Frosty861

Is tuning all that necessary?

How many keys do I really need?

And remember, the difference between a Musician and a large pizza.....the pizza will feed a family of 4.

Boston Conservatory, '69

Hunt-man

Musicians are really similar, they just spend more time alone in their rooms playing with their "instruments"....

rat fink

You know, the placebo effect is strong. When I play a ~$150k piano, I play better than on a $1500 piano. I play better on just about any pipe organ than I typically do on my digital organ at home, and I shred more on my real Rhodes electric piano than I ever did on the Vintage Tines patch on my old Yamaha Motif.

Am I actually a better player when I play these? No, I'm just more inspired. ...But that does make me want to play more often.

MegaTom

Guitars with flame tops are for geezers.

jwible

I grew up in SE Virginia and sailed in Annapolis a bit. I remember being about 12 or 13 when I first heard about PRS when he started making guitars commercially. I fell in love with them then and have been lusting for them ever since.

jwible

Because only geezers can afford them.

Accordion

Of course this is true. Why does Yo Yo Ma play a Stratavarius? I have a $15K custom made Petosa accordion that I waited a year for. Everything was handbuilt and the reeds were handmade and shipped from Italy. Yeah I play better on it than my 1967 Cordovox.

Just like I ride a helluva lot more inspired and faster on my CAAD10 than I do on my Surly CrossCheck.

rat fink

That's right! Life's too short to use cheap stuff for activities you really enjoy.

P.S. Can I see a pic of that accordion? I used to have a Contello that I liked to noodle on (probably doing it wrong). ...PM is fine.

pgjackson

Then the OP should know that musicians obsesses over nit-noid details, covets more expensive gear, constantly compares himself to other musicians, and somewhat looks down at less talented musicians.

jwible

Let's try that again with correct grammar please. Musicians is plural so it should be obsess. Covets is singular so that needs to be covet. Compares himself should be compare themselves to stick with the plural of musicians. Looks -- again, singular usage of a verb when the subject musicians is plural.

But other than that, what does that have to do with some new guy asking if he can sit in on or even play in a session of accomplished musicians who are practicing together? I think people have stated that the instrument doesn't make the musician but the placebo effect is strong.

Just like in cycling. A new bike doesn't mean one can tag along with a group of hammerheads and expect them to adapt to one's skill level. If one decides to inject his or her self into the company of more accomplished cyclists or musicians then one should expect to play by the group's rules, stay out of the way until proven, and quite possibly expect to be told to go away or be dropped.

pgjackson

Thanks for the grammar lesson. I'm a little under the weather today and wasn't really paying attention to all that. I thought this thread was about all the silly questions people ask here, not specifically about lesser talented folks wanting to hang with more talented folks.

noise boy

I am a sound engineer, for us it is the Kick Drum Mic Du Jour. Every three months somebody comes out with the bestest kick drum mic ever, and all the visiting engineers have to have it.

rat fink

I was dropped once, when jamming with some local jazz artists. I couldn't keep up with the changes so they left me in the dust. The self-loathing afterward was incredible.

Jed19

Whether a musician, cyclists or whatever, it is good to always try and be generous with your time and experience with others. For example, I learnt so much from the late Sheldon Brown regarding cycling ( riding,mechanics etc) that I think of him and thank him whenever I have to do some work on my bike.

That is the spirit we should all try and develop.

Accordion

I'll post one when I can find it. All you need to know about Petosa is that there is no substitute. Essence of cool.

surgeonstone

I remember cycling through New England the summer of 72. We would go days on gorgeous country roads and never see another cyclist. Today cycling the same roads on a nice day would be like cycling in a crowd.

John_V 

The guy that does the air brushing for my car does guitars like these:

hhnngg1

I'll have to add from direct experience - for top developing musciains, you absolutely need to have a world-class instrument to make the proper gains. You simply cannot do it without it. Interestingly, once you acquire the skill on that elite instrument, you can often replicate it on a lesser instrument.

As one of the top precollege violinists at Juilliard when I was there it was amazing to see how well instrument quality correlated with how good the player was. I didn't think it mattered until my teacher, seeing my potential, lent me a $100,000 violin and a $25,000 bow (!!) for 4 months to prepare for a competition. It took over a month to adapt to it, but it completely changed my level of playing, and was a bigger factor in my improvement than my teacher ever was.

I then went back to my $15k violin (worth over $40k today) and $3k bow (worth $10k today) and found I could express more from the instrument. After that, I realized that part of being a truly elite classical musician was to have access to legendary instruments, usually by loan from top instructors at Juilliard or other conservatories.

BR46

Home made flame top Telecaster

jwible

I think it's about time to see a video of Grumpy playing brass instruments while on the rollers.

TMonk

I'm better at the piano than I am at cycling.

I spend much more time and energy cycling than I do playing the piano.
My sight reading is terrible these days (years?), but I still know chords and scales and can go off a chart.

mark1974

whats with all this guitar talk?

rat fink

Fanaticism.

pgjackson

Well that pretty much kicks the sh1t out of the the latest Di2 equiped $15,000 super bike and $400 Sidi shoes. Wow, $25K for a bow? I had no idea such a thing existed.

pgjackson

Then there are people with zero musical talent like Slash, Gaga, and Jay-Z who make a fortune. Unlike cycling, you can become rich in music with no talent. My brother is a music producer in LA. He says some of the greatest musicians are playing for change on the street corner.