BleepingComputer.com: Any Musicians on BC?

Does anyone out there on BC have musical abilities?
I play drums in a rock band and love it
I started playing drums when I was 16 years old and now I am 42 and still totally hooked, played lots and lots of gigs, some big, some smaller and even earned a bit of cash too

Whatever you play, please post about it here, I am always happy to talk Music.
Thanks for reading.

Hey TerenceM,

I'm a fellow drummer myself, i haven't been playing as long as you but i only started about 7years ago.

Ive been in a couple of bands, playing a bit of punk / rock and then punk rock lol.
I'm not doing anything at the moment due to other commitments but still enjoy a jam session now and again

I love playing my Jazz guitar! I have yet to fing gigs and a band ^^ No one is really interested in Jazz at my age.

Thanks for the replies, glad to hear from other musicians

EMU- please feel free to send me a PM or E-Mail and we can talk drums and percussion in more detail, I am by no means a pro. drummer despite having played for so long, but I know a thing or two. Always good to meet fellow drummists

XAlphaX- Jazz is simply great, without the old masters like Coltrane,Davis and so on, there would be a massive void in the music world!
There are several websites devoted to finding musicians, from people who just want to jam on a Sunday afternoon to the more dedicated.
I found my current band through one of these sites and I would be happy to post you a few links if it doesn't contravene BC protocols.

I have a lot of respect for jazz musicians as it is a complex music genre, unrestrained and full of improvisation and doesn't suffer the same restrictions as say rock or blues ( which I mostly play). I have tried to teach myself some jazzy style drumming and failed thus far but will keep at it because two of my drum heroes are Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson.

Regards,
Terry.

I'm a very good trombone player, I've done jazz a lot, it's really enjoyable.

I don't know. I think I would do bad in a band, It's like, were playing it my way or I don't say what I need to say.

Jazz is like... Pure freedom. No one can take it from you.

I'm an intermediate guitar and bass player, I play blues, classic rock, hard rock, some alternative, southern rock is my favorite, but there's not much demand for SR these days. I've been in quite a few bands in the past 40 years. We didn't make a lot of money, but it was fun.
I had to quit for health reasons, I miss it sometimes. ( I don't miss the drama though)

I started playing guitar when I was 13 and played my first gig at 16. The whole band was very nervous as we barely knew what the heck we were doing. I was surprised when we were actually asked us to come back and play again. A couple of years later life changed and we all went our separate ways. Decades later I still play on a regular basis. Larry Carlton is my guitar hero. Not many people know him but do remember his solos. Remember the guitar on the theme from Hill Street Blues? That’s Larry here and on other countless albums and CD’s mostly in the jazz realm. Much as I have tried to emulate him I will never be Larry.

xXAlphaXx, I am impressed that you like jazz at such a young age. I wonder if you have one of those fat body electrics. I never owned one. Oddly enough when I got into jazz I was playing a Telecaster mostly on the neck pick up. I still play this old Tele along with Strats and a 335. If I can offer one bit of advice from my own mistakes it would be to by name brand quality guitars. I had a lot of good looking cheap guitars with bad necks, poor pickups and serious intonation issues. After finally shelling out the cash for Gibsons and Fenders I have found out that they have always been worth more when I sold them. My old Tele is probably worth 10 tens more than I paid for it originally and it is worn, but it has a sound that my new Tele does not!

Justa- I think it has something to do with the life experiences I've had to go through and are still going through at this time at such a young age, I matured much quicker. (Lets not get into what happened.) Most people my age wouldn't even be bothered to use or at least, try to use correct punctuation and grammar.

Anyways, I'm playing a generic Memphis at this time. Still going through a rough time and I can't afford anything better, I don't even have an amp at the current time. But the Memphis was free so hey, It may suck but you can't been the price.

But when I finally get out of this school, and finish my collage. Hopefully get into the CPU engineering field that I'd like too. I have my eye on this ibanez: http://www.guitarcenter.com/Ibanez-GB200-E...920-i1150818.gc But I really don't know if it makes a good jazz guitar, I'm still looking around.

This post has been edited by xXAlphaXx: 06 November 2008 - 07:56 AM

xXAlphaXx,

I am not familiar with the Memphis line but I believe they were produced in Japan and later in China. Fender has produced guitars in the US, Mexico, Japan, Korea and China. The quality level produced by the different countries varies greatly. The US made ones are of the highest quality and hold their value the best, Mexicans can be very good but some of the others are very poor and have almost no resale value. The quality of US built guitars by the major manufactures also varies and for this reason I would never buy a guitar that I cannot play first. The action is biggest problem area and I have seen US made guitars with neck problems that are not correctable. Surprisingly identical guitars made of the same wood and pickups can also have significant differences in tone. That being said I am not touting US made guitars but in the case of Fender and Gibson they are the best.

I avoid guitars with famous guitar player names attached to them. They typically are priced very high and many are configured in a way that is not beneficial for the average guitar. With limited funds the best way to get a good value is to buy used. I once bought a used American Strat in such good condition the protective film was still on the pickup guard and saved a couple hundred bucks.

As much as I like some vintage guitars there are many bad ones with super high prices simply because they are old. Old guitar are more likely to have worn frets and modifications done to them you wish hadn’t been done.

Above all remember there are no rules to anything in music. Trust your instincts and your ears. For example I can’t play a Les Paul. They certainly are one of the best guitars ever made and I love the sound but I can do nothing with them. I prefer single coil pickups but humbuckers on a 335 are wonderful for my ears.
Hope I have helped!

Ill be keeping my eye open.

But for the Memphis, it its not a Gibson its just an electric guitar. Its Generic

I play Trumpet, I have been playing it since 5th grade.

I started playing clarinet in 4th grade, then added sax and finally learned battery and mallet percussion. I love playing. Its a good stress-reliever.

JShust

Congrats on being able to play the sax, if I were not a drummer then that would be my instrument of choice. I did have a couple of lessons many moons ago and could only produce some truly horrible noises from it
I also agree that playing any instrument is indeed a great stress reliever, occasionally I play quite hard on the kit but apologise afterwards!

On the subject of Guitars; has anyone heard 'Joes Garage' by Frank Zappa?
In this he explains,via music, all the pitfalls,highs and dangers of this horrible force called Music. The guitar he uses for this is a Stratocaster with whammy bar and a cheesy little amp called a Fender Champ.

He was a genius of music and The Mothers Of Invention were ( and still are) an awesome band. Check them out.

Great replies everyone, keep 'em coming

Hi Terence,
Im a Musician in a working band in Oregon, Our name is Flashbak , we are a cover band doing classic rock oldies, mostly from the 60's, 70's. Im the lead guitarist most of the time, on occasion, the other guitar player will play lead. If you want , you can check out our website--------->>http://www.webspawner.com/users/flashbak/index.html, If that doesnt get you there, go to google and type in flashbak of roseburg note; no " c " in flashbak, take care, rock on

Steve