My musical IQ

[rugerpc]

Everyone has to start somewhere - and there is already a thread for that.

I want to know where you are now. Tell us what you are working on.

Learning new cords way up the neck? Refining your solo chops? Finally memorizing the entire fretboard? Working on new songs? Writing new songs? Maybe your are just happy just to be out of position one for a change...

What is it that you are struggling on musically?

EDIT: you can select more than one choice above

 

[swede71]

I have lost my musical IQ im afraid.Playing is more fun than ever.

 

[rugerpc]

I'd be better off if I could forget the bad habits I have learned.....

 

[prsrocker1988]

My niche is the reproduction of classic music in a live setting and getting it exact note for note and also getting the tones and sounds exact as well. Songwriting is not a strong point for me, and neither is improvisation. My thing I do best and also enjoy most is exact covers. I love playing the music I love and doing great justice to the classic pieces of music I cover. I'm a cover band/tribute band guy all the way.

I'm also anti-technical to some degree. I don't really enjoy "shredding" nor do I enjoy a schooled approach or a really intense theory based way of playing. I'm completely selftaught and I prefer that to lessons or a schooled player. I'm more into the old school blues and playing by feeling and by ear rather than reading music or "by the book", so to speak. My heroes were that way. I prefer a more raw, loose Jimmy Page type of playing to a real technical approach. It's just my preference and there are lots of avenues a player can go and for me cover music and learning stuff by ear and when I do improvise occasionally in a jam situation, playing with emotion and by feeliing is what I do. Chuck Berry and BB King type bluesy blues box stuff with blues scales and minor pentatonic. I just prefer that blues based rock n' roll way of playing as that is the music I like - old classic rock and blues records and players. I do think the combination of a bluesier by feel player and a technician works great in a band and lots of classic bands had that combo. Of course I always prefer the bluesier loose by feeling guy even if it's somewhat sloppy. Joe Perry is a perfect example, I prefer his style to Brad Whitford's more schooled style. Both are killer players and both are great ways of playing, I just have my preferences like everyone else.

The thing I work on most these days is perfecting my vibrato, learning more about the classic stuff I love, and learning songs to play live and rehearsing them with the band. Also working on improv and just improvising by feeling and not too "scaly".

 

[rugerpc]

Thanks, prsrocker. That is the kind of stuff I'm looking to read about.

At the moment, I'm working on joining positions horizontally for melodic solos instead of playing in just one or 2 vertical positions. And I know what you mean about things sounding "scaly". That is a challenge I'm facing too. I have to get more comfortable making larger leaps in conjunction with this or that run...

What about the rest of you? We are all working on something, aren't we?

 

[docbennett]

I like to choose a classic lead solo, and then break it apart and learn it note by note. It took me a few months 2 years ago to nail down Eddie's "beat-it" and I still wish it sounded more natural and less forced when I play it.

I'm currently taking Martin Barre's lead solo from "Aqualung" and trying to learn it....got the first half down, but when he gets faster I lose the individual notes...may have to find the tabbed version and learn it that way...which I hate. I am not a very good visual learner, and prefer to figure it out by copying it off the record/CD/MP3. I recently bought the Tagscam device which allows you to record tunes and then play them back in loops at reduced speed...this helps as well when I can't figure out the specific notes.

 

[swede71]

Hey Doc,did you know Windows media player has that function.If you rightclick the playbutton you can choose from normal,slow or fast speed.

 

[docbennett]

Thanks...I hardly ever use it, but now that you mentioned it, I will check it out.

 

[rugerpc]

I like to choose a classic lead solo, and then break it apart and learn it note by note. It took me a few months 2 years ago to nail down Eddie's "beat-it" and I still wish it sounded more natural and less forced when I play it.

I'm currently taking Martin Barre's lead solo from "Aqualung" and trying to learn it....got the first half down, but when he gets faster I lose the individual notes...may have to find the tabbed version and learn it that way...which I hate. I am not a very good visual learner, and prefer to figure it out by copying it off the record/CD/MP3. I recently bought the Tagscam device which allows you to record tunes and then play them back in loops at reduced speed...this helps as well when I can't figure out the specific notes.

OI! I was thinking I should suggest the Tascam as I read the first part of your response, then.... . . .Cool!

I used the Tascam to learn David Gilmour's solo on "Take a Breath" - the live version from the Royal Albert Hall show. The Tascam was a very good choice for that one.

Hey Doc,did you know Windows media player has that function.If you rightclick the playbutton you can choose from normal,slow or fast speed.

I haven't looked very hard yet, but doe iTunes do this as well? If so, where is the control hidden?

 

[DavidWann]

Audacity is a free editor/recording software that you can take a song and slow the tempo down to however slow you want and not change the pitch. I've had good luck with it. audacity.sourceforge.net/

 

[rugerpc]

Audacity is a free editor/recording software that you can take a song and slow the tempo down to however slow you want and not change the pitch. I've had good luck with it. audacity.sourceforge.net/

Just got it downloaded - Holy Crap! I've been looking for a good WYSIWYG sound editor that didn't require a musical engineering degree since System 7 on the Mac.

THIS is going to be VERY useful - thanks David!

 

[docbennett]

Isn't the forum great? I had never even know how to record analog to digital...and through the BaM/VR forums I learned how to download Audacity and copy tunes from my record collection to computer to my heart's content. So great. And the people on these forums are the best!

Edit....re. PM received....no, correct forum...I was just commenting on the Audacity post above, and the concept of using technology and forum recommendations to improve our skills and associated musical IQ.

 

[CantankerousCarl]

I played all through high school and college, mostly original bands, wrote alot...some acoustic/electric trio stuff toward the end...then I was the evil SOB who broke up the band when we graduated to get "real" jobs.

I put it down, sold everything (hope that 1992 CST24 dot burst and Boogie found good homes) and closed the door on that chapter.

15 years later, I picked it up again, started over, got GAS, and a bunch of great guitars, and now I am taking lessons again (yikes) and trying to figure out how the heck to mixdown on my BR-800. The last multitrack I used had VU meters.

I am happy to be able to write my own songs again, it's nice to once again have something to say. And I am fortunate enough at work to be surrounded by many like-minded musical folks who are staring to get together and play.

Not a bad place to be

 

[Guitargonish]

I got my first guitar in 1970, aged 9, Sears Silvertone.
I earned a degree in Composition from the University of North Texas in 1987. Jack Petersen was the guitar instructor then; I am very lucky. I went back and got my Masters in Jazz Studies in 2004.
I can read and write. I now teach at the university level, and I insist that my students learn to read too.
The most fun thng I do at my job is teach guitarists to read and play difficult music. See this YouTube link for an example:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-FyTnZsnHOU

 

[Albrecht Smuten]

It is hard with me... I finished seven years of piano school without managing to learn notes (having pretty good hearing). Now when I record stuff for my band, I use Excel tables to write down the bass line and it works fine (nothing fancy).
Generally my composition skills are higher than my playing (still... nothing fancy).