What do you play?

[Comrades Unite!]

Fellow Comrades, What instrument do you play?

I play Guitar and have done the past 2 years, I play everyday and the genres that influence me would be: Blues(What I listen to mostly) Rock N' Roll, Hard Rock, Punk, Reggae, Ska, Rocksteady, Calypso, Jamaican Dub, Rock-a-billy,Jazz,R'n'b, Folk and Funk.

Those are my main genres although I have others on the sidelines?

My top ten guitarists would be (In no order whatsoever) :Rory Gallagher,Stevie Ray Vaughan,Jimi Hendrix,Jimmy Page,Robert Johnson,Son House,Chuck Berry,Mick Jones(The Clash) Freddie King and Bert Jansch.:

So, What do you play,How much to do you play and what are your main influences.

[leftistman]

I play guitar, drums, and bass. I play bass in a band throughout the school year, though I have this other band in which I switch between guitar, bass, and vocals. I play everything from punk to metal to blues to folk.

[Ostrinski]

Freshman year of high school I did vox for a shitty scene band (never again)

[Comrades Unite!]

^ hehe lol

[Landsharks eat metal]

Viola and bass (guitar and upright) are my main instruments, but I can also play violin, guitar, cello (sort of), piano, and various percussion instruments. I tried to learn trumpet but that didn't happen.
I don't play very much because I'd love to be a bassist in a band but I can't find people who live close enough, can stand me, and play the right instruments. I'd love to play punk, ska, or jazz.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Flute (1-3 grade), French Horn (5 years), guitar and bass. I've tried piano, but it's not my thing.

[#FF0000]

guitar trombone drums bleep bloops

all of them very, very poorly

[radicalbaker]

Keyboards and assorted percussion. Although I am horrible on a full drum kit.

[No_Leaders]

I play guitar, electric and acoustic. Mostly work on my acoustic though as i like to work on folk punk songs.

[Hermes]

I'm trying to learn guitar, but it's going very slowly, unfortunately.

[Ostrinski]

I went to one guitar lesson and walked away wondering how anyone could possibly learn to play that thing.

[Jesus Saves Gretzky Scores]

Guitar. I've been playing for maybe 5 years now. I'll sing along if no ones around, though I can't say for sure wether I'm good or not.:D

I have a harmonica set I've yet to learn how to play.

[No_Leaders]

Guitar. I've been playing for maybe 5 years now. I'll sing along if no ones around, though I can't say for sure wether I'm good or not.:D

I have a harmonica set I've yet to learn how to play.
You should learn to play it then you can do some folk punk stuff! ;)

[Caj]

Guitar, bass, percussion.

[Art Vandelay]

Guitar and Bass.

[MustCrushCapitalism]

I actually just bought a new acoustic guitar a few days ago and have begun learning. Anyone have any tips on how to get decent fast, other than obviously practicing?

[officer nugz]

guitar, bass guitar, and banjo. pretty good at guitar, okay at bass, and a kinda poor on the banjo but still acceptable to the point where I can play for people who don't play and have them think I'm alright, haha.

[Ele'ill]

piano, drums

[Fawkes]

Assorted samplers, synths, and drum machines using primarily Ableton. I also play guitar and bass and occasionally mess around on other things.

I started playing guitar and bass about 8 years ago and have been doing electronic stuff for about a year now.

[ed miliband]

i have a microkorg and would like some old analog synths. basically i have no musical skill, i just like to twist knobs and make weird sounds.

[Comrades Unite!]

I actually just bought a new acoustic guitar a few days ago and have begun learning. Anyone have any tips on how to get decent fast, other than obviously practicing?

Well, no matter what you need to practice, it is the key to getting decent.
Remember to always push yourself on guitar, Listen to music constantly and always look for new influences.

Also, Early on it can be quite tough so keep at it!

[fdfd]

I actually just bought a new acoustic guitar a few days ago and have begun learning. Anyone have any tips on how to get decent fast, other than obviously practicing?

You can try selling your soul to the devil, it worked for robert johnson.

[Fawkes]

I actually just bought a new acoustic guitar a few days ago and have begun learning. Anyone have any tips on how to get decent fast, other than obviously practicing?

Play along to songs that you like. Keep repeating the song until you get it right, try to minimize usage of tabs or sheet music. This is a good tactic for any instrument, not just guitar. It makes you a more perceptive listener and it teaches you to trust your ears over your eyes.

A good practice technique is to take a random note and play it at every position on the fretboard. For example, if you're using E, you'd play:

E/6th string: Open, 12th fret
A/5th string: 7th and 19th frets
D/4th string: 2nd and 14th frets
G/3rd string: 9th fret
B/2nd string: 5th and 17th frets
e/1st string: Open, 12th fret

Switch around the order, and once you know where E is at every possible position, add a new note and repeat the process.

Even better than that would be to pick a random fret on a random string, play it, then try to find every other position for whatever that note is on the fretboard. It's better because, again, it places emphasis on using your ears.

[Prometeo liberado]

I like to play with instruments of death. Holding the lives of others in my slippery hands, callously and ever so haphazardly. With the occasional yawn I find some solace in this ongoing opera, though not much. Just the tedious beating of soon to be ceasing heart beats. Thump, thump.....thump.....

Oh yeah! And the Kazoo. Loves me some of that Kazoo!!

[Comrades Unite!]

You can try selling your soul to the devil, it worked for robert johnson.

That is, until Johnson died at 27.

[Decommissioner]

I play bass primarily, some rudimentary guitar and some keyboard.

I have a Korg x50 that unfortunately needs repairs :(

I mainly play stoner/sludge, hardcore, metal in general, some post hardcore. Currently not in any bands at the moment though.

I have two sunn heads, one is a coliseum bass and the other a concert bass, a mesa powerhouse 1000, an aguilar 4x12, and an ampeg 8x10, plus an assortment of pedals and a fender p bass.

[Yuppie Grinder]

I play guitar, bass guitar, banjo, mandolin, and piano, and do synths, drum machine programming, and sampling on my computer

[Prometeo liberado]

Rhythm Tuba for a progressive alt/rock jazz fusion band. Our old stuff really rocks.

[Doflamingo]

I mostly play guitar, but I also play bass, banjo, mandolin, keyboard, and drums.

I mostly play thrash/death metal and punk, but I also play other genres.

[x-punk]

I play guitar. When i was younger i mostly played rock and punk music but recently I have been playing old blues music like Blind Blake and Bill Broonzy.

[Yuppie Grinder]

To those who can't play an instrument properly, it is well worth the time and effort. There is literally nothing in life I enjoy more.

[flix]

I play guitar and bass and I sing. I've been trying to get myself into a band again recently but it can be pretty damn annoying trying to convince people to come and play original music that's really varied. A lot of people seem to only like to play in one genre but I prefer not to tie myself down to things like that.

Saying that though, the throat-singing-driven rock track probably did take it a little far... :D

[Total]

vocals

YO yo yo
aaaight
yo

[Hermes]

Play along to songs that you like. Keep repeating the song until you get it right, try to minimize usage of tabs or sheet music. This is a good tactic for any instrument, not just guitar. It makes you a more perceptive listener and it teaches you to trust your ears over your eyes.

A good practice technique is to take a random note and play it at every position on the fretboard. For example, if you're using E, you'd play:

E/6th string: Open, 12th fret
A/5th string: 7th and 19th frets
D/4th string: 2nd and 14th frets
G/3rd string: 9th fret
B/2nd string: 5th and 17th frets
e/1st string: Open, 12th fret

Switch around the order, and once you know where E is at every possible position, add a new note and repeat the process.

Even better than that would be to pick a random fret on a random string, play it, then try to find every other position for whatever that note is on the fretboard. It's better because, again, it places emphasis on using your ears.

Hopefully I'm not veering off the intended direction of the thread, but how would you know which strings to use if a song used many in the same note (my music theory is basically non-existent, so this question is probably incredibly ignorant, apologies)?

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Piano since I was four, Guitar on-and-off for a year or two. I sing a bit as well, and can play a bit of harmonica.

[Fawkes]

Hopefully I'm not veering off the intended direction of the thread, but how would you know which strings to use if a song used many in the same note (my music theory is basically non-existent, so this question is probably incredibly ignorant, apologies)?

I'm not sure what you mean by "many in the same note".

But anyway, play around on a guitar and you'll start to notice how the same note sounds different depending on where you play it. For example, play the 12th fret of the E (sixth) string, 7th fret of the A (fifth) string, and 2nd fret of the D (fourth) string. It's all the same note at the same octave, but they sound slightly different from one another due to the differences in string size (gauge/width, not length).

Octave refers to the same note being played at a higher or lower frequency. Pluck the high e string and low E string on a guitar, they're both playing the note E, but they're two octaves apart.


Don't worry too much about copying songs exactly because that's impossible and pretty useless, just keep messing around with it til you think it sounds pretty close/good. After you've got it down, then maybe try moving it to a different position on the fretboard just for the sake of experimenting.

[MustCrushCapitalism]

For the guitar people - how did you get down the wretched barre chord?

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

For the guitar people - how did you get down the wretched barre chord?

Practice it really fuckin' hard. Also try to get your hand as close to the upper fret as possible and roll the first finger on its side slightly.

I'm not really very good at guitar, just a disclaimer, but that's the technique I believe should be used.

[cynicles]

Looks like no one here plays the guitar.


I play the Sax, mostly Jazz because it allows me to be lazy on the whole tuning and playing the correct notes.

[Fawkes]

For the guitar people - how did you get down the wretched barre chord?

Just keep your hand as relaxed as possible and practice the formations

[x-punk]

For the guitar people - how did you get down the wretched barre chord?

Barre chords are a stinker when you first start playing. It really just takes practise to develop the technique and muscles in the hand.

However, it may be worth starting with smaller barre chords and working up to a full barre. The F chord with a 2 string barre is a good place to start.

Your thumb should be anchored on the back of the neck in a pinch movement roughly located straight behind the index finger and pushing into the back of the neck about at the centre of the neck where it is widest. Its tempting to let the thumb come round and up over the neck but you will likely need to bend your index finger to do this which is sloppy. You can get away with this on an acoustic or electric with a narrow neck and curved fretboard but playing a classical guitar with a wider neck and flat fretboard will cause problems. Better just to learn it the 'proper' way. Your hand should be roughly in line with the neck and the fingers perpendicular to it. This will vary depending on the chord, but for a standard full barre F chord this is probably the best location for the fingers to give you flexibility and movement to other strings.

A few other tips would be to initially practise the barre chords further up the neck than fret 1. The first fret next to the nut requires the most force to fret the notes so it can be frustrating when first learning as the notes come out muffled. Another option would be to stick a capo on when practising them. This lowers the action on the strings making them easier to fret and would allow you practise them in the 1st fret position next to the capo. Capo on fret 2 gives nice bright sound.