I play guitar.

Got it used, no Instruction manual. Converting media from a looper, to the computer is pretty universal, then taking that and sharing it here is even more common. I just dont know how to do it.

Pretty rad stuff.

I mainly play black metal... sadly. One band I'm in plays it with kind of a rock vibe, and another is more straight forward black metal, but there's also some experimental stuff written for it too. Lot's of really light stuff that could be called indie maybe lyin' around, which is kind of disorganized atm, but hopefully that'll become something one day too.. Oh yeah and just recently I started writing some rap I might make an album of that, but would be too embarrassed to show anyone else. (unless it turned out good.. which is probably pretty unlikely)

As far as samples go, I don't have many. People seem to like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AUvxVjmJtM though.. I wish I had the money to go back to a studio, but instead I'm just trying to put my own together slowly. Just got a wicked subwoofer a couple days ago :rock:

Pretty much this. For just under six years now. Never been in a band, haven't played seriously for about two and half years.

I've been working on sweep picking lately.

It's not going well...

I play bass, and I'm getting better at it.

I don't know any theory and I don't play like a normal bassist, I basically just play a bunch of double stops until I get something that sounds good, then just spaz out with a bunch of effects. If you've heard Lightning Bolt it's kind of like that, but nowhere near as spastic.
I like it, people I jam with get pissed off because they just want me to follow along with root notes.

I find it easier to rake without a pick. Go really, slow. Once you get it down, you can go from amateur sweeper, to expert in a little time. Much like Travis picking, or other finger styles. Once you get it, then you really got it.

Currently turning Punk and Goth Punk songs into Bluegrass Folk pieces. You haven't heard the Misfits until you hear Angel[censored], Travis picked. Or a Hybrid picking version of John Wayne Was A Nazi.

Raking without a pick seems out of my reach. I don't finger pick much. Not even on a classical.

I suppose I can give it a try sometime though. Just like with a pick but with your thumb?

I remember when I went through my obsessed-with-sweep-picking phase that most guitarists I've known have all gone through. I got pretty good at them -- managed to do some full six string sweeps with practice. I haven't played anything technical in so long though I probably couldn't do them easily anymore. Nowadays I like to think that I play with the sounds my guitar makes rather than really playing the guitar itself. I've become a bit of a shoegazer it seems.

I have a long index fingernail that I use as a pick, that and just my fingers. I just find it easier to "feel" the strings with my right hand (assuming your right handed) without a pick. Then again, I taught myself guitar and never used a pick, so I actually find all playing easier without a pick.

Usually when you use your hands over a pick, you play slower but can get more tones and phrases out that you perhaps couldn't with a pick, but if you use your finger as a pick, you can go just as fast (although you have to play a little harder) as if you had a pick, and you can quickly go from say tremolo picking, to hybrid picking, to arpeggio sweeps, without any fuddling with a pick. I'll pick tap with my finger, sweep with my finger, hell I Travis pick with two fingers and most people use three. I love fingers!

With that said, I usually find sweeping more of a subconscious, inadvertent way to get around easily. Especially playing and shredding major and minor octaves. I rarely notice myself doing it, unless I really start going and get into a groove/zone.

Trying to find X-Ray Spex I live Off You tab, but cant find it, anybody know a link to the correct tab?


I like "Shoegazing" surf songs and punk surf. Jack The Ripper for example sounds awesome all grunged out with mass reverb and feedback.

http://www.myspace.com/mikedzines

They're extremely dated and way past their time, but they still kind of demonstrate my ability to play the drums, piano and also sing.

I was supposed to go on a tour across Canada playing these songs, opening for a friend of mine, and I was then going to send my buddy at a record label a EPK after my supposed success after the tour but the band I was supposed to play with bailed on me.

I also held a couple of my songs back so I could release more music quickly as fans built on the hype but I never got that far...so I guess I should upload them eventually.

To do list for tomorrow:

-Try sweep picking with a pick
-Get frustrated and throw pick
-Force myself to try finger picking it
-Look up Travis Picking

Also, I use this app on my phone called gStrings for tuning. I'm looking for an easy way to tune half step down (Not by ear), but there are no flats, only sharps on the list of tune-able notes. How would I tune down?

I kind of just spaced out when we went over that in band class :/ Probably a stupid question.

One notes sharp, is another notes flat. A sharp=B flat for the most part. That's what your asking right?

You can look up Travis picking anywhere, but for a brief description, its basically an easy way to get a good country/bluegrass/folk sound. And like sweeping, once you get it, you've got it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ElG1S6u4c8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJkN4KNbkmg

As you can see, its all about the left hand, since the right hand is pretty much picking the same pattern, and once you start, its easy to keep going. Its actually easier to play fast while Travis picking, and you'll make more mistakes when you slow down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fqvEbkjBNQ



For anybody wanting to learn some good practice routines, step 1. Try putting your hand on the table like it was the guitar, only thing touching the table should be your pinky. Start playing the table with a down stroke on your thumb, then a up pick with your index finger. Do that over and over again without stopping.

Step 2. Go to your guitar and left hand a easy chord, barre A Major, E Major open, GMajor open etc. and pick this same pattern. Your not even doing the Travis pattern, but your getting conditioned so you dont have to worry about your right hands pattern actions.

Step 3. Go look up the pattern. its easier to see, than for me to do describe. Go slow on opens, E Major open for instance is the beginning of Folsom Prison Blues. Start at Open C and your starting Woodie Guthrie's Railroad Bill. Now start running with the left hand and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWHymh0efvU.

If done right, and fast, it will sound like two guitars are playing. One playing the Bass rhythm and the other playing the melody at the same time. Thus is Travis Picking and its great appeal. You start picking like that on a guitar and it turns heads. I love 6-string banjos because of the crazy picking you can do with Travis and hybrid style picking, without knowing how to play a real Banjo. You can go Deliverance real easy with this style.

Yeah. Thanks. I've been trying to get the tuning down for some simpler songs. Fight For Your Right (To Party) by the Beastie Boys and Shine by Collective Soul. Shine is in drop D half step down.

Too much of a hermit to deal with a band...

http://www.unsigned.com/raydaider

Been a 'hobbyist' musician for nearly 35 years.

We should all make a song together.

PIANISTS FTW!