First Song

[Em7add11]

For you instrument players out there....

What was the first song you learned how to play?

My first was Yellow Submarine, from a huge Beatles songbook.

[dawnghost]

hmmm... I started with Green Day songs, that contain 3 or 4 chords and are very easy, but the first "real" song was Stairway to Heaven, I guess.

and I don't even like Led Zeppelin. :eww:


:rockon:

[garthoverman]

House of the Rising Sun

or maybe

Sweet Home Alabama

I don't really remember

[Dilton]

Festa de Rodeio.

[DanielleJoy]

piano- that ''you've got a friend'' song... too long ago to remember

concert bells- a song from a musical adaptation of brave new world

guitar- ''growing up'' by blink 182

[Hitch]

Theme from 'Peter Gunn'.

But I used, as now, a record player.

H

[Em7add11]

I'm working on learning my first classical guitar piece. Ughhhh

[garthoverman]

05-28-2003 @ 10:28 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=110375#post110375)
Em7add11:

I'm working on learning my first classical guitar piece. Ughhhh
The only real classical piece I know is "Greensleeves" aka "What Child is This." I used to know "Silent Night" but have since forgotten all the finger-picking. I can play a finger-picked version of the Allman Brother's "Little Martha" on my 12-string that sounds really cool but it requires tuning the guitar to open-E tuning, i.e. an open strum produces an E major chord and not Em7add11 :wink:

Yours,
Garth

[Em7add11]

Today @ 01:21 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=112859#post112859)
garthoverman:

[...] it requires tuning the guitar to open-E tuning, i.e. an open strum produces an E major chord and not Em7add11 :wink:

I know a guy in a metal band here in town that tunes his guitar CGCGCE for some reason. It's pretty unusual to hear any major chords in his stuff, which makes it kinda funny that his guitar is an open C major chord.

[garthoverman]

Today @ 11:04 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=113112#post113112)
Em7add11:

I know a guy in a metal band here in town that tunes his guitar CGCGCE for some reason. It's pretty unusual to hear any major chords in his stuff, which makes it kinda funny that his guitar is an open C major chord.

Yeah, I used to play around with low open tunings like that. Originally I wanted to play in some weird tuning so that my playing would sound original. It was cool because I could get some really interesting chord voicings, but trying to envision the normal intervals on the fretboard while taking into account the different tuning started to hurt my head after awhile. Now I kinda feel like that approach is sort of a cheap gimmick, and I firmly believe that its entirely possible to be original in something more simplistic like drop D. And I get the added benefit of not having to relearn all of my scales and modes in a different tuning. :teeth:

My latest "cheap gimmick" has been to teach my drummer to play in odd times like 7/4 and 5/8. We even got this one cool bit in 13/8 (I think that's the right time:huh:)

Part of me feels like the odd time stuff is kind of a Tool rip-off because they do so much odd time stuff, but the other part of me feels like no single band should have a monopoly on an odd time signature. :whip:

Ultimately I may have to assassinate Danny Carey. :eek: (j/k)

Edited to add: I think Kim Thayall of Soundgarden used to use the C major tuning that you described. Can't remember for sure tho.

Yours,
Garth

[Em7add11]

Tool is only one fish in a big ocean of music. Meshuggah and Living Sacrifice are big into the off-times as well. I love some of the stuff that Tool does but they have a tendancy to meander in songs. I much prefer LS :teeth:

The more you play around with the unusual meters you'll start to notice you can feel your way through them like you can with 4/4 and 3/4. Once you get the hang of that....hehe....it's fun to switch times. There's a song by LS called "Reach for the Sky" where the beat is counted as 4-3-4-5-4-3-4-6. If you listen to any jazz/fusion you'll see evil things like that more often than not. It really makes you have to think about what you play. The best I've been able to make up on my own so far is a song that has a switch between 3/4 and 4/4 and back again.

A good point:
Now I kinda feel like that approach is sort of a cheap gimmick, and I firmly believe that its entirely possible to be original in something more simplistic like drop D. And I get the added benefit of not having to relearn all of my scales and modes in a different tuning.

Open tunings can help stimulate the creativity sometimes, but it's really just a distraction from the important issue, which is making good songs. I dug a little lower for my favorite tuning that I use now (B F# B E G# C#). I like the extra growl that the notes get when you chunk on the B, but since I have a 24-fret guitar I can still hit the high C# like a standard tuned Strat, hehe. Amen on not relearning scales/modes too. That was hard enough the first time, I don't need to have to learn them again in 4 tunings.

[garthoverman]

05-31-2003 @ 12:35 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=113166#post113166)
Em7add11:

Tool is only one fish in a big ocean of music. Meshuggah and Living Sacrifice are big into the off-times as well. I love some of the stuff that Tool does but they have a tendancy to meander in songs. I much prefer LS :teeth:
Yeah, and IIRC King Crimson does a bit of odd time stuff too. I think my paranoia re: TooL stems from my deep appreciation for their music. I want to incorporate their influence without ripping them off. Its kind of a fine line.

The more you play around with the unusual meters you'll start to notice you can feel your way through them like you can with 4/4 and 3/4. Once you get the hang of that....hehe....it's fun to switch times. There's a song by LS called "Reach for the Sky" where the beat is counted as 4-3-4-5-4-3-4-6. If you listen to any jazz/fusion you'll see evil things like that more often than not. It really makes you have to think about what you play. The best I've been able to make up on my own so far is a song that has a switch between 3/4 and 4/4 and back again.
That bit in 13's that I mentioned before is really just a composite of 3-3-3-4 phrasing. My favorite is anything in 5's and my drummer is becoming very proficient in maintaining that time signature.

Open tunings can help stimulate the creativity sometimes, but it's really just a distraction from the important issue, which is making good songs. I dug a little lower for my favorite tuning that I use now (B F# B E G# C#). I like the extra growl that the notes get when you chunk on the B, but since I have a 24-fret guitar I can still hit the high C# like a standard tuned Strat, hehe.
I think that is the same tuning that Slipknot used to use. I imagine you use a heavier guage of strings, then. There was a time when I was thumping a 62-guage low D up through 13's on the high E. When I moved up to the heavier guage I had to completely readjust the balance of my floating trem because the strings pulled it all out of whack. Now I'm a little more normal with something like 50-something up through 10's. Its a little less taxing on the fingers.

Amen on not relearning scales/modes too. That was hard enough the first time, I don't need to have to learn them again in 4 tunings.
Totally.

Yours,
Garth

[Em7add11]

Today @ 11:26 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=115067#post115067)
garthoverman:

That bit in 13's that I mentioned before is really just a composite of 3-3-3-4 phrasing. My favorite is anything in 5's and my drummer is becoming very proficient in maintaining that time signature.

Yeah, all time sigs can be reduced to some total of 2's and 3's. For reasons I can't quite explain, 6/8 is extremely fun to play. It's not very common in metal which I think is a shame because it's got a different kind of chunk than a basic 4 does. We don't get much more complicated than that for the most part because scene kids might hurt themselves bobbing their heads. :lol:

I think that is the same tuning that Slipknot used to use. I imagine you use a heavier guage of strings, then. There was a time when I was thumping a 62-guage low D up through 13's on the high E. When I moved up to the heavier guage I had to completely readjust the balance of my floating trem because the strings pulled it all out of whack. Now I'm a little more normal with something like 50-something up through 10's. Its a little less taxing on the fingers.

I was told Chevelle used that same tuning on their new album as well. I play with 13's also, which was helpful in reminding me why next time I buy a guitar it's going to have a fixed bridge, hehe. My SG used to be in standard B tuning, but that was just a little too slack. The strings were noticably in and out of tune when I played hard. I'm about to make the switch to flat-wounds because they don't have as much fret noise. One of my favorite distortion effects has a super-juiced up gain and feeds back like a siren when you stand about a foot away. The fret noise is almost overpowering live because of the heavy-gauge of strings. Hopefully this will nip that in the bud.

I think I remember reading once that the guitar player in Coal Chamber played with a .70 low B string. The thought of that just makes my fingers sore. Since he doesn't do leads it's not so troublesome, but I would miss being able to do vibrato with only one finger, hehe.

[Alden]

The first songs that I learned to play:

Trumpet: Ode to Joy

Guitar: Sunshine of your love (cream)

At least I think that it might have been that one :)

[Alden]

I think I remember reading once that the guitar player in Coal Chamber played with a .70 low B string. The thought of that just makes my fingers sore. Since he doesn't do leads it's not so troublesome, but I would miss being able to do vibrato with only one finger, hehe.

that .70 low B is insane! :smile: I don't know if I could get into using super-low strings. I usually stick with a 10's. I've got a Les Paul and a PRS, which (to me anyway) already have a somewhat dark tone. I shudder to think what some of these monster strings would sound like with my set-up. I do a good deal of lead playing, so I think that I would definitely miss being able to bend strings.

[Em7add11]

Today @ 03:05 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=116962#post116962)
Alden:

Guitar: Sunshine of your love (cream)


I'm amazed at how many people recognize that intro lick. It's so much older than me but whenever I'd play it on bus trips people would say, "Dude yeah! Sunshine of your love!"

[Alden]

It is an awesome lick, isn't it? I remember the first time that I pulled off that solo as a teen; I was definitely happy about that one!:rockon:

[Megane]

Hummm...I think my first piece was "Adelita" by Tarrega. Or it might have been that annoying, anonymous song "Romance." Trite nonsense both of them. The first piece I learned that was actually worth learning was the Prelude from BWV 998. Followed quickly by the Fugue and then the Allegro.


Megane.

[Alden]

Impressive:smile:

[Em7add11]

I'm about to embark on learning a Joe Satriani song called "Time."

[garthoverman]

There's a Satriani song called "Echo" that I like... its in 5/4... can't play it (haven't tried) but I dig the beat and the bass line for sure.

-G