Tim Smith

Backing tracks?

Sorry to hear about your bud/drummer. 

On 3/20/2024 at 1:19 AM, kitekrazy said:

Does Music Theory REALLY Kill Creativity?  No but forums do.

I know but I'm kinda stuck here for now. Not a bad place to hang out, well sort of

Having creativity and not being able to use it is a lot like trying to make love to your wife when you have company in the house.

Not that I have any, but I can't even try right now.

26 minutes ago, pwal³ said:

i stopped listening to mainstream music years ago, because you get to hear it in the shops and malls without permission anyway, that's how they sell it grrrr

Over here we get canned music in malls and restraunts. I was in the grocery store the other day and  I'm not sure what it was, but it was bugging the heck out of me.  For one thing they had it turned up far too loud. At that point is wasn't background music.

In places like Target , I would almost swear they did some kind of a study into playing musc that makes people want to shop .  Like move along, buy the stuff. Fast shoppers probably spend more money than slow shoppers.

13 minutes ago, pwal³ said:

so is not "following the rules" actually "cheating"?

Prolly not because I don't think those rules can be broken. i.e. jazz. You would just be combining rules in unorthodox ways.

I have been scolded by people who play piano for hitting the keys too hard, and unlike a keyboard where most only use a sustain pedal, the piano has three pedals. A teacher would say this is the "right way" some play the right way automatically while others don't.  Probably same with guitar. A person can know all of the "theory" and be a terrible guitar player, while others disregard all the rules i.e. Hendrix and blow the art form out of the water.

That's getting away from the theory though and leaning more into the ways we are supposed to play an instrument.  There could possiblty be limitations in playing an instrument the way they tell us to. In the case of guitar, many have been hacks and out played the pros. With violin, you pretty much have to play it the way they tell you  or you will limit yourself later on and only be a "top of the neck" player.  That's the difference between classical and folk. 

18 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

Music theory is not rules!

Maybe not. That was sort of how I always seen it.  One can either do something and explain later it or explain something they  do or don't do.Or just do it with no need to explain it.

Like " I did this, now what is it?" . A music major would dissect it into what they think it is according to the rules. But while music is an explanation of tone associations and groups, it's the scientific way of looking at it. At the very least, we tune before we play and make sure we are all in the same key often not caring about the system behind it.

Many musicians will not play a notated piece exactly as written, so some creativity can be there in the interpretation of it, but if playing covers that needs to be pretty spot on.

I remember when I was dating this girl who was long distance and at the time we still had the old telephones. So I was hooked on the song Telephone Line by ELO. Every time I heard it I thought of her and how I wanted to be with her again, which incidentally was probably the main motive for them to write it, for all of those lonely ones out there. 

Teen love is magical. Probably a lot of hormones too. 

I  stopped listening to the top ten. Probably should give a listen now and then just to see if anything interesting is happening.  I  tend to associate some music with events or people.

7 hours ago, Matt Rayner said:

Tim, do that C and F with your thumb and occasionally hammer on and off (hammer off?!) your 2nd finger on both chords. How many songs do you recognise ? ?‍?

Good point.

I should add , thanks cclarry for putting this up just the same. It is a great set of synths and keyboards no doubt. Maybe they will eventually reduce the upgrade price.

Same here.

OK I will do that but I'm not sure which list? 

Interesting. Never ventured into guitar pedal land. That's a nice sounding grunge pedal.

Instead I chose to buy a handful of those combo units, the POD HD500, the Zoom combo and the one I use most TC Electronic. Guitar Rig is great too but who wants to drag a computer out? What I have found with these combination effects pedals is they have maybe one or two tones I really like and I hate the rest.

 I have envied the simplicity of just having a pedal with knobs to do what you want it to do. No menus, no fuss, and you get to select the ones you like. 

I don't know why they call it music theory. It really isn't a theory it's a scientifically proven set of music rules.

My first training was musical scales and all of that interconnectedness that happens musically between notes and scales. There is something to be said for sight reading, knowing keys etc. 

At one end of the spectrum there are those who are really just human music computers incapable of making music unless it's on a page in front of them. They can't make music without the page. At the other end are those who don't prefer the written page. 

I have had the priviledge to have been in many different circles. One of my best friends played as a Nashsville studio musician and tours. He had guitar theory. I'm not sure how much of it he uses, but man can he play. He is seldom looking at anything unless he is just glancing at the the key if it's a tune he isn't familiar with. 

Another friend of mine is a classically trained pianist and is training in Baltimore to professionally conduct orchestras. I played under him a few times and with the other guy. Both very nice people. One is far more layed back, he's like here let's play this. The other guy is like a human metronome. If he hears anything off by 1/2 beat he knows it. Not that the other guy doesn't too. I play better under the layed back personality and feel more tense under the human metronome. 

Having been in both orchestras and bands I can say hands down I prefer the band any day. Both use the same rules, so I'm not sure why one is just more fun and less rigid to me personally. 

Bands playing covers is probably no different than orchestras playing the classics in terms of creativity I don't see how it's there if all one does is play another's material. 

Playing one's own material is creative. A little theory never hurts, like if you sing which keys do you sing best in? I have a low range and a high range and in some songs I am changing up ranges in one song. That's generally the only reason I might use a different key. Or if a key is easier to play I might change it.

I never learned to read bass clef and when I have sang in chiors I mostly had a tenor part. The way I picked it up was singing next to a person who was a good sight reader and a tenor, but that sort of short circuits the brain after awhile because your brain wants to see the notes in treble clef.  I'm still not "good" at that but I can squeak by. Simply learning how my part was supposed to sound helped.

When I played bass guitar we generally didn't use notation. We used chord charts, so I would just play around the low notes. I consider myself a hack on bass, but I have played it quite a lot. It's just a guitar that's lower and missing strings . It uses a different technique though. Never used a pick.

Same with piano. I would just play the tune based on the chord structures. The violin is in E and that translates well to mandolin. Heck if I could play it on violin mandolin should be a breeze. Never owned one.

One area I have some interest in is baritone electric guitars. Just curious how different it would be to play one. Not even sure what the ranges are for one. 

We have lots of things now that can spoil us like Ableton's introduction of scales and tunings. Cubase already had something similar.

On 3/15/2024 at 8:01 PM, Shane_B. said:

They aren't really known for their fullness for lack of a better term. They are known for being bright.

That said, one of the best sounding Martin's I ever heard is their Made in Mexico 000. The MIM ones have the HPL sides and backs and it really adds a fullness I didn't hear in the US all wood ones.

I had the opportunity to play 7 or 8 lefty Martin's at a guitar shop in Des Moines one time. The best sounding one ended up being MIM 000 to my ears because it had a fuller sound than the others. IMO.

I'm not sure where the X models are made? Is that Mexico? As a guitar to just sit around noodling on it, I love it. THe Martin factory is not a terrible traveling distance from me. We were there once to take the tour, but the factory was closed at the time so no go. The Taylor definitely has more projection for sure.

I remember reading about the science of tuning a hand made violin. There's a lot involved in carving that back to resonate properly and you can tell the difference playing a hand made one and a factory made one.

Must be very similar for guitar. I noticed the Taylor has an intentional bulge on the back. None of my other guitars have that and it does make a difference in the sound.

41 minutes ago, Matt Rayner said:

Bloody that's great! And what a super guitar sound you have.
Congrats mate.

Edit: What's that AKG mic? Can't find it on Google.

Thanks @Matt Rayner

Sorry, my mistake It's an Audio Technica 4043a. That mic is my general workhorse mic. 

The KSM 44 I would describe as less crisp which makes it work well for vocals.

The strings I used in that recording were pretty beat up and oxidized, so I ended up putting a  52,42,32,15,11

set on.  I can't tell that I lost any tone.

Not sure if I'll ever play great barr chords. I was playing the F holding the low string down with my thumb which works pretty well. I'll keep trying. The smaller guage helps with all fingerings. Not in a  big way, enough to notice.

On 3/16/2024 at 1:34 AM, Matt Rayner said:

Tim, I've had Gibs.., umm, guitars in my hands costing thousands that were practically impossible to play and completely impossible to tune due to the nut being  higher than my doorstep.  True!

Setting up a guitar ain't too hard. It's a balancing act between your truss rod, the nut then the bridge. It's pretty simple to do once you've had it explained.  Having said that,  the bridge is easy on an electric (up or down), but not so much on an acoustic (down and...aargh! Too far down!) - so take it to someone who can do it. And, at the same time, ask them to fit a proper bone nut and bridge. You can get blanks of AliExpress for peanuts. It's also worth asking them to check if your frets are level. One or two invariably need a tap if they're a bit high.

Thanks Matt,

I have tweaked the truss rod on a few of my guitars. A friend of mine  showed me how to sight down the neck. My birthday was Saturday, and my wife was in a "get whatever you want" mood, so we ended up at guitar center and it's a big one compared to the one closer to me. It's the mega guitar center for the area.

I really wasn't planning to buy anything but a mic stand. But I always go to the guitars both electric and acoustic to check them out.

It was mostly run of the mill chinese guitars, but I did see a mitchel made of mahogany I liked, still low end but had a decent tone and setup. I was playing it but there was some kid in there playing too, and you know how it is for anyone who has ever been to a GC.  Then we seen another little glass room no one was in, so I went in there to play the Mitchell. I picked up a Martin X mahogany off the wall in that room and that guitar just sounded dead to me compared to the Mitchell which was significantly less expensive. My standard Martin X has better tone. Then I seen it, a used Taylor. Even used it was a 1500 dollar guitar and I told myself I'm just going to try it. Well nothing else even came close. Never heard body harmonics like that before, like music after the music! Compared to the Mitchell it had a more round tone. I would decribe the Mitchel as harsh in the highs.While the Alvarez sounded pretty good. Nothing like this guitar. 

I should mention setup was also excellent. Cons- no built in tuner. Output is ok direct. Weaker on my wireless. Ended up buying it and even made a recording with yesterday  using an AKG 4043a single guitar mic and my shure KSM 44a for vocals. I took an additional output from the guitar. Here are the results.

4 hours ago, Matt Rayner said:

If your friend's guitar plays more easily then you need to get a setup. You'll be amazed how much difference a properly cut nut and bridge can make to your playing and also the intonation. Shouldn't cost much. There are literally hundreds of YT vids showing how to do it.

Back to the barred chords. On an acoustic? Occasionally a Bm. Otherwise use your thumb!

Start with that C chord, using 4 fingers (string - fret - finger:) 2-1-1 , 4-2-2 , 5-3-4 , 6-3-3 Alright! Play that for a bit.

Now, keep your 1st finger where it is, and move the other 3 - in that exact same shape - to the 3 strings directly below where they now are. And stick your thumb on the first fret of the low e-string. Ta-da! An F. You can use that shape all up the neck and you'll never need a bar chord again. Just like Jimi Hendrix ?

I got a price in a little guitar shop I came across in my travels of 65.00 for a setup. It was probably roughly set up at GC, I say probably. Maybe not.

I'll give this a try and thanks.

3 hours ago, John Vere said:

Being a person who most of my life I played 50/50 acoustic and electric. But I never liked Dreadnought type acoustic guitars.
I seek out shorter scale and smaller body’s. I had a Yamaha APX 7 for like 20 years. Sounds boring unless you plug it in which is what I always do anyways. 

My latest is a Epiphone L00-studio. It has a pretty decent acoustic sound so big step up from the Yamaha. It has a smaller body and shorter scale Length. 
Short scale solves the tension issues with out compromising anything else.

I also use minimum of 52-11 gauge because lighter than that definitely looses tone. Other than bending notes a whole step I can play it like my electric. 

This is why I bought my Martin several years ago because it didn't feel too big and it works well for less overt playing. Compared to my other acoustics it doesn't have near the projection, and that seems to be the tradeoff. Smaller body, less projection if playing it unplugged. It's great for light finger picking. 

I didn't notice how much of a difference it made until I played it and compared it to the Alvarez which is what I would call a small dreadnaught. I have the jumbo Epiphone Masterbuilt. It'is a well made guitar with wonderful tone, but for me it feels HUGE compared to the Martin which has a far smaller body. I don't tend to play it as much even though it's a better guitar. Anything I ever recorded with the Martin lacked umph.

I see the Alvarez as a compromise. It's slightly bigger than the Martin, but not as large as the Epiphone. They also put a bevel where your right arm rests which makes it a very comfortable guitar to play. I have pretty much gotten used to it now and don't notice that it's slightly smaller.

19 minutes ago, mark skinner said:

I've mainly played acoustic (and do have an easily played Yairi) for 50 years, and I still haven't found much use for full barred chords.     ms

I should have bought one when I was looking at them. Nice guitars. Especially the older ones.  If you haven't found much use for them that says quite a lot.

4 hours ago, Bridget Murphy said:

Sometimes, the influence of teachers and experiences can shape our interests and beliefs in unexpected ways. It's understandable to be cautious about certain genres or spiritual paths based on your knowledge and experiences.

It seems everything in one way or another influences us, would you agree? I tend to generalize an experience on a whole lot of people which really isn't being entirely fair. Deep down I know this, yet it's the only experience I have so it influenced me.

I have learned I prefer to be out of boxes, but still find myself in them at times. We all grow over time. As a Christian I see lots of boxes constructed by other Christians which are largely unnecessary. And being what I am in this time has challenges as it isn't overall generally well recieved often due to the way many see it. Some genre or individuals will lead me away from the ideal so I mostly avoid them. 

I have come a long way as I once entertained all music that seemed to be tapping into the magical which is glamourized. It was an interesting novelty, but the connotations of magic imply sleight and that's basically what it is in that context with respect to motive. Not that my side doesn't believe in it. It's all about the motive and the source.

The forums here are generally intentionally shallow and that seems to be how forums almost all are now. Since this isn't a philosophy area, I'll get my coat  There are other forums I go to for that. No not John's forum either.

On 3/13/2024 at 5:09 PM, mettelus said:

I find it ironic that you mentioned both of these. Reason being is that early on in my learning, the power went out (which only happened once when I was at USNA, which is a government facility and never should have happened as the backups failed as well) so I was left in nearly total darkness for over an hour (the rooms did not have emergency lighting, only the hallways and stairs did). That single "Act of God" did more to kick start proficiency than I ever would have suspected... suddenly I was blind and could only rely on my ears and proprioception/kinesthesia (sense of body/hand positions and motion) in order to play. I learned more in that hour than in the prior two months combined because of it.

Over a decade earlier, my piano teacher had said "stop looking at your hands" and pulled the key cover out over everything but the very tips of the white keys. That power outage made me chuckle immediately and I said to my room mate, "Stop looking at my hands, aye" and kept right on going.

Just turning off the lights at night and intentionally playing in the dark can give a massive boost to skills/senses that truly need to be developed rather than relying on one's eyes.

I am finding that for the most part it's just a comfort sort of placebo for the fingerings I know . Sometimes I seem to play better not looking. I like to know I can look if I need to look which is probably one of the beginner syndromes. 

I was trying to play a G/AM7/G/C  and then that same run with a D/D7 at the end. The hard thing for me was getting back to the C fast from G. If I played G2 and C2 that's much easier.  That's a pretty major fingers shift for me where I'm using my pinkie finger on the E string when playing G. Just muscle memory I guess. I must have played it 50 times last night and still arrived at the C slightly late. The only trick I could come up with was to only play the strings my fingers landed on so the later notes were a few milliseconds behind and sounds like I played it deliberate. I am beginning to feel the C without looking now. 

It's really a keys song, but I would be dragging a keyboard there for one song. I need to make a decision soon. It's easy to play on keys for me, but I think the guitar gives it more character. My wife must go nuts hearing me go over it again and again.

I watched some dude on Youtube playing it  on guitar. He was just straight up strumming it. To me it didn't sound as good as the way I'm doing it. It seems most guitar training is just training strummers.

Just now, Wookiee said:

@Tim Smith OK I won't ask ?

Heavy metal rhythm is pretty easy to play. Solos? That's another thing altogether.

16 hours ago, AndyB01 said:

If you look at how classical guitarists hold their guitar, you'll notice the fretting hand is higher than the picking hand and the weight of the guitar is supported at an angle - often using a footstool (an upturned waste bin works just as well).

You don't have to be extreme about it, but tilting the guitar in this way and modifying your playing position can radically improve your technique and help you develop an effective barré that you can play with a relaxed hand.

It's not for everyone, but worth a try to see if it works for you. It's not a magic trick however, you still need to practice and persevere.

Regards and good luck

Andy

Well I finger pick and sometimes look at my hands which  makes that angle very important for me. When I play out I have a stool to put my right foot on so I can play while standing. Maybe similar? 

It's an easier angle to get those difficult passages for me. When at home I  have a similar angle only I'm sitting. Some of that is probably just inexperience in needing the confidence to know where my hands are without looking. On some chords I know, but on others I feel better having the ability to glance at mainly my left hand. 

16 hours ago, Wookiee said:

It seems the trend these days is very much to use triads on only three strings, I see so many rhythm guitarist playing the G & D strings.

For electric guitar too many strings at once amped with distortion is nothing but mud. Don't ask me how I know that  

@Old Joad Thanks!

5 hours ago, mettelus said:

Barre chords on even an electric can be taxing, so upping the tension with an acoustic just adds to the need for hand strength. Lighter gauge will lower tension (and action) a smidge, but if you are not familiar with doing mods, it is definitely preferable to having a luthier modify things like the nut. I sent @Grem down a rabbit hole replacing his fret nut on a kit he got [we still need a final build version of that guy BTW (I think, I might have missed it)], and he experienced something I never saw or even expected... that nut had been glued in with so much glue on three sides that in broke into pieces taking it out.

If the play-ability is already an 8 or 7 from your perspective, the hand strength is probably really it. Most people quit guitar because of the time it takes to build callouses/strength, so just keep that in mind as you go... be sure to stretch hand muscles and give yourself rest periods as you work things out.

One thing I know. Unless my health gives out I will NEVER lay down guitar.  :)......long story, but I diverted to learn another instrument. This took valuable time away from guitar practice, so I'm back in that grove now. Last night I played the same song on both keyboard and guitar. Guitar was the clear winner for that song in terms ot how it felt playing it in addition to expressiveness. Not in all cases, but in that case guitar won. The power can go out and I still have an instrument I can play. With my keyboards not so.  And in front of an audience I much prefer a guitar over a piece of plastic in front of me, but some things I just can't play as well on guitar.

I tried tuning down 1/2 step. I think that could work for some things and I appreciate that suggestion. It was especially useful where my vocal range is pushing it.

Could be my strings. The guitar seemed to loose some tone whan I did that. Didn't project as well in addition to my high strings being almost too 'twangy'. It  made playing easier though overall. I can play F maybe three different ways none very fast and no barr yet. I'll stay at it. 

3 hours ago, 53mph said:

I write almost exclusively in alt tunings on acoustic guitar, and I use a lot of alt barre chords up and down the neck.  I tend to down-tune my strings, which means the tension is a bit more forgiving on the fingers. Try tuning down.

My best advise for playing barre chords is to build up your finger muscles. The fact I also play piano might help with that. There was a time when I did boxing, which helped build up hand muscles (I favoured bare knuckles against a punch bag) or you could use those finger strengthening tools for guitarists. Ultimately, the best way is to work through the pain until you're comfortable with the chords.

Maybe plugged in I won't loose tone down tuning. On this guitar it seemed to dampen the tone unplugged.

I got through the fingertip pain. Now I guess I need to develop strength for the barr chords. I'm left handed, but I don't think my left fingers are really any stronger than my right hand fingers. Maybe more dexterity. I don't own a piano, but played one for years elsewhere. I mostly play keys. Those lighter keys are probably not helping me much. Thanks for your comments.

Welcome to the forum @PascalHP !!!

I guess you can tell many of us have been here a very long time. It seems you back a few years as well unless you were only teething then.

I probably should not be here because I seldom even think about opening Cakewalk any more. The other software forums are boring as watching grass grow. We have interesting characters here and they tolerate each other pretty well.

I had not heard about Cakewalk once again being a paid product. We shall see.

On 3/9/2024 at 5:36 AM, Nicolas T. said:

Same here... I'm really disappointed by the new explorer/tagging systems... perhaps It's not suited for people with so much plugins ? I miss the "old" live 11...   

I'll admit that part of it threw me for a loop. I am not organized. I realize this is supposed to help, but now I need to go through my 1000's of plug ins and try to make sure I have all of them.

Compared to cakewalk and others, I never liked their scan system. Why can you only select a few folders when plug in makers put them all over the place?

26 minutes ago, kitekrazy said:

For me that would be a blessing.

Sorry things are not going so well. I remember a few years ago when Cubase updated their license center. That took several direct emails to technical service reps to get it ironed out.

12 beta has been out for a year, so I'm surprised a work around wasn't presented. They have lots of mac users making this a bigger deal.

I loaded Ableton 12 on two computers, both running Windows 10. A desktop running winpro and the other running the home version on a lappy. No issues on either one that I can tell so far. 

The only differences I noted was my desktop loaded a new C++ version before it loaded everything else. My other computer didn't seem to have done that.

The new file setting will take some getting used to. Not sure if it "seen" all of my plugs and instruments at this point.