How Many Musicians are On Board ?

Maybe you shouldn't spend so much time with music ... you apparently don't like it.

wrote: Are you a professional musician, semi-pro, wanna-be pro, or an at-home-messing-'round-in-my-spare-time player ? Have you recorded your own compositions ?  Got samples online ? What instrument(s) do you play ? What instrument(s) do you wish you could play ? Do you play Prog or another type ?

Lucent wrote: I played piano first, got really bored of playing the classical works, and I don't think I can really get further than I am right now due to my willingness to play the piano and the fact that I don't like how people tell me to play a specific type of music.  I go to it every day, however, to see if I can find something I like. I played the guitar shortly after, only to quit because everyone else plays the guitar, and it got boring. I picked up the bass a few months ago, and currently it's my favourite instrument to play, due to the diversity and the amount of improvization you can really get away with. I do vocals as a spare thing, but I don't like my vocals.  However, I really like experimenting and improvizing with them, creating my own effect. My equipment: -Roland FP7 -Fender Stratocastor -Yamaha bass (of some sort, it's a starter bass) -Audacity, and some very basic wires to hook my crap up to :3

I'm gonna quit playing guitar too, because it's important to care about how many other people play the instrument, because it makes it boring.
I know heaps of people that play bass, I don't understand why you play an instrument so many other people play too.

Drummer. Been playing drums since I was 10. Started playing a set at 14, by messing around around in the band room, drumming along to bands I were listening to. At the time that was a lot of System of a Down, and Slayer. Self taught in that aspect, but I can read music, understand time signatures etc.

I've wanted to pick up guitar for a while now, but never had to money or the time to practice. This summer I plan on changing that. I have my eyes on a cheap, but good guitar. (I'm thinking a $250 Ibanez w/ a Line 6 amp). I'm 20....a lil old to start but I do plan on practicing!

I was never even quasi-pro just played for fun, usually with my friends (man with hat being one of them) and I miss it. I go to school away from home so I can't have a drum set. Best I can do is lay the electronic one at our guitar store....

I´m an "at-home-messing-'round-in-my-spare-time player" guitarist and composer. I´ve come to the realization that my life at this stage ( Kids) don´t allow me to use the time needed for a more professional approach. Before I had kids I spend much more time practising guitar and composing music though and I´ve just recently made a myspace page with a couple of demo songs by my old death metal band Last Abide. Very amateurish when I listen to it in retrospect, but also very nostalgic. I´ve promised myself to spend more time composing again when my kids get older and I have more time. I still play and compose with a friend ( not death metal anymore though) but it´s on a hobby level only.

Philamelian wrote: I am playing keyboards for years and wanna be pro if I can without changing my musical posture. My main bands have always been prog bands and I also take part in various side projects in different genres. I am recording my own compositions in my home studio which are mostly experimental and prog influenced. I have never had a tendency to play other instruments I have always tried to do things with my own mastery (that is keyboards as I mentioned before) and tried to add something using keyboard in my own compositions. When I am playing with bands there I stay in my own field and try to add my music as a keyboardist. My master keyboard is a roland fantom and I use various other softsynths and sound tools. I enjoy working with sounds; creating and modifying them. I have a myspace page however there is a single work for now and that is not sort of tune I've mentioned above. Check it from http://www.myspace.com/philamelian

Wow dude
I listened to the track on your myspace page
Damn funky stuff, you should be proud

Lucent wrote: Petrovsk Mizinski wrote: Lucent wrote: I played piano first, got really bored of playing the classical works, and I don't think I can really get further than I am right now due to my willingness to play the piano and the fact that I don't like how people tell me to play a specific type of music.  I go to it every day, however, to see if I can find something I like. I played the guitar shortly after, only to quit because everyone else plays the guitar, and it got boring. I picked up the bass a few months ago, and currently it's my favourite instrument to play, due to the diversity and the amount of improvization you can really get away with. I do vocals as a spare thing, but I don't like my vocals.  However, I really like experimenting and improvizing with them, creating my own effect. My equipment: -Roland FP7 -Fender Stratocastor -Yamaha bass (of some sort, it's a starter bass) -Audacity, and some very basic wires to hook my crap up to :3 I'm gonna quit playing guitar too, because it's important to care about how many other people play the instrument, because it makes it boring. I know heaps of people that play bass, I don't understand why you play an instrument so many other people play too. To get in a band, you have to be the missing link.  I always hear "Damn, I need a bassist/drummer", but never "damn, I need a guitarist."  Plus, there's less competition in the bass lineup of "who's better" because usually you're sitting in the back unless you are also a vocalist.  To form a band, it's easier when you are that missing link, so you don't have to search for that missing link. It becomes a competition of who's the better guitarist in the end, which turned me off from the instrument.  The bass has also offered me more freedom in my composition and playing all in all.  I don't have to follow structure unless the bass is part of the melody (which is very rare).  I can play what I want.

Sure, I can somewhat understand where you're coming from, but not totally though.
I hear of plenty of bands needing guitarist, so you must be looking in totally different places to a lot of other people then.
The guitar competition thing only becomes so when people make it so. It's really not the case in many situations. It can happen with any instrument, to the same degree.
No one says you have "follow structure" with the guitar either, if you want to play what you want, why not?
Of course, I can't change your mind about playing guitar or not, but I don't think having such a negative attitude to the instrument really made anything better.
If everyone had the attitude that they would quit if "everyone else" did something, no one would even be playing an instrument in fear of everyone potentially play it too. Fact is, there is a lot of people playing bass.
What if every drummer quit because every other drummer played drums? What will happen then?
There are some bands featuring more bassists than guitarists.

Play an instrument because you love it.
Switch to another because you love one more.
Don't quit playing one because you believe everyone else does. Because not everyone else does.
If one has enough creativity,  a guitarist can ruse above the sea of thousands of other hack guitarists and do something that not "everything else" is doing.
At the end of the day, there are probably thousands upon thousands of other bassists who have played exactly the same patterns and licks you have played anyway.

If you walked into an audition and you got asked why you play bass and you said "because guitar is boring and everyone else plays it" probably isn't going to impress the band members much.
It's just going to result in them thinking you've got a negative attitude problem.
You don't play an instrument? That's fine, but keep a positive attitude towards it anyway, because it will pay off in the end.

wrote: Are you a professional musician, semi-pro, wanna-be pro, or an at-home-messing-'round-in-my-spare-time player ? Have you recorded your own compositions ?  Got samples online ? What instrument(s) do you play ? What instrument(s) do you wish you could play ? Do you play Prog or another type ?

1) Messing around at home player.
2) I recorded a few songs with my brother and a friend, but they are not online.
3) I play bass guitar.
4) Several, but down the line I'd like to get an acoustic guitar and a drumkit when I have the money and space.
5) I don't really play anything in particular, but when I attempt to write something it will often be proggy, metal or fusion inspired.

Hello to all

I'm new to the forum and have been spending most of my time at the Prog Lounge. I've been a guitar player for a while and have been fortunate enough to accumulate some decent equipment.

Edited by GaryB - May 30 2009 at 10:21

I play piano and have a band... Only recorded 3 songs.

Its not prog, rather indy/acoustic sort of thing.