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Dream instrument, or….?
- Thread starter superheavyfunk
- Start date
Yep...I just look at a sax and talk myself out of even trying.
Thread Drift: My two giant gong stories
- in high school circa 1978, my original rock band performed as part of my school's "Gong Show" talent contest. Premise was similar to the old TV show, there were three teachers assigned as judges, if your act wasn't totally amazing they would grab an absurdly large mallet and whack an enormous (>50" iirc) Paiste gong that they must have rented because I know our school orchestra did not have such an instrument in their possession. Anyway, my band is playing an original pretentious prog-rock opus I'd written, and ~4 or 5 minutes into it the teachers get bored or decide to move things along, so one of them gets up and whacks the gong. Problem is, this was right in the middle of the swampy ambient middle section (remember, original pretentious prog-rock opus ...think the quiet portion of "Close To The Edge" by Yes only far less interesting) and so a gong strike at that moment sounded perfect, exactly what the music called for, as if it had been originally written to include a gong! So we didn't stop playing, just kept performing, and the teacher had to keep whacking the gong until it fell off the elevated riser it was perched on! That made an almighty clattering and finally roused us from our self-indulgent noodling.
- in grad school at the Conservatory circa 1995 I had written a piece for large ensemble that required a gong, and this time I knew the school owned a giant gong...but it turned out they only owned one, and you had to reserve it in advance, and performances took priority over rehearsals. So while I was able to reserve the giant gong for our performance, there were several rehearsals where we were without that instrument. After some discussion about potential solutions with the percussionist, it was decided that during rehearsals whenever the giant gong was supposed to be whacked with the absurdly large mallet, the percussionist would simply yell "GONG!". After three rehearsals doing it that way, come performance night I was seriously contemplating not using the gong and having the verbal cue like we'd been practicing! Ultimately we used the giant gong, but I think the ensemble was split 50/50 on whether the real instrument was an improvement.
Sorry for the derail...
Piano. I have tried many times and although I can play some basic chords and simple riffs, I cannot get a handle on it. It's my favorite instrument.
Drums. One day i will get a compact kit to learn on. Second to that is keys.
I want to get better on the synthesizer. I have a Sequential Take 5 in my music room, but need to improve both my playing as well as my knowledge of subtractive synthesis.
Oh, man that's hilarious! I wonder if the teacher ever realized they were part of the performance haha. Awesome
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
Here’s an aside to your derail:
In a jr high assembly I was in the school band which was performing Mussorgsky’s “The Great Gate of Kiev”
One of the percussionists was an odd tightly wound personality and he seized the mallet away from the person who was supposed to be playing the part on a crash cymbal and then he proceeded to pummel the cymbal until the stand snapped like a twig and the cymbal crashed to the hardwood floor in front of the whole assembled school.
It was really something
I play pedal steel. You should get yourself a Zum Stage one or Encore and go for it.
Google: Stage one steel guitars. These two are very popular and you can sell it quickly if you don't want it. (Note there is a waiting list for those products.) There are other good beginning guitars. However, these are really good for the money.
Two things to remember:
First: Get a teacher, don't try to teach yourself. It is not an easy instrument.
Second: Steel guitar "gas" is 10 times worse than bass "gas." The guitars are not cheap. Then you need a volume pedal, a pack-a-set, effects and an amplifier. And of course the "bar."
The good thing is the strings are less expensive than bass strings.
Yes, I play Zumsteel D10's Little Walter and Telonic amps / volume pedal. Strymon and Benado effects.
The really cool things are: you get to sit down the whole gig and Telecaster players notice when you walk in with a 500 watt RMS amp into a 15." "Steels need lots of head room."
Rhodes! From Billy Preston to The Album Leaf, that sound is one of my favorites.
For years, my unattainable dream was the pedal steel. Until my brother bought me one.
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/it...ying-the-pedal-steel-come-true.1164887/page-2
Still positively mediocre, but having a great time.
It's never too late to learn a new instrument. My dad learned bass in his 50s!
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/it...ying-the-pedal-steel-come-true.1164887/page-2
Still positively mediocre, but having a great time.
It's never too late to learn a new instrument. My dad learned bass in his 50s!
Another vote for organ. I play piano / keys; I actually consider it my main instrument these days. But full-on Hammond B3 organ, foot pedals and all, is almost certainly beyond me, as much as I'd love it.
I've always been a very poor guitar player, esp. fingerstyle, despite repeated genuine attempts to improve. I really wish that were something I could do better.
I've always been a very poor guitar player, esp. fingerstyle, despite repeated genuine attempts to improve. I really wish that were something I could do better.
