Switching preferred instruments

[HighDeaf1080p]

totally changed everything for me, every time I switched.

Starting with trumpet, I was young, but was very serious about it. I started at age 7...and because it was trumpet, everything was about the melody. The melody of the song was it, and who cares what the rest of this nonsense is, that's only there to support what I'm playing.

Moving into piano, because I was coming from trumpet, I based everything on a very melody-centric view. The melody in my right hand was king, and all the rest of the music just hinged off of what I was playing...as I kept the melody smooth and with emotional content, the rest of the music just took care of itself...what I was doing in the left hand, or other parts of the right hand, or with my feet was just mechanical support for that melody. My piano instructor loved it because the music had flow, and she felt that I "got the point" of every song I learned...but that's all I was doing. Learning songs. Learning to read music and regurgitate it. My sophomore year in college, as I was playing on the piano in the dorm lounge, a friend of mine said, "you have got to write a song with me...I'll go get my guitar." I quickly informed him that I could no more write a song than fly to the moon. I told him that I was reciting music from memory, but had never played something I didn't pull from sheet music before hand.

He scoffed and pushed me to write a song over the next 3 minutes, which blew my mind. Within a month I had gotten an electric bass and was writing music with him.

Electric bass was the first time I had looked at music as something that I was creating from within, instead of reading from written music. Because it was bass, I was quickly learning the building blocks of chord progressions, and how to create tension and release, and play outside of the box. I almost couldn't turn off the faucet of music that was pouring out of me, and several of the songs I play to this day were written during that first 6 months with electric bass.

When I left college and lost partners to play with, I stayed dormant for quite a while...then decided I should take up a solo instrument. Piano wasn't going to fit in my small apartment at the time, so acoustic guitar was the thing. I approached guitar like I approached piano. My guitar instructor was puzzled at the way I played piano on my guitar. It led him to push me into jazz chord/melody playing which I love to this day. Getting sucked into Jazz theory has been the most addictive and enjoyable thing I've yet touched on in music. I am now backing off and touching more on improvisation and creativity on the fly, within a framework system.

While I am not sure it was the instruments themselves that made me see music differently, the changing within me as I took to each new instrument forced me to see music from another direction. On guitar, I never play anything but original music or at least original arrangements and interpretations of existing songs. I have no desire to "reproduce" having gotten that out of my system in 12 years of piano. Maybe I'm not giving the instruments enough credit, but I always saw this as a personal journey that used different instruments as a thought catalyst.

[Invisible Man]

Has a drastic and sudden change in preferred instrument changed the way you approach your music? Has it changed the style of music you play? How has it realligned your views?

Yes. I play guitar, bass, drums, banjo, and uke, and am getting into synths again. Obviously, the drums and synths are the outliers, as the rest as stringed. But even banjo forces me to do things differently. There's always this quarter note pulse I have to use from the heel of my palm, and it informs the kinds of rolls/patterns I can use. When I picked up drums (right after I started on guitar), I started thinking about transients, pick attack, palm muting, and removing sustain. I like plunky noises, because they let the ghost notes I play on drums come through in more interesting ways. I also stopped playing dead notes so much, since it was basically a shitty attempt at mimicking drum noises. I stopped trying to be 'heavy' on guitar, and started trying to be 'tight.' Solos started to bore the shit out of me; polyrhythms do for me now what solos used to do. I think a lot about frequency response, and about electronic rhythm in pedal form. viewtopic.php?f=149&t=51594

There's lots more, but that's what I can think of now. Basically, I make music because I have some weird idea of the interplay of sounds, not because I wrote a riff that I like. Seems weird to say it, but I never ever ever play licks, riffs, or even 'parts' more than once. It is very frustrating for people to expect me to be a jukebox when they see a guitar laying around. I don't know any songs except 'Blackbird.'

Also, this might be interesting, as some of these same ideas came up:
viewtopic.php?f=149&t=48588&hilit=kubrick

[sears]

I started on violin, then bass was my instrument, then guitar and now back to bass. Because the world needs bass players right?

I took some theory classes and then I had to play chords. So I taught myself the chords on guitar. It turns out I rederived exactly the same chord forms that everyone plays.

Guitar is for my own ideas, bass is for playing other people's songs. Like Invisible, I can't play any covers on guitar.

[oldangelmidnight]

I've been a guitar player for years and I bought a bass to try it out. When I started with it, I loved it and thought I might switch primarily but I haven't put in the effort to master it. What that started, though, was a different big shift in my playing. I wanted to play bass with fingers rather than pick, which I'd always preferred on guitar. Putting down the pick made me start experimenting with using my fingers on all my other stringed instruments.
Now, I'm still most likely to grab a guitar because it's more comfortable but I'm more likely to play it with my fingers. Playing without a pick has changed my approach quite a bit. I play less aggressively and with more dynamic subtlety. I improvise more and I'm more likely to experiment rhythmically.

[ThurberMingus]

I've been playing guitar for a long time, but recently put a Bass VI neck one of my guitars, and I loved it. I noticed that I primarily played it like a bass and didn't use my high strings much, so I scored a cheap 4 string. Bass is a really interesting instrument to me as I'm able to express ideas and rhythms better than on guitar with less notes.

I recently "borrowed" Ableton (I will definitely drop the cash when I get a better computer) and now all I can think about is sexy 80s synth plugins and gated drum hits. A little played out I'm sure, but so is the surf-gaze I play on guitar and post-punk I play on bass. I'm almost considering selling most of my guitar shit to focus on a strictly laptop-based setup. I really want to start doing synth/drum machine programming/playing with a live band but I know my computer wouldn't hack it in a live environment, so save up I shall.

I go through the electronic phase every other year/month, so we'll see how I feel about guitar in a couple of weeks. I still love playing but I'm not very concerned with doing anything "rock" oriented for the time being.

[psychic vampire.]

I feel like now that i have discovered Fretless T-40 -> Blower Box -> GK 800rb -> Ampeg Fridge, i am happy on the bass front forever. I will use other pedals whenever my new band practices next, since we're apparently doing a noisey/gazey garage thing, but those 4 things cover the majority of what i would do in such a context. Probably pick up a DOD bass flange or chorus, just to round quit out, and Timebender 5eva, but really, don't need more. (Whoops, i sold out )

On the other hand, currently it's all synths. And drum machines and sequencers. Srsly lookin at pedals to hit the BST in favor of a sequencer, old rack synths and a Midiverb II or other shit. If i wasn't terrified of owning computers at this point, i would prolly just do that route. You are in good company, TM.

[D.o.S.]

Narapoia: the feeling that you're always following someone, or that people are always out to help you.

I hear what people are saying, but the tool does change the way we do things. Seems a little disingenuous to say that it doesn't matter what we play...the sharpie/pencil analogy is a good one, but the qualities and limitations of a tool can do a lot to define the way something is produced. I change my drum kit around sometimes just so I'm unable to fall into the same 'licks' that I might otherwise play. I'm trying not to sound 'like myself.'

Anyway, I don't disagree, I just think that it might be an ILFism to say the things we use don't matter, then obsess over those things in 98% of our threads. Guilty as charged. But moving from bass to drum machine like PV means you've got to think about building block of music in new ways. Switching from bass to guitar seems like a different kind of thing than re-framing your approach to music.

Not trying to be a dick or contrarian, just thinking out loud.

Sure, but while cool gear is cool gear the particular tools don't mean very much in the context of creativity w/r/t ideas (obviously there are sonic limitations and signatures) if you already have a specific aesthetic in mid.That's a more fully cooked version of the oft-repeated maxim "tone is in the fingers."

There are a couple of records that I'm aware of that follow a similar path: where you have two people using the same set of samples (collaboratively created) and turn them into two very different sets of music.

[ThurberMingus]

I feel like now that i have discovered Fretless T-40 -> Blower Box -> GK 800rb -> Ampeg Fridge, i am happy on the bass front forever. I will use other pedals whenever my new band practices next, since we're apparently doing a noisey/gazey garage thing, but those 4 things cover the majority of what i would do in such a context. Probably pick up a DOD bass flange or chorus, just to round quit out, and Timebender 5eva, but really, don't need more. (Whoops, i sold out )

On the other hand, currently it's all synths. And drum machines and sequencers. Srsly lookin at pedals to hit the BST in favor of a sequencer, old rack synths and a Midiverb II or other shit. If i wasn't terrified of owning computers at this point, i would prolly just do that route. You are in good company, TM.

I say just do it (the computer thing). I had all these great plans to use a sampler and a Microkorg and
a four track with some pedals to play live sets and after a few days of Ableton I want to sell all that stuff. It's so quick and easy to make great sounding music, and when you figure something new out you have an incredible "aha!" moment that stringed instruments rarely give me these days. Granted if I had the time/space/money to use all hardware I would, but being on a budget and having <10hrs a week to make music it just isn't in the cards. A good DAW and a MIDI controller, with some free VSTs is easily the most usable and flexible gear someone can own.

[popvulture]

I feel like unless I make a very distinct effort to create something outside of my usual comfort zone for writing (say, make a deep house track), the music I make will have a a signature regardless of the tool I use to make it.

BUT, I still think there's enormous value in picking up new instruments, especially those with which I'm significantly less proficient. I've been playing guitar for 25+ years, and sure I'm good, but I'd also say that I can be really lazy with it and easily get stuck in ruts. I still have plenty of discoveries to make with guitar, but they're much fewer and farther between than if I messed around with a koto or something.

I'll always gravitate towards the intervals and progressions that are popular in my current musical headspace, but changing the avenue does yield different results. So for me it's a bit of both... if I pick up a ukulele, I might write a riff that sounds like me, but would I have played it exactly that way on the guitar? Most likely not.

Obviously I'm not talking about anything remotely new here, just the value/crutch of proficiency and the greatness of feeling challenged/limited by trying to do your thing in a new format. To me, it's always a good move.

[psychic vampire.]

I feel like now that i have discovered Fretless T-40 -> Blower Box -> GK 800rb -> Ampeg Fridge, i am happy on the bass front forever. I will use other pedals whenever my new band practices next, since we're apparently doing a noisey/gazey garage thing, but those 4 things cover the majority of what i would do in such a context. Probably pick up a DOD bass flange or chorus, just to round quit out, and Timebender 5eva, but really, don't need more. (Whoops, i sold out )

On the other hand, currently it's all synths. And drum machines and sequencers. Srsly lookin at pedals to hit the BST in favor of a sequencer, old rack synths and a Midiverb II or other shit. If i wasn't terrified of owning computers at this point, i would prolly just do that route. You are in good company, TM.

I say just do it (the computer thing). I had all these great plans to use a sampler and a Microkorg and
a four track with some pedals to play live sets and after a few days of Ableton I want to sell all that stuff. It's so quick and easy to make great sounding music, and when you figure something new out you have an incredible "aha!" moment that stringed instruments rarely give me these days. Granted if I had the time/space/money to use all hardware I would, but being on a budget and having <10hrs a week to make music it just isn't in the cards. A good DAW and a MIDI controller, with some free VSTs is easily the most usable and flexible gear someone can own.

I bricked 3 computers in less than as many years, and despite posts on here, i kind of loathe the devices. Want away from them, especially when music-ing. Hardware setups are pricier, but feel particularly exciting and rewarding. I mean, technically I bought this tablet to be an e-reader (which is what it was actually designed to be) when i was doing nomadic work, but find reading on here a chore. Don't know. It seems awesome for people who make it work tho. I just force myself to confront the fact that all the things in eurorack land seem nice, but it's sort of like pedals: I have this count to 5 and it is super weird and cool and great and i will probably not use it as much as i should. Contrarily, the utilitarian tools stay fresh. I am rambling. Just keeping my hardware for synths simple and practical.

[popvulture]

Totally with you on that feeling re: Ct5 and other peds of that ilk. I appreciate the exciting weirdo factor of them and love seeing people get great use out if them, but that experience often eludes me.

[spacelordmother]

for me that often comes down to, and i've said this before, being okay with not using 120% of the capability of any instrument/pedal.

Connected to this -- I used to try to build a setup that would work in any situation. All hooked up, clean, perfect, flexible. Not possible. Enjoy what it is for the sounds it makes and what you like it best for. Reconfigure. Repeat.

[psychic vampire.]

I agree with everything the three of y'all just said. I Feelell fine using a big pedal for just one thing, if it is good at that one thing and I cannot get it done as well for cheaper elsewhere. And limited palettes are often more interesting and exciting. For me, it has become, "Do i need every delay?" Or "Does this pedal do something i can't do elsewhere?" Or even "Do i actually like what it is doing all that much?" Count To 5 was a hyperspecific example, but the jury is still out on whether i am using it in any ways that my Particle and Timebender cannot cover.

My whole 2015 pedal quest started because i was playing bass in a band with two drummers and a singer. I was hoping to fill up a lot of tonal/melodic space, and loops and delays and octave up/down effects could do that, and my old pedals sort of didn't fill me with same inspiration they used to, but I had some of those things for 9, 10, 11 years at that point. But since then, that band and my subsequent post-punk band have both dissolved, and here i am on band three content to try using two or three pedals max, since i went from 0 other melodic instruments to 2 to 3. But also writing alone has changed from a bass endeavor to electronic, so i am tryna reprioritize what i keep whilst not just purging necessary and useful bass gear.

[popvulture]

Yeah, I mean... it's an absolutely vital truth that you've gotta do what keeps you excited, and therefore makes you feel good.

Frankly I've been super depressed about music lately. The usual questions arise: am I ever going to make anything again that I feel good about, or is my musical involvement going to just fizzle out as a guy who plays with a bunch of pedals at home and doesn't actually produce anything? Can I get together a decent band at 36—will I be able to find anyone who's actually willing to put in the time anymore? If so, will we be some joke band of guys approaching 40?

All of these feelings are really pretty ridiculous, but coupled with a lack of inspiration, they can feel VERY valid. With that in mind, the best cure that I've found is doing new things. New instruments, new genres, new approaches. Getting a fresh point of view, via whatever avenue works for you, helps immensely.

And yep, re: Ct5, I'm happy with the weird ass delay I've found in mode 1. It does fucked up things to my signal that no other pedal can do, and for now it's lovely just staying right there. Related to my previous statement though, it's got a world of new shit to explore whenever I want to rekindle the excitement.

[rfurtkamp]

Approaching 40, the question isn't whether your band is a joke.

The question is "are you doing it for you?"

If yes, do it.