Musical Instruments

[Leto]

What a cuntish non-guitarist thing to say. OOH LOOK YOU KNOW WHAT AN INTERVAL IS*


*BUT NOT IT'S TECHNICAL GUITAR TERM, the "POWER CHORD"

[Gretin]

If you want to learn metal or some other form of rock,(which I expect you will, as that's what most people I know learnt it for - pardon if I'm wrong), it's piss easy, so you'll have no bother. On top of that, people think you're great if you can play it, so you get praise for playing endless fifth chords. You'll love it.

Just thought I'd say, even though there are a lot of rock/metal songs that have the "endless fifth chords" (or power chords as Leto pointed out), I play electric guitar, and while I am into my rock and metal I also do a fair bit of jazz, classical, reggae, etc, and I know from experience that some of the metal is actually just as technical and challenging as the other types of music. So don't knock it before you try it! Though I would say reggae is probably one of the easier styles I've played, but again I'm sure there are difficult reggae pieces as well.

I compose.
I can't play for shit. Attempting to learn clarinet, so I can then move onto bass clarinet.
Most people will tell me how its an impossibility for a composer to be poor player, but Gabe can vouch for me in saying I'm not a terrible composer (he is though )

I think just having sound knowledge of music theory and a good ear for music is more important than being able to play an instrument when it comes to composition. Especially now with things like MIDI where you can just enter your notes into a program and hear it played back to you instantly.
And if we all had to be able to play the instruments before we could compose, would that mean we'd have to be able to play every instrument in the orchestra before we could compose music for it?

[OddjobAbe]

I play electric guitar, and while I am into my rock and metal I also do a fair bit of jazz, classical, reggae, etc, and I know from experience that some of the metal is actually just as technical and challenging as the other types of music. So don't knock it before you try it!

I have tried it, I found it easy, I didn't enjoy it, and I have knocked it. All I am saying is that it is easy to become popular with your friends and other people you know who don't know how to play by being able to play fifth chords. I never said "all rock guitarists are shit".

Regarding Leto's comment, I understand that the fifth chord is most often referred to as the "power chord", but, for reasons unknown, and as pretentious as it may be, I much prefer to use the term "fifth chord".

[OANST]

I've always been of the opinion that music doesn't need to be technically impressive. Remember when you were a kid, and you would hear music, but you didn't know what the instruments were or hard it would be to play a certain piece? You just enjoyed music for the music. Not because it was difficult to play.

[MA]

I've always been of the opinion that music doesn't need to be technically impressive. Remember when you were a kid, and you would hear music, but you didn't know what the instruments were or hard it would be to play a certain piece? You just enjoyed music for the music. Not because it was difficult to play.

yes.

my mate gets like that. i suspect he likes ACDC mainly for the talent of Angus Young, i don't mind them myself, but my opinion has nothing to do with the skill of the musicians. then he got into another band that consisted of long-haired, big-headed, pretentious 'cunts' as i like to call them, and i hadn't even heard of them. personally i found the music to be shit; 10 minute electric guitar battles between two band members that apparently had broken records for simply playing the guitar 'really fast'. not my thing.

[Wings of Fire]

Oh come off it, Dragonforce aren't that bad.

[Pilot]

I've always been of the opinion that music doesn't need to be technically impressive. Remember when you were a kid, and you would hear music, but you didn't know what the instruments were or hard it would be to play a certain piece? You just enjoyed music for the music. Not because it was difficult to play.

True, but I also think in addition to 'technically impressive' that real musicians don't need pyrotechnics, lasers, and smoke machines to enhance their performance.

[Gretin]

I have tried it, I found it easy, I didn't enjoy it, and I have knocked it. All I am saying is that it is easy to become popular with your friends and other people you know who don't know how to play by being able to play fifth chords. I never said "all rock guitarists are shit".

Oh, I agree that it is easy to just play fifth chords and impress people who don't play guitar, I just wanted to point out that learning rock/metal doesn't necessarily mean that's all you want to do.

I've always been of the opinion that music doesn't need to be technically impressive. Remember when you were a kid, and you would hear music, but you didn't know what the instruments were or hard it would be to play a certain piece? You just enjoyed music for the music. Not because it was difficult to play.

I guess I sort of enjoy music on two different levels, I do really enjoy just listening to music that has a good melody, catchy tune etc. And that's really the important part, because if it doesn't actually sound good then I'm not really interested in the technical side of it But if it does sound good, I'm the type of person that really likes to get into it and that's when I quite enjoy finding all the technical bits of it, like interesting rhythms, style changes, etc. The interesting thing though, is how a lot of really cool parts of songs that are also very catchy are not actually that hard to play.

[OANST]

I guess I sort of enjoy music on two different levels, I do really enjoy just listening to music that has a good melody, catchy tune etc. And that's really the important part, because if it doesn't actually sound good then I'm not really interested in the technical side of it But if it does sound good, I'm the type of person that really likes to get into it and that's when I quite enjoy finding all the technical bits of it, like interesting rhythms, style changes, etc. The interesting thing though, is how a lot of really cool parts of songs that are also very catchy are not actually that hard to play.

I'm not saying that music shouldn't be enjoyed on a technical level. I just don't think that it's the only criteria to judge music by. The Beatles had songs that contained only one chord, and those songs were fucking amazing.

[used:)]

No, quality always takes precedent over quantity. The works of Satie and Arvo Part are great examples of the power of simplicity. However, while creativity and knowledge of theory is obviously necessary to compose good music, it certainly helps if you know the instruments you're composing for. My friend asked me to play a piece he wrote for piano, and it just didn't feel right, and he's not a pianist. I'm far from being a fine pianist myself, but I've played enough to know that Bach and Mozart knew their shit when they wrote for piano (or harpsichord, perhaps).

[Sekto Springs]

while creativity and knowledge of theory is obviously necessary to compose good music, it certainly helps if you know the instruments you're composing for. My friend asked me to play a piece he wrote for piano, and it just didn't feel right, and he's not a pianist. I'm far from being a fine pianist myself, but I've played enough to know that Bach and Mozart knew their shit when they wrote for piano (or harpsichord, perhaps).

This.

As a composer, you have to know certain things about what you're composing for - whether or not you can play it is irrelevant, but you can't write a part for flute 50 ledger lines below it's range and expect the musician to magically make that note.

You also have to bear in mind the complexity of certain instruments. You can't write a piece for contrabassoon in 160 bpm with tons of slurred arpeggios and expect the bassoonist to play it smoothly. Making overly complicated pieces is indeed the mark of an amateur musician. That doesn't mean that complex pieces are bad, quite the opposite, in fact I'd like to think of myself as a maximalist I utilize as many instruments as I can, but I always make sure they blend well and don't write ridiculous motifs.

[Leto]

@ odjobbabe and the "fifth chords"

you're obviously not that musically inclined, as an interval (such as a fifth) is just that: two notes. as such, you can't have fifth chords (chords being at least three intervals being played at once). it's as if you've missed the first half or something (as in 'minor 7 flat 5 [-7b5] chord')

@ gretin:

basically if you learn guitar through conventional tuition, whether you like it or not you're going to learn jazz/blues. i don't really like much jazz or blues at all, but i am a proficient jazz player because it's just the way guitarists get taught (people just don't teach classical guitar like they used to in the super strict age of black and white :/)

@ music difficulty:

most of the time, difficult music isn't enjoyable and is usually only enjoyable because it is impressive. people greatly underestimate how extremely difficult it is to write something that's both very simple and very effective. one of my favourite songs only has 5 chords in it, and the melody rhythm is all minums.

[Gretin]

I have had conventional tuition on the guitar, and yes, I've learned a bit of jazz/blues, but my teacher pretty much teaches me the styles I want to learn, so I do classical and rock/metal as well.

Also, I just want to say by technical I didn't necessarily mean difficult. And for composing for instruments you can't play, I never said you can just blast away composing any old crap for any instrument that you don't actually know how it works. Obviously you have to have an understanding of how the instrument you compose for works, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to be a proficient player at that instrument.

[Leto]

certainly. i found that out when i was 14 and tried to write for a string quartet thinking i could just do it without any other insight. i mean you can download digital orchestra and put random notes in, but chances are they will sound awful/imbalanced, or they wont be in the instruments range etc.

i'm so glad i've broken out of the guitar theory mindset though, it was a pretty hard thing to do. being taught from day one to think of chords from the bottom up. i'm glad i'm forever able to expand musically, there's always more to learn

[Phylum]

you can't write a part for flute 50 ledger lines below it's range and expect the musician to magically make that note.

You can play 32 ledger lines lower with a hyperbass

My flute teacher is brilliant, he's teaching me to play beautifully (gently, good tone, in tune) and I just love the sound I make. I need to know snappy fast passages, though, else I can't show off.

[used:)]

Hahahaha, "in tune." That's sure not something I hear emphasized that often from flautists. Just kidding...

[OddjobAbe]

@ odjobbabe and the "fifth chords"

you're obviously not that musically inclined, as an interval (such as a fifth) is just that: two notes. as such, you can't have fifth chords (chords being at least three intervals being played at once). it's as if you've missed the first half or something (as in 'minor 7 flat 5 [-7b5] chord')

I was always self-taught, and have only read one or two books on the structure of it, so my understanding of it isn't a conventional (and often, not a correct) understanding of it. I apologise for my mistake, and thank you for the correction.

[Gretin]

What about if it's the three note power chord with the root note added on the end again (1 - 5 - 8), does that count as a chord? XD Just kidding, I'm not 100% sure on the technical terms either, I know enough theory to know how to write the music I want but I don't know all the terms to describe everything.

i'm so glad i've broken out of the guitar theory mindset though, it was a pretty hard thing to do. being taught from day one to think of chords from the bottom up. i'm glad i'm forever able to expand musically, there's always more to learn

Absolutely, that's one of the great things about music, you can never know everything. I learned the keyboard first, though, so I never really had that guitar theory mindset to begin with. I had the keyboard theory mindset instead!

[abe is now!]

Last year I would have loved to play the bass guitar, but I couldn't do it and now I lost this desire.

[Phylum]

Hahahaha, "in tune." That's sure not something I hear emphasized that often from flautists. Just kidding...

My flute teacher always says: " How do you make 2 piccolos play in tune? Shoot one!

HAHAHAHAhahahahaha.

I had a really scary performance at an assembly today on my flute. I had to solo, without accompaniment because they wouldn't allow a piano access to the gym, in front of at least 300 peers and a group of community members. I played polonaise from the suite in B min rather well, if I say so myself. One person said afterwards: "Well done, that was...........great." Thanks for the reassurance! I was happy with how I played

[AlexFili]

My skills are more with Audacity and PC audio mixing

[abe619]

guys , i found out from a video from ralph of serpent underground , that the keyboard can also be used to play metal stuff , why i didn't feel that before? , because i wasn't using the fill in patterns , it makes the song feel full , now i can learn some more , then BANG ALL NIGHT , METAL RULZ!!!!!!!!!!!

[OddjobAbe]

Listen to "Carry Stress in the Jaw" by Mr. Bungle. They put a saxophone in metal. And it works.

[MeechMunchie]

BANG ALL NIGHT

What you do in your spare time is your buisness.

METAL RULZ!!!!!!!!!!!

I advise you don't talk to 'master of hardcore'. It might be hard to tell who's speaking.

[Kimon]

I am a quality drummer, and a shit guitarist. I'm also a maker of beats and electro-music using the likes of Logic Pro and Reason, yum.

[Crashpunk]

I've never played a Instrument. My dream is to play the Drums one day.

[Leto]

Just do it! All you need is basic drum theory to flourish with. Tap your fingers and feet 24/7. Just do it.

[MA]

Tap your fingers and feet 24/7.

my stepfather does this a hell of a lot. he used to be a drummer in a mildly successful punk band. just out of habit, now.

[Sekto Springs]

I hope to get my hands on a set of crotales this Christmas, no promises though as both my parents are flat ass broke this year.

[Leto]

my stepfather does this a hell of a lot. he used to be a drummer in a mildly successful punk band. just out of habit, now.

i'm not even a proper drummer and i do it all the time.