Instruments

[Guest]

lion, please read what i've written, specially because it was adressed to you. i think it is a question of education to do that before repeating what i've said like i haven't said it.
and there is no good sound neither a bad sound. there is only lack of imagination.

 

[????????]

i took piano lessons and church organ lessons (my favourite instrument, the king of them all - you have to play it once with an orchestra and a full choir to know what i mean). i haven't had more lessons, but i learned to play many instruments with another players, and some of them by myself:
-digeridoo (i have two, one in bamboo and another one in pine)
- a strat guitar, that is currently under strong modifications (i am a DIY freak and like to do things by myself)
- a explorer guitar, by epiphone (great sound, i liked it over several gibsons, and it is made in korina, a nice wood with GREAT tone)
- a roland keyboard, juno-d model (i carried it everywhere, it played in the biggest arenas in portugal, so i am very attached to it)
- a clavinova, by yamaha, made in the 80's, where i learned to play - a great touch-sensitive keyboard, even by today's standards
- a 5 string bass, by washburn, very, very versatile
- a fender bass combo (100W)
- a roland all-rounder combo (120W)
- a vintage found-in-the-garbage combo from the 70's, with modified electronics so it was simpler to use
- hand made guitar that i bought in madrid (had to starve for a month to buy it. i only ate rice and things i used to find in a garbage can near a restaurant. god did i love the grilled squids!!)
- a steel-string guitar
- a custom drum set (2 toms, 22' bass drum, two snares, a ride, a china and hi-hats)
- custom cymbals that i made from pieces of metal i found in the place where old cars go (can't remember the name)
- a djembé bought in morrocco
- a darbouka
- small djembé
- a lute from congo
- an old federal republic of germany (don't know if this is correct) instrument, don't know how it is called. it has several strings which you tune and hit with a drum stick, or pluck with a feather.
- a banjo

edit:

- many, many orff instruments
- many stuff that is used to make noises, like bottles, garbage-found things, all organized as a percussion-set (easier to play, many sounds available)
- a boss GT8
- line6 POD (the first version of all, had an IC burned and a broken female jack which i both sucessfully managed to replace and now it is working at 100%. i think it was built around 97-99 and IMHO, line6 never managed to top this little kidney-shaped machine...the dynamics are simply suberb)
- behringer compressor/gate/expander/peak limiter (1U rack version)
- a DIY volume pedal (there's a photo in the "your creative work" thread on this forum. it works great, very transparent)
- a DIY serial looper with personal adjustments (tuner out, blend knob, ABY box, can work with 4 different combos at the same time with different effects i want in each one)
- a DIY parallel looper, which is great to mix different effects (each send/return with a volume pedal, which ables one to mix different effects into a single out)
- behringer bass v-amp (i think this is the correct name, can't recall)
- a "berimbau", brazilian instrument
- two jews harp (also called "berimbau" in some regions of africa)

i am also building an electric guitar which has a very unique design, perhaps i will be able to finish it before the summer is over, i'll show it to you as soon as it is done. it will have a fender custom shop pickup (single coil), and the body will be inspired in electric double-basses, very portable, small, durable and great tone. it will also be tuned in drop C, fretless and with a nice vibratot (whammy bar).
i also have some custom pedal projects, but the money is short, and an effect pedal built from scratch is always expensive. if anyone here happens to get hold of an old turntable, or a needle, or something that can read a vinyl, please tell me that we'll make a deal!

and... never considered a career as a "professional musician"?

 

[Guest]

i have been a professional musician, but i hated it. you constantly need to make contacts, lick your managers' boots and have no personal life.
perhaps it will work for some people, but it goes really against my personality. i am not social at all, just enjoy making music, not making contacts. and besides that, professional musicians have a very peculiar way of thinking about music that doesn't coincide with mine at all, so i thought it was better to give up and keep enjoying and making music..

 

[sopor]

i don't own or play any instrument but i wanna get my hands a theremin:

 

[Guest]

sopor, the best way to get hold of a decent and cheap theremin is to build one. check those links:

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008- ... emin-cheap

http://www.thereminworld.com/EPEArticle.asp

http://www.thereminworld.com/pics/schematics/simple.jpg


i don't know how well you know electronics, so those are very simple...if you want more complex schematics, please tell me so. i never built one....yet :wink:

 

[spice]

phillipos-

Drop C....


Black Sabbath meets Big Bottom...LOL

 

[Guest]

I'd rather don't use an instrument then a cheap sounding substitute.
.

i think this is a load of crap don't feel offended though.
i'm a guitarist and i often see many cheap guitars that are definetely GOOD guitars.

Ohw I'm not offended, the point is, a cheap guitar can sound just as good, but it's still a guitar, but a synthesized sound that has to sound like a guitar is usually sooooo lame.
Although there is better and better software on the markets, it usually reminds me of the drumkits or synth sounds from old keyboards.
Ofcourse you can circuit bend or sample and reform, I'm all for that.
But the sound itself sounds really cheap and flat and YUCK....

phillipos-
Drop C....
Black Sabbath meets Big Bottom...LOL

Hahahaha, LOL

 

[Guest]

those of you interested in strange, unique instruments, take a look at this: http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/

 

[random]

http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om24550.html

this is my favourite

how it sounds: http://www.oddmusic.com/clips/sea_organ.mp3

 

[????????]

trippy instruments!!!

i have been a professional musician, but i hated it. [...]

So you didn't want to suck ol' satan's cock??



I thought of similar reasons before you answered

 

[Guest]

My favorite is definitely the Bazantar!

I also like those wind organs like the sea organ, awesome ambient sometimes

 

[poisoninthestain]

good thread!

...well I play sitar, both acoustic(traditional) and electric. I've been playing both for about a year or so.

...and then there's drums, again both acoustic and electric...and i'd say for roughly 8-9 years.

...i play a little guitar here and there, same goes for bass, a pinch of piano...tis about it.

 

[Guest]

phillippos, in many jobs, sucking someone's cock is part of the trade. but what bothered me the most was the lack of imagination and "squareness" of almost all musicians that i've worked with. for example, when i was playing a piano part in a 1920's big band piece, i was only allowed to work with the mode already used by them and could not introduce my own modes, or use someone elses'. that's the same thing that if i have a cover metal band, i am forbidden to play a salsa lick, or do a fast-paced psychedelic trance bit. that is plain and simple hardheads. to do always the same thing, we are copying the originals, and what's the point in doing that if they already done it?!?? to this day, i retain the world-record of the quickest member of a band. it was about 25 minutes. it was a hard-rock (80's) band, they started playing guns and roses, i think, and i brought an FM synth that i had at the time. you should see their faces when i started to do those weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeks fliiiiiiiooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaps in the middle of their l-o-v-e-l-y tune!

spice: that quote of black sabbath and drop C was about my hand made guitar ?
black sabbath didn't used drop C, that i know...it started to be more popular in the nu-metal movement of the late 90's. and it is fretless, which will have a very different sound from them, almost like a plucked tenor cello. and it is made of a single mahogany piece, which has a very dark sound, lacking the clarity and definition of rock licks.

 

[silv]

Me I've been playing drums for a couple years now. Really love it even though I'm not really good at 'em as I have as of yet to find a nice band with whom I can practice and learn to become a real drummer instead of just fiddling about at home.

 

[magickmumu]

in the past i've made noise, soundscapes and ambient using field recordings and a tracker program.

When using psychedelics i always use simple instruments and my voice.
i realy love making music while tripping. I feel like singing, chanting and drumming can put you in a trance.

What about you? Do you make music while tripping?

 

[????????]

That would certainly upset me, I don't like when people think in labels, they bind themselves. So they subscribe to a music genre like a football fan with his favorite team and proud themselves of loyalty to their genre, as if that mattered at all!

 

[magickmumu]

That would certainly upset me, I don't like when people think in labels, they bind themselves. So they subscribe to a music genre like a football fan with his favorite team and proud themselves of loyalty to their genre, as if that mattered at all!

i don't understand???? A label is just a tool to describe a musical genre. I listen to all kinds of music. what's the problem?

 

[Guest]

the problem happens when people think that the label is the object itself. if you a psychedelic trance fan, that doesn't mean that every other style is minor. if you are a classical composer, does that mean that you can't use a trash metal riff ? that's the problem. people that think they are the greatest players/composers by ignoring other musical movements.
and belive me, it is very, very annoying. so annoying that i refused (or got kicked out) of all the bands i played, and one of them had plenty of gigs and i earned lots of money with it. ignoring genres and just playing, or listening is the way to go.
countless times i listened to people say: "i can't stand jazz". there are DOZENS of different styles of jazz: cool jazz, bebop, free jazz, classical jazz....
they never made an effort to understand it or, at least, know some different tunes. miles davis is completely different from duke ellington, as it is from john zorn, etc, etc.

 

[st.bot.32]

in the past i've made noise, soundscapes and ambient using field recordings and a tracker program.

When using psychedelics i always use simple instruments and my voice.
i realy love making music while tripping. I feel like singing, chanting and drumming can put you in a trance.

What about you? Do you make music while tripping?

As much as I can. One of my favorite things to do while tripping! When the trip is about making music, from beginning, through the peak, amazing things always happen.

Also I tend to get musical ideas while tripping too sometimes that if I'm lucky I remember later and attempt to recreate. Sometimes they turn out quite good! (Much, much better than music I've heard in my dreams, which always tends to be simplistic)

Oh yeah, I do a lot of tracking and field recording as well!

 

[st.bot.32]

the problem happens when people think that the label is the object itself. if you a psychedelic trance fan, that doesn't mean that every other style is minor. if you are a classical composer, does that mean that you can't use a trash metal riff ? that's the problem. people that think they are the greatest players/composers by ignoring other musical movements.

I know a music teacher who always used to say that music is the most conservative of all arts.

A lot of trained classical and jazz musicians I've met delve heavily into the theory, which in itself is good, but then that is all they do. Stick to the theory. Hence they become one-genre wonders. (And never challenge themselves with drastically different musical ideas). This is especially strange with jazz, which has always had elements of fusion, and is conversational, fluid music, never about analyzing and recreating Coltrane sax licks with his use of extensions and whatever.

I think that some people view music as architecture or wallpaper which is supposed to fill a space with a basic aesthetic need, whereas some of us view it as a means to express our dreams, poetry, creativity, and innermost thoughts. The former live off the creations of the latter but frequently have no respect for them whatsoever (sadly).