What Musical Instrument(s) are you LEARNING?

I just got shipped my second set of bongo drums in the mail yesterday. Not that my old bongos are bad, but it's good to have a wider drum head for future poetry readings drumming sessions. I'm also going to see the HOWL Allen Ginsberg biopic this weekend at a film festival. The Beat Generation is essentially one of my biggest literary fanboy influences, because the Beats got to me before the Star Wars Expanded Universe did.

What instruments are you learning?

On the topic of drums...I got my first drum set about 8 months ago and have been banging away on that. I got into drumming through Rock Band - which sounds like a cliche but seriously! The game turned me on to the real thing and it's been a great time ever since.

It's hard to get motivated to play, though, when I have few other people to play with - drums aren't exactly a solo instrument. I have a friend who plays guitar (badly) and my dad plays keyboard & piano (well), but it'd be nice to jam with some similarly mediocre musicians.

I'm heading out to Guitar Center tomorrow to get a new guitar (which I already play, but whatever). Think about picking up the harmonica though. The new Decemberists album has me wanting to learn.

Electric Guitar. Got it for Christmas. I can only play I Wanna Be Your Dog yet.

Josh, if you wanna play harp just buy a couple in keys you strum in, get a harp stand so you don't have to hold it like a chump and blow away on some random notes.

It all sounds good right away. It's almost like a kazoo in that sense... to actually get good does require talent though, especially if you play that chromatic harmonica jazz.

I'm learning Octo-Mandolin. It's just like a regular mandolin but an octave lower... like a cello basically. The trouble is that since the strings repeat themselves on the seventh fret I can't make 75% of the chords I'm used to doing on a regular mando, where the frets are less then half the size. Imagine playing a guitar where you have to hold down frets 2 and 7 simultaneously and on a regular basis!

Thing sounds fucking awesome though... Weber makes it and I love that company, good solid American (Kentucky I think) mandolin builder. I'll probably try to post a youtube video of me playing it in a month or two... the family loves those things.

I'm lifting more weights, which as we all know is of the utmost importance when smashing dudes with mic stands and the like when singing in hardcore bands. Hopefully by next summer I'll be able to fight three bouncers at once if I keep my practice up.

The trouble is that since the strings repeat themselves on the seventh fret I can't make 75% of the chords I'm used to doing on a regular mando, where the frets are less then half the size. Imagine playing a guitar where you have to hold down frets 2 and 7 simultaneously and on a regular basis!

Isn't that a 2nd harmony? What the hell are you playing where you need that all the time?

mjl1783 wrote:

Isn't that a 2nd harmony? What the hell are you playing where you need that all the time?

If the two strings were side by side yeah, but not if there is a least one string separating them.

It's the mando "chop" cord. Say a G major like this

E --3--
A --2--
D --5--
G --7--

or a minor like this

E --3--
A --1--
D --5--
G --7--

it's funkier and more rock then the easy G chord most people learn giving you a kind of snare sound, but also tougher to move around with.

This is the one most people learn first.

E --3--
A --2--
D --0--
G --0--

It rings a little more.

JonJacob wrote:

Josh, if you wanna play harp just buy a couple in keys you strum in, get a harp stand so you don't have to hold it like a chump and blow away on some random notes.

Thanks for the advice, JJ. I'd been looking at them not quite knowing where to start. I had all intentions on getting what I call "The Dylan Thing."

Whether or not I get one depends on how much I spend on a guitar. I've got $350 I've been saving in gift cards, so that's a fair chunk.

It's the mando "chop" cord. Say a G major like this

E --3--
A --2--
D --5--
G --7--

Ah, I never thought of that voicing. I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to pick up an actual mandolin book instead of just trying to force myself to magically adjust to being tuned in 5ths.

Right now, I either see the instrument as "upside-down guitar" when I'm playing chords, or "whole step out of relative tuning guitar" if I'm playing melodies. That would probably explain why I suck at the instrument.

I thought about it that way at first too. I even tried to finger pick it for a year or two and played live that way a couple of times (I cringe at that memory).. I thought to myself, "I'll be like the Leo Kottke of mandolin!"

Fuckin retarded idea, I sucked at it... although Radim Zenkl uses his fingers in some weird way I can't figure out how to do.

Sort of learning usb midi keyboard + reason (software synth package). On and off. Lots to absorb but friggin awesome.
Bass guitar is on hold.
I play with irish whistle now and then.

Ended up getting the Alvarez AJ414C . Fucking beautiful. Feels and looks fantastic, the electronics in it are solid...Very happy. I've been playing the same 1963 Epiphone for the last 14 years, it was time for a change. Held off on the harmonica for now, but it's still something I'm interested in.