Gamers who play musical instruments

First "showcase" for the band, three songs is on September 7th...

Don't screw up, don't screw up, don't screw up

Tach wrote:

First "showcase" for the band, three songs is on September 7th...

Don't screw up, don't screw up, don't screw up :)

That’s awesome. Congratulations.

Remind me again, do you do original songs, covers, or both? If you put something up on YouTube or other webs please let us know. I’m sure there are many Goodjers who would love to hear your band.

A friend of mine is in a band. They weren’t so great when they started but they’ve gotten pretty good.

We use to jam together on a constant basis. We would mostly just take turns comping and soloing back and forth. We work together and been friends for over 20 years.

I’m pretty proud of him so I thought I would share one of his songs here. He sings and does 99% of the bands songwriting. This is my favorite song of theirs.

Micheline by Hurt and the Heartbeat

RawkGWJ wrote:
Tach wrote:

First "showcase" for the band, three songs is on September 7th...

Don't screw up, don't screw up, don't screw up :)

That’s awesome. Congratulations.

Remind me again, do you do original songs, covers, or both? If you put something up on YouTube or other webs please let us know. I’m sure there are many Goodjers who would love to hear your band.

Covers. We're doing Gold on the Ceiling by the Black Keys, Girls got Rhythm by AC/DC and Dear Ol' Dad by Blind Melon. First two I can play something that doesn't sound bad. The third one I struggle with. The other three guys are much better than me, and I seriously just try to keep a beat At six months of drumming, that's the best I can do.

Okay, I did my 'gig' this weekend and I only ended up playing drums on one song and I didn't screw up! Six months in, this was my aspiration.

I also played guitar for my daughter so she could play drums on Seven Nation Army and she was awesome. Very nervous before hand and then right into it

Ended up in a couple of guitar stores this weekend and tried out a Reverend guitar on a whim and oh boy, it's gonna get expensive soon. Absolutely loved the orange FlatRoc and I am seriously lusting after it now.

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Oh nice! A local store here started stocking Reverend guitars recently. I'm avoiding actually trying it out so I don't end up lusting too much too.

Those guitars are way out of my price range. I’ve never paid more than $350.00 USD for a guitar. My bass is dope as hell and I paid $200.00 for it. I paid for it with gift cards that I had horded. I have a guitar repair person who fixes the little things that bother me. He works out of his home and charges less than he should. Or maybe he gives me a break because he assumes that I’m broke based on my gear. I actually love playing on budget gear. If I can’t make a $350 guitar rock then a $2000 guitar won’t sound any better in my hands.

Any tips on best place to sell instruments? I have an old Tokai Goldstar that has been collecting dust for 20 years and I want to treat myself and get a Martin acoustic and want to sell some old kit to go towards it. Have been playing for about 25 years(badly) but have been taking bluegrass guitar lessons for a few months and might start gigging locally.

SallyNasty wrote:

Any tips on best place to sell instruments? I have an old Tokai Goldstar that has been collecting dust for 20 years and I want to treat myself and get a Martin acoustic and want to sell some old kit to go towards it. Have been playing for about 25 years(badly) but have been taking bluegrass guitar lessons for a few months and might start gigging locally.

Reverb.com

Dark Hours update for those following along at home! Here's a shot of us from a few months ago minus bassist (I'm the bald guy).

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We're still going, and now have a pretty regular vocalist and bassist who join us. I admit to being a wee bit saddened about the vocalist... a group of coworkers was sitting in the conference room where we play and stayed while we were setting up and getting our beers ready and one in particular hung around when we started. Trying to be nice I was like "hey, you should sing a song for us" because he said he dug Metallica. He had fun with it so fast forward and now it's his thing... he printed out lyric sheets and everything. My singing career didn't last long, but I still practice on my own just in case, and he keys off me for cues and such still.

Our bassist is pretty new (or at least doesn't have the chops... knows a considerable amount about music but maybe just isn't totally proficient yet on bass), so he has a hard time keeping up. He's improving though. I have fun with him because he brings his laptop in and pulls up the tab for whatever we're playing, so he's often concentrating pretty hard. I stomp over to him and headbang and make metal faces at him trying to get him to loosen up... or crack, which is usually what happens.

Our setlist has expanded considerably. With the Drop pedal (our other guitarist was impressed enough with the versatility that he grabbed one too) a whole new catalog of detuned songs became available, so we've added Pantera, Sepultura, and Mastodon to the stable. I pitched some Gojira that I've been working on as well.

While I haven't been singing I've still been improving at guitar. For instance, I was considering suggesting Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell" to the group as one to add to the setlist. I pulled it up and started going through the parts and it was doable. Like, friggin' Dimebag Darrel was just doable. I'll have to practice to get the parts on autopilot, but they're within reach which honestly would have been unthinkable a year ago... I didn't have the right or left hand for it.

The other guitarist reminded me a few weeks ago that it was almost the end of the year which is when I said I'd have the solo to Symphony of Destruction down at speed . Since then I've been putting in some serious hours practicing it. I have all the notes, now I just have to get the speed up. I don't think I've worked on something on guitar as religiously as I have this solo. The day I get it sounding good at full speed is going to be truly wonderful.

Finally, here's a little video from several months ago I captured of us, though I'm rarely visible and we get to see a lot of Walter's butt. I love it because you can see Max (vocalist) and Jesse (drummer) watching me like a hawk for cues (Walter calls me the bandmaster which I can live with). We have some miscues still -- we're working on the vocal punch after the solo in the "live" style that Metallica does -- but it's one of our favorites. You can also see the Dark Hours logo someone came up with on the whiteboard behind us. I may not leave it up forever so watch it while it's hot .

That's awesome. So awesome.

I just ordered a Martin, omg. Didn't expect to but it happened.

SallyNasty wrote:

I just ordered a Martin, omg. Didn't expect to but it happened.

Neat! I'm about to buy a Baldwin piano! Going to go pick it up and pay for it on Friday with some help. Seems like a great deal. Will post more later if everything goes according to plan. So excited. I haven't been able to play for a couple years, and it's been frustrating.

bought my first guitar. A Yamaha APX500III Thinline Acoustic Electric. Picked it up used for $150, so it is no huge investment.

Paleocon wrote:

bought my first guitar. A Yamaha APX500III Thinline Acoustic Electric. Picked it up used for $150, so it is no huge investment.

Wonderful! Enjoy your journey!

Fredrik_S wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

bought my first guitar. A Yamaha APX500III Thinline Acoustic Electric. Picked it up used for $150, so it is no huge investment.

Wonderful! Enjoy your journey!

I learned how to play on a Yamaha. They punch far above their weight in terms of pricepoint and sound quality. Have fun!

Thanks. Any internet/book suggestions for a pure beginner with some unrelated musical experience?

Paleocon wrote:

Thanks. Any internet/book suggestions for a pure beginner with some unrelated musical experience?

Justin guitar is very good

I like Hal Leonard's stuff. They have for all ages and levels. Cheap on amazon, too.

Practically any acoustic guitar song will have a lesson or tutorial on YouTube.

Squee! We have a new piano! A steal at $350.

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About '91 and made in the US. Needs a lot of tuning and whatnot but since we got it so cheap there is plenty of budget to spend on that. Zero mechanical issues.

Beautiful! So excited for you to play!

Wow! It’s a gorgeous looking instrument. Tuning can be fixed, mechanical issues less so, so it sounds like you’ve got a very good deal there.

Wow, $350? That's astounding. Enjoy!

Happy New Gear Christmas! Behold, my first 7-string, a Schecter Hellraiser C-7. Yes, I am in love.

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That guitar has been on my wishlist for over a year. I’m excited for you!!

So is the lowest string a B-string or is it built to be tuned in C as the name suggests?

RawkGWJ wrote:

So is the lowest string a B-string or is it built to be tuned in C as the name suggests?

Yeah, lowest is traditionally tuned to B, though I'm finding some interesting tunings depending on what I'm playing. There's the obvious drop A which is fun and then makes for enormous bar chords, and a very interesting tune UP to D while doing a drop D on the E string which makes for an extra thick drop D. There's loads of variety and with a fixed bridge it's super easy to try any of them (25 years of Floyd Rose has made me love fixed bridges).

Got wall hangers and now the entire family can be available and appreciated rather than either put away in cases or strewn around.

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