KVR Audio

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:36 pm

tapper mike wrote:I certify ntom worthy.

Wait a minute...are you a TRUE god?

Arglebargle · Post by **Arglebargle** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:38 pm

debra1rlo wrote:
Arglebargle wrote:What are these "instruments" people speak of?
it's kind of like buying boxed plug-in software instead of downloading

That's so weird. Boxed software?

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:39 pm

Gonga wrote:Agree with Hib, but add "listening" to the list. Listen deeply to great music - a lot. Listening is underrated.

Regarding Sendy's post, I too have been scared away from steel strings by finger pain (I'm a wimpy keyboard player). So I prefer nylon (I love the sound anyway).

But I'm curious - has anyone tried using alum powder soaks on their finger-tips? A great musician I knew as a kid (my piano teacher) told me string players (her father was a famous French violinist and composer) did this to harden the fingertips.

p.s. - a synth is a real instrument too - you just have to play it like one

Quite honestly, the finger pain is a temporary thing. It doesn't take long to develop some callous. You lose it if you don't play regularly, but it comes back fairly quickly.

Steel strings are WAY worth the effort.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:43 pm

Moe Shinola wrote:I'd like to add my 2 cents:
As for learning the guitar, I hope you don't make the mistake I did starting out and try learning on an instrument that's hard to play, physically. Lighter strings are your friend.

While I agree with this, do not get complacent about this. You definitely want to go lighter at first, but as you develop, you may find that heavier strings give you a sound that you can't get from lighter strings. This is especially true for rhythm playing. YMMV.

debra1rlo · Post by **debra1rlo** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 6:17 pm

Arglebargle wrote:
debra1rlo wrote:
Arglebargle wrote:What are these "instruments" people speak of?
it's kind of like buying boxed plug-in software instead of downloading
That's so weird. Boxed software?

yeah, sometimes we used to buy the boxes from *shudder* brick & mortar stores!

robogone · Post by **robogone** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 6:23 pm

debra1rlo wrote:
Arglebargle wrote:
debra1rlo wrote:
Arglebargle wrote:What are these "instruments" people speak of?
it's kind of like buying boxed plug-in software instead of downloading
That's so weird. Boxed software?

yeah, sometimes we used to buy the boxes from *shudder* brick & mortar stores!

Full of people who laughed when anyone talked of downloading 1GB of data...

David Carpenter Wind Core · Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:26 am

I agree you can play bass and melody on a guitar but hardly like a piano. That is why the piano is more difficult because of what is possible with the instrument. Playing piano chords can physically be as demanding as guitar if not more so because of the distance required to travel and pressure required for loud notes. There are no closer alternate notes.

Solo guitar has nothing on solo piano as far as complexity is concerned especially in classical music and jazz. The range of the piano for solo work is well suited I say put that guitar away and focus on the piano.

A 22-fret, six-string guitar in standard tuning has a range of just under 4 full octaves, and is able to create 47 different notes, as defined in western music.

Piano 88 notes that's almost twice the range.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:50 am

but piano keys are right in front of you laid out in a logical repetitive order...unlike guitar where you have to do finger yoga to play chords and scales. I think both have an equal coordination learning curve (but imho if one is harder it's the guitar) but I honestly believe theory wise piano is a much quicker pick up than guitar YMMV

Arglebargle · Post by **Arglebargle** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 3:09 am

I play the guitar poorly and the piano not at all, and I still think piano chords are much easier and more logical. There's no goddamn barre chords.

ntom · Post by **ntom** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 3:41 am

and I'll play whichever instrument I want and not care about how difficult it is because in the end it's my music.
Not that that is out of the way, lets move on.

debra1rlo · Post by **debra1rlo** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 3:43 am

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!1111!!! YOU MUST DO AS WE SAY!!! ONE OF US!!!

ntom · Post by **ntom** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:13 am

debra1rlo wrote:NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!1111!!! YOU MUST DO AS WE SAY!!! ONE OF US!!!

:<
no.

debra1rlo · Post by **debra1rlo** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:19 am

rockstar_not · Post by **rockstar_not** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:33 am

I play AT guitar, keyboards and bass, and enjoy the differences and feel of all of them. Practice singing while playing all of them (not simultaneously, of course).

Learn them all, I say, if you can. I learned chord theory on piano/keyboards. Geographically speaking, voicing of chords makes way more sense on keys. I learned guitar so I could stand and walk around and generally think I looked cool while still playing music. Guitar goes with you easier than your piano. I learned bass and bought a cheap bass because I couldn't stand samples that I could afford. That has turned out to be more enjoyable than I ever imagined.

However, I now have an Akai synthstation 25 controller in my backpack with me and Garageband with Midibridge apps in the iPhone, and I can rock out some cool old-school electric piano and B3 organ with the included Garageband instruments (best 5$ I EVER spent on a music product). The lead synths are pretty awesome as well - not so programmable, but there are all the typical old leads that you need to get the job done.

If all of that wigs you out, some of the iPad controller capability could make a bunch of sense if you didn't have a traditional keyboard and/or guitar mapping hard-wired into your brain. The Geosynth thing on iPad looks intuitive as to it's way of mapping geography to notes for lightning fast soloing.

When the day comes that I buy an iPad, Geosynth will be at the top of my app purchases list.

Gonga · Post by **Gonga** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:49 am

robojam wrote:
diggler wrote:Instead of playing the guitar like most people why not choose a more difficult instrument like the piano. In the end you will be able to do so much more musically. Compare the top guitarist's and top pianist's songs you will find that lead guitar is nothing without the rest of the band where as piano can easily stand alone.
There are a few things here I don't agree with.

I think piano is a far easier instrument to learn than guitar as you can be up and running and playing a tune very quickly on the paino, but it takes longer on the guitar. Also, guitar chords are much harder to start learning than piano chords - piano has very little resistance from the keys compared to the resistance from the guitar strings.

Mastering either is as difficult as anyone wants to make it. Both guitar and piano are versatile, so not sure how one is more difficult or better than the other.

How can you say that guitar songs can't stand alone? Dylan? This Mortal Coil's version of 'Song to the Siren'? Brian May's 10 minute plus solo parts on stage with Queen? Either can stand alone in a song, and there is plenty of recorded evidence of this.

Absolutely (pianist / composer for 52 years)

And don't forget some of the greatest songwriters of all time are primarily guitar players (Joni Mitchell perfect example - her tunings would be impossible on a piano and led her to "discover" new music).

It feels good to be a "real musician"