Category: Jam Session
What I will describe is just symptomatic here of something I think is really
unfair to younger people.
Our local electronics music store is closing, lots of local shops are now.
Now when I was younger, you could go into music stores, experiment, learn
stuff from the older musicians there.
And if you fucked up somehow, blowing a fuse or a cone or something by
overdriving it on a gig, the shop had a local repair guy who would fix it, charge
you for it, maybe chew you out some if he knew you were a fresh-faced kid who
needed to learn and it was your fuck-up that caused the blow. And best of all,
someone to slap you on the back and tell you, "Keep rockin' kid!" to keep you
from getting discouraged.
I'm not claiming it was some nostalgic time or bed of roses, nah not that.
But kids gotta have a chance to experiment, overdrive their gear, get shocked
when working with the electronics, play with different components and see
what colors of sound they can come up with, find out about how shit works.
And the local music shops are really how you could, as a kid, buy secondhand
gear and try your hand at anything / everything.
I know, I know, you can do it all online now.
I just don't think it's fair younger people don't have the types of places to go
buy some parts and shoot the shit with older guys who've been in for awhile.
There's so much we used to get from them kinds of places, looking back I think
we were pretty ungrateful seeing as how now those places aren't around
anymore.
The electronics pick 'n' pull shops here in Portland? Gone. No place to go buy
parts for your amp and try adding new parts yourself.
No local electronics music stores who had guitar, drum, bass and keyboard
clinics young people could go to for free.
The reason I bring this up, I'm getting back into the music thing after over 20
years of being out. I've been learning a lot about what it's like now, and I just
don't think the millennials who are musicians are really getting a fair shot at it
now. Not without the local shops and stuff where they could get the kind of vibe
and experience, and yes, encouragement, to experiment, keep rockin' out and a
bit of instruction along the way.
I've started looking online at all the forums for musicians. Plenty of good stuff
out there. But, putting myself in my younger self's shoes, if a kid doesn't know
yet, how are they gonna be able to tell by just a post online if advice is credible
or not? I've seen some pretty shitty advice on those places. Good advice also.
But the shops? Well, I guess using my daughter's language, the experience was
just more organic.
I know, it's a economics thing. And I'm far from being down on the online stuff.
Hell nah, I've been buying most my gear online to get myself started. But for
kids starting out? I still think the best and most fair shot for them is getting to
go to a local shop and get their hands on gear. I don't mean just a big
superstore warehouse like Guitar Center. But shops with an investment in the
local community.
Sorry for the proverbial old guy rant here. I just don't think the millennials are
getting a fair shot here. And I have no answers: I'm just breaking back into the
whole scene after 20+ years' absence. I'd like to think we could find a way to do
both: Online and offline / hands-on.
The world and technology have made too drastic a change for what you want to be appreciated by most of the current generation. Whether that's good or bad I suppose, is for anyone else to decide. Most people now probably figure that it's a lot easier to read amazon reviews, or watch youtube videos demonstrating their preferred products with those average joes giving their take on things that they like and don't like about the item. That seems to be the new common trend from everything like removing ink stains from plastic (please don't ask) to figuring out how to replace a part inside of your TV (again don't ask) to music.
There will probably be the random person here and there from the older crowds, and even from the younger crowds who might want your preferred method, but now everyone figures that having those reviews and videos at their fingertips give them enough to go on for their everyday products or I guess, musical instruments.
It might depend on your area. In mine, Phoenix, there are both small music shops, and super stores like Guitar Center. I find that in my 2 guitar center stores there are mostly musicians working who often provide useful info to me. They also have frequent clinics. We also have a very reputable luthier here who does great work for repairs.
I too am getting back in after some 20 years. I am having a blast! Starting to do some recording.
I agree, it probably is your area.
We have the same sort of thing as the poster above me states.
Well thanks guys. I am glad to know it's just my area. Even if very sad that a
fixture of Portland, Apple Music, has closed its electronics stores. We still have
Portland Music Company, several stores in Portland and Beaverton. But they
often focused more on education and student rentals.
Pasco, you're right, it's a blast. I'm rocking' tunes I was too cool to play when
younger, thinner and more of a show-off. Now I'm glad to play Foreigner, Pat
Benatar, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, stuff like that. Once my chops are
back I should be able to find a hits band around here that needs a bass player.
There's always a lot of groups out here.
For the record, yes I really do appreciate the online stuff. I guess when I wrote
my first post, I'd just learned of Apple Music's passing. I admit it was like
finding out someone died. A guy out here told me he went to the close-out, and
they were selling everything from light fixtures to workbenches to gear, cables
and electronics parts. And his impression was, there were few people there who
remembered the place.
I know, it probably seems weird for me to put it like this. But it really felt to me
like finding out someone died.
I will put in that I cannot afford to get my Autoharp strings changed, cause there's not many places for competition, and prices are higher. I am tempted to just stick to0 telent shows, even though I supposedly have a good voice. There's too much competition, and I'm 40.
Blessings,
Sarah
Ah, so Leo, now you've got a business idea.
Smile.
Sarah, autoharp strings can be tricky because of how they're mounted.
However, any luthier could probably do it. I'm not a luthier and I've done it, but the tension is pretty extreme with those things, and the pin block is more like a piano's than a guitar's string tree / headstock and tuners.
I'm fortunate enough to live an a big city where there's plenty of competition. And though the lower prices and wider variety provided by online dealers is tempting, I agree nothing beats an actual store. Here in Hollywood there's two competing stores from different chains across the street from each other and one seems so much more like a typical retail store while luckily the other's managed to hold on to the mom and pop feel. I know almost everyone there by name and they no me, and more often than not I spend as much time catching up with them as I do talking about gear, not to mention just mingling with the other customers. A couple things come to mind. Once when I was 11 or 12 and buying my first multi track recorder I went several days in a row and the sales guy who was working with me spent several hours each day talking me through the layout and menu structure of the unit I was interested in. And not to long ago when I was researching switching over from an effects processor to a pedal board for stand-alone stomp boxes, one of the guitar guys at the store spent over an hour going over what my options would be and the pros and cons of each, not at all rushing me to make a purchase and always willing to answer questions. I'd say another thing that's been lost in all this is knowing your reliable sources. I've known these guys for nearly ten years now and they've proven themselves to be good and reliable sources of information, where half the time of searching for this same information online is spent cross-checking what's said on a forum post or review.
I dunno. I am a hands on guy, and miss hardware and other stores we have lost to
chains and online shopping. But the flip side is kids today grew up without these shops
so don't miss them. My son wanted a guitar as a 10 yr. old. I bought a decent one online,
then an electric and an amp. I bought books he never used. He learned from YouTube
and other online resources. He shops online for everything, and has friends around the
world he shares music chat and practice videos with. For a kid growing up in a
backwater, who only connected with local talent via clarinet in school band, this worked
out better than infrequent trips to the big city shops could have.
It is rather amazing how many song tutorials you can find on youtube, it's true. I've found the most random piano tutorials for songs before, myself. There was this one time when I wanted to learn to play the Dexter blood theme, and looked all over the net to find a tutorial I could work with. YouTube had a lot of them, but they were all unfortunately for the most part geared towards sighted folk.
You can listen to nearly any song done bass cover so you can be absolutely sure of the bass part. I don't always play like the record, but I sure as hell learn the song as they recorded it first.
I just listen to the track, write down notation if I need to, and learn it that way. Hell I relearned a few Bon Jovi and Foreigner tunes from the 80s recently using YouTube this way. And Nirvana's Polly just for good measure.
What about the Black Crows? I remember I was a freshman in college when "the "Shake Your Moneymaker" album came out.
It was considered "stripped down" or what people now call minimalist, compared to the really big sound in the 80s. I think it came out in 1990? Anyhow there's some great tunes on there. We used to do a few of those in the bars.
I don't know, as a very, very novice ... musician - meaning someone who is currently dabbling), I find this to be an amazing time. Tons of online tutorials, not only for learning to copy other musicians' songs, but for simply learning at whatever level you need. There's digital audio editing software for almost anyone, lots of software for people like me who can't actually play more than just a keyboard, but who can now fake many instruments wuite convincingly, and so many resources for how to not only play the music, but how to make it sound professional. These days "anyone" can be a musician. Whether they get further than just doing it for fun is up to drive, circumstances and luck or blessings depending on your outlook.
Oh I agree with you re: learning music. All you need is dedication.
I think though, that I was referring to help with gear. What goes with what, stuff like that where online forums can get it wrong. I've seen really bad advice. Music tutorials thogh, pretty fantastic! Not just tutorials but the particular instrument part you're looking for for a particular song.
Hi. I really think it depends on a lot of factors, I play key tar, mostly, not
locked on finger picking, chickenpickin. My point is, if i go out and youtube
key tar, i get some guys, playing the thing with one hand , throwing it around
with the guitarist, and that is kewl. and fine. However not really what i am
after.
Have a music shop about a hour away, sure they can show me different
models, not that there are many to have really .
For the older generation, yes stuff have sure changed. But lets be honest , a
lot in the music industry have changed.
You probably need to be more specific in what you're looking for on youtube, post 16. For example, if you want stuff related to the key tar, you probably want to youtube something along the lines of "key tar tutorial" or "key tar tutorial <song>" Otherwise you're going to get all kinds of random crap.
Hi, trust me , I've been allover the net, and finger picking on key tars, yes
there is a few who does it , but we are like 5, and for a good reason, it is
notoriously hard. But then again, if it was easy everyone would do it.
Remember, making a key tar sound like that gorgeous 6 string is not hard,
making it sound real, is hard, however.
I don't understand what you mean finger picking on keytar. The keytar is a keyboard, it has keys, it's merely shaped like a guitar. Or at least that's how they were. Are they now done up with strings and an onboard controller?
I saw a YouTube video of a re-issued keytar with all the familiar controls and some neat new effects ... the 30-year anniversary edition I think it was. And yeah it was all keys, not strings. Unless they call something else a keytar as well.
So you're just playing it like a keyboard on its side.
Hi, Leo, obviously you are right, but then again, when you “pick” it you use a
special technic, different from when you strum, it. and yes you can do both.
obviously picking it is easier do to the modeling and stuff like that. But then
again, to really get the flow of it , y’all gotta be good.
Special key tar on youtube? do you have a link, so far they have only really
made 3 models, one from vortex, which i have, one from roland, they don’t like
us to call it a key tar though, and the one made outta wood from Korg, of
course there is the “LInstrument” as well, which you can strum natively,, do to
its onboard computer.
Each of them have their up and downsides, so yeah,, you pick it,, more than
you, strum it, but i get what you mean. Ill see if i can find a file where i do it.
And btw, if you think that is a walk in the park, i dare you to play Bella soave, i
will assure you that it is an interesting peace of music. So to make a long story
short, yes you “play it “ “just” like a keyboard, but if you play a guitar like a
piano it sounds very much like a guitar, right?
I so wish there was an accessible music synth with virtual buttons, sliders, knobs, etc.