Old Guys & 21st Century Gizmos

[Aberdumbie]

My first poll..... I played and gigged hard thru the late 70’s and the entire decade of the 80’s. Put everything in the attic in 1991. Brought it all down three years ago to play Sundays in church. The digital revolution came while I was away and entirely changed the face of music.

So I been saying these last three years, if I had all these gizmos in the 1970’s, that I would be a virtuoso today. Doing my morning rehearsal early today and I thought about that in real terms.... If I didn’t have to go thru the effort to pick up the record needle ten times over to learn my parts would I have learned my solid groove? Would my ear have become as well trained if I had endless YouTube instructional videos to rely on?... This sort of thing.

So all you guys that learned your chops before the advent of digital crutches came along... Would these gizmos and endless available information have made you a better musician?

 

[bholder]

Gadgets may make me sound better, and make some things easier, but neither of those makes me a better musician. Hi tech practice aids, and being able to record and listen to my playing, really have helped, though. A recording rig that would have cost a few thousands 20 years ago can be had for a few hundreds now - makes a big difference.

 

[buldog5151bass]

The new aids do make figuring out lines easier, but that does not make you a better player, unless you take that time saved and learn/practice more. I'm 52. I admit I used YouTube and tab sites sometimes to help me learn a part. But that makes me a lazier player, not a better one.

 

[soulman969]

Nope. I still have to produce the notes. All the gizmos can do is alter how they sound.

 

[Oddly]

I voted yes...in the sense that the gizmos fre up a lot of time I can then devote to the actual music stuff.

 

[repoman]

I don't use gizmos...but doodads, now that's another story...

 

[sharkbait130]

I'm 65 years old. I have two P Basses , two Ampeg 8 10e's , an Ampeg SVT Classic head and a PF 500 head.
What are gizmos?

 

[Slater]

With the new “gizmos” and YouTube I would probably know how to play more songs, but I don’t know if I would be a better musician.

I’m old enough to be one of those guys that was trying to slow down the turntable to learn parts from vinyl records. I also had to just remember everything, or write it down. I think that hard work, tenacity, and ear training may have payed bigger dividends in the long run.

 

[mongo2]

I'm 65 years old. I have two P Basses , two Ampeg 8 10e's , an Ampeg SVT Classic head and a PF 500 head.
What are gizmos?

I'm also 65 but I gave up the heavier Ampeg stuff about 20 years ago going lighter with each replacement iteration. Now I use a GK MB200 which weighs 2 lbs and an Ampeg SVT210AV or two, each at only 26 lbs. I recently tried the matching 200W Micro VR head for the Ampegs but the GK has more headroom before distortion.

I find personal electronic tuners useful. Beats the shizzle out of passing around a tuning fork.

 

[mongo2]

I’m old enough to be one of those guys that was trying to slow down the turntable to learn parts from vinyl records. I also had to just remember everything, or write it down. I think that hard work, tenacity, and ear training may have payed bigger dividends in the long run.

Same here regarding learning from records and writing it all down except I found it easier to speed it up to pick out basslines better. Now I substitute my computer for the turntable but I still write it all down.

 

[delta7fred]

Hell yea.

Back in the 60s if we wanted to learn a song, phrase or riff we had to buy the sheet music (which was scored for piano so was rarely in the same key as the record), or play the record on a record player and repeatedly lift the needle to the place where you thought the bit you wanted was. You usually had to tune to the record because either you, them or both of you were not in standard tuning.

Now you can download the mp3 from the net, load it into software that allows you to loop a section, slow it down keeping the pitch constant, alter the pitch to the key you want while keeping the speed constant, or any combination of the 3.

Another advance (which is probably of greater use to me) is a handheld recorder to record rehearsals with. (These get edited into individual songs, converted to mp3, and posted on the cloud for the other band members to listen to.) It certainly focuses your mind to discover just how bad that cool riff you played sounds or how far out of tune your (or your drummer's) backing vocals are.

I don't know if you are including class D heads and neo loaded lightweight speaker cabs in your list of gizmos, but if you are they are probably what has enabled this old git to carry on playing way longer than he ever thought possible.

 

[dtripoli]

You misspelled "Enhanced"

 

[Stumbo]

The extent of one's talent is limited by your DNA. No gizmo will change that.

If it did, my Nikes would have got me to the NBA.

 

[Pilgrim]

Makes no difference. Physical ability and practice yield to no era. I have pretty good ability, but my practice habits suck. I could be a much better player if I invested the time. All the 21st century whiz-band can't compensate for lack of practice time.

 

[friskinator]

I did most of my gigging in the 90s. If the powerful, smaller, ultralight gear we have now existed back then, I would have delayed loading out at the end of the night for as long as I could. Which would have resulted in more time at the bar. So it's probably a good thing I didn't have it back then.

 

[Stewie]

I have a hard time operating a cell phone. things with more than 3 or 4 knobs just piss me off. Go away kid, you bother me.

 

[Gizmot]

Things are easier now than they were in the 70s and 80s, but even though I voted YES to the question posed, that doesn't mean that its better. I think that being a good musician is precisely like being a good athlete - all those repetitions and the work you put in mastering your craft makes you a better player. I have no scientific evidence to back up this assertion, but that's what I think is true.

 

[Aberdumbie]

Things are easier now than they were in the 70s and 80s, but even though I voted YES to the question posed, that doesn't mean that its better. I think that being a good musician is precisely like being a good athlete - all those repetitions and the work you put in mastering your craft makes you a better player. I have no scientific evidence to back up this assertion, but that's what I think is true.

Nope... Only scientifically supported facts here...... I spent a dozen years on the road playing everything from Jerry Jeff Walker to Uriah Heep. I THOUGHT I was pretty darned good..... Three years ago I was asked to play hymns in my church. Man, I didn’t know squat! I felt like I graduated from first grade straight to college. This is a whole different level.... But my point is this. I now have to rehearse the music I currently play most every day of the week to feel competent on Sunday. My playing ability skyrocketed these last three years. Simply because I do work my chops constantly. Something I didn’t do back then. I was too busy having a good time... No question the time you put in is in direct relationship to the groove you lay down.

 

[bassliner50]

J.S. Bach did quite well, with what was available at the time. If I had all the technology the present world has to offer to utilize, I could not produce even the smallest fraction of his art or prolificity. In other words, "you won't find it in the fancy circuits guys". (Old guy here of course.)

 

[ThuzzleFump]

I voted yes. Not because of pedalboards, signal processors, and all that kind of stuff, but because there is so much info and instruction made possible by computing tech.