Biff Mayhem Posted February 17, 2022 Author Share Posted February 17, 2022 2 minutes ago, pfife said: do you control humidity in there? I do. I try to keep it between 35 to 45. A couple of those guitars are over 40 years old and I really limit their exposure to other buildings or even out on my back porch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigeraholic1 Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 Not a guitar guru like you guys but what ever happened to I think he went by Corky on the old board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 12 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said: Not a guitar guru like you guys but what ever happened to I think he went by Corky on the old board? I've wondered too, I don't think I saw him post on the board for a while before we moved to this board. In that old thread he used to talk about how it was important to learn scales and arpeggios on every instrument and I agreed with that a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 Back into the recording studio on Saturday..... one of my favorite things to do associated with playing guitar!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biff Mayhem Posted February 22, 2022 Author Share Posted February 22, 2022 1 minute ago, pfife said: Back into the recording studio on Saturday..... one of my favorite things to do associated with playing guitar!!! Nice! I just laid down some bass tracks on Saturday. I'm not a bassist and never will claim to be but I'm really happy with the fact that, while most of it was just following the guitars, I ended up writing a pretty interesting piece that sort of followed the guitars but stood out from the rest (think RHCP Californication) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 Just now, Biff Mayhem said: Nice! I just laid down some bass tracks on Saturday. I'm not a bassist and never will claim to be but I'm really happy with the fact that, while most of it was just following the guitars, I ended up writing a pretty interesting piece that sort of followed the guitars but stood out from the rest (think RHCP Californication) that's awesome dude. I'm not a bassist either but what I always hear from them is you gotta do better than just playing the guitar on the bass so if you did that you're golden as a bassist man! haha! Now you just gotta learn to play both guitar and bass at the same time 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 Studio has evolved in such crazy ways - do you do much editing Biff? One thing that still completely blows my mind is how they'll have me do say 5 takes of a solo. Then, with what seems like a quick mouse drag but is defiitely more than that, the producer can create one super-solo from the best parts of those 5 takes. And you totally cannot tell that it happened. Never really have to rip a perfect take. It's really something. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 The other thing the engineer did last time that was hilarious...... our singer was like, that chorus would sound great with hand claps in that part. Engineer goes into a different project and copies a hand clap, then pastes it into the chorus in perfectly in line with the snare drum. LMAO I was involved in recording hand claps once. It's a complete disaster. It really doesn't sound good unless you have multiple people clapping. Then, when you have multiple people clapping one of them is me and I don't have rhythm so I'm the stray 1 hand clap hahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biff Mayhem Posted February 22, 2022 Author Share Posted February 22, 2022 20 minutes ago, pfife said: Studio has evolved in such crazy ways - do you do much editing Biff? One thing that still completely blows my mind is how they'll have me do say 5 takes of a solo. Then, with what seems like a quick mouse drag but is defiitely more than that, the producer can create one super-solo from the best parts of those 5 takes. And you totally cannot tell that it happened. Never really have to rip a perfect take. It's really something. That's so cool. You don't have to nail it live but in the studio it's forever! I'm using a Tascam 2488 and can export wav files to a DAW and will probably edit out some things. I took a real quick class on DAW to learn the basics but haven't really gotten into the meat and potatoes and don't know that I have the time/patience for the arts and crafts. Right now I'm concerned with getting all the tracks done and then I'll farm out the mixing etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 I hear yah, I definitely don't have the patience for it. I tried to do recording for quite a while a number of years ago and it was never a source of satisfaction, it was just another source of dissatisfaction b/c I never got it sounding as good as I wished. I think my buddy in another on/off band I'm in has that Tascam 2488. He pulls some really great recordings in his room with it, he doesn't have super hot mics or crazy mic pre's or anything like that. Last week he started an apprenticeship with an engineer in Detroit. Looking forward to seeing how good he gets, he's looking to career switch to this. I think it would be a difficult way to earn a living. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Cat Gentleman Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 21 hours ago, Biff Mayhem said: I'm using a Tascam 2488 oh, that looks sweet. I'm almost completely on the opposite end, got a Tascam DP-03SD—two mono inputs, 8 tracks. it was fine when I just had a drum machine, software polysynth (recording direct to wav, and no sequencer), and guitar, but now that I'm getting into sequencer-driven synth hardware and synching the sequencers to my drum machine, which has stereo outputs, I think it might be time for an upgrade. not a 2488, though. maybe just a DP-24SD. 21 hours ago, Biff Mayhem said: I took a real quick class on DAW to learn the basics but haven't really gotten into the meat and potatoes and don't know that I have the time/patience for the arts and crafts. Right now I'm concerned with getting all the tracks done and then I'll farm out the mixing etc. I've never done the DAW thing, either. I don't mind all the mixing and mastering, but I'm cool doing it on my little Tascam. there's not much to my recordings to date anyway. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shades of Deivi Cruz Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 I have my first in-person guitar lesson tomorrow. I'm a little concerned since I told him I don't read music and just use tabs, and he wants me to learn to read music. With the prevalence of tabs, that feels unnecessary but I'll try to have an open mind. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biff Mayhem Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 11 minutes ago, Shades of Deivi Cruz said: With the prevalence of tabs, that feels unnecessary but I'll try to have an open mind. It's certainly a good exercise and it may be a test to see if you have the skill. However it is completely unnecessary for the hobby guitarist. In fact, of all the guitarists I know that play professional gigs, not even 1/3rd of them read music. So if he pushes that as a criteria, you need a new teacher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biff Mayhem Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 So here’s a peek behind the curtain: We have iPads on stage with our sheet music in pdf form. The people who read music have significantly less notes (or none at all) I always have a ton of notes because learning four or five new songs in a week is taxing to my adhd brain and it’s a way to keep from noticing moving boom cameras etc. Recently I’ve been putting my iPad close to the ground to alleviate the visual distraction of an iPad on a stand. This requires me to put the chords/notes in large font so my old eyes can read them. Sometimes I’ll write things like Metallica chords for inverted chords (which I first learned with the song Creeping Death), DL which stands for the Def Leppard chord I learned in their song “Let it Go”. Then there’s “Dream On” which means I have to pick a line up and down much in the manner that one would play the rhythm for that song. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gilmore Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 I would say the most important thing you can do with the lessons is make sure you practice what you learned often/regularly before the next lesson. I tended to find reasons not to and it’s one of the reasons why I suck at guitar. 🙄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Good luck on the lessons man! Be on the lookout for CAGED and Minor Pentatonic, hopefully you start on those soon! I agree w/ what Biff says about reading music for a guitarist. But I would keep an open mind with your teacher for a little while b/c I think its definitely debatable, but I've been playing guitar in bands for a really long time and I can take a long time to eventually read what notes are what on a music staff but I'm not proficient at reading music and don't use it at all without teamed with tabs. I actually listened to a podcast a couple weeks ago where host asked a professional guitarist about reading music. The guest on the pod has played with really big acts, they mention Kelly Clarkston regularly (I think that's who it was). Went to school for guitar and stuff, works in the industry as a professional guitarist. Doesn't read music. Says no pro guitarists really do. Hope this direct link works: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ndWl0YXJtdXNpY3RoZW9yeS5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw/episode/Yjg3NjIzODItZjM3Yy00ZmU4LWI1M2MtMDZmM2QyMTY4MzE5?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahgKEwjAr_iI7pr2AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQvQE I learned way more about reading music from playing piano (I had a piano teacher who emphasized site reading) and drums (learned how the rhythm is counted in printed music this way). I think there's a lot of theory to be learned from reading music that could apply to guitar. But I like having the music notation for rhythm but tabs for what to actually play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 On 2/23/2022 at 2:25 PM, Biff Mayhem said: So here’s a peek behind the curtain: We have iPads on stage with our sheet music in pdf form. The people who read music have significantly less notes (or none at all) I always have a ton of notes because learning four or five new songs in a week is taxing to my adhd brain and it’s a way to keep from noticing moving boom cameras etc. Recently I’ve been putting my iPad close to the ground to alleviate the visual distraction of an iPad on a stand. This requires me to put the chords/notes in large font so my old eyes can read them. Sometimes I’ll write things like Metallica chords for inverted chords (which I first learned with the song Creeping Death), DL which stands for the Def Leppard chord I learned in their song “Let it Go”. Then there’s “Dream On” which means I have to pick a line up and down much in the manner that one would play the rhythm for that song. I think I've got way less songs to keep in my brain than you do but I feel your pain on trying to keep it all straight. This might be a pretty accurate representation of what goes in on my head. You ever play with these dudes (esp piano/keys) that can roll up and play the song without even knowing it, can anticipate what's coming next - without sheet music? I feel like you're about .5 steps way from that with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 shit I just calculus'ed it out in my head that the first lesson happened yesterday? How did it go? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biff Mayhem Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 16 minutes ago, pfife said: You ever play with these dudes (esp piano/keys) that can roll up and play the song without even knowing it, can anticipate what's coming next - without sheet music? I feel like you're about .5 steps way from that with this. Lots of them - I think we have five in current rotation. Many of them are multi-instrumentalists. Our MD, who charts out all those songs, at last count can play 18 instruments proficiently. I played with a cellist recently who said she doesn't even review the songs before playing; she just shows up, reads the charts and improvises where she needs to. I'm over here struggling to play a chromatic scale cleanly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 1 minute ago, Biff Mayhem said: Lots of them - I think we have five in current rotation. Many of them are multi-instrumentalists. Our MD, who charts out all those songs, at last count can play 18 instruments proficiently. I played with a cellist recently who said she doesn't even review the songs before playing; she just shows up, reads the charts and improvises where she needs to. I'm over here struggling to play a chromatic scale cleanly. hahahahah that story from the cellist is awesome. I totally buy it. I think classical music type people see rock as like I can do this in my sleep and they totally can haha I'd imagine both of those folks you mentioned are probably formally trained? I've thought alot about multi-instrumentalism, specifically my question is..... if I spend a shitload of time trying to learn piano lets say.... will it make me a better guitarist? Fortunately, I am about to spend about 10 hours with someone who plays keys, guitar, bass and trumpet super good and I'm planning to ask him just that. I don't know if I'll be able to totally relate to his answer b/c he's music degree'd from UofM and stuff so it might just be like "cool story, check out this chromatic scale I can't play cleanly" haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 I honestly think the trained people just roll up knowing they can almost always play a I-IV-V and if that doesn't work tweak it slightly and they're off to the races when they play rock. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biff Mayhem Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 1 hour ago, pfife said: hahahahah that story from the cellist is awesome. I totally buy it. I think classical music type people see rock as like I can do this in my sleep and they totally can haha I'd imagine both of those folks you mentioned are probably formally trained? One is from Uganda and spent the first 13 years of his life mute (Ironically we can't shut him up now and says he can "only" speak four languages!). Instead of going out to play with the other kids, he went and tinkered with the instruments so he can play the keyboard, guitar and bass that I've seen before but I'll bet there are more. The cellist and our MD were in orchestra/band in HS and just went from there. I don't know that any of them are "formally educated" in the form of Berkeley etc. I think if you have it, you have it. If you don't, then you can do it but not to the level these types can. It's like a MD vs a Brain Surgeon; Both talents but one is a bigger talent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shades of Deivi Cruz Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 1 hour ago, pfife said: shit I just calculus'ed it out in my head that the first lesson happened yesterday? How did it go? It was fine. Basically "get to know you" stuff. Which chords I know, which ones I struggle with, what do I want to play, etc. I'm supposed to come back next week with 2-3 songs I want to work on, and we will also work in some of the more basics of reading music. The 2-3 songs thing is actually pretty tough for me. Songs that I know a riff or the beginning to (Seven Nation Army, Blister In The Sun, Come As You Are, Brutal), seem really repetitive and not all that interesting to play all the way through. Others I would like to do (Woman Going Crazy On Caroline Street - Jimmy Buffett, Lonely Boy - Black Keys), I don't even really know where to begin. I think I'm going to go with I Got Mine - Black Keys and Tin Cup Chalice - Jimmy Buffett (or maybe Brown Eyed Girl). BEG is not my favorite, but it's better than Margaritaville or Cheeseburger in Paradise. I also am strongly considering Knee Deep - Zac Brown Band, but some parts of that look really tricky. I'm all for being challenged, but I also want some easy successes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biff Mayhem Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 4 minutes ago, Shades of Deivi Cruz said: I'm all for being challenged, but I also want some easy successes. AC/DC. Some appear simple and uncomplicated and the basics are just that because they utilize a lot of cowboy chords. Then when you get into their picking, hand pressure and different techniques, it will challenge you to play it correctly. A lot of guitarists dismiss them as simpletons but if you deep dive, some of that stuff is really hard to play correctly because most people assume they use a lot of gain when they really don't that that presents the challenges. Then there is Dirty Deeds. It is what it is and definitely helps with chord progressions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfife Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Yeah AC/DC is the classic band full of songs for this purpose! And they're also freaking awesome, Angus rules. One song I'd throw out to consider learning in lessons is Free Fallin by Tom Petty. What he does with the D-chord in that song has persisted in my playing for over 20 years esp when you notice you can move the D-chord around. My $.02! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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