Thanks for sharing not just your history but also the stories as well! That’s a true rock and roll story and then some!!
I’m going to do the same thing. I made a LOT of music over the years, even this year (which I was very disappointed in what I created and will never be heard by anyone) and want to just get back into doing it again, now I have a bit more time.
I didn’t mention pedals or boards, as I have always been electronic for ease of use. My first one, and I still have it, is a Zoom 3030:
mostly because it has a heavy sound I’ve never found on anything else and most of what I wrote was with those tones. Plus the clean one is beautiful too and again, I wrote a lot with it. I always think the sounds influence how you write.
I haven’t given it enough of a chance to really see what it can do. Works very well and the amp simulators are amazing, just needs me to get into really pushing what I can get out of it. Maybe a virtual jam is in order at some point
the electronic pedals always intimidated me, but again the older i get i can see the appeal. the line 6 delay was a “secret weapon” for awhile, and the best you could copy a space echo without actually buying one:
i agree with this 100%. i would usually write stuff with effects pedals turned on rather than write something and layer effects on top of it. that said, i don’t know if i would call anything i wrote good!
once i get the gear in, i will send the bat signal. always good to share ideas and the like.
I found my writing changed by experimenting with sounds and effects. A good riff is a good riff - doesn’t matter how much you layer on top of it, but sometimes adding effects can make it into something new which is always fun. Still you need that sound to work with and from there a song is born!
I feel the same way. People always liked what I wrote, but when it comes to music I’m my own worst critic. I did learn the importance of stopping sometimes - when you have an idea and you go with it, there’s a limit to how much you can add to it before it gets diluted. One of my favourite songs was just experimenting with one riff and seeing if I could get a song out of it. It worked… I think!
I love that this is now the guitarist (gearhead) thread, btw.
In terms of gear I’ve personally fallen in love with a blue metallic telecaster that I saw in the Fender flagship store in Tokyo when I was there in April. I wish I’d had the spare cash and the means to bring the guitar back home. I would’ve bought it in a heartbeat. Instead I visited the store multiple times, looking at the beauty, longingly.
The model also seems to be Japan exclusive. I haven’t seen it in any stores here in Germany at least. Online or brick and mortar.
It was similar! Though I’m sure it wasn’t a signature guitar. I also remember it being a bit darker.
But alas… it’s probably better for my bank account that I didn’t take a picture and didn’t write down the model name. Probably some subconscious monetary self-protection!
Now that’s pretty. Love the finish on the body and the mirrored pickguard really adds to it. Not usually a telecaster fan, but that has something to it!
I’d love to see other instruments as well. You were kind enough to share your piano/keyboard collection, so hopefully others have things that are not guitars as much as I love them.
I’ve been enjoying these types of videos on Youtube recently, where professional musicians get shown a piece of music they don’t know and then either have to cover it or come up with a part for their instrument (drums or bass etc.)
It’s just really enjoyable to see skilled people do what they’re good at.
I’m linking to the final performances to get to the point but I think the fun lies in watching the whole video and see how they get there:
Jazz musicians are just built different. I absolutely love how they talk to each other with half-sentences and sounds and everybody just knows exactly what to do.
I did not expect to like this going in but was pleasantly surprised with the result. Got it stuck in my head for the past two days. Did definitely not expect the bassist to have such a deep voice. I also quite enjoyed how different the process was to the previous video.
I host two Internet radio shows per week. One on Tuesdays and one on Thursdays. They are on from 5-7pm central standard time. Tuesday nights usually consist of indie, emo, punk ish kinda stuff and Thursdays are ambient, jazz, electronic, hip-hop and experimental type joints. Tonight’s show will be pretty jazz heavy. Tune in if it’s sounds interesting!
Due to random decisions to find dance music to share with my kids, I played Call on Me (that song was huge if you were clubbing in the early 2000s, which I did a lot. I think… my memory is kinda hazy…) and they liked it. But now YouTube has decided to throw videos on it towards me:
However this is fantastic! I’d heard the rumours of the original version of this but never heard it. Well worth your time if you like Call on Me. And Daft Punk. Oh yes!
Aside from it really only being playable at Christmas, it does have one of my top three albums covers of all time (I had a different cover to this one, but equally as good):
i grew up on the roches’ christmas album, so their voices produced in a specifically late 80s/early 90s way always feels wintry to me. i particularly like their albums keep on doing and speak for the season; the former contains one of their biggest bangers:
gaelle’s transient is a winter album for me. super vibey, downtempo dance/r&b, uses a really icy and restrained surface to suggest a lot of emotion underneath. it really hits:
joanna gruesome’s first album is great for wintry times, since it’s so trebly. this song feels like a snowstorm to me:
and likely because of its use in ssx 3, or general scandinavian vibes, royksopp’s melody a.m. really feels like winter:
