a bit, and have cancelled a few practices.
I make good use of that down time.

I think that, usually, any 'down time' where a soloist or band is not rehearsing or performing should be spent on either writing or learning new songs.