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midnightclimax posted:Wasn't there a thread once about "Let's learn how to write sheet music"? I've been dabbling with it over the past years, but want to get more into it now. Anything in particular you're looking for? Are you talking composing and creating, or the act of actually writing out music in classical notation? Sonic H posted:Hopefully a quick one for any saxophanists. Okay wait, are we talking concert pitch here? Man I got so confused, I thought you were having trouble playing low Bb - as in, the lowest note on the instrument, concert Db - and I was thinking "of course you can't do that yet." If you mean the standard first note, the one with the first 3 fingers down, that's totally normal too but you'll be able to fix it quick. You might have already done it yourself. Anyhow, I'd recommend doing your chromatic scale starting at the high concert Bb WITH the octave key (so you get used to the physical association of octave key = higher note) and going down. Wherever it starts going up, maybe the transition from B to Bb, do that verrrrry slowly over and over, like backwards Jaws. Then Bb to A, A to Ab, you get my drift. Whenever it gets away from you, repeat those notes, and if you can't get it to work, just take a break and it will probably work the next day.
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Jul 20, 2014 09:19
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I've been spending the past year developing my voice and have begun carrying my guitar at parties, campfires and the like. I have a big binder full of chords I grabbed off the internet and it allows me to be lazy, but I'd really like to memorize a billion songs because sometimes the binder is not very useful (or I forget it or it's dark or whatever) . Lyrics are no problem for me but remembering the chord progressions is a hard time. I'm looking for tips to memorizing the efficient way - I was thinking really analyzing the chord progressions and "classifying" the songs based on similar progressions. Say a song goes G - D - C - Am and another one goes A - E - D - Gm, well it's the "same song" only in different keys, so I could lump them together in the same I - V - IV - vii bin and just remember the starting key. Is this how it's done generally? I guess lots of repetition would be another good part of it.
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Jul 22, 2014 17:31
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Colonel J posted:I've been spending the past year developing my voice and have begun carrying my guitar at parties, campfires and the like. I have a big binder full of chords I grabbed off the internet and it allows me to be lazy, but I'd really like to memorize a billion songs because sometimes the binder is not very useful (or I forget it or it's dark or whatever) . Lyrics are no problem for me but remembering the chord progressions is a hard time. Everyone will have a different way of separating/categorizing in their brain, and if that helps you, then it works for you. But it's a pretty good way to be able to pick up tunes fairly quickly regardless. Frees up more brain space for the melody, which is the really important bit anyway. Hawkgirl posted:Anything in particular you're looking for? Are you talking composing and creating, or the act of actually writing out music in classical notation? Can you fix my horrible penmanship when it comes to writing it out? It's really bad. Gravybong fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Jul 22, 2014 |
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Jul 22, 2014 19:29
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SeraphSlaughter posted:Can you fix my horrible penmanship when it comes to writing it out? It's really bad. Haha. The two things that really helped me were 1) 0.5 mm mechanical pencils and 2) a write-in theory book. You know, the kind that looks like a little kid's penmanship book, with the dotted lines to help you follow the curves correctly. I think Alfred makes an adult version too, $10 or so. It feels dumb writing 10 treble clefs or whatever, but it works.
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Jul 22, 2014 22:17
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Hawkgirl posted:Haha. The two things that really helped me were 1) 0.5 mm mechanical pencils I roll with these since I'm a heavy fisted (idiot) and always break the 0.5mms http://www.amazon.ca/Staedtler-Tech...graphing+pencil
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Jul 22, 2014 22:25
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Hawkgirl posted:Haha. The two things that really helped me were 1) 0.5 mm mechanical pencils and 2) a write-in theory book. You know, the kind that looks like a little kid's penmanship book, with the dotted lines to help you follow the curves correctly. I think Alfred makes an adult version too, $10 or so. It feels dumb writing 10 treble clefs or whatever, but it works. I should really invest in that because my one major point of shame while teaching guitar students is my ugly, ugly notation when I go to scribble out an example for them to follow. Somehow makes me feel "unprofessional" even though I'm giving lessons out of my house.
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Jul 23, 2014 01:15
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This is the one I have: http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Essen...red+theory+book You don't sound like you need the basic theory lessons, but you can always skip those exercises and just do the drawing parts. It's just really handy to have a well-engraved reference to draw from, especially for the little subtle things like the shape of noteheads.
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Jul 23, 2014 01:27
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Hawkgirl posted:This is the one I have: http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Essen...red+theory+book Hey, there's never enough teaching material for me. I'll buy anything if it gives me a new perspective on how to teach a concept. Also I was taught/have tried to go for a kind of...diagonal-egg shape. I also spend too much time obsessing over how long stems should be. That's a REALLY weird hangup but I never get it right.
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Jul 23, 2014 01:56
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My teacher and I just use slash notation...it's kinda "boxy" looking, but it's a lot quicker than scribbling a notehead and trying to get the flags perfect. Half and whole notes are still circles. I will admit to having quite a bit of free time on a DJ gig once and spending too much time perfecting the treble clef though, ahaha...
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Jul 23, 2014 06:03
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RandomCheese posted:The latest VLC has an AB repeat function, just press shift-command-L at the point you want it to start, then again at the end point and it will loop endlessly, then use the shortcut once more to cancel the loop. Awesome, Thank you! 
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Jul 23, 2014 07:50
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Here is a probably stupid question: Is there a way to shim a trem arm that's "knocking" due to a few millimetres of play in the socket? Every kind of tape I've tried is too thick. If there's no way to mute it then I guess I'll have to grab a cheap GFS unit. I'm hoping there's an obvious solution that I've missed so I can keep the guitar original and not have to buy a new bridge.
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Jul 26, 2014 01:40
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Ferrous Wheel posted:Here is a probably stupid question: Is there a way to shim a trem arm that's "knocking" due to a few millimetres of play in the socket? Every kind of tape I've tried is too thick. If there's no way to mute it then I guess I'll have to grab a cheap GFS unit. I'm hoping there's an obvious solution that I've missed so I can keep the guitar original and not have to buy a new bridge. Have you tried teflon tape? I've been doing lots of plumbing recently, that's kind of what's it's for.
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Jul 26, 2014 02:46
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Ferrous Wheel posted:Here is a probably stupid question: Is there a way to shim a trem arm that's "knocking" due to a few millimetres of play in the socket? Every kind of tape I've tried is too thick. If there's no way to mute it then I guess I'll have to grab a cheap GFS unit. I'm hoping there's an obvious solution that I've missed so I can keep the guitar original and not have to buy a new bridge. If the hole for the trem arm has a bottom to it drop a spring from a clicky pen in it and screw the arm down. The spring will give it a little bit of tension and keep it in place better.
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Jul 28, 2014 15:55
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These are both very interesting suggestions, thanks guys. I'm skeptical that a spring from a pen would cut down on the knocking feeling very much, but it's also the easiest to try. Also, googling teflon tape has led me to discover that the Dupont corporation did not invent Teflon™ tape (which has no Teflon™ in it), and they are very upset that people think they did. In any case, I will grab some at my earliest opportunity and give it a shot.
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Jul 29, 2014 09:41
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Hawkgirl posted:Anything in particular you're looking for? Are you talking composing and creating, or the act of actually writing out music in classical notation? Thanks, I'll give it a go. Incidentally, I was talking about the lowest note on the instrument - this one:  I can get it if I really relax my mouth, but it's not a comfortable or natural note. I certainly can't just drop onto it. Even the low D (6 main fingers) is a little unstable. Thanks for the advice, I'm sure I'll get used to it soon enough 
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Jul 30, 2014 12:57
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Sonic H posted:Thanks, I'll give it a go. Incidentally, I was talking about the lowest note on the instrument - this one: Yeah, it'll come. I know it probably feels like, well, you can play all the way down to low E on clarinet, so you should totally be able to play down to low Bb on sax, but it really doesn't work like that. I am not a reed player and I can play low E on clarinet pretty reliably. I cannot reliably get a low Bb out of a saxophone. Personally, I wouldn't stress about it unless you need it for some piece. It's one of those things that will probably get easier as you get used to the saxophone as a whole. Leave it alone for 3 months (practicing other things, of course) and see if it isn't easier to play.
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Jul 31, 2014 19:44
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Hawkgirl posted:Yeah, it'll come. I know it probably feels like, well, you can play all the way down to low E on clarinet, so you should totally be able to play down to low Bb on sax, but it really doesn't work like that. I am not a reed player and I can play low E on clarinet pretty reliably. I cannot reliably get a low Bb out of a saxophone. Personally, I wouldn't stress about it unless you need it for some piece. It's one of those things that will probably get easier as you get used to the saxophone as a whole. Leave it alone for 3 months (practicing other things, of course) and see if it isn't easier to play. You've hit the nail on the head about low E -> Low Bb! It's good to know I'm not (on the face of it) doing anything wrong. Just need to get the higher register stuff now and I'll be bashing out Baker Street in no time 
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Aug 1, 2014 09:06
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Hawkgirl posted:Yeah, it'll come. I know it probably feels like, well, you can play all the way down to low E on clarinet, so you should totally be able to play down to low Bb on sax, but it really doesn't work like that. I am not a reed player and I can play low E on clarinet pretty reliably. I cannot reliably get a low Bb out of a saxophone. Personally, I wouldn't stress about it unless you need it for some piece. It's one of those things that will probably get easier as you get used to the saxophone as a whole. Leave it alone for 3 months (practicing other things, of course) and see if it isn't easier to play. Being a reed player (and also trumpet) and playing both clarinet and sax, the low Bb on a sax is one of the more challenging things for a new sax player to get (and it's a lot harder than low E on clarinet). The low C, B, Bb on sax all have similar issues (which of course are worse the lower you go). You have to relax, drop your jaw, and use a lot of air/support for it to come out. If you pinch off anywhere (which you can do on clarinet without realizing it and get away with it) you'll have problems. It's also a note you're not going to play soft right away as it takes a huge amount of control and practice to be able to do that (as in a couple years at least most likely). Work your way down slowly getting the C to come out reliably before the B then Bb. You can do some various chromatic exercises to help as well using low C for example....D, C then Eb, C etc working up the scale. You can slowly speed that up which will help your accuracy. Fortunately, not a lot of music that I'm aware of calls for it. The most challenging I can think of off top of my head is the tenor solo in In the Mood which drops from high Bb to the low Bb (2 octaves)
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Aug 1, 2014 19:58
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Zarc posted:Being a reed player (and also trumpet) and playing both clarinet and sax, the low Bb on a sax is one of the more challenging things for a new sax player to get (and it's a lot harder than low E on clarinet). The low C, B, Bb on sax all have similar issues (which of course are worse the lower you go). You have to relax, drop your jaw, and use a lot of air/support for it to come out. If you pinch off anywhere (which you can do on clarinet without realizing it and get away with it) you'll have problems. It's also a note you're not going to play soft right away as it takes a huge amount of control and practice to be able to do that (as in a couple years at least most likely). Work your way down slowly getting the C to come out reliably before the B then Bb. Great to know, thanks both. I'll keep working on it and stick to the "main" notes and work my way down. I still need to get used to using the upper stuff too - that's more getting used to finger and pad positions than getting a note. I think you're quite right about my embouchure - it's quite tight from playing the clarinet so that certianly won't help the low stuff on Sax. Time to piss off the neighbours! 
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Aug 4, 2014 10:33
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Question for the music forum: I've been really wanting to get into practicing singing with a mic, I've done a lot of singing along to songs in my car and been trying to be more aware of how I actually sound, and singing through a mic would probably give a better idea of what my voice actually sounds like. But I have a roommate, who I'd like to disturb as little as possible with what will likely be terrible singing while I am adjusting to hearing my voice. Is there a way to connect a mic to earphones so I could still hear accurate mic sound but keep it relatively quiet? I know earphone plugins exist for guitar, just curious if that's an option for vocals as well.
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Aug 5, 2014 08:56
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A small cheap mixer like this will let you hear what you are singing, as well as plug in some external audio for karaoke etc. In fact a cheap karaoke unit from Target or wherever would also let you do the same thing. Won't be the best quality but will give you an idea of what you sound like. If you have an iPhone you can get Vocalive and sing through the phone mic or spring for the iRig mic if you want better quality. There are a lot of apps to help with vocal training, Erol Singer's Studio is a favourite of mine and has helped me a lot with pitch training. Be careful though, if you just practice singing at low levels you will only get better at singing at low levels and won't develop proper technique for air movement and vocal projection. I understand your issues about not wanting to disturb people with terrible singing though, I built a 700KG soundproof vocal booth to hide my off-key wailing from the world until my voice is refined. Not exactly feasible for every budding singer, but you can make ghetto vocal booths by hanging thick blankets and such if you want to get a bit louder. Alternately, buy some noise-cancelling earphones for your roommate.
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Aug 5, 2014 09:42
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You could get a cheap little practice guitar amp w/ an earphone jack and plug the mic into it. It'd sound better thru the headphones if you had some reverb on your voice though. Some practice amps have built in reverb.
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Aug 5, 2014 09:47
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Newt King posted:Question for the music forum: I've been really wanting to get into practicing singing with a mic, I've done a lot of singing along to songs in my car and been trying to be more aware of how I actually sound, and singing through a mic would probably give a better idea of what my voice actually sounds like. But I have a roommate, who I'd like to disturb as little as possible with what will likely be terrible singing while I am adjusting to hearing my voice. Is there a way to connect a mic to earphones so I could still hear accurate mic sound but keep it relatively quiet? I know earphone plugins exist for guitar, just curious if that's an option for vocals as well. Unfortunately, if you want to sing well you're going to have to sing loudly with projection, so I would wait until your roommate is out of the house. In terms of hearing what you sound like, singing into a mic with earphone monitoring is not the best, because you're still going to hear the sound conducting through your bones as you're singing which will distort your perception of what it actually sounds like to the listener. I would get a free recording program like Kristal or Audacity and record yourself and then listen to it to self-evaluate. Fair warning, you will hate it at first, because you won't sound like you expect, but you'll get used to it.
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Aug 5, 2014 15:53
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Yeah, I know I wouldn't be able to sing properly if I tried to keep it low. My thought process was more along the lines of not subjecting my roommate to the microphone-amplified practice. But regardless she often leaves for long periods of time anyway so maybe it's not really something I should worry myself over.
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Aug 5, 2014 16:49
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Sonic H posted:Great to know, thanks both. I'll keep working on it and stick to the "main" notes and work my way down. I still need to get used to using the upper stuff too - that's more getting used to finger and pad positions than getting a note. You'll also find a sax mouthpiece (unless you're talking soprano sax) is likely going to be a little bit wider than a clarinet mouthpiece which can cause issues especially with getting a good tone so you'll need to adjust for that as well. If you haven't figured it out yet, the 'suck' note on almost every sax is the middle (4th line) 'D' in the middle of the range.
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Aug 6, 2014 04:27
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So I have a handful of these connectors, which I've been planning to use to make pedalboard leads. I opened one up today and saw that they look like this inside (plus a little paper disc):  What that looks like to me is that I'm supposed to solder the shield to the tab, and the center conductor directly to that flat contact. That seems awfully fiddly to me, but there's really nothing else in there (except the paper disc) and the only other thing to ground to would be the outer casing, which seems wrong. Edit: Okay thanks, that's going to be fun. I guess if I do the shield first it might help me hold things in place to do the tip. Good call about the tape too, thanks. At least full-sized connectors will probably seem easy after these. Important edit: I am an idiot. The signal goes to the little tap, braided shield gets soldered directly to the casing. My soldering technique is still too crude to make the cable work well, but this is clearly how it's supposed to go. So if you get these connectors, tab=hot and shield=casing. Ferrous Wheel fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Aug 21, 2014 |
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Aug 7, 2014 00:09
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Nope, that's all there is to an unbalanced cable (Tip/Sleeve or Instrument cable). Conductor to tip, braid/ground/shield to sleeve. Those little paper discs however, can be a bit fiddly, especially if you play around any kind of humidity. They'll soak up some moisture and start conducting a bit, which can cause your tone to go off somewhat (depending on what you're doing). Take some electrical tape, wrap a turn around that disc (it really doesn't take much at all) to add some extra insulation and go to town.
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Aug 7, 2014 00:18
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Quick question for the musicians here - do you guys have a source or site you can refer me to for backing tracks of popular songs? Looking to record some parodies and real instruments would be preferred without vocals. Thanks in advance. Edit: Let me be clear that I'm not asking for warez or filez. Just stuck with guitarbacktracks.com and it's pretty awful.
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Aug 7, 2014 01:46
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Youtube has a ton of isolated tracks ripped from things like Rock Band and whatever, depends what you're looking for. Newer pop songs, not sure. Do a search for 'instrumental' or 'acapella' and the artist name, some people upload a lot so they're usually decent
baka kaba fucked around with this message at 02:20 on Aug 7, 2014 |
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Aug 7, 2014 02:17
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Pillow Armadillo posted:Quick question for the musicians here - do you guys have a source or site you can refer me to for backing tracks of popular songs? Looking to record some parodies and real instruments would be preferred without vocals. Thanks in advance. Just google "(song name) karaoke). You might have to pay a whole dollar though for a good one.
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Aug 8, 2014 22:29
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I made a remix for a song by an independent artist for a contest. I didn't win but wanted to release the remix as part of an EP and put it up for download on Soundcloud so I've asked them if it would be OK through Facebook. There weren't any rules or details about the rights on the stems or anything like that. I don't feel right doing anything without permission but what sort of legality am I looking at with it if the rights weren't specified?
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Aug 9, 2014 21:44
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FadedReality posted:I made a remix for a song by an independent artist for a contest. I didn't win but wanted to release the remix as part of an EP and put it up for download on Soundcloud so I've asked them if it would be OK through Facebook. There weren't any rules or details about the rights on the stems or anything like that. I don't feel right doing anything without permission but what sort of legality am I looking at with it if the rights weren't specified? In the US, remixes are allowed and covered under fair use.
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Aug 10, 2014 14:46
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Manky posted:In the US, remixes are allowed and covered under fair use. Ah yeah, I'd forgotten about fair use. I read the rules to one remix comp I entered and it was so broad you'd think that anything you made while riding the inspiration from doing the remix would be theirs as well.
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Aug 10, 2014 20:03
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Remixes are not fair use in the US. I don't know where that idea comes from. There are plenty of instances where someone has sampled or remixed something that became popular or notable, and they were then (successfully) sued. About the worst things that will ever happen, though, are that the person you are remixing or their representation will get mad at you, and if you made any money they will hire lawyers to take it from you. With the whole remix contest thing, it depends on what you agreed to. If there was poor legal preparation and no agreement, then lawyers would have to hash it out if it came to that. More likely they would just get mad at you if they didn't want you using them. breaks fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Aug 11, 2014 |
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Aug 11, 2014 01:30
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I think it's more accurate to say remixes are not necessarily free use. If something is remixed with the intent to comment on or parody the original, it could still be fair use. Negativland have repeatedly defended that point in court.
Trig Discipline fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Aug 11, 2014 |
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Aug 11, 2014 02:56
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On second thought this thread is probably better for this question than the bass thread Lately my teacher has been giving me partiture in this format:  Then we figure out the melody, harmony and finally come up with an original bass line for the piece. I really enjoy this and would like to do this independently as well, anyone known a good source for similar partiture? A website or a songbook I can buy would be great, jazz would be ideal but I could try something else too.
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Aug 11, 2014 03:01
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Drogadon posted:On second thought this thread is probably better for this question than the bass thread Try looking at some Jazz 'Fake' books. There are lots of them. I found some on amazon, though no idea if they're any good (search for 'the ultimate jazz fakebook' on amazon). Most music stores would likely have them as well. Always better to look in person to see if it meets your needs
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Aug 11, 2014 03:22
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Hal Leonard publishes Real Books which are exactly like that and that one probably came from one. They do a lot of them nowadays. Fake books are the generic name for this style of book. http://www.halleonard.com/search/search.do?seriesfeature=REALBK&&searchtype=product&resultsperpage=90
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Aug 11, 2014 03:52
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That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks!
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Aug 11, 2014 04:07
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breaks posted:Remixes are not fair use in the US. I don't know where that idea comes from. There are plenty of instances where someone has sampled or remixed something that became popular or notable, and they were then (successfully) sued. Since I posted I've had a few emails back and forth with the musician who made the track and he said he'd like to see one more thing with his name on it in the world and has no problem with me releasing it but has to run it up to his label and see what they say. That the person who made it is alright with it but can't give the go ahead himself is annoying.
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Aug 11, 2014 10:20
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