Finally, an absorbing hobby
Monday, April 09, 2007
So I've decided on a very time consuming hobby. Digital music production. I know I've talked about it before, but I'm prettttty sure I'm sticking with it now, so I thought I'd explain it. I'm aort of happy about it, but I'm also starting to dread getting sucked into this as a pastime.
Anyway, digital music is no simple thing. You need to make use of tons of software, and invest in boatloads of hardware to make it work, and even after that, you need to muster the creative energy to crank out a few tunes. I think I have plenty of the creative juices to squeeze out, unfortunately I've never been one to enjoy spending vast amounts of money, nor do I enjoy reading manuals and learning very very task-specific technical knowledge. I am, however, quite handy with electronics, so I'm not too worried.
I've been browsing the world of production software off and on for about 4 months now, and just tonight I finally found exactly what I'm looking for. I found out what programs and hardware, specifically, that Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails' frontman and creative force) used to produce both With Teeth, and my new favorite album ever, Year Zero: Native Instruments. Native Instruments is one of the leaders in digital production. I used their website to find the basic info on what I need to do what I want, and where to get it, and how to use it, etc. Anyway, after gathering all that info, I found that all of these programs are extremely complex, and I was going to need an in-depth tutorial, rather than an overview to figure them all out. So it was off to my good friend the Wiki. Gotta love piles of information.
So essentially, I'm in the learning stages of digitally producing my own unique sound. In the meantime, I'm also teaching myself piano, and making sure not to slouch in my guitar and singing skills.
Whats my goal? I want to express my opinions and emotions in a large, evergrowing body of musical compositions. I've already got a growing stack of lyrics, and once I get down this computer shit, I'll have a medium. Then what? Then I'm gonna share it with everyone! And maybe if lots of people like it, I'll get a couple fans. Can never have too many of those. I'll keep posting my progress on piano, vocals, guitar, and this computer stuff so you'll all know when to expect some music. And hey, if you wanna help, let me know, I'm sure theres something you could do.
Posted byJoe at 10:58 PM 0 comments
Labels: digital, guitar, hobby, instruments, learn, music, native, piano, production, sing, vocals, wikipedia
Morning Glory
Saturday, March 24, 2007
A new video, and a blog on last night's events:
Watch, comment, and rate it on YouTube
The video is a freestyle guitar and vocal performance by John Kaplan, Chris Daly, and I. I was inspired for some strange reason, to sing a strange song about an animal called a "Wildabeast"
Why? Morning Glory. Seeds that anyone, even a small child could buy, from any store that specializes in gardening. The seeds and the flowers contain a chemical known as LSA or d-lysergic acid amide. This chemical is generally considered a precursor to LSD, but in my experience with it, it is very well a force to be reckoned with on its own. In case you're wondering how closely the two are related, LSD contains a chemical called lysergic acide diethylamide. I later read that LSA is, in quantity, 10-15% as potent as LSD, but large quantities would have to be consumed (of the seeds, since they have only trace amounts of LSA in them) in order to gain some type of psychedelic effect. 350 seeds turned out to be enough. It turns out that each seed contains about 1ug (1 microgram, or .0o1mg) LSA. That means we took in .35 mg of LSA. The average "hit" dose of LSD in the 1960's was 100-150 ug. Using the data that says LSA is 10% as potent as LSD, then we took in 2.3 - 3.5 hits of acid. Menards sold me drugs.
As for the effects; more that I had anticipated. The seeds were very bitter, and upset my stomach quite a bit. I nearly vomited. However, I found that when I went outside, the fresh air helped my nausea disappear almost completely. I breathed deeply.
Suddenly I noticed an odd feeling. A tingling sensation at the back of my neck, like someone was watching me. I felt the presence of a handful of people walking around me. It sort of felt like walking around in the mall, but not being able to see all the people. I felt like I might bump into someone, so I walked slowly. Suddenly, I felt one of the negative effects I had been warned about: a leg cramp. I promptly laid down. It was late, and the moon was out, as well as the few stars that had managed to outshine Saint Paul's light pollution. They all appeared to be moving about, slowly migrating across the sky. I was getting cold. Shorts had been a bad choice. I decided to go back inside.
Once inside, I felt somewhat claustrophobic. My nausea came back a bit, but not nearly as bad as before. I drank some water to settle my stomach a bit, and then went off to socialize. The effects were no longer slowly approaching, it was difficult to walk, and I could hardly hold a conversation without bringing up some strange topic, or using some sort of imaginary word. I felt unusually social. I couldn't seem to run out of things to say. Then I heard something beautiful: a guitar. My guitar, in fact. John was playing it. We decided to write a song. We soon found out that the seeds had both amplified and warped my creative abilities. I said so many strange, half-coherent things in my some 10 minutes of freestyle jamming, I don't know where it all came from. I also enjoyed story telling very much that night, and thus my song vaguely resembled an epic tale.
Time seemed to be moving quite slowly, for the whole night seemed to last something like 10-15 hours. I actually went to bed quite early (around 1am), and managed to wake up to a very unpleasant hangover/comedown, as well as a limp from one particularly bad leg cramp. The effects of this hangover lasted a full 24 hours.
Was it worth it? Yes. This experience vastly changed my perspective on psychoactive chemicals. And though I don't have any desire to completely quit using such substances, I really can't bring myself to use them as frequently after this experience (at least, with out some guilt). It changed my views on music, and on frequent use of such substances, and most importantly my views on my own mental health. I have no doubt, that if I were to eat those seeds more than a few times annually, I would go insane.
I hope this was a helpful little story. If you plan on using the seeds, please let me know, I can give you all the info you need, and maybe a bit of advice on how to go about it :)
Posted byJoe at 4:13 PM 0 comments
Labels: acid, amide, drugs, freestyle, glory, guitar, jam, LSA, lysergic, morning, performance, seeds
Playing guitar and self-expression.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
I feel that everyone should play an instrument. That doesn't mean taking lessons, or even devoting much time to it. Music is a fun hobby for me. I took piano lessons, and have spent probably a total of 5-10 hours in my life being professionally taught how to play guitar. I have been self-teaching myself guitar for about 5-6 years now.
I guess the secret to being self-taught isn't anything like practicing EVERY DAY until you're good, its enjoying it. How can you develop a hobby if you aren't enjoying yourself. The reason so many people get hooked on things like videogames is because they're fun... immediately. You don't have to learn to play a videogame, you just pick it up and within 5 minutes, you're shooting, slashing, or passing the football, whatever. However, with an instrument, there are pitfalls. Especially with guitar. For one, before developing callouses on my fingers, it hurt like hell. Thats about the only part that required determination for me.
But the secret, really to teaching yourself guitar: have fun. Don't try to play some hard fucking song and fail horribly, then just look yourself in the mirror and say "WOW I suck." What I did was fucking rock out. It didn't sound to great at first, but I really got to know the instrument by playing whatever I wanted. I hummed tunes, then sounded them out on the guitar. I looked up chords and dicked around with them, even if it was some simple little song that went something like E A E A E A E A A A A A EEEEE (One of my all-time greats).
I feel sort of bad, because I have a few friends that have tried to pick up guitar as a hobby rather than go get lessons. And being slightly better than them, I almost feel like a hindrance, because since I'm self-taught, if they don't pick it up quick they feel like "I'll never be that good" or something like that. Well, maybe that isn't true, or maybe it is. The fact is, it took me like 5 years to get this good lol. Yes, I was once strumming out Smoke on the Water just like you.
Another misconception is that some people have "more musical talent" I don't think this is true at all. Its all just a matter of how you view music. I have a very open-ended view of all music, and all genres, therefore, its easy for me to relate to and understand the sound and structure. If you start really listening to what makes up the music you listen to (the drums, the bass, the guitar, the vocals) individually, I guarantee your "musical talent" will increase.
Anyway, for all you aspiring players, heres a few links that I found useful:
Ultimate Guitar Tabs
Chords Charts
Guitar Tips
Happy playing. Hopefully you'll be shredding in no time.
By the way, if you enjoyed reading this, let me know with a comment :D
Posted byJoe at 4:16 PM 0 comments
Labels: chords, guitar, instrument, music, self, tabs, taught
