Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on June 16, 2011 at 11:35am

Oops sorry John......

Actually it has become such standard fare that I may have assumed too much there. Basically I have a program that is a multi-track recorder, and some digital effect plug ins, and some digital instruments/synths, drum synth, a bunch of loop tracks,  and such. Fun to play with but the learning curve can be a bit steep for actually doing any useful work, so the Workstation part should be changed to Toy I believe! With the interface I can input via an instrument and/ or microphone and expand my play. Now if I could just find a time expansion machine....... 

I'll look at the notation app, Thanks. A program that is compatable with various instruments, tunings and such would be awesome. Havent found one I liked or found useful yet.

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Permalink Reply by Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw on June 16, 2011 at 12:29pm

Hi Mark.

Well, on these matters, as on so many others, I am easy to leave behind.

If you try MuseScore let me know how you get on with it.

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on June 17, 2011 at 4:12am

Although, I can write tab, I find that recording my performances offers for me the best way to quickly record a rendition. Not that my repertoire is that expansive, but I tend to play more songs on the streets than others. Some although I like how they are arranged for some reason don't get that much air play.

It is difficult to keep them all under my fingers, so I am contantly relearning my own material. LOL My mind is definitely not as sharp as it was 30 years ago. At a seminar, someone asked John Renbourn to play a certain song. He said, Only if I can remember it. I guess when you composed 1000s of songs it gets real crazy.

Sometimes I think more like a painter. The video is the canvas and that the performance is the actual final piece of art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqLc5zjp-po&feature=channel_vide...

A wonderful thing today to be able to record video a good quality video for very little money. We didn't have any of this when I was a kid. 

In the other case, busking on the subway platform, the venue is the canvas and the fleeting time the music is in the air is the art. So, the music and lyrics have to be solid in your mind and body.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onXcQirQMok&feature=channel_vide...

Totally two different approaches for me, video and live. Thanks for asking. Enjoy.  

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Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on June 17, 2011 at 6:18am

I usually store guitar phrases on Audacity in bits as soon as i can if possible and build on them later, ideas for lyrics get written down on anything available to hand, frustrating if they don't get written down and forgotten!   I have a few half written songs waiting for a tune or lyrics waiting for a chorus, though the last one dropped from the sky as it were, and came together comparitively quickly, though just a simple song with borrowed guitar phrases!  Start with something simple and build on that. (-:

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Permalink Reply by c# merle on June 17, 2011 at 6:44am

i use the voice recorder on my wee mp3 player. don't get much more portable than that, and then upload into audacity on the pc.

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Permalink Reply by Colombia Lobon on June 18, 2011 at 8:40am

when i am out and about i use my android recording device on HTC phone rough, simple but does the job.

at home i use a Mac also - started simply by playing the song into garage band using mic built in the com. - very straightforward

then after around 6 months i bought a Snow Ball USB mic - around £70 great quality

then I  bought a mixer and upgraded mic etc but a gradual progression

 

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Permalink Reply by Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw on June 20, 2011 at 8:03am

Thanks to Keni Lee, Steve, C# and Colombia for sharing your respective methods. One thing that I find interesting and a little surprising (remember that I am still relatively new to all this, with no previous guitar knowledge) is that nobody has said that they write it as musical notation. Is there a reason why normal notation doesn't work for this style of music? I would have thought that it was better suited than tabs, but then I am probably missing something (many things). Anyway, this has been very useful, so thanks again.

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Permalink Reply by Vaughan S. Nelson-Lee on June 20, 2011 at 9:35am

I think it is probably because CBGs are  a more casual instrument for most people.

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Permalink Reply by Crow on June 21, 2011 at 10:18am

normal notation would work fine, if you could write and read in normal notation, but vaghan s. nelson-lee hit it on the head, i think, that the cigar box guitar is a "casual" instrument. the point is to work within your own limits, with what you have, and over time you get better. i have been reading tabulature for a long time, because it was relative to the guitar that i was playing, reading sheet music is WAAAY beyond me. tabbing for three string would be a super easy way to record ideas, but it's also very slow.

the most NATURAL method of capturing an idea is to record a video of yourself playing. that way you don't have to stop and write, then try to figure out where you were, and play two more notes, then write them down.... get a cheap camera or use your smartphone (if you have one) to make a quick video of you playing the piece that you're working on. when you watch the video, the tune will quickly come back to you , and over time, you'll become more accustomed to hearing pieces of your own little tunes and quickly remembering how to play them.

 

actually recording and mixing music takes a whole other set of skills and talent, and is loaded with frustration. the easiest, and again most natural, way to record, is in one shot, in front of a recorder, in a room that has the kind of echo or background effect that you like, in a place that you practice all the time, so you're the most comfortable.

 

hope all this helps, roadkill. and show us what youve got sometime! :D

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Permalink Reply by Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw on June 21, 2011 at 12:55pm

Thanks Vaughan and Crow.

Yes. Makes sense. I certainly see the need to get the music down in a fairly easy way, otherwise you loose the flow of it, or I certainly would.

Thanks again for the help.

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Permalink Reply by One String Willie on June 22, 2011 at 1:49pm

When I am noodling on the diddley bow, I work on a riff until it starts to come into focus and then record it on a Zoom H2, usually giving the bottle or pipe positions verbally as I play slowly.  then I record the playing up to speed.  I then put the normallized sound file into a folder and when I get about 30 minutes worth of riffs, I put it onto CD and listen to it in the car as I go to and from work.  Lots and lots of things that I do would be forgotten then next day if I did not do this.

 

Best regards, Willie 

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Permalink Reply by Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw on June 23, 2011 at 1:30am

Hi Willie.

Thanks for the advice. It seems that you have a great method of working. I really like the idea of listening to them over and over in the car. Thanks for that.

All the best.

John

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