Musicians Unite! (show your music love, post your gear, etc)

[Fierce_LiNk]

I thought it would be quite cool to check out each other's music gear and also maybe talk about ways to improve, our musical history and that sort of stuff!

I've been interested in playing music for a very long time, since I was around 5 or so. My mum bought be a cheap acoustic guitar that I took to pre-school and entertained the other kids there. I didn't know how to play at that time, so I think I must have just strummed the shit out of it and wailed like a banshee.  

When all of my mates were starting to pick up their guitars and stuff, I suddenly thought that maybe it would be interesting to do something different. I was a huuuuuge Oasis fan growing up and seeing the "Don't Look Back In Anger" video with Alan White playing his white Pearl set on a platform in the outdoor swimming pool, it just looked like the coolest thing in the world. I was convinced that I needed to get a drum kit, so I bought one from the local music shop for about £200. Can't remember how old I was exactly at this time, maybe 14? It was their own brand, really bottom of the line and was a basic 5 piece set that didn't even come with a crash, so I had to buy that separately. I've still got the kit, back in Wales. I taught myself how to play after downloading lots of videos featuring Dave Weckl and Jeff Porcaro (Toto). Both are still two of my favourite drummers to this day. Dave Weckl blew my mind and I still consider him one of the top all time drummers in the world, his co-ordination and use of rolls is great.

I took my kit with me to Brighton for my second year, but it moved back to Wales once that year was over. I've been kit-less since then...until a few months ago. As we live in a fairly residential area, I thought that an electronic drumset would be my best bet. I scoured the net for hours and hours trying to find the perfect one for me. I watched tons of YouTube reviews and came across a set that I absolutely loved. The Roland TD-30KV. Unfortunately, I got there too late as it was a discontinued line! But, they did have the next model up, the Roland TD-50K. So, I bought it and now I have a drum kit again after about...10 years plus of not having one. It's amazing how natural it feels to get back into it. I absolutely love this kit and it's pretty much one of the best kits on the planet. Love the hell out of it.

The kit currently lives in my garage, with all of the home gym stuff. We originally had it upstairs, but the problem was that the sound of the pedal hitting the bass drum made too much noise due to the vibrations going through the floorboards. So, by moving it downstairs, it's made things a lot easier. The only downside is that it gets very warm in there!

After I picked up my first drum kit (the one currently in Wales), I saw a free-ad in a newspaper about a cheap bass guitar. I figured "none of my friends can play bass, so I want to learn!" and bought it. It was being sold in Cwmbran, which is the next town over from Newport. Only cost £40. It's pretty bottom of the line, too. The brand is "Marlin" which is as much as the owner knew about it. He even chucked in a cheap bass amp to go with it for free. About a year ago, the guitar jack came loose and retreated into the bass guitar itself. So, I've done some "surgery" to retreat it to get it working. I've kept the actual cable in the jack since and leave it hung up that way, so that I haven't got to open that area up again to reclaim the jack.

I find it really fun to play, but I think the time is coming quite soon where I may need to replace it for something a bit newer as my go-to Bass! 

Next to it, I've got an acoustic guitar that actually belonged to someone else. They knew that I wanted to learn so they gifted me the guitar and I've had it ever since! 

I've taken that guitar with me everywhere. It came from Newport, then went with me to Brighton, then back to Newport and now in Bournemouth. Same with the Bass! 

About three or so years ago, I decided that I wanted to learn electric guitar and just woke up one Saturday and scoured the web for one that took my eye. I knew that I couldn't spend tooooo much money on it otherwise @Eenuh wouldn't be pleased. In the end, I settled on an Epiphone Les Paul, which only cost around £300 or something. 

It's a lovely guitar to play for the price range that it's in. I thought that it would give me a bit more range to play rather than just acoustic stuff all the time, plus I wanted to get into the habit of messing around with distortion pedals and all that, so I figured it would be worth it.

All three guitars have been wall mounted to save space:

They all live in the second bedroom that we have dubbed "the music room". It's about 50% music and 50% belonging to the cats, who come in here to sleep either on the sofa or on their cat bed.

Originally, the drum kit was in this room, but the sound caused an issue due to the vibrations going through the floorboards. So, as a result, it had to go in the gym. It's opened the room out though and has made it feel a bit less "full" in there. That kit takes up a fair bit of space.

The sofa bed came from Ikea and cost just under £200 IIRC. Really comfy and one of our cats (Aya) loves to sleep on it during the night (or the day time...laaaaaaazy). Ico (other cat) loves to sleep on that biiiig white pillow on the floor. All the other stuff in the photograph are two automatic cat feeders and a water tray (on the left) and some cat toys in the middle of the picture.

At my place of work, a friend was decluttering her place and decided that she no longer needed a keyboard. She asked me if I wanted it for free, to which I just said, "...uh, sure." I had no real desire to learn that instrument since it never appeared to me. But, it's there now, so I'm going to learn!

It's a bottom of the line Yamaha PSR-73.I started learning how to play in our old flat and quite enjoyed it. But, it wasn't really comfortable due to having to play it on the dining room table and without a proper seat. So, I bought a proper stand and seat for it and that seems to be working out better. At some point, I'll get serious about it and will put the hours in, but it's just finding the time really.

I've also got some effects pedals for the guitars:

The big one at the bottom is a Boss ME-50B bass effects pedal. Has synth, tone, delay functions and I really enjoy it. I use the delay functions a fair bit.

The second biggest one is a Morley Wah Pedal. 

Orange one is a Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal.

Red is a Boss Loop Station. 

The ME-50B and the Morley were bought off one of my friend's ex-boyfriends, just before they broke up. He no longer needed it, so I bought it off him. I really like the ME, although I haven't used the Morley as much yet.

The DS-1 is great. Not sure Ine is a particularly big fan of it, though. Think she prefers cleaner sounds. The Loop Station is really fun but getting the timings 100% right takes a fair bit of practice. 

With work, it can be hard to find the time to just chill out and play. I'm hoping that this year I'll be able to do more of that. I guess it's all about managing your time to fit it all in! 

 

[Happenstance]

I bought a guitar at the start of the year along with a copy of Rocksmith on PC. The idea was more that I just felt like learning something new and playing guitar always seemed like fun. The original plan was to play the game for an hour daily to try and learn. I managed about a week and then other stuff got in the way and I never went back to it. I need to make a real effort to try and get back to it.

My guitar was just a cheapy one from Amazon.

[bob]

1 hour ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

I thought it would be quite cool to check out each other's music gear and also maybe talk about ways to improve, our musical history and that sort of stuff!

I've been interested in playing music for a very long time, since I was around 5 or so. My mum bought be a cheap acoustic guitar that I took to pre-school and entertained the other kids there. I didn't know how to play at that time, so I think I must have just strummed the shit out of it and wailed like a banshee.  

When all of my mates were starting to pick up their guitars and stuff, I suddenly thought that maybe it would be interesting to do something different. I was a huuuuuge Oasis fan growing up and seeing the "Don't Look Back In Anger" video with Alan White playing his white Pearl set on a platform in the outdoor swimming pool, it just looked like the coolest thing in the world. I was convinced that I needed to get a drum kit, so I bought one from the local music shop for about £200. Can't remember how old I was exactly at this time, maybe 14? It was their own brand, really bottom of the line and was a basic 5 piece set that didn't even come with a crash, so I had to buy that separately. I've still got the kit, back in Wales. I taught myself how to play after downloading lots of videos featuring Dave Weckl and Jeff Porcaro (Toto). Both are still two of my favourite drummers to this day. Dave Weckl blew my mind and I still consider him one of the top all time drummers in the world, his co-ordination and use of rolls is great.

I took my kit with me to Brighton for my second year, but it moved back to Wales once that year was over. I've been kit-less since then...until a few months ago. As we live in a fairly residential area, I thought that an electronic drumset would be my best bet. I scoured the net for hours and hours trying to find the perfect one for me. I watched tons of YouTube reviews and came across a set that I absolutely loved. The Roland TD-30KV. Unfortunately, I got there too late as it was a discontinued line! But, they did have the next model up, the Roland TD-50K. So, I bought it and now I have a drum kit again after about...10 years plus of not having one. It's amazing how natural it feels to get back into it. I absolutely love this kit and it's pretty much one of the best kits on the planet. Love the hell out of it.

The kit currently lives in my garage, with all of the home gym stuff. We originally had it upstairs, but the problem was that the sound of the pedal hitting the bass drum made too much noise due to the vibrations going through the floorboards. So, by moving it downstairs, it's made things a lot easier. The only downside is that it gets very warm in there!

After I picked up my first drum kit (the one currently in Wales), I saw a free-ad in a newspaper about a cheap bass guitar. I figured "none of my friends can play bass, so I want to learn!" and bought it. It was being sold in Cwmbran, which is the next town over from Newport. Only cost £40. It's pretty bottom of the line, too. The brand is "Marlin" which is as much as the owner knew about it. He even chucked in a cheap bass amp to go with it for free. About a year ago, the guitar jack came loose and retreated into the bass guitar itself. So, I've done some "surgery" to retreat it to get it working. I've kept the actual cable in the jack since and leave it hung up that way, so that I haven't got to open that area up again to reclaim the jack.

I find it really fun to play, but I think the time is coming quite soon where I may need to replace it for something a bit newer as my go-to Bass! 

Next to it, I've got an acoustic guitar that actually belonged to someone else. They knew that I wanted to learn so they gifted me the guitar and I've had it ever since! 

I've taken that guitar with me everywhere. It came from Newport, then went with me to Brighton, then back to Newport and now in Bournemouth. Same with the Bass! 

About three or so years ago, I decided that I wanted to learn electric guitar and just woke up one Saturday and scoured the web for one that took my eye. I knew that I couldn't spend tooooo much money on it otherwise @Eenuh wouldn't be pleased. In the end, I settled on an Epiphone Les Paul, which only cost around £300 or something. 

It's a lovely guitar to play for the price range that it's in. I thought that it would give me a bit more range to play rather than just acoustic stuff all the time, plus I wanted to get into the habit of messing around with distortion pedals and all that, so I figured it would be worth it.

All three guitars have been wall mounted to save space:

They all live in the second bedroom that we have dubbed "the music room". It's about 50% music and 50% belonging to the cats, who come in here to sleep either on the sofa or on their cat bed.

Originally, the drum kit was in this room, but the sound caused an issue due to the vibrations going through the floorboards. So, as a result, it had to go in the gym. It's opened the room out though and has made it feel a bit less "full" in there. That kit takes up a fair bit of space.

The sofa bed came from Ikea and cost just under £200 IIRC. Really comfy and one of our cats (Aya) loves to sleep on it during the night (or the day time...laaaaaaazy). Ico (other cat) loves to sleep on that biiiig white pillow on the floor. All the other stuff in the photograph are two automatic cat feeders and a water tray (on the left) and some cat toys in the middle of the picture.

At my place of work, a friend was decluttering her place and decided that she no longer needed a keyboard. She asked me if I wanted it for free, to which I just said, "...uh, sure." I had no real desire to learn that instrument since it never appeared to me. But, it's there now, so I'm going to learn!

It's a bottom of the line Yamaha PSR-73.I started learning how to play in our old flat and quite enjoyed it. But, it wasn't really comfortable due to having to play it on the dining room table and without a proper seat. So, I bought a proper stand and seat for it and that seems to be working out better. At some point, I'll get serious about it and will put the hours in, but it's just finding the time really.

I've also got some effects pedals for the guitars:

The big one at the bottom is a Boss ME-50B bass effects pedal. Has synth, tone, delay functions and I really enjoy it. I use the delay functions a fair bit.

The second biggest one is a Morley Wah Pedal. 

Orange one is a Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal.

Red is a Boss Loop Station. 

The ME-50B and the Morley were bought off one of my friend's ex-boyfriends, just before they broke up. He no longer needed it, so I bought it off him. I really like the ME, although I haven't used the Morley as much yet.

The DS-1 is great. Not sure Ine is a particularly big fan of it, though. Think she prefers cleaner sounds. The Loop Station is really fun but getting the timings 100% right takes a fair bit of practice. 

With work, it can be hard to find the time to just chill out and play. I'm hoping that this year I'll be able to do more of that. I guess it's all about managing your time to fit it all in! 

 

Excellent! All looks very swish. Nice and expensive.

 

What's the name of your road again?

[Fierce_LiNk]

1 hour ago, Happenstance said:

I bought a guitar at the start of the year along with a copy of Rocksmith on PC. The idea was more that I just felt like learning something new and playing guitar always seemed like fun. The original plan was to play the game for an hour daily to try and learn. I managed about a week and then other stuff got in the way and I never went back to it. I need to make a real effort to try and get back to it.

My guitar was just a cheapy one from Amazon.

I was tempted to get that Rocksmith stuff before, but I didn't get around to it. I've mostly survived by looking at guitar tabs online at Ultimate Guitar or by using some of the scales and chord books that I've had. If I've ever struggled with something, there's a million YouTube videos out there to help out. It really is the best time to start learning this stuff as information is everywhere now!

An hour a day is quite a long time, imo. It almost makes it seem quite daunting. I had the same problem with learning Dutch when I said that I'd do an hour a day after work. It's much more manageable to do something like 5-10 minutes, and then there will be certain days when you get into it and it goes on for longer than that. It probably works out as about 25-30 minutes a day.

17 minutes ago, bob said:

Excellent! All looks very swish. Nice and expensive.

 

What's the name of your road again?

101 Fake Street,
Fauxville,
Phoneytown
PR3 73ND

I've left the door unlocked and the kettle on. 

[Goafer]

I've been playing bass on and off for about 15 years now, but I never really took it seriously.

My first bass was a Squier P-Bass:

 

A friend and I started playing together quite regularly, so I upgraded to an Ibanez SR500L, which was the best left handed Ibanez I could find without going for a signature model. I do love this guitar. It's so much easier to use than the Squier, which now just stays tuned in drop D in case I can't be arsed to retune the Ibanez.

 

I then decided to try a "normal" guitar, so picked up an Epiphone SG. I love the look of this thing, but I just don't get on with guitar, so it rarely gets payed.

 

I also inherited a load of harmonicas from my Grandad, but I've yet to learn to play them. My grandad was pretty good from what I can tell, as there are a few certificates documenting his wins at the National Harmonica League (which is the best thing ever). I think he also travelled to America to play/compete. Here's a few of the nicer ones, but there are loads more in various states of assembly. I think the others were either being rebuilt or used for spares.

Edited August 7, 2018 by Goafer

[Happenstance]

12 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

I was tempted to get that Rocksmith stuff before, but I didn't get around to it. I've mostly survived by looking at guitar tabs online at Ultimate Guitar or by using some of the scales and chord books that I've had. If I've ever struggled with something, there's a million YouTube videos out there to help out. It really is the best time to start learning this stuff as information is everywhere now!

An hour a day is quite a long time, imo. It almost makes it seem quite daunting. I had the same problem with learning Dutch when I said that I'd do an hour a day after work. It's much more manageable to do something like 5-10 minutes, and then there will be certain days when you get into it and it goes on for longer than that. It probably works out as about 25-30 minutes a day.

Rocksmith seems like really good software so I would recommend trying it, especially as you can usually get it really cheap. The Steam version cost me £7.99 at then I ordered the required cable from Amazon.

You are probably right that an hour was too much to try and do daily. I expect that's probably one of the reasons I never went back

Maybe I'll give it a try again once the weather cools down a bit and just go for shorter sessions.

[Fierce_LiNk]

54 minutes ago, Goafer said:

I've been playing bass on and off for about 15 years now, but I never really took it seriously.

My first bass was a Squier P-Bass:

 

A friend and I started playing together quite regularly, so I upgraded to an Ibanez SR500L, which was the best left handed Ibanez I could find without going for a signature model. I do love this guitar. It's so much easier to use than the Squier, which now just stays tuned in drop D in case I can't be arsed to retune the Ibanez.

 

I then decided to try a "normal" guitar, so picked up an Epiphone SG. I love the look of this thing, but I just don't get on with guitar, so it rarely gets payed.

 

I also inherited a load of harmonicas from my Grandad, but I've yet to learn to play them. My grandad was pretty good from what I can tell, as there are a few certificates documenting his wins at the National Harmonica League (which is the best thing ever). I think he also travelled to America to play/compete. Here's a few of the nicer ones, but there are loads more in various states of assembly. I think the others were either being rebuilt or used for spares.

That Ibanez looks loooooooovely. Beautiful looking bass.

Probably isn't the right time to look for a new bass just yet (moooooney), but I've never dabbled into the Ibanez range, so may look into what's out there. My current bass guitar is definitely reaching the end of its life and is falling apart. Plus, the sound that you get from it is alright, but just not satisfying enough. 

Quite like the finish on the SG. Why are guitars so sexy?

41 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

Rocksmith seems like really good software so I would recommend trying it, especially as you can usually get it really cheap. The Steam version cost me £7.99 at then I ordered the required cable from Amazon.

You are probably right that an hour was too much to try and do daily. I expect that's probably one of the reasons I never went back

Maybe I'll give it a try again once the weather cools down a bit and just go for shorter sessions.

Man, it's too fucking hot to do anything. I had plans that I'd spend loads of time doing stuff this year, but this Summer has been too hot. That garage can be like a furnace in there, even with the fan on. Also, due to the position of the house, we get tooooons of sun in that second bedroom/music room. So, if you sit on that sofa even for a minute, it gets too hot. We've got a blind ready to be installed, so hope that'll help in the future.

[Happenstance]

1 minute ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Man, it's too fucking hot to do anything. I had plans that I'd spend loads of time doing stuff this year, but this Summer has been too hot. That garage can be like a furnace in there, even with the fan on. Also, due to the position of the house, we get tooooons of sun in that second bedroom/music room. So, if you sit on that sofa even for a minute, it gets too hot. We've got a blind ready to be installed, so hope that'll help in the future.

I've already had 3 weeks off so far this summer holiday and barely feel like I did anything with them due to the heat. I maybe got a bit of 3D printing projects worked on but that is not a device to use if you want to keep a house cool!

I think next summer I may just schedule my days off for the end of August instead. At least when I'm working in my office at the school there is air conditioning!

[Goafer]

16 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

That Ibanez looks loooooooovely. Beautiful looking bass.

Probably isn't the right time to look for a new bass just yet (moooooney), but I've never dabbled into the Ibanez range, so may look into what's out there. My current bass guitar is definitely reaching the end of its life and is falling apart. Plus, the sound that you get from it is alright, but just not satisfying enough. 

Quite like the finish on the SG. Why are guitars so sexy?

Man, it's too fucking hot to do anything. I had plans that I'd spend loads of time doing stuff this year, but this Summer has been too hot. That garage can be like a furnace in there, even with the fan on. Also, due to the position of the house, we get tooooons of sun in that second bedroom/music room. So, if you sit on that sofa even for a minute, it gets too hot. We've got a blind ready to be installed, so hope that'll help in the future.

I'm no expert in guitars, but from what I've read and my own experience with the Ibanez, they're good for faster playing, due to the thinner neck. To me it allmost feels like a halfway point between a bass and an electric guitar. Everything just feels lighter than my Squier, but it could just be that the Squier is a particularly chunky design.

Either way, Ibanez basses get my complete recommendation.

[Happenstance]

I was talking to @Goafer over the weekend actually about instruments and how I would still love to get a drum kit. It's just finding somewhere to attempt to play/learn and not drive everyone nuts!

[Fierce_LiNk]

21 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

I've already had 3 weeks off so far this summer holiday and barely feel like I did anything with them due to the heat. I maybe got a bit of 3D printing projects worked on but that is not a device to use if you want to keep a house cool!

I think next summer I may just schedule my days off for the end of August instead. At least when I'm working in my office at the school there is air conditioning!

I may seriously look at an air conditioning unit or a better fan than the one that we have. It could just be a one-off free occurrence for this Summer and hopefully it should cool down soon. 

I've figured out that around 6/7 o'clock is the best time to play because there's less sunlight/heat pounding on the house, so it's more bearable then.  

5 minutes ago, Goafer said:

I'm no expert in guitars, but from what I've read and my own experience with the Ibanez, they're good for faster playing, due to the thinner neck. To me it allmost feels like a halfway point between a bass and an electric guitar. Everything just feels lighter than my Squier, but it could just be that the Squier is a particularly chunky design.

Either way, Ibanez basses get my complete recommendation.

My current bass feels quite chunky and is slightly more heavier than I'd like, so I would be looking to get something lighter in the future. Cheers for the heads up.  

We've got Absolute Music right about 2 minutes away from us, so I'm just going to go in when the time is right and feeeeel all of the guitars. I love it in there. That's where I went to go and test the E-drums and was sold on the TD-50K. The collection of guitars, keyboards and drums that they have there is impressive. 

[Fierce_LiNk]

1 hour ago, Happenstance said:

I was talking to @Goafer over the weekend actually about instruments and how I would still love to get a drum kit. It's just finding somewhere to attempt to play/learn and not drive everyone nuts!

Oh man, I love guitars, especially all of the pedals that you can get and the different combinations and configurations that you can have with them. I love the feel of the strings on your fingers and when you can pull off lovely, clean sounding melodies. Buuuut, all of that pales in comparison to what I feel about drums. It's the one instrument that I'm convinced that everyone can play, in some form or another. 

The great thing about drums is that you can take a basic kit to start with and then build right around out and keep expanding on it until it becomes its own entity and beautiful thing in its own right. You can always buy more cymbals, change the layout of your drums, get double bass pedals, add additional rack or floor toms, etc. It's so customisable. 

The downside is, of course, sound. And space. Unfortunately, they take up so much room, especially if you do buy additional cymbals and toms. You can muffle your kits, or you can put practice pads over the top of it to dampen the sound. We have a kit in school that has pads on it to heavily reduce the sound. When you want to let rip, you just take the pads off. So, it can be done. 

If you had it somewhere downstairs, or in a garage or a room which you can soundproof, then you will be onto a winner! 

The other option is to go down the electronic drums route. The kit that I have is fantastic and I love it to bits. But, E-Drums are expensive and you will have to pay big money for a decent kit. Anything under a grand will be trash and either will have poor sound or build quality, or it just won't be as responsive as you'd need it to be. Whereas a normal/acoustic set can be bought for muuuuuch cheaper. The major plus-side is the noise though. I have a pair of headphones plugged into my module and the neighbours can't hear shit. The ONLY issue we had was the sound of the stick hitting the pads (which is always going to cause noise, even if it is minimal - and it'll still never be as noisy as hitting an additional drum head. Don't think the neighbours could hear anything, but you will obviously be hitting the pad fairly often, so it will create some noise, even if it's only a tiny amount) and the vibrations going through the floor. You can work-around that by putting carpet down or having some kind of platform to absorb the noise. So, there are solutions. 

I've used both E-Drums and acoustic kits and I love both. The difference between them is like the difference between an electric and acoustic guitar. The feel is different, the resulting sounds are different, but you can use the same techniques and "rules" for both and can transfer your skills between either instrument. For different reasons. In terms of practicality, I have to go down the electronic drums route due to things such as neighbours/it being a fairly residential area. I'd recommend getting down to a music store and trying out a kit yourself, both acoustic/normal drums and electronic. Even if it's just to have a play around and you don't end up buying anything, it's worth just having a little go and seeing what it's like for yourself. 

Drums themselves are great fun, though. In a way, you can practice whenever and wherever you like. I've actually got a pair of sticks and a practice pad on my desk that I use from time to time before the pupils come in. You can also tap on you legs and knees (a habit that ALL drummers do and can't get out of...it drives @Eenuh crazy and use to annoy all of my school mates) if an idea comes to mind. I fucking love them and will always recommend them to people. 

[Goafer]

I too would love to learn to play the drums.

 

N-E Blue Man Group confirmed.

[ArtMediocre]

@Goafer That is one slick looking Ibanez :D. You're right about Ibanez guitars being thinner and more for the speedy players, and they feel really nice to play too. 

Cool thread @Fierce_LiNk, it's nice to have a thread to share images of gear and talk some instruments :D.

I'm a guitar player myself, and have been playing for fun for the last 17 years or so. I'm not really as skilled as the years would have me, but I really enjoy my time when I can sit and zone out for an hour or two just playing some random tunes to music I listen to.

I've also recorded some acoustic Zelda tunes under the name Alak about 10 years ago, and I think they got quite popular online.

As for instruments, I'll only share a few :P. I started, like a lot of others, thinking I'm gonna be a rock star, but I went a bit further. I went full metal with this ugly 7 string B.C.Rich Warlock. Jesus, what was I thinking..

After playing that monstrosity for a couple of years I needed something with more quality. I ended up getting a Gibson Les Paul Voodoo, which despite it's looks does a freakin' great job at every genere. It looks really nice as well, and has a iconic skull on it's 5th fret.

This was my main electric guitar for 10 years until I walked past this lovely Squire Vintage Baritone Jazzmaster. I fell in love with the looks, and bought it on the spot.

After trying hard to play that Squier for about one and a half years, i finally decided Baritone was not for me, and decided to sell it. In the end, I managed to trade it for another Jazzmaster, this time a custom built Warmoth (they sell parts you put together to make your dream guitar). I have to say, the warm burst and color of this gutar is just pure art. And it plays fantastically too.

I'll post a picture of my most used guitar tomorrow though, and also the one that has the best looks. It's an acoustic guitar that plays wonderfully, and looks even better (in my eyes).

Again, wonderful thread! Looking forward to seeing some more awesome gear

[ArtMediocre]

Here's my acoustic love, the Ovation Custom. It plays like a dream, and I really, really love the look of these guitars.

Just look at the leaves/grapes! So pretty! And mother of pearl inlay all along the edge of the guitar.

And lastly, here is a link to Zeldauniverse, who still hosts all my songs . Give them a listen if you have the time. I kinda wanna start recording some new Zelda tunes now, but I'm not sure if I have the patience or not.

[Fierce_LiNk]

@ArtMediocre, awesome post. Thanks for that!

That Squire Jazzmaster just looks fantastic. I googled the prices for all of the guitars that you have mentioned and immediately thought "looooool, there's no way @Eenuh would let me get these anytime soon!" Have to get the wedding out of the way first! 

I'm quite in love with that Voodoo for some reason.  I'm sure that it sounds fantastic, too.

Guitar and drum porn really is the best!  

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've had two weeks away from my music stuff and I've really missed it! Played drums for about two hours yesterday and one hour today. Loved every second of it! For some reason, I was browsing YouTube and came across an isolated drum only video of "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder. I now appreciate that song waaaay more than I already did beforehand, and it turns out that Stevie himself plays the drums on that tune. Couldn't believe it. It doesn't seem to follow a set pattern, more like a feeling...if that makes sense. There's a lot of funky hi-hat work going on. So, I sat on the kit yesterday and have tried to do the song justice.

Here's the video of the drum only track below:

God bless you, Stevie! Truly one of a kind. 

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've been working harder lately on improving my bass drum technique and have started to learn the "slide technique" for the first time. It's a tricky concept to lay down, but the gist of it is that you play two strokes on the bass drum after the other. You "tap" the pedal with your toes by pivoting the ankle and then you immediately follow it up with a full stomp with the whole leg. It's called the slide technique as you effectively slide up the pedal to get that second hit. It's hard at first, but I can do it a lot better now, but not as effectively as I'd like. 

I'm trying to do it for both feet and tried a bit more today with my weaker leg, my right leg. Managed to do something that resembled this for the first time. Haaaaaaaard.

[ArtMediocre]

Made a quick recording of Tarrey Town from Breath of the Wild tonight to test out how my guitars sound through my Yamaha THR10 amp and directly into my PC. It worked out pretty nice. It's not a complete song by any means, but still gives a good impression of the tone of each guitar. The Gibson Les Paul Voodoo is the background guitar that play the chords, while I use the Warmoth Jazzmaster for the main melody. The acoustic Ovation does the rest  Hope you like it, and as I said earlied, this is not final . Took me like 40-50 minutes of playing around. 

 

[Fierce_LiNk]

For some reason, I've decided to start teaching @Eenuh how to play the guitar. She's actually doing pretty well at it and has learned quite a few chords already. We started off with our first "lesson" about 2 weeks ago or something and I thought that she would get bored of it quite quickly. But, she's sticking with it and is doing really well. It's also not a bad time to learn as there are a billion YouTube tutorials out there and explanations and stuff, so it should keep her ticking along nicely. Quite impressed.  

 

 

[Pestneb]

well I downloaded rocksmith to see what it was like, waiting for the cable to arrive at the weekend hopefully. I've played along in disconnected mode for a while, just trying to get used to translating the on screen prompts. I read up a bit on it, and I think I may have gotten on better with the original design, I find the colour coding unintuitive, and the way the strings come down vertically throws me a lot, I'm far more used to reading horizontally and I find myself rotating the instructions 90 degrees a bit too often, so I have to sit back and get back to reading vertically (and correctly!) it's a bit weird. I think when the cable arrives it will help me make the link, getting feedback and the game being able to adjust the difficulty for me, being able to replay sections etc. despite not really liking the game too much in disconnected mode, I see promise and I'm impatient to get the cable in.

As for my gear.. I guess I should take photo's at some point, but my gear isn't so great. Got a couple of cheap electrics (I think under £200 for both of them, new!) a western acoustic and a classical. the western acoustic is the best guitar I have, though it hasn't had too much attention over the last few years.

For practice, my main issue is I haven't had external feedback, so I never know if what I am doing is right or good at all, and for different tunings I was just too lazy, it felt too much of a hassle getting my tuner, tuning all the strings, then playing a tab I found and just 100% hating the interpretation plus tab is generally just 100% the song you're trying to play, with this, sure I miss a lot of notes in the genuine song, but I can hear (when I am reading properly and hitting the notes) that yes, I am playing along to the tune. I'm also interested in the guitarcade and lessons, it's something I always found tough, working on technique and theory.

anyway, thanks for those who mentioned it!

[Dufniall]

Wait, there is a musicians topic? I would like to weigh in.

I've played classical music for a long time in an orchestra, I played trumpet first and switched to french horn later. I stopped playing however when I moved cities for university. That's when I started with bass guitar. I picked up a Stagg B300 and a 15watt combo amp. 

A friend of mine asked if I wanted to play in his band, a death metal/thrash metal band which had been going for quite some years but needed a bass player. Being in a band is the reason why I really wanted a bass guitar so naturally I said yes. In the first 2 rehearsals I noticed that 1) This was some technical stuff so I really had to get my game up and 2) a four string was not working in the dropped tuning they were playing! So I got me this lovely thing:

A Dean Edge Q5 TAB. I remember seeing it on a website of a guitar shop. It was orange. I called if they still had it.

"Yeah, it's the orange Dean 5-string"

"Orange? I only have a greenish purplish one."

"Ehm, well, I'll come and have a look"

So it was green, but played great so I got that one. With this one I at least could get on in the metal band. I've played with them a couple of years and we released an album. Recording songs was very confronting as I had to play all those bass parts without a band covering up any mistakes or sloppy bits. Great experience though. In the end we played one gig, which was our album release/goodbye show.  

After that I joined another band that was just starting up, a doom metal band. With that we have played various shows, released an EP and an album. Unfortunately we broke up (the album appeared post-mortem), as I really loved what we had going but the motivation just wasn't there anymore with some of the members.

I also started playing with some university friends in a rock cover band, and that lead to me buying this one:

I wanted a bass that just looks rock and roll, and although some people dislike the balance (it has a bit of a neck dive) I really love to play it. I also upgraded my 15watt combo to a Fender Rumble 100 watt (can be seen in the first picture). Very lightweight but enough power for at home or in the rehearsal room or a small café or something. I also have a pedal board going although I don't really use it a lot.

The Limiter/Enhancer and Overdrive I have used with the metal bands, but the rest is mostly for show haha. The tuner is useful though. The other 2 are a ZVEX Woolly Mammoth clone built by a friend, and an Ibanez DE7 echo/delay. I also have a Digitech Bass Synth Wah for the freaky noises. But like I said I don't use them, other then just making weird noises at home.

Two weeks ago I've traded my first bass (the Stagg) for a guitar as I wasn't playing it anymore. So I put up an ad if someone wanted to trade and I got a Washburn N1 as a return:

I also have Rocksmith with the cable so I'm toying with that in combination with the electric guitar. It's fun to try but yeah it is hard if you want to play other stuff than chords haha. 

Great reading up on all your stories, gears and experiences by the way! I'm not very techy when it comes to instruments but I'm trying to learn a bit more about the technology, different elements, choices of wood etc.

Edited October 31, 2018 by Vileplume2000

[Goafer]

Sweet Christ I love Thunderbird basses. I think they might be my favourite in terms of looks, although I do find myself looking at my Ibanez quite often and thinking "Dayum".

[Fierce_LiNk]

@Vileplume2000, I'm actually on the lookout for a new bass guitar and that Thunderbird IV has been taking my eye. I've actually always been drawn to the look of them. What is it actually like to use? My current bass was bought for little to no money and is of really low quality, so this is automatically going to be a step up. Is it good value for money? Instruments can become really expensive and I'm just wondering if there are any other alternatives out there for a similar budget? Haven't got the money to spend a grand on a guitar! 

[Dufniall]

@Fierce_LiNk I personally really enjoy playing it. I have to say I'm not into guitar tech. I never played a bass more expensive than say €500, and I haven't played a lot of different basses. But for the price (I think I've payed around €300-350 for the Thunderbird) it is amazing. I went out to try it because of the looks, but it plays great as well. It is a bit top-heavy but that doesn't bother me. It has a decent set of elements in it for as far as I can judge, and the build quality is good. And it looks so damn rock 'n roll.  

The shop owner also said it is good value for money and I can only agree. If I compare it with the Dean 5-string I have, that has a warmer, more full sound. But the Epiphone plays smoother, faster so I prefer that one. I think it's a safe bet as it is a bass that quite a lot of people use, it's recognizable and Epiphone is quite good in their price range. I don't really know other guitars in that price range which I would recommend as I don't have the experience. There are some Squier Jazz Bass or Precision Bass going in that price range if you want another popular model. But I love my Thunderbird!

Oh by the way the one I have is the Thunderbird IV VSB with the bolted on neck and passive elements. You also have the more luxurious Thunderbird Pro, which has a neck-through and I think active elements. If you want just a bit more.