Music: Play an Instrument? Post your instrument/equipment!

[IFHTT]

If so, what's your setup.

Mine:

Guitars:
Fender Strat
Ibanez mmm1 Mike Mushok Signature
Ibanez acoustic
New PRS Tremonti Se

Amps:
Marshall JCM800 1-12" Combo.
Line 6 Flextone III Plus 1-12" Combo

I've been playing for about 7 years now. I play mostly metal, and progressive rock. Some acoustic stuff too. Been in a couple bands... Now I mainly just play as a hobby.

I hope I'm not the only one who plays...

[darkmetal505]

ive been playing for quite a while, since 3rd grade I think

[rockmanj]

i used to play from ages 16-20, then i broke my guitar :-(

[IFHTT]

then i broke my guitar :-(

That sucks. I've gone through about 4 guitars total. Back when I was really into playing and young I'd spend all my work money for guitar stuff, (strings, picks, pedals, etc.) But now that I'm older I just have seemingly started to lose interest in playing.

[rockmanj]

i mean i liked playing it, but once i broke the 2nd one, i was like, either i stop drinking or playing guitar...

[IFHTT]

i mean i liked playing it, but once i broke the 2nd one, i was like, either i stop drinking or playing guitar...

Well, I guess you made the right choice

[Raven]

I've been playing guitar for about 15 years now, but only accoustic. I know most chords (mostly self-taught), and usually I'll sit there either playing familiar songs by ear or writing my own if I have time.

I'd like to move up to electric, but that's gonna take money which I don't really have right now. But yeah, I love playing it, it's very relaxing I find.

[masamuneehs]

I play the alto saxophone (i know, i know, not a guitar, but figured it goes along with this conversation nonetheless) although I really haven't played much in the past 2 years or so.

I started when I was 10 but quit until late in high school because there was never a real good part for saxophones to play in the school band productions. But when I was 16 a new band teacher came to my school and organized a jazz band. I started playing and was so happy to be able to play blues and jazz, which is really what the sax is best suited for.

In the past two years I haven't done it because it wasn't allowed in the dorms and a, well I just got too busy with other shit. I do want to pick it up again, but god knows I'll be rusty. Music is a great way to express yourself and even if you're not great it can be a real help letting out stress/whatever.

sorry for the deviation you guitarists, figured I'd just throw that in there.

Edit to below: "playing the trombone is not very fun" just sounds so dirty... hehe

[IFHTT]

Cool Masamuneehs, I used to play trombone but I dropped that a long time ago because playing trumbone is not very fun.

[Uchiha Barles]

I've been playing since I was 18 but wasn't really very much into it until about 3 years ago (I'm 24 now), so I'm not as good as one might expect, but I'm good enough to play most of the stuff I'm interested in playing. I still can't play the solo from Domination though...but I'm getting there

[KitKat]

I play bass guitar. I'm not very good though. I don't mean this in an "I'm just being modest" way, because I really honestly suck. I think I could be decent if I took the time to practice, but being in an engineering program doesn't leave me with much time leftover and I'm sad to say the video games usually take precedence when I find myself with a bit of free time. I'm hoping to play a lot more next year though, cause I'm moving to my brother's house, and he is building a recording studio in his basement. Between him and his housemate, they have 6 guitars, a sweet drum kit, a keyboard, several amps (my brother also works at a music store so he often brings instruments home to fix them) and I'll be adding my bass and two amps, as well as my keyboard (Kurzweil, 88 keys, weighted) to the mix when I arrive.

I'm much better at piano than at guitar, although I haven't played too much of that since I started university either. In highschool though, I did my grade 9 conservatory exam. I love playing the songs from the Final Fantasy piano collections. Hopefully I'll start playing more piano next year too. Maybe a lot more if I end up being unemployed for a while....

[IFHTT]

@Uchiha Barles: Sweet. I didn't start getting what I'd call decent until about 4 years in myself. It really wasn't until I got serious about it and threw all my cash away for better equipment that I started getting pretty decent. I'm self taught. What about you?

I play bass guitar. I'm not very good though. I don't mean this in an "I'm just being modest" way, because I really honestly suck. I think I could be decent if I took the time to practice, but being in an engineering program doesn't leave me with much time leftover and I'm sad to say the video games usually take precedence when I find myself with a bit of free time. I'm hoping to play a lot more next year though, cause I'm moving to my brother's house, and he is building a recording studio in his basement. Between him and his housemate, they have 6 guitars, a sweet drum kit, a keyboard, several amps (my brother also works at a music store so he often brings instruments home to fix them) and I'll be adding my bass and two amps, as well as my keyboard (Kurzweil, 88 keys, weighted) to the mix when I arrive.

I'm much better at piano than at guitar, although I haven't played too much of that since I started university either. In highschool though, I did my grade 9 conservatory exam. I love playing the songs from the Final Fantasy piano collections. Hopefully I'll start playing more piano next year too. Maybe a lot more if I end up being unemployed for a while....

About video games coming first I know how that is as I'm the same way now. I want to learn to play piano but I don't have the money to buy one. I am planning on getting a keyboard but I don't know enough about whats good and bad for what price so I am holding out till I research a little more.

Edit: @XanBcoo below: "Playing in the orchestral band just got boring."
Thats exactly why I quit playing trumbone. It just got boring. that and it was making my lips protrude from my face from blowing in the mouthpiece. That damned buzzing makes your face go numb.

[XanBcoo]

I'm working on playing bass. My friend's got one that he's letting me borrow. I can't play that well, so I usually just copy cool basslines from songs I like. Which is good enough for the moment.

Like masamuneehs, I also played Saxophone in high school. I was pretty good, but I wish I could have been in our Jazz band so I could really enjoy it. Playing in the orchestral band just got boring. I also can play a few songs on the piano by ear, and can play a mean blues harp.

[Uchiha Barles]

@ TonTon:
For the first year I took lessons, but I wasn't very serious about them, which I regret. So I'm mostly self taught. I did learn to read music, so I use that to train in classical techniques. I also trained from rock and roll instructional books but I'm done with those, so I mostly train in song books of the bands I like, or from articles in guitar player/world when it comes to that type of music.

As far as equipement is concerned, I have 2 guitars. My acoustic is an ebony epiphone PR-100. Its kinda crappy and hard to play. But I love it, because by practicing on that and making sure the songs sound nice on the crappy guitar, I'm just that much better when I switch to my electric or a superior acoustic. In fact, I'm almost twice as fast on my electric as I am on my acoustic. I recommend this to everyone who has the patience and fortitude to deal with the initial pain on their fingertips. My electric is a brownsville les paul remake, I'm not sure about the exact model. I paid 300 for it, marked down from 600. It sounds great because the humbucking pick ups on it are really good, but its shoddily constructed in two places: the peg at the bottom that holds the strap just refuses to stay on, and the jack for the cable slipped into the body. I have an extended warranty on it from Sam Ash so I can get them to fix the issues and only pay for parts, which should not cost me anymore than 50 bucks.

[Dug88]

I've been playing guitar for about 6 years now usually either metal or heavy punk stuff I've never had real lessons or anything though just a shitty class at my old school where we never really got taught anything but I mostly just play for fun. I've been trying to get a band together for a bit but it's hard to find a drummer in my new town so not a lot of luck there.

[IFHTT]

@ TonTon:
For the first year I took lessons, but I wasn't very serious about them, which I regret. So I'm mostly self taught. I did learn to read music, so I use that to train in classical techniques. I also trained from rock and roll instructional books but I'm done with those, so I mostly train in song books of the bands I like, or from articles in guitar player/world when it comes to that type of music.

As far as equipement is concerned, I have 2 guitars. My acoustic is an ebony epiphone PR-100. Its kinda crappy and hard to play. But I love it, because by practicing on that and making sure the songs sound nice on the crappy guitar, I'm just that much better when I switch to my electric or a superior acoustic. In fact, I'm almost twice as fast on my electric as I am on my acoustic. I recommend this to everyone who has the patience and fortitude to deal with the initial pain on their fingertips. My electric is a brownsville les paul remake, I'm not sure about the exact model. I paid 300 for it, marked down from 600. It sounds great because the humbucking pick ups on it are really good, but its shoddily constructed in two places: the peg at the bottom that holds the strap just refuses to stay on, and the jack for the cable slipped into the body. I have an extended warranty on it from Sam Ash so I can get them to fix the issues and only pay for parts, which should not cost me anymore than 50 bucks.

I used to have an epiphone acoustic, I wish I still had it. It was a lot better than my current acoustic. Yeah strap pegs getting loose is a common problem. Thats easy to fix. Just fill it in with some wood glue, then screw the peg back in after it dries... Fingertip pain is inevitable but the more you destroy your finger tips the harder they come back.

@Dug88 : The reason I stopped being in bands was because around where I live there is so very few musicians that follow your certain style that it makes it damn near impossible to get a band together... Good luck though.

And as said previously. Music is an excellent stress reliever. I love to play out my woes and anger through the strings of a guitar. Infact confliction is the fuel that drives the power behind music. No emotion. No music.

[darkmetal505]

I self taught myself how to play piano after guitar, it was a wonder on how easily I could pick up after learning the chords.

It also seems like piano would be a basic instrument for everybody in learning the mechanics of musics. Maybe thats why it is compulsary for all music majors at my school to take piano.

[Uchiha Barles]

Yep, the relationship between notes and scales (from which chords are built) can actually be SEEN on the keyboard much more naturally than on any other note layout that I'm familiar with. I took a music theory class and we used this paper keyboard printed in a book as a visual aid to our studies. I would actually learn to play the piano and continue music theory study with a keyboard, if I had a keyboard. I simply REFUSE to play notes on that stupid fucking piece of paper. As soon as I can afford one, I'll be purchasing a keyboard.

[KitKat]

Yeah, for those of you looking to buy a keyboard, I recommend searching around and finding a decent one rather than cheaping out on a crappy one. Keyboards are great because they're way more portable than pianos, but they can also be really low quality if you're not careful what you buy. I guess what you need to take into consideration is what you want to use it for. If you just want to play around and learn chords, maybe a cheap one would work for you. But if you're interested in learning to play well, or if you're going to use it to make recordings or play for other people, here are some things to take into consideration:

First is sound. Does your keyboard have a good range of different sounds it can simulate? How authentic are those sounds? Does is simulate a real instrument, or does it sound crappy and synthetic?

Next is size. I highly recommend having a full size keyboard. Mid-range keys are ok, but having those extra low and high notes gives you so much more scope to play around (and if you ever play any FF music, you'll learn that Nobuo Uematsu makes quite a lot of use of those low and high ranges). This is probably less important though than some of the other considerations. The advantage of smaller keyboards is that they are lighter and more portable.

Weighted keys: Ok, so this is maybe a frivolous add-on, but playing a keyboard that actually feels more like a piano is so much better. The biggest advantage of this is that the harder you press the keys, the louder sound you can produce, so you have a much greater range of expression. I love this so much, and I highly recommend it.

Compatibility and versatility: Can you hook up your keyboard to your computer? Can you make recordings on the actual keyboard? Does it allow you to lay down a track and put in different instruments? Does it require any special software? These things are good to know if you want to make any recordings or compositions.

Good luck with keyboard hunting!

[IFHTT]

Alright I have a little treat for you guys. I didn't think there was a reason to create a new thread for this so I'll just post it in this thread.

I recorded myself playing guitar, more precisely the guitar part to The Raising Fighting Spirit from the 1st Naruto Soundtrack, by Toshiro Masuda. I love the song and the guitar part so I figured I'd throw it online and let you guys see what you thought of my crappy guitar work lol. Seriously though please tell me what you think. It doesn't sound perfect, nor is the timing exactly right but you'll get the gist of the song when you hear it. Edit: BTW It would probably sound better with drums, but I've none to play nor record on...

You can listen to it here:

PureVolume... Just go to my purevolume and click play, it's the only song in there. Sorry this is the only hosting I could do for now... Please leave a post here with your comments though. Thanks, I hope you guys like it