If you hadn't played guitar.....

If I hadn't played guitar....well I do, and it's the one instrument I can get a nice noise out of (occasionally) so I'm stuck with it. But....if things were different....the only other instrument I'd be interested in is one we all posess, but few of us use to its maximum capability. The VOICE!

I'd sell my guitars tomorrow in the blink of an eye (that's a subliminal plug that should send you all scurrying to my soundclick page....) for a powerful, expressive voice. Nobody's voice in particular.....but the raw emotion of Lennon's voice on the whole "Plastic Ono Band" album, the sheer power of Roger Daltrey's voice, the rough bluesiness of Joe Cocker, if I could somehow distill the raw essences of those three voices and channel them through my lungs......

:D :D :D

Vic

I would do Piano if no guitar. I do have a keyboard that I noodle with now, but it's a recent thing. I've had one in my closet for years. I got stuck on something while trying to learn it and into storage it went.

I've also played a very small amount of bass and uke. I never had an interest for percussion or wind instruments. I have no idea why. I'll sit behind a drum kit once in a while and instantly look for an exit strategy.

I think different people bond with different instruments and I don't think we have as much choice as we think we do.

I've put more hours on the keyboard synth than the guitar, but I get along with the guitar much better. In my life I've known a lot of people who play both keyboard and guitar, and most them seem to prefer one or the other.

I've never seriously wanted to play a bowed string instrument. I don't know why. I love 'classical' music and find violins and cellos to be wonderful, expressive instruments to listen to. And although my father died and left me his violin, I've never taken the time to even tune it up. Oh I've had times when I've said to myself that I'd like to be able to play the violin or cello, but since I have my father's violin and have never tried to play it, I guess I don't really have the desire to learn.

When I was young, I didn't want to listen to vocal music, I preferred instrumentals. The words seemed to get in the way. Then one day I decided that the words were just different ways to articulate the notes, and vocals became listenable. After I got through that hurdle, I learned to enjoy vocals as much as instrumentals.

Voice for me was the most difficult instrument I've learned so far. It took years of practice and years of actually singing on stage before I considered myself an adequate singer. I started singing the easy songs for two reasons (1) to give the real singer in the group a break and (2) to increase my worth as a musician (the singer is the most important musician in most bands).

I now sing about half the songs in our duo, but my partner sings the more difficult songs, as she is a much better singer than I am. I guess I'm stuck with an inferior instrument for vocals, and I can't trade it in on a better model. But I've developed it about as much as I can. I wish I could sing like Mark Murphy did in his prime, but alas, I'll never have that kind of control. But I enjoy singing and have a good time doing what I can.

Hey Notes....

Could you go into what instrumental music you listened to? I'm curious.

I think different people bond with different instruments and I don't think we have as much choice as we think we do.
I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I met my recent and brief venture into the world of piano (by way of MIDI keyboard and VIs) with much more touch and feel than I did learning the guitar for quite a few years. I wonder if some of that "knowledge" transferred from one to the other. :?:

I got my newer setup before leaving town on vacation and am actually eagerly looking forward to messing around with it when I return.

Hey Notes....

Could you go into what instrumental music you listened to? I'm curious.
An assortment ranging from Duane Eddy to Duke Ellington to Stan Getz to Sergei Prokofiev to Antonin Dvorak to Joe Pass to Charlie Parker to Johnny & The Hurricanes to The Ventures to Pyotr Tchaikovsky to Benny Goodman to The Viscounts to The Dave Brubeck Quartet (with Paul Desmond on sax) to Jimmy Smith to Stanley Turrentine to Dmitri Shostakovitch to Jimmy McGriff to Johnny Smith to Chet Atkins to Earl Bostic to the one-hit instrumental wonders of the early rock 'n roll era (Jordan Ingram, Tornados, Cozy Cole, Bee Bumble, etc.).

I've always had very eclectic tastes in music. I was a weird kid, although I liked my own music, I also liked my parent's music (although I didn't let them know how much I liked it). My father was Big Band and later a little Country, my mother liked Show Tunes I learned sax in school and developed a great appreciation for 'classical' music (mostly from the Romantic Era to the Contemporary), and grew up during the early days of Rock 'n Roll with a big sister who introduced me to that stuff before I would have found it on my own.

I discovered vocals with Lambert, Hendrix & Ross' version of "Cloudburst" and Buddy Greco's "The Lady Is A Tramp" on a jazz sampler album.

Notes

I'll continue.

Before the jazz sampler album (see above post) I HEARD vocals but never really LISTENED to them. Back then we all listened to the same AM station, and my sister would turn it up when Elvis Presley songs came on, but my ear heard Elvis but listened to the background band and waited for the Scotty Moore guitar solo. When The Coasters came on, my ear was focused on King Curtis's sax parts. Big sister bought vocal LPs, and I bought instrumentals. When my father played Sinatra, I listened to the orchestra behind him (Frankie had some of the greatest band arrangers working for him).

Then one day I got this jazz sampler LP. It had Miles Davis doing "If I Were A Bell", Dave Brubeck Quartet doing the wonderful "Blue Rondo Ala Turk" and a few other jazz instrumentals. Mixed in the instrumentals were a few vocals. Well I listened to the LP over and over and on the side I preferred were the Lambert Hendricks and Ross song and the Buddy Greco song.

Now I've heard Buddy Greco on the radio station that my mother listened to, and he was equivalent to the Barry Manilow of his day - sappy - over-arranged ballads were what they played. But this version of "The Lady Is A Tramp" from a live recording was superb - I still love it along with the entire album done live in a jazz club - he's quite a pianist too!

And "Cloudburst" from Lambert Hendricks and Ross was amazing. I didn't believe anybody could sing that fast.

That was the start of me listening to vocals. I since found out Elvis and Sinatra were great singers for the kind of music they did. In my era Tom Jones and Aretha Franklin were quite accomplished. And I still listen to all the instruments. But up till this day, the last thing I listen to is the words. I hear the singer and his/her phrasing and inflections, I hear how the instruments and vocals interplay with each other, I hear the form of the song, and when my mind has digested all the music (including voice), I hear the words.

OK, I'm weird.

But now I have an appreciation for great singers as well as great instrumentalists. But I still dig a great instrumental as well. I own a number of vocal CDs now too. But when I go out to a concert, it's usually a symphony orchestra doing something from Beethoven to the present, especially something dark and brooding like the Eastern Europeans and Russians.

Did I say I'm weird?

notes

I have a friend in Norway who plays guitar, he listens to Death Metal and I said "I hate the vocals" he said "I don't listen to the vocals" :lol: I think you may have a kindred spirit in him Mr Norton.

I have a friend in Norway who plays guitar, he listens to Death Metal and I said "I hate the vocals" he said "I don't listen to the vocals" :lol: I think you may have a kindred spirit in him Mr Norton.

<big grin>

Except that I don't listen to Death Metal -- or Rap. Nothing wrong with either, they just don't appeal to me. I've lost my taste for the jazz version of Metal - BeBop too. Too many notes and not enough melody.

Funny. Now I sing half the songs in our duo, and have learned to appreciate the words in relation to the song itself. But when I listen to new music, the words are still the last thing I assimilate.

That's probably the main reason why I can't seem to write good lyrics ;)

That's probably the main reason why I can't seem to write good lyrics
Sounds like a basis for a good Blues song right there. :)

Woke up this morning,
Couldn't find the words to say
Woke up this morning,
Couldn't find the words to say
Think I'll put down my pen
and try another day

:lol:

Woke up this morning - had these words in my head

Woke up this morning - had these words in my head

Wrote them down in this song

But nothing was said.

whoa! Deep stuff! 8)

Woke up this morning, picked up my guitar to play,
Woke up this morning, picked up my guitar to play,
I'll do it through the music, 'cos I don't know what to say.....

Deep enough?

Have to admit, my tastes are far less eclectic than those of Notes, for example....he liked the music his parents played, I hated the show tunes my mum played but didn't mind the Count Basie/Duke Ellington/Nat king Cole/Louis Armstrong stuff my dad was into. Mum was also into Sinatra - and while I can appreciate the fact he's one of the most popular singers of all time, had a great voice and exquisite phrasing....I can't listen to any Sinatra song without cringing.

I do love the sound of a saxophone, though - maybe that would have been my instrument of choice if life had taken a different turn. Like Alan, I can still get a tune out of a recorder....I can play harmonica in a Dylanish folky way, but not in a bluesy way. I can get half a tune out of a keyboard, but my left hand is fairly limited....the other instrument I love the sound of is a church organ. There are two keyboard players I love to listen to....one is Rick Wakeman, who played mostly organ and synthesizers in the prog rock era, and the other is Jools Holland, when he's playing boogie-woogie piano, as he calls it.

I wish I'd had music lessons as a kid....I was 11 before I ever picked up a musical instrument. Recorder was the first one - I even spent my week's pocket money on a "how to play recorder" book one week. First thing I ever learned was the theme from "banana splits" then Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony (well part of it, anyway!) then by ear I learned the theme from "Kung Fu" - remember David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine?

But the only instrument I EVER really, really, REALLY wanted to play was guitar - I saw the Beatles on TV when I was 5 or 6 years old. That was it - I was hooked. Took me over 10 years to get one, and by that time I'd left school and discovered girls and beer......

Took me till my mid forties to discover the joie de vivre of playing guitar again, and I'm still hooked....more than ever....

:D :D :D

Vic

Would have to be violin for me. Just love the eloquence and aggressiveness of the violin. I could have learned even before the electric guitar caught hold of me when I was very young. My dad didn't see a future in me playing violin so he refused to pay for either renting one or buying. Been thinking about learning violin. Was suggested I try out an electric violin from Fender. Something I might do by the end of the year.