I think im gonna stop making music for a little bit

So, ive decided that im gonna stop making music for a little while (perhaps for the rest of the year) and focus on practicing. i currently play the Bass, the Guitar, and the Piano. and personally i feel that my ability for each does not meet my expectations. so ive decided that i will practice a massive amount of classical music and dive even deeper into musical theory. i already know how to read sheet music and know a bit of theory. im hoping there are a couple WATMMers that would have some info to help me out. can anyone recommend me some really helpful books, sites, or even youtube videos? anything that would help increase my ability overall, or for one of the particular instruments i mentioned earlier.

Good luck, studying. How about a conservatory? :)

 

anyway..buy a field recording device and record some of your jam sessions, cut out the best parts for future arranging.

Dont be deceived that it says jazz guitar... this site has a lot of useful theory information

 

http://www.jazzguitar.be/

  On 11/1/2012 at 2:23 AM, Djeroek said:

anyway..buy a field recording device and record some of your jam sessions, cut out the best parts for future arranging.

ohh, thats a good idea. thanks!

 

  On 11/1/2012 at 2:26 AM, sergeantk said:

Dont be deceived that it says jazz guitar... this site has a lot of useful theory information

 

http://www.jazzguitar.be/

oh man, i remember you showing me this a long time ago. completely forgot about it. thanks man.

  On 11/1/2012 at 2:07 AM, Frankie5fingers said:

can anyone recommend me some really helpful books, sites, or even youtube videos? anything that would help increase my ability overall, or for one of the particular instruments i mentioned earlier.

 

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showwiki.php?title=Video-Vault:Video-Vault THIS

  On 11/1/2012 at 2:44 AM, RadarJammer said:

http://www.gearslutz...ult:Video-Vault THIS

skimming through these vids. looks like they will help a lot when i record my instruments. thanks man!

Frankie, you seem like a cool dude. If you want I can give you (free, obv) Skype (guitar) lessons.

 

(sorry if that sounds really presumptuous)

 

 

I studied jazz guitar intensively for about 10 years. And at this point teaching is a very familiar thing as I've had about 7 or 8 guitar teachers, 4 drum teachers and several other music teachers.

 

Anyway, I'm always excited to talk music.

  On 11/1/2012 at 9:04 AM, LimpyLoo said:

Frankie, you seem like a cool dude. If you want I can give you (free, obv) Skype (guitar) lessons.

 

(sorry if that sounds really presumptuous)

not presumptuous at all, but i already got a guy to help teach me more guitar. thanks for the offer though!

but by the sound of it you must have found some really cool info over the years. got any books that one of your teachers used that you felt was extremely helpful? or any tips with playing?

I'm with Frankie5Fingers on this. I'm trying to practice and do theory at the mo too as I feel my knowledge is somewhat limited.

  On 11/1/2012 at 5:10 PM, Frankie5fingers said:

  On 11/1/2012 at 9:04 AM, LimpyLoo said:

Frankie, you seem like a cool dude. If you want I can give you (free, obv) Skype (guitar) lessons.

 

(sorry if that sounds really presumptuous)

not presumptuous at all, but i already got a guy to help teach me more guitar. thanks for the offer though!

but by the sound of it you must have found some really cool info over the years. got any books that one of your teachers used that you felt was extremely helpful? or any tips with playing?

 

If you wanna be extremelely thorough about technique, the William Leavitt Modern Method books are great for learning every scale in every position.

 

I dunno, what sorta stuff you ultimately looking to play?

I went down this path and the "little bit" turned out to be an indefinite hiatus.

Focusing on practicing and theory is a great idea, Frankie, but keep making music for fun, too (when the inspiration hits). Recording your jam sessions is great advice. Think of it all as a continuous process rather than a discrete "practice" stage, imo. Force yourself to practice but don't force the music making to conform to the practice goals and timetable, if that makes sense.

Edited November 1, 2012 by baph

  On 11/1/2012 at 6:45 PM, baph said:

I went down this path and the "little bit" turned out to be an indefinite hiatus.

Focusing on practicing and theory is a great idea, Frankie, but keep making music for fun, too (when the inspiration hits). Recording your jam sessions is great advice. Think of it all as a continuous process rather than a discrete "practice" stage, imo. Force yourself to practice but don't force the music making to conform to the practice goals and timetable, if that makes sense.

oh i totally understand and agree. i guess really what i mean is that i might write one or two new songs by the end of the year instead of my 1 or 2 every other week. maybe something like "i learned this, lets try and do my own way now" kinda thing. its just that i've been playing now for about 9 years and for about 2 of them i was getting lessons and learning a lot of theory but when i stopped taking the lessons i stopped learning the theory too (and maybe have regressed a little in my knowledge). and now as im analyzing my abilities i feel that im not progressing as much as i was. like, ive hit the ceiling with what i play already, time to learn some new stuff. so i figured i should learn a bunch of classical music, and that it would help expand my own ability and creativity. its really the same thing i did when i first started to play Bass. i picked my favorite artists, studied their technique and then tried to incorporate it into my own style. ive got the technique down square, but WHAT i play is greatly limited.

 

  On 11/1/2012 at 6:32 PM, LimpyLoo said:

  On 11/1/2012 at 5:10 PM, Frankie5fingers said:

  On 11/1/2012 at 9:04 AM, LimpyLoo said:

Frankie, you seem like a cool dude. If you want I can give you (free, obv) Skype (guitar) lessons.

 

(sorry if that sounds really presumptuous)

not presumptuous at all, but i already got a guy to help teach me more guitar. thanks for the offer though!

but by the sound of it you must have found some really cool info over the years. got any books that one of your teachers used that you felt was extremely helpful? or any tips with playing?

 

If you wanna be extremelely thorough about technique, the William Leavitt Modern Method books are great for learning every scale in every position.

 

I dunno, what sorta stuff you ultimately looking to play?

thanks ill check it out.

in the long run id like to learn as much as i possibly can. but for right now, i plan on focusing all on classical. so i plan on learning many classical songs from different points in time and while i learn the songs study the unique things that each composer did. like in my response to Baph, how i studied several artists and then incorporated the unique thing that they do into my own routine.

 

and thanks everyone for the support so far!

what kind of classical stuff? do you have any composers in mind?

not really, no. i mean, id like to hit all over the board. kinda like hit the biggest guys from each era i guess. but i guess i should be more specific to the overall sound that i really am trying to focus on and where i would like to go with it. but i don't know jack about classical music. i know names, but not their music really. i definitely will be learning Bach and Mozart. but other than that i don't know.

 

all i can do is try and explain what im looking for. i want to learn songs that are dark in nature (not sombre per say, just dark), but aren't slow. more at a constant quick pace and a bit of dissonance. i like Chopin but the things that ive heard are slower than what im looking for. im also looking for it to be "courtly" sounding, if that makes sense.

ill give an example from what i know, from a video game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLUUhtoQ-Bs&feature=relmfu

if anyone knows of a composer that made music like this i would love to know.

 

all this being said, i also forgot to say that i plan on doing a symphony at some time in my life. its like one of my personal goals. so if anyone could also suggest a good read on composition on that kind of magnitude that would be great.

I recommend Hindemith's Elementary Training for Musicians. http://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Training-Musicians-2nd-Edition/dp/0901938165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351834032&sr=8-1&keywords=hindemith+elementary+training+for+musicians

 

Make your way through a little of this book every day and you will be a killer musician. I would know, because I didn't and I'm not one. (I'm being a dick. What little I did from this book helped me immensely.)

  On 11/2/2012 at 6:28 AM, A/D said:

I recommend Hindemith's Elementary Training for Musicians. http://www.amazon.co...g for musicians

 

Make your way through a little of this book every day and you will be a killer musician. I would know, because I didn't and I'm not one. (I'm being a dick. What little I did from this book helped me immensely.)

i looked at it a little. this looks amazing! thanks for the recommendation man. i will be picking this up.

  On 11/2/2012 at 6:28 AM, A/D said:

I recommend Hindemith's Elementary Training for Musicians. http://www.amazon.co...g for musicians

 

THIS, but it is HARD as fuck.

Edited November 5, 2012 by Goiter Sanchez

What I do when I'm not making music is collect samples or program idm max/msp patches and stuff.