What are your inspirations for music?

[PRSfanboy46]

Hey y'all, I'm asking around about what your musical tastes are like and what something you have read or played or learned or listened to or owned that helped you musically. Personally, it's books and pedals that have got me going. The two books that have really inspired me is Zen guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo and The Music lesson by victor wooten. The music lesson REALLY messed with me, but in a good way. I've never heard about interpreting music that way, and it's just such a good read. Zen guitar has very short chapters but what he does is takes zen and applies it to guitar playing. Both those books I highly recommend if you want a new view on music.

My next weird inspiring musical thing would be guitar pedals! All my pedals have different reasons to why I bought them. The most obvious would be tonal qualities but I bought them because of the musicians I listen to. I will go through my chain and explain why.

Boss RC 1 looper: I got one because of Rob Scallon and Mac Demarco. Just building a progression and making something is very helpful and gets my creative juices going.

Donner tremolo pedal: I bought this for a weird reason actually. I wanted to use this as a substitute for a kill switch. At the time, I recently heard Know your enemy by RATM, and I looked into how he got that effect. I found he used a kill switch, which is iconic to him. I knew that tremolo's were essentially kill switches in a sense, since it is a fluctuation of volume. And when set fast enough, the signal will cut out.

MXR Phase 90: Three words: Eddie. Van. Halen.

Donner tutti chorus: As I mentioned earlier, I love Mac Demarco's music. He has a lot of variety in his music, from synths to guitars, his sound is generally very "warbly". A song like "Freaking out the neighborhood" has a lot of chorus in it and just sounds very surfy. I also got a chorus because I love Metallica and all the clean metallica chorus cleans.

Donner yellow fall delay: This was my first guitar pedal, so I had ZERO clue to what it did. I thought I was buying a chorus pedal, but turns out it wasn't. I used it for a year and it was good, but recently, during the summer, I decided I wanted to learn Big sur moon by Buckethead and Rain by Rob Scallon. Both those songs require delay, and it's just REALLY fun to work with delay, because it sounds like you're playing something really complex but essentially you can set it to give you layers while you play. Very good pedal and I still have it.

Boss MD2 distortion: I was looking for a good distortion after I decided I didn't like the DS1 distortion. Played it in guitar center and my dad got it for me 40 or 50 bucks used. 90 retail and it gives me my chug and my good distortion, not the dad rock distortion.

Dunlop crybaby wah: two words: Jimi. Hendrix.

TC Electronic Dark matter distortion: It's really good for dad rock and 70's doom metal and just distortion, without the extra gain, and is just really good for like Led Zeppelin and Cream and classic rock.

List down below what you have that inspires you! Books, pedals, amps, gear, artists, songs.

 

[Draconomics]

Well, the the two groups that probably influenced me most in terms of songwriting would be Yes and Rush. I discovered both around my early 20s, and because of them I got into prog. I really dug the more nerdy/science fiction/spritual aspect of the lyrical content and the elaborate music arrangements. From there I got into various philosophy texts and tomes. Stuff like Lao Tzu, Confucius, Krishnamurti, or Rumi. Close to the Edge by Yes is one of those special peices that was all those things, and showed how rock music can reach levels of beauty that I thought was only possible in classical peices.

As far as gear, well I have to talk about PRS. Those are guitars that when I play an sometimes I don't feel them there, I dont have to think so much about what I'm doing and I can just play what I'm feeling without inhibition. To me, that's a mark of a good guitar, and instruments like that can inspire one to learn more and go further.

 

[PRSfanboy46]

Well, the the two groups that probably influenced me most in terms of songwriting would be Yes and Rush. I discovered both around my early 20s, and because of them I got into prog. I really dug the more nerdy/science fiction/spritual aspect of the lyrical content and the elaborate music arrangements. From there I got into various philosophy texts and tomes. Stuff like Lao Tzu, Confucius, Krishnamurti, or Rumi. Close to the Edge by Yes is one of those special peices that was all those things, and showed how rock music can reach levels of beauty that I thought was only possible in classical peices.

As far as gear, well I have to talk about PRS. Those are guitars that when I play an sometimes I don't feel them there, I dont have to think so much about what I'm doing and I can just play what I'm feeling without inhibition. To me, that's a mark of a good guitar, and instruments like that can inspire one to learn more and go further.

My SE Custom 24 offers a lot to me. For 829, it's a very good guitar. I've had to send it to the factory twice, first time was because I wanted some cracking on the binding buffed out and they did an amazing job. Second go around was that it got damaged in transit (most likely) and it got chipped on the bottom of the body next to the bottom strap button on the right of it. It took them a month or so but they did an absolutely amazing job and it looks like nothing ever happened. The only thing that I don't enjoy about it is the tuning stability, it's good with the SE locking tuners I have on them, but it's the nut that needs replacing and lubing.

 

[Draconomics]

The only thing that I don't enjoy about it is the tuning stability, it's good with the SE locking tuners I have on them, but it's the nut that needs replacing and lubing.

Well, if you know me you'll know I do not like the SE nut material. It's a bit costly, but if you get a bone nut you should have much better tuning stability. I put one on my SE Pauls Guitar and no binding issues since. Otherwise, the SE Custom 24 is a fantastic guitar! Well worth the price, and then some.

 

[CandidPicker]

Several things are my inspiration, but one or two of them may seem unusual to most folks.

1) New gear. Like a kid in a candy store, there is nothing quite like receiving a new toy to play with. Doesn't matter if one has scrimped and saved for this toy, or whether it was received as a gift. The novelty of a new toy sets my mind about putting the new toy through its paces, to feel the item in my hands, to hear the toy in my ears, or under my feet. While a new toy always is inspiring emotionally for its novelty, sometimes the novelty wears off somewhat abruptly after a time of use. The way I counteract that feeling is not buying new gear on a whim, or just because someone new has caught my eye. One can learn to be content with one already owns, because happiness is not measured by what one owns.

2) Sometimes my creative juices dry up. For this, a secret I've learned is to recharge my creative batteries by taking a long walk and take in the sights, breathe some fresh air, feel the cool breeze, walk on a pathway in the forest, under scattered light, by gurgling brooks, smelling the pine trees. An alternative is to visit an art gallery, or a museum. The purpose of all this is to allow your eyes and ears to take in sights and sounds that naturally refresh the senses. After several hours of communion with nature or art, my creative juices are ready to settle into creating music.

3) Much like a student finds inspiration in discovery, I like researching things that interest me, like new recipes, building useful items for the home, more efficient gardening techniques and methodology. Things that allow me to use any hands in a constructive manner. Almost a form of occupational therapy, if you will, for not spending too much time thinking or overthinking things.

4) Something I've learned is, never overdo something. Your doctor knows this; you tell him this or that hurts because you overdid it the other day. Simple answer, don't overdo it and you won't hurt as much. The inspiration may be reaching a certain goal, whether it may be exercise, building something you cherish, or finishing your work for the day and knowing your bills have already been paid. Of course, there will be the next billing cycle, but you neither worry about that nor stress about not being able to pay your bills because you didn't overdo it with the credit card these past few weeks. You went for that long walk on a sunny afternoon to recharge your creative juices, instead of buying a new toy which might cause tensions because you'll need to pay for that item as well.

5) Socializing with friends. One inspirational thing I used to do before an open-mic jam was chat up the attending clientele. Not only did this improve my mood before stepping up on stage, it gave me a chance to read the feelings of the people in the room so my turn on stage would not be like be going in cold. A chance to warm up to the audience, rather than trying to "cook on a cold stove." Granted, the purpose is to use the correct tools and techniques so as to never "burn" an audience or make them feel "put out." Literally, a warm welcome goes a long way towards a good gig than a bad one. And chatting with the audience before, during break, and after the gig helps a guitarist assess what the audience is like before, during and after the gig.

6) Since most of our open-mics have been put on hiatus during Covid, my alternate way of socializing is chatting with friends for a time on Zoom meetings. Each day, we're invited to meet up with our local friends and socialize for a while until we begin our day's work. There may be alternate ways of meeting such as FB meetings, daily exercise gatherings, or what else. The key to good emotional and psychological health is having a network of friends you can chat with regularly. I'd say that this forum serves that purpose in a sense, but seeing people's faces and reactions on Zoom or in person is one advantage that has.

 

[PRSfanboy46]

Well, if you know me you'll know I do not like the SE nut material. It's a bit costly, but if you get a bone nut you should have much better tuning stability. I put one on my SE Pauls Guitar and no binding issues since. Otherwise, the SE Custom 24 is a fantastic guitar! Well worth the price, and then some.

Bay Tunes in Edgewater Maryland (the people I bought it from and who sent it to the factory) told me it would about 125, but at that point I would send it to the factory for free

 

[László]

My earliest influences were Baroque music and the Beatles, but later, just about everything else, including electronic, jazz and orchestral music. In any case, all that background proved necessary for my career in composing for TV ads, etc.

This year I've concentrated more on composing orchestral music than any other style, simply because I've had time on my hands and I like doing it. Here's stuff I just finished. There's a lot of low frequency energy in these tracks, so I suggest decent monitors or headphones. The first one is more melodic, the second a bit more angular, and more harmonically interesting.

Both incorporate electronic elements as well as traditional instruments.

https://persistenceofmemory.band/album/1658454/flying-toast-theme

https://persistenceofmemory.band/single/21316/dystopolis-iii

 

[markd21]

For me, the desire to play started with hearing my mom playing UFO and Lynyrd Skynyrd records when I was a lad. From there it progressed to Maiden. That's when I got my first guitar.

Shortly after, before I knew a chord or how to tune, I started a band. We sounded like Venom meets Discharge - but out of tune. I used to take my guitar to the shop and have them tune it. We had fun and we're playing shows within a month or so - parties, TASCO Teen Events, skateparks - it was fun.

Then I started listen to more progressive music like King Diamond and Mercyful Fate. I learned to tune my guitar and learned the difference between playing chords as 4th and 5ths, started learning scales, and began writing riffs. The band went from Venom to Mercyful Fate meets Poison.

Gear got better, band got better. We began playing bigger shows. I got into Queensryche and Fates Warning. Band got more progressive, slowed down, and became more melodic. Now we sounded like a cross between QR and FW meeting Duran Duran. It was cool. Band got bigger.

By now I'd been playing 5 years and it was 1989. Band was doing great, I had great gear. Things stayed growing until punk hit Central Florida. Prior to that it had been Death Metal and proggy stuff like us, Crimson Glory, Kamelot....

A couple years later it was Mudhoney, Nirvana, the Replacements. Bands like mine died overnight. I started listening to pop and classic rock. I softened my sound and the band became more AOR. I was barely 18. It was fun. Songwriting became more streamlined. We played out, but only opening for bigger bands or doing festivals. A highlight of this period was doing a few shows with Reo Speedwagon and Cheap Trick (at different times).

Gear changed again. I was still using Rivera amps, but I switched from Ibanez guitars to Hamer and Fender. I was listening to more and more classic rock, pop and AOR. I was getting into players like Lukather, Carlton, Santana, Schon....

My style became more melodic and bluesy. I'd already been playing 10 years and decided it was a good time to do lessons. I learned what I was already doing, added in a bunch of theory, and started working on jazz when I decided to start gigging again. Punk was dying and jazz was more complicated than I cared to learn.

Got a band back together after going out and doing a season of acoustic shows with my old singer. It was fun. We learned to sing together in a good way. That was exciting because we had gotten heavily into Siagon Kick and loved the vocals.

At that point we became more vocal oriented. I kept Rivera and switched to playing ESP guitars, just like Jason from Saigon Kick. We played bars and small clubs. It was fun. We oftened headlined our own shows but it wasn't long until we we're opening larger shows in bigger venues.

Ughh, I could keep going but I'm tired of typing.....maybe I'll add more later.

 

[bodia]

For me, the desire to play started with hearing my mom playing UFO and Lynyrd Skynyrd records when I was a lad. From there it progressed to Maiden. That's when I got my first guitar.

Shortly after, before I knew a chord or how to tune, I started a band. We sounded like Venom meets Discharge - but out of tune. I used to take my guitar to the shop and have them tune it. We had fun and we're playing shows within a month or so - parties, TASCO Teen Events, skateparks - it was fun.

Then I started listen to more progressive music like King Diamond and Mercyful Fate. I learned to tune my guitar and learned the difference between playing chords as 4th and 5ths, started learning scales, and began writing riffs. The band went from Venom to Mercyful Fate meets Poison.

Gear got better, band got better. We began playing bigger shows. I got into Queensryche and Fates Warning. Band got more progressive, slowed down, and became more melodic. Now we sounded like a cross between QR and FW meeting Duran Duran. It was cool. Band got bigger.

By now I'd been playing 5 years and it was 1989. Band was doing great, I had great gear. Things stayed growing until punk hit Central Florida. Prior to that it had been Death Metal and proggy stuff like us, Crimson Glory, Kamelot....

A couple years later it was Mudhoney, Nirvana, the Replacements. Bands like mine died overnight. I started listening to pop and classic rock. I softened my sound and the band became more AOR. I was barely 18. It was fun. Songwriting became more streamlined. We played out, but only opening for bigger bands or doing festivals. A highlight of this period was doing a few shows with Reo Speedwagon and Cheap Trick (at different times).

Gear changed again. I was still using Rivera amps, but I switched from Ibanez guitars to Hamer and Fender. I was listening to more and more classic rock, pop and AOR. I was getting into players like Lukather, Carlton, Santana, Schon....

My style became more melodic and bluesy. I'd already been playing 10 years and decided it was a good time to do lessons. I learned what I was already doing, added in a bunch of theory, and started working on jazz when I decided to start gigging again. Punk was dying and jazz was more complicated than I cared to learn.

Got a band back together after going out and doing a season of acoustic shows with my old singer. It was fun. We learned to sing together in a good way. That was exciting because we had gotten heavily into Siagon Kick and loved the vocals.

At that point we became more vocal oriented. I kept Rivera and switched to playing ESP guitars, just like Jason from Saigon Kick. We played bars and small clubs. It was fun. We oftened headlined our own shows but it wasn't long until we we're opening larger shows in bigger venues.

Ughh, I could keep going but I'm tired of typing.....maybe I'll add more later.

Other than the band part, we could be twins!

 

[CandidPicker]

Thought to add that cooler, frosty nights recently have created a sense of urgency...my garden has seen its better days and will need turning under soon.

How does this involve musical inspiration? With the last harvest already taken in, cultivating my garden once more for the season will provide the usual time spent doing garden things, for guitar practice or recording.

The mindset is that my vegetable garden has served its purpose this year. Although I’m not sure of the yield, there must have been a good 15 to 20 lbs of salad tomatoes from the 4 original seedlings that were planted. And am also happy to say that I watched my weight and didn’t gain any weight vs. a year ago.

Remind me this season to be aware of my sugar intake as well...the holidays are noted for the cookies and baked goods, and ish here could always stand to lose a few pounds. Better than needing to hit the gym to shape up after indulging some inspiration than let old age get the better of me.

That being said, Monday will be a day for the garden nursery...old growth will be removed with shovel and pickaxe, tomato cages and stakes stored away for the winter. Resultant garden will be raked and a bag of last year’s leaves spread atop and worked into the soil.

Until the ground freezes, kitchen vegetable peelings, egg shells and tea bags will be saved for compost and added to the garden frame, ensuring nutrient replacement from this year’s depletion. Next spring a bagful of earthworms will help finish the job of composting before next year’s garden will be sown once again.

I think green beans would do well next year...wondering how preserved pickled beans might taste over the winter 2 years from now...?

 

[Justcantshred]

Adam Jones, Jerry Cantrell, Stephen Carpenter.

 

[CandidPicker]

As cooler weather turns fall colors and bears harbingers of winter, my thoughts turn towards indoor projects. First and foremost, any indoor home improvement projects I'd have hoped to do that don't include things that require ventilation. Perhaps some decorative work. Perhaps some framed photo prints.

One thing I hope to work with as winter approaches is learning how to use Logic Pro X 10.5 for recording and production. Like others, I'm familiar somewhat with GarageBand and some of its techniques...after recently acquiring a few decent Waves plug-ins, my hope is to make use of these with some clean guitar signal and build a few songs from the ground up. Make use of EZ Drummer 2's templates and work these into a track...perhaps invest in EZ Bass and use the matching instrument feature to arrange a bass track according to the drum track. Then layer some rhythm and lead over that.

As only a hobbyist, I'm sure you're sitting there reading all this and having a little laugh just now...that's OK with me, am not looking to impress you with my meager skills. Just have a goal in mind that will make it to SoundCloud eventually and add to my page there.

A separate goal of mine is recording more my Dad's written memoirs as a young boy growing up and visiting his grandfather's farm in Quebec. Dad was very much the detail-oriented writer regards his descriptive writing. Some of his work I've previously recorded with intro/outro acoustic guitar and spoken word. Interesting to me, because it's part of my Dad's personal life history. Not so much for anyone else, unless they might appreciate the descriptive writing aspect.

I'd guess that just finding things to do that'd prevent me from finding trouble is enough. And perhaps that's all I'd need. To practice good things instead of what would be considered bad. I'd hate to think that my Dad didn't teach me how to be respectful and have a good time without causing or getting into trouble. Thankfully, Dad did, and the least I owe him is to put his memoirs of his young days on SoundCloud for family and posterity. And that can be inspiring enough for me to desire to do that for my Dad.

 

[Strumsandstrings]

Turn up the volume, close your eyes, and let the music take over your soul.

 

[aphantomvaper]

My inspiration is when I am playing as a channel not a thinking being. To be in the flow of the music stream not as myself but as a part of the atomic structure of the universe.

It happens on occasion, like chasing the Dragons tail. This is the inspiration to make music for me.

Listen to your heros, and then find more.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

My inspiration is when I am playing as a channel not a thinking being. To be in the flow of the music stream not as myself but as a part of the atomic structure of the universe.

Far out, man

 

[Mike Duncan]

Distorted guitars, simple chords, and angry lyrics...

 

[DISTORT6]

Distorted guitars, simple chords, and angry lyrics...

Now THAT sums it up perfectly

 

[CandidPicker]

I find inspiration in simple things. Watering the flowers. Appreciating the creative process. Listening to the rain on the roof. Watching a car with a ski rack try to pull off the road and fix his floppy ski. Yeah, simple things you can imitate and enjoy.

 

[Serious Poo]

Lately I've been more inspired by songwriters, singers and other instrumentalists than guitar players.

 

[Tele295]

It’s all about the melodies, including the improvised melodies in solos. The right 2 or 3 notes can really spin my head.