What Are You Listening To Now? 6.0

[litfan10]

Cool! I pulled out a guitar a while ago. It is NOT like riding a bicycle My brain knew exactly what I wanted to do - I could visualize it hear it, and was ready to play it. But my fingers had the equivalent of "brain freeze", and had no idea where to go LOL

I put it away, and might never pull it out again.

I EXACTLY know the feeling. I have a brand new long-scale bass next to my desk, waiting to make a grand show on one of our tracks, but my fingers feel so CLUMSY after about twenty years not plucking strings. By now. hammering notes into a sequencer feels more natural than playing the actual thing on threaded steel. And I played bass for about five years before the hiatus.

Also, thanks for the Bandcamp Friday shout-out. No one took a bite, but my lady love and I appreciate the gesture.

I found my brain was also in on the hijacking - I played these songs countless times on stage in front of an audience, and my memory was spotty at best. I mean fifteen, twenty years ago I could pick up my bass and the fingers would right away run the scales and song patterns, even the intricate solos, now...not so much.

And then my ring finger and pinky totally separated from the rest of the gang - neither the strength nor the speed to keep up with the other two fingers which were having a hard enough time on their own.

Neil, I hope you do pick it up again. I definitely am as I refuse to lose that part of myself.

Long scale basses intrigue me. Years ago, well after I stopped playing publicly I picked up a nice five string just for the fun and that is the only bass I have now. I've played regular four string, fretless and stand up pseudo professionally. On my never done it bucket list is playing a Rickenbacker (Chris Squire and Jon Camp are HUGE influences on me) and a Chapman (ditto Tony Levin and Nick Beggs.)

B_J, I was afraid this forum was too under trafficked to do much for you but I couldn't resist trying. I enjoy listening to your ep.

 

[litfan10]

Rising Sun

White Moth Black Butterfly

 

[litfan10]

Utopie

Baro Prog-jets

 

[litfan10]

Dwellers of the Deep

Wobbler

 

[Haulover]

...and a Chapman...

Dang! Color me impressed - those things aren't easy!

I have a fried who plays nothing but Chapmans / NSs / Warrs - and he uses them to provide lead, bass, and anything in between. He's played with a ton of the music world's who's-who, but you might know him for his work with The Rocket Scientists.

I played lead in a small band many many decades ago, took classical guitar lessons for 3 years, and taught guitar to local kids for beer money. Our small band did a bunch of local gigs and for a short time we were the biggest thing in a very small town LOL.

Also studied classical piano for 5 years - which was about 5 years less than I'd need to be any good. My Dad started life as a concert pianist, then went back to university to become a civil engineer - so I guess I was destined to be immersed in music in some form or another...

 

[litfan10]

Dang! Color me impressed - those things aren't easy![/QOUTE]

Hahaha.....remember, that's on my bucket list - haven't played it....yet.

Thanks for sharing your musical story.

I grew up in a family of huge book and music lovers. My parents played big band/swing and some classical records all the time. My father played a mean Wurlitzer organ.

From a young age (8 I think) I taught myself how to play and kept at it. In high school there was no way to lug around a keyboard so I taught myself guitar and played in a couple small bands.

First semester of college when I was an English major I took Music Theory 1, a beast of a class that was meant to separate the serious music majors from those that had no business in the program. It was brutal; my teachers weren't thrilled with me because I was a non-major and I was self taught, my sight reading was better than my ear. I loved it.

At this time I also learned guitarists were a dime a dozen in my college town. So I switched to bass and started gigging as bassists were in high demand, and I found that I loved the bass a lot.

Second semester comes and I picked up a second major: music with bass as my instrument. I used my school loan to buy a Fender Precision bass and a huge ass Sun cabinet amp for gigging. I played in alternative rock, prog and jazz bands. I had a blast.
The playing was great, the courses very tough as I was self taught and my fellow students were all trained from practically birth.

Third semester I picked up a sweet Aria fretless jazz bass. I used this in a Police cover band I was in besides all the jazz bands. I learned the stand up bass to play in the college jazz ensemble. Other than two of my jazz instructors, the rest had it in for me due to my lack of formal training. I survived and earned both degrees.

I kept playing out while getting my Masters in English. Once I graduated the second time I got insanely busy writing professionally and actually adjunct teaching at my college so I stopped gigging and haven't since, decades later.

For many years I would play along with records then CDs. Happily my son got the bug listening to me and started playing guitar and has become quite good, but he never played out even in college.

 

[MColton84]

Notorious BIG- Life After Death album.

 

[Haulover]

I found my brain was also in on the hijacking - I played these songs countless times on stage in front of an audience, and my memory was spotty at best. I mean fifteen, twenty years ago I could pick up my bass and the fingers would right away run the scales and song patterns, even the intricate solos, now...not so much.

And then my ring finger and pinky totally separated from the rest of the gang - neither the strength nor the speed to keep up with the other two fingers which were having a hard enough time on their own.

Neil, I hope you do pick it up again. I definitely am as I refuse to lose that part of myself.

Long scale basses intrigue me. Years ago, well after I stopped playing publicly I picked up a nice five string just for the fun and that is the only bass I have now. I've played regular four string, fretless and stand up pseudo professionally. On my never done it bucket list is playing a Rickenbacker (Chris Squire and Jon Camp are HUGE influences on me) and a Chapman (ditto Tony Levin and Nick Beggs.)

B_J, I was afraid this forum was too under trafficked to do much for you but I couldn't resist trying. I enjoy listening to your ep.

Dang! Color me impressed - those things aren't easy![/QOUTE]

Hahaha.....remember, that's on my bucket list - haven't played it....yet.

Thanks for sharing your musical story.

I grew up in a family of huge book and music lovers. My parents played big band/swing and some classical records all the time. My father played a mean Wurlitzer organ.

From a young age (8 I think) I taught myself how to play and kept at it. In high school there was no way to lug around a keyboard so I taught myself guitar and played in a couple small bands.

First semester of college when I was an English major I took Music Theory 1, a beast of a class that was meant to separate the serious music majors from those that had no business in the program. It was brutal; my teachers weren't thrilled with me because I was a non-major and I was self taught, my sight reading was better than my ear. I loved it.

At this time I also learned guitarists were a dime a dozen in my college town. So I switched to bass and started gigging as bassists were in high demand, and I found that I loved the bass a lot.

Second semester comes and I picked up a second major: music with bass as my instrument. I used my school loan to buy a Fender Precision bass and a huge ass Sun cabinet amp for gigging. I played in alternative rock, prog and jazz bands. I had a blast.
The playing was great, the courses very tough as I was self taught and my fellow students were all trained from practically birth.

Third semester I picked up a sweet Aria fretless jazz bass. I used this in a Police cover band I was in besides all the jazz bands. I learned the stand up bass to play in the college jazz ensemble. Other than two of my jazz instructors, the rest had it in for me due to my lack of formal training. I survived and earned both degrees.

I kept playing out while getting my Masters in English. Once I graduated the second time I got insanely busy writing professionally and actually adjunct teaching at my college so I stopped gigging and haven't since, decades later.

For many years I would play along with records then CDs. Happily my son got the bug listening to me and started playing guitar and has become quite good, but he never played out even in college.

Thanks for your musical background! Those lecturers who gave you a hard time about not being formally trained can now swallow their pride, as you now have the qualifications to prove formal training!

My college background was far more boring, with minors in English lit and composition, and majors in computer science, then post-grad at business school.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Insomnium - Heart Like A Grave (album)

Simply beautiful record. Your enjoyment may vary based on your tolerance for harsh growls, but that aside, this thing is the best Swedish Death Metal record to come out in quite some time. Melodious guitars for days, the odd clean vocal part and a fantastic hand for pathos. As much as I like the latest Dark Tranquility album ("Moment"), this is a tough one to dethrone.

-----

Let me regale you with my music-making endeavors. Might be a bit long-winded...

My parents were music lovers, my dad especially. From classical to Elvis and German Schlager to weird electronic stuff (mostly French acts, like Jean-Michel Jarre and Space). My mom was more a Top-40 listener, so I had a pretty comprehensive set of tunes to grow up to.

I went to a small school for visually impaired kids in Münster, Germany and my first encounter with actually making music was when our music teacher handed out recorders. "This will be your musical education going forward. Each lesson, we will start working on a tune and your homework will be to master it."

Problem was - my dad wasn't keen on me piping around at home, especially not after coming home from early shifts. We lived in an apartment building and the neighbors didn't approve of my sub-par flute game either - and being the only visually impaired kid in the neighborhood was bad enough, but being caught with a flute made things even worse. I complained to my homeroom teacher and she sent my parents a stern note, demanding that I be allowed to practice, but my dad - despite his otherwise tolerant stance on music - put the hammer down. "No flutes in my house."

So, no recorder practice for me. F's all year, to the point that my music teacher said "you are hopeless at this", DESPITE knowing the circumstances. Thankfully, after the year was over, I changed schools and began attending a boarding school for blind and VI kids in Marburg, also Germany. I could choose between arts and music, and after experiencing the horror which is having to interpret classical paintings, I went back to music, despite my earlier misgivings. The first year or so was spent mostly on music theory, which I could do no problem. At the end of the term, the music teacher declared that it was time to put our prior studies into practice. "Everyone, grab an instrument and lets make some noise."

Intimidated by my prior experience, I picked the most obvious item - the bongos. And it turned out that I was quite adept at hitting stuff in time to the beat. The next time we made music, I tried the full drum kit and again I realized how easy hitting stuff came to me. Around that time, I discovered heavy metal and my path from there on out was clear - be the next Cozy Powell or Nicko McBrain (because these guys rarely played double kicks which we didn't have). I asked around at school for someone to show me the proper basics and took a couple of lessons which featured mainly on self-improvement and - for which I'll forever be thankful - proper stick handling. The rest I learned by spending hours and hours playing to my favourite tapes. I wasn't a tech wizard like Mike Portnoy, never wanted to be. I preferred the guys with a huge punch and steady groove, the Phil Rudds, Nicko McBrains or - when I discovered them - the drummers of Candlemass or Solitude Aeturnus. I spent most of my free time at the school's practice space or with the Rock & Jazz workshop (where I met not one, but two of my girlfriends, including my lady love).

My first band gig was in a simple rock cover band. We played Springsteen, Billy Joel, Dire Straits and some local acts like "Die Toten Hosen" for a year's end ceremony. Band number two was a punk outfit I founded with the guitarist of the former band when that one broke apart.

Things didn't work so smoothly at the Rock & Jazz workshop though - there were more drummers than drum kits and I wasn't the most technically proficient, so I tended to draw the short straw when it came to playing gigs. We had some cool synths in the music room, including a vintage Minimoog and both a DX-7 and Roland D-50, but apart from tinkling around on them and making an ass out of me, I didn't get very far tickling the ivories. Thankfully, the music teacher convinced me to give playing bass a try. "It's not that much more complicated than hitting stuff" she said. "Besides, you can keep time which is a big help already. Here, this is the E string. Hit it in time with the drums."

A few weeks later I played my first gig as a bassist. We did a rather scorching cover of Type O'Negative's "Black No.1" for an Open House. Funnily, I met my former music teacher from Münster's VI school after the show. "I barely recognized you!" she gushed. "Splendid bass playing!"

"Yeah, not bad for someone you called 'hopeless' at music," I replied. You have NO idea how satisfying that was. On the back of that gig, I nabbed a spot in a metal band some guys started. The drummer was a huge Dream Theater fanboy and the first song I had to learn was "Pull Me Under." I still have nightmares. Thankfully, our focus shifted more towards Death Metal and one of the best experiences of my life was playing a packed youth center, with a cover of Paradise Lost's "Ember's Fire" as the encore. I played bass and did growls - which went well for half a year. But then the drummer said he wanted to do more melodic shit and I should start singing "Like James LaBrie."

Fat chance. I can keep time no problem, but holding notes? Fuck no. I tried "Nothing Else Matters" once and that got me fired from the band. Dani, who played keys in the outfit, left in solidarity.

Afterwards, we slowly stopped playing ourselves, mostly because we were done with school by that time and getting access to a rehearsal space was not easy. Also, finding other musicians who were willing to work with two blind players was a headache, even in a city accustomed to blind people like Marburg. And before we knew it, twenty years went past. We sold our guitars, bass and amps when we moved halfway across Germany and it took a freaking pandemic to pick up an instrument again.

In eight months, I learned not only how to deal with synths and grooveboxes, but how to get shit recorded in Ableton and not sound horrible. I'd call that a win, all things considered.

 

[Handley_Page]

Abba - Ring, Ring

 

[Haulover]

Insomnium - Heart Like A Grave (album)

Simply beautiful record. Your enjoyment may vary based on your tolerance for harsh growls, but that aside, this thing is the best Swedish Death Metal record to come out in quite some time. Melodious guitars for days, the odd clean vocal part and a fantastic hand for pathos. As much as I like the latest Dark Tranquility album ("Moment"), this is a tough one to dethrone.

-----

Let me regale you with my music-making endeavors. Might be a bit long-winded...

My parents were music lovers, my dad especially. From classical to Elvis and German Schlager to weird electronic stuff (mostly French acts, like Jean-Michel Jarre and Space). My mom was more a Top-40 listener, so I had a pretty comprehensive set of tunes to grow up to.

I went to a small school for visually impaired kids in Münster, Germany and my first encounter with actually making music was when our music teacher handed out recorders. "This will be your musical education going forward. Each lesson, we will start working on a tune and your homework will be to master it."

Problem was - my dad wasn't keen on me piping around at home, especially not after coming home from early shifts. We lived in an apartment building and the neighbors didn't approve of my sub-par flute game either - and being the only visually impaired kid in the neighborhood was bad enough, but being caught with a flute made things even worse. I complained to my homeroom teacher and she sent my parents a stern note, demanding that I be allowed to practice, but my dad - despite his otherwise tolerant stance on music - put the hammer down. "No flutes in my house."

So, no recorder practice for me. F's all year, to the point that my music teacher said "you are hopeless at this", DESPITE knowing the circumstances. Thankfully, after the year was over, I changed schools and began attending a boarding school for blind and VI kids in Marburg, also Germany. I could choose between arts and music, and after experiencing the horror which is having to interpret classical paintings, I went back to music, despite my earlier misgivings. The first year or so was spent mostly on music theory, which I could do no problem. At the end of the term, the music teacher declared that it was time to put our prior studies into practice. "Everyone, grab an instrument and lets make some noise."

Intimidated by my prior experience, I picked the most obvious item - the bongos. And it turned out that I was quite adept at hitting stuff in time to the beat. The next time we made music, I tried the full drum kit and again I realized how easy hitting stuff came to me. Around that time, I discovered heavy metal and my path from there on out was clear - be the next Cozy Powell or Nicko McBrain (because these guys rarely played double kicks which we didn't have). I asked around at school for someone to show me the proper basics and took a couple of lessons which featured mainly on self-improvement and - for which I'll forever be thankful - proper stick handling. The rest I learned by spending hours and hours playing to my favourite tapes. I wasn't a tech wizard like Mike Portnoy, never wanted to be. I preferred the guys with a huge punch and steady groove, the Phil Rudds, Nicko McBrains or - when I discovered them - the drummers of Candlemass or Solitude Aeturnus. I spent most of my free time at the school's practice space or with the Rock & Jazz workshop (where I met not one, but two of my girlfriends, including my lady love).

My first band gig was in a simple rock cover band. We played Springsteen, Billy Joel, Dire Straits and some local acts like "Die Toten Hosen" for a year's end ceremony. Band number two was a punk outfit I founded with the guitarist of the former band when that one broke apart.

Things didn't work so smoothly at the Rock & Jazz workshop though - there were more drummers than drum kits and I wasn't the most technically proficient, so I tended to draw the short straw when it came to playing gigs. We had some cool synths in the music room, including a vintage Minimoog and both a DX-7 and Roland D-50, but apart from tinkling around on them and making an ass out of me, I didn't get very far tickling the ivories. Thankfully, the music teacher convinced me to give playing bass a try. "It's not that much more complicated than hitting stuff" she said. "Besides, you can keep time which is a big help already. Here, this is the E string. Hit it in time with the drums."

A few weeks later I played my first gig as a bassist. We did a rather scorching cover of Type O'Negative's "Black No.1" for an Open House. Funnily, I met my former music teacher from Münster's VI school after the show. "I barely recognized you!" she gushed. "Splendid bass playing!"

"Yeah, not bad for someone you called 'hopeless' at music," I replied. You have NO idea how satisfying that was. On the back of that gig, I nabbed a spot in a metal band some guys started. The drummer was a huge Dream Theater fanboy and the first song I had to learn was "Pull Me Under." I still have nightmares. Thankfully, our focus shifted more towards Death Metal and one of the best experiences of my life was playing a packed youth center, with a cover of Paradise Lost's "Ember's Fire" as the encore. I played bass and did growls - which went well for half a year. But then the drummer said he wanted to do more melodic shit and I should start singing "Like James LaBrie."

Fat chance. I can keep time no problem, but holding notes? Fuck no. I tried "Nothing Else Matters" once and that got me fired from the band. Dani, who played keys in the outfit, left in solidarity.

Afterwards, we slowly stopped playing ourselves, mostly because we were done with school by that time and getting access to a rehearsal space was not easy. Also, finding other musicians who were willing to work with two blind players was a headache, even in a city accustomed to blind people like Marburg. And before we knew it, twenty years went past. We sold our guitars, bass and amps when we moved halfway across Germany and it took a freaking pandemic to pick up an instrument again.

In eight months, I learned not only how to deal with synths and grooveboxes, but how to get shit recorded in Ableton and not sound horrible. I'd call that a win, all things considered.

Thanks for the background. I especially enjoyed the part in bold (above)

You guys both have a background in the rhythm section. I have no idea, and am hopeless at that. But with BJ on drums and LF on bass, I'll ruin the lead and rhythm guitar spots and maybe plink-plunk a few keys, and we'll be in business! But don't ask me to sing - the only artist I can reasonably emulate with my poor singing voice is Leonard Cohen LOL

 

[Haulover]

Insomnium : Heart Like A Grave (On YouTube - per BJ's recomendatrion

So far it sounds like a must-buy.

 

[John_Updick]

Holly Golightly
https://youtu.be/4QlIwgQCYpk

 

[Handley_Page]

These guys are great:-

40 Fingers: Sultans of Swing.

 

[Rustyoznail]

"What is love?" by Haddaway has just come on the radio, and I found my head nodding like the two in "A night at the Roxbury"!!!

Uggh...

 

[assman37]

NPR Tiny Desk Concert with Alt-J. I recognize their music isn't for anyone, but if you like them, do yourself a favor. Listen to their version of Warm Foothills on this. IMHO, it is far superior to the original studio cut. The addition of the strings certainly helps

 

[assman37]

"What is love?" by Haddaway has just come on the radio, and I found my head nodding like the two in "A night at the Roxbury"!!!

Uggh...

Shit...now this will be stuck in my head all night! LOL!!!!

 

[Handley_Page]

Theme from 2001:
Also spake Zarathustra.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Thanks for the background. I especially enjoyed the part in bold (above)

You guys both have a background in the rhythm section. I have no idea, and am hopeless at that. But with BJ on drums and LF on bass, I'll ruin the lead and rhythm guitar spots and maybe plink-plunk a few keys, and we'll be in business! But don't ask me to sing - the only artist I can reasonably emulate with my poor singing voice is Leonard Cohen LOL

It takes a lot of effort and dedication to get a whiskey-and-smokes tone like he had.

I have toyed with the idea of asking guest musicians to play with us. The logisctics of transporting big-ass .wav files over the internet are quite a headache though. We'd need a communal OneDrive account or the like. And probably someone who has more knowledge of Ableton/Cubase than me to splice the stems together.

Apart from that though - LETS BE THE NEW PROG KINGS!

 

[EddieTheMuse]

Deacon Blues-Steely Dan

They play a lot of Steely Dan where I work and it's renewed my love for them.

 

[litfan10]

It takes a lot of effort and dedication to get a whiskey-and-smokes tone like he had.

I have toyed with the idea of asking guest musicians to play with us. The logisctics of transporting big-ass .wav files over the internet are quite a headache though. We'd need a communal OneDrive account or the like. And probably someone who has more knowledge of Ableton/Cubase than me to splice the stems together.

Apart from that though - LETS BE THE NEW PROG KINGS!

I was watching new online interviews with Transatlantic and Marillion and both referenced using Dropbox to share musical files.

 

[Haulover]

It takes a lot of effort and dedication to get a whiskey-and-smokes tone like he had.
...

In my case, I just meant that I have a vocal range of maybe half an octave! LOL

 

[Haulover]

Jinjer : Macro

 

[Haulover]

Black Noodle Project : Ghosts & Memories

 

[litfan10]

Black Noodle Project : Ghosts & Memories

love it!