Musician help, sharinng tips and techniques - Beginner friendly but also advanced musicians feel free to share techniques, all instruments welcome

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What instrument are you most proficient in

  • Guitar

    Votes: 19 54.3%
  • Bass

    Votes: 8 22.9%
  • Piano/keyboard

    Votes: 12 34.3%
  • Woodwinds or Brass

    Votes: 4 11.4%
  • Other stringed instruments

    Votes: 6 17.1%
  • Drums/ Percussion

    Votes: 3 8.6%

  • Total voters
    35
Speak for yourself.

My comment was about learning an instrument in todays timeline with the amount of resources and affordability - accessibility to hardware/tech and educational methods, compared to the 80's are worlds apart.

Some of us may have been more fortunate, spoiled or "privileged" in the kind of background or access to music we had and the amount of time to dedicate to an instrument etc, but there was a lot more figuring shit out on your own back then, rather than jumping online for help on a forum or a youtoob tutorial.
 
To me formal teaching would be ideal, if I could go back in time (and have money), I would have did that from the start but my family didn't have much disposable income to pay $30 a twice a week for lessons. I had to learn through books for bass and guitar. When I got my first job and my license, I took bass lessons for slap and increasing my speed. That was my junior year of high school and I wouldn't discover youtube until my senior year in 2009. Even though it came out in 2005, I only spent my Internet time playing Runescape with friends. If there were lessons in the early years of YouTube, I missed out on some free resources. I still use some of my books for references. There's nothing wrong with using YouTube videos to learn an instrument but since there's no accountability you might do something incorrectly, at best you'll have to correct it by undoing the muscle memory and at worst giving yourself carpal tunnel and deal with the bad wrist pain. I've had that for a while now and not because my fretting was wrong, I had fractured my left wrist 2 different times like how a people crush a coke can when I was a little kid so I developed it at an early age, probably some arthritis too because I can tell before a weather system comes through based on how bad it hurts. I've seen some other people offer a few free lessons then turn around and ask for money on their own website. At that point just get the formal teacher, you might have to shell out a little more but at least the teacher will correct your mistakes.
 
To me formal teaching would be ideal, if I could go back in time (and have money), I would have did that from the start but my family didn't have much disposable income to pay $30 a twice a week for lessons. I had to learn through books for bass and guitar. When I got my first job and my license, I took bass lessons for slap and increasing my speed. That was my junior year of high school and I wouldn't discover youtube until my senior year in 2009. Even though it came out in 2005, I only spent my Internet time playing Runescape with friends. If there were lessons in the early years of YouTube, I missed out on some free resources. I still use some of my books for references. There's nothing wrong with using YouTube videos to learn an instrument but since there's no accountability you might do something incorrectly, at best you'll have to correct it by undoing the muscle memory and at worst giving yourself carpal tunnel and deal with the bad wrist pain. I've had that for a while now and not because my fretting was wrong, I had fractured my left wrist 2 different times like how a people crush a coke can when I was a little kid so I developed it at an early age, probably some arthritis too because I can tell before a weather system comes through based on how bad it hurts. I've seen some other people offer a few free lessons then turn around and ask for money on their own website. At that point just get the formal teacher, you might have to shell out a little more but at least the teacher will correct your mistakes.

Yeah I don't recall much guitar stuff on early youtube, it was all just random trash with some cows trying to be internet famous. Youtube is great now with the amount of educational stuff, gear reviews, backing tracks etc.

For example pre internet days, you wanted a tab book that was likely notated wrong it was like $40 in early 90's money. You either saved up your after school pennies or stuffed in a record sleeve of an album you paid 10 bucks for and shoplifted it.
Then web 1.0 it was bad tabs in .txt format, even back then intermediate advanced jazz or classical lessons were $50 an hour. The best way to learn is by playing and playing with others and involving yourself in the local scene for whatever genre it is you play.

I wasn't one of those automatically gifted kids that could play or mimic anything by ear like the kids who could listen to an AC/DC song and be like "I got dis". While I got music and was gifted to an extent, I still had to put in the hard yards and practice my ass off with the limited stuff I had and also back then, private teachers deliberately held you back to string out your progress, so you didn't "get it" and realise you don't need them past a certain point.
 
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I reckon I taught myself pretty well, I wasn't gifted either, I just worked at it, read books learned songs from tabs. I hit a wall after 3 years, at that point I was only just a bassist. So when I was 16 and got a job and could drive, I found a bass teacher at my local music shop. For a span of 3 or 4 months I got lessons, he helped me correct mistakes I was making that slowed my fretting down and we worked on slap. After Christmas the candy store I was working for didn't do as well as they hoped, since I was the last hired I was the first to go. While I was in lessons he thought I was good enough to play at a gospel convention a couple of hours away. I had to decline as I didn't have money for gas and food also It was during the week and I had school and work. I really felt honored as I didn't think I sounded too good, but I guess he must have thought I did.
 
Been learning piano and its been a lot of fun. An issue I'm having though is hand placement. Sometimes I'll have to move the left have up to play a note and then play a chord further down. I often botch this movement. Is there any exercises or something I could do to improve the accuracy?
 
Been learning piano and its been a lot of fun. An issue I'm having though is hand placement. Sometimes I'll have to move the left have up to play a note and then play a chord further down. I often botch this movement. Is there any exercises or something I could do to improve the accuracy?
Just keep doing it over and over to build that connection through muscle memory. Just for like 30 minutes a day. A metronome will help you track progression. Start at a bpm you're comfortable with and increase tempo, in like a week you'll see noticeable results.
 
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I've kinda hit a wll as far as making music as of late. Like I feel that I'm on the edge of creating something. Usually when I get stuck in a rut, I'll go back to basics to gleem any info I might have skimmed through. I'm also getting bored of noodling. I need to start playing with other people as that's the easiest way to learn. Back in the day I played for 2 bands, one was just for fun and jam. The other was a group of friends from high school and we played for a mega church. I got kicked out because I smoked cigarettes. The youth pastor went and snitched on me to the groups leader. Didn't even have the balls the confront me about it. I get it is it's a bad role l model, but no one was around to see me as we practiced like 2 hours before service. I didn't like that church except for the few that were my friends. Everyone else was always standoffish. I usually left after worship because I had responsibilities to my own church.

Edit: everyone there would sing praises of this bass player named Grant and how he only needed the key signature of the song, I used chord sheets and built around that. He even went behind my back to tell the same guy that chording on bass was inappropriate
 
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Oh hey I wasn't aware of this thread! I've been playing the guitar and drums on and off for the better part of a decade. Songwriting/music production is a major hobby of mine and I've been involved in a couple of bands (nothing I can share here without doxing myself, though). Would love to discuss music theory/the Creative Process with fellow autists.

I've kinda hit a wll as far as making music as of late. Like I feel that I'm on the edge of creating something.
What sort of music is it that you're trying to make? In my experience the most difficult part of songwriting (or any creative endeavour, for that matter) is finding that first core idea to really get those cogs turning -- if you're struggling creatively, it might be because you're starting from an entirely blank slate. My go-to in situations like these is to dig up a particular song or musical passage that interests me and study it to see what makes it work: is there a chord progression I can borrow? A particular melodic line that stands out? It might seem like cheating, but you'd be surprised at how many great original ideas can come to you through just taking a thing you like and tweaking it in some way or another. Good artists borrow, etc etc.

You might also find it useful to reduce the scope of your creativity through self-imposed limitations. Compose a riff in a weird time signature. Make something on an instrument you don't play. Write a song in thirty minutes (time limits are especially useful if you're new to the whole songwriting business). This way, you can chip away at that blank slate and make it a whole lot smaller and less intimidating, which TRUST ME helps a great deal. There's a few more specific tips I've picked up over the years, but it really depends on what exactly you want to do.
 
I play different genres: blues, rock, punk, I play experimental (think Pink Floyd w/ Syd Barrett), old R&B. I can play a bunch of genres, but I usually start my writing on bass then build around it with other instruments. Mostly guitar and keyboard but I will include mandolin and ukulele if I want it to sound more acoustic. Here's a small sample

 
I go the opposite direction, learn new stuff and try to implement it. Look into negative harmony.
I've heard about it, but never really looked into it, I've seen it explained once but didn't quite understand it. I understand some music theory, thats how I learned to improvise. Could you give me a quick example in simplistic terms. It doesn't need to be detailed, I wanna know the general gist of it.
 
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Do any of play the piano, I want to lean more than just chords. I just can't play anything melodic with accompaniment, unless I record the chords and melody after..
 
I've been absolutely obsessed with a piano chord progression for the last few days and I'm going to sperg about it.

Ebm7 Ab7 Db7 Gb Cm7b5 F7 Dbadd9 Ddim (doubled D in the top voice) back to Ebm7

Voiced so the bottom voice moves Eb-Db-C-Db-D-Eb.

It's essentially just a ii-V-I-IV-vii-iii with a turnaround and the top voice altered to be a descending chromatic line, but I really like it. I like how both the top and bottom voices chromatically approach the Ebm7 in the turnaround, with one ascending Db-D-Eb and the other descending Eb-D-Db -- which then continues with the descending top line. I like how one of the inner voices just floats between Gb and F. I like improvising over it and trying to figure out what scale to play when the F7 comes around. I just like it. It's baby's first jazz song but I can't get it out of my head, even when I'm out running in the woods or trying to watch a movie. I'm in deep.

Also really exemplifies how different instruments affect how you write. I almost never think this much about voice leading on guitar, both because of the limitations of chord shapes and because voicings matter less when saturation is producing octaves of every note. But on keys it's almost impossible to not think about, it's laid out so clearly in front of you.

Also my last cheap harmonica finally lost a reed so I decided to treat myself to my first nice one, a Hohner Special 20. We'll see how much of a difference it makes.

I love music.

Edit: holy fuck this is so much easier to bend on. I feel like an anime character taking off the training weights or whatever I don't know I don't watch shonen.
 
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Sorry to necro this thread but does anyone play banjo? I've been learning it and I just can't get the right hand to produce the rhythm. As far as fretting and techniques go, those are transferable, plus it's ruined to open G so figuring out notes and chords easily. It's just the right hand that is hard to soe
 
Sorry to necro this thread but does anyone play banjo? I've been learning it and I just can't get the right hand to produce the rhythm. As far as fretting and techniques go, those are transferable, plus it's ruined to open G so figuring out notes and chords easily. It's just the right hand that is hard to soe
I can do half decent finger rolls and a couple other patterns, but I couldn't explain how I learned or reproduced what I've heard, nor could I tell you if I'm even doing them correctly
 
I can do half decent finger rolls and a couple other patterns, but I couldn't explain how I learned or reproduced what I've heard, nor could I tell you if I'm even doing them correctly
Unfortunately I gave up on it, the 20 years of muscle memory kept me from being able to grasp it. As well as it's counter intuitive to any stringed instrument I've played
 
I have 8 years with the Cello. Intermidate struggel is real
Willing to help out anyone with the instrument, would like to play the instrument or want to talk about classical music in general. Just ask.

Pretty surprised by the lack of people talking about their experiences and practical playing techniques as musicians (Classical) compared to the fucking tsunami of music theory and guitar information on The Internet in general. Pretty sure the first is just because nerds and composers (professional nerds) and the later is obvious. Guitar Composing Nerds :story:

Anyway I have been lurking on this thread for a few months appreciating the posts and so would like to contribute:
IMSLP - International Music Score Library Project - Sheet music that is public domain can be alright but takes a bit of sithting through.
Anna's Archive - Big book archive that also has some sheet music.

Would welcome any other archives of sheet music to help add to my collection. 😇
 
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Thanks for the contribution, we don't have really any classical stringed musicians here. At least posting in the thread. Yes, intermediate struggle is a tough hill to climb. It's like a wall you throw yourself into over and over until you get over it. The thing is you do improve, but it's very gradual and you don't notice it. Bass is a good analog for cello, especially frettless bass. Only the methods of playing the strings differ (I know you can pluck cello strings, but it's not the default). I'll offer any help I can, not really sure how much it can though.
 
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