Do You Play In a Band?

[english_bob]

No. Been studying and living in different places. I'll be looking for one as soon as I settle in one place and get a job. I have a friend who's working on an album, but we live halfway across the country from each other at the moment so there's not much going on there either...

I started coming to HC to work out how to get the sounds I wanted for a band I was in. I definitely play better when I have a band to work with.

[pinkzep52]

Yup

[willburford]

yeah, sort of. I play on the worship band at my school/church. we don't write the songs, but we have the task of making them interesting seeing as most are in the key of E or G and follow a I - V - VI - IV progression. or a I - IV - V.

that's where cello bows, drum machines, mandolins, and reverb, delay, and vibrato come in.

[MacBradley]

Did. But they all recently just called it quits without hearing my input. Now the hunt begins again, but everyone wants to play death metal.

Hey!!! The only "band" I'm in right now is a two man metal band and I use almost every effect I have just in the one song on the site, not to mention the other 4 that just need vocals to be finished!

But then again, all the guys your talking about probably take their metal so seriously that they're afraid to try anything that doesn't fit metal's cookie cutter cliches that only the cookie monster himself approaves of.

Check it:

www.myspace.com/amputatedlimbs

and for the love of peace, download the file if your on a broadband connection.

Pedals I use on it are the WH-4, ph-3 on step mode, fuzz factory ( i think I did anyway ), GE-7, and DD-20.

[MathiasWilliam]

yeah, sort of. I play on the worship band at my school/church. we don't write the songs, but we have the task of making them interesting seeing as most are in the key of E or G and follow a I - V - VI - IV progression. or a I - IV - V. that's where cello bows, drum machines, mandolins, and reverb, delay, and vibrato come in.

hahah yus!

My brother used to bow his guitar at church, it was a good touch:)

[DylanWilde]

My board isn't very massive or elaborate, so my sounds tend to not have any crazy MBV-esque or bizarre ambient things going on. However, on my band's myspace (see sig) you can hear things like a big muff with a whammy upper octave and a bit of echo throughout "Two by Two", which is one of the more guitar/rock oriented songs of mine.

The reality is that I only use guitar for half my songs, roughly the other half being organs, keyboards, mandolins, whatever I can get a hold of, and for the guitar songs I don't use effects to an extreme degree, just to capture what works for the song itself. I can create stranger moods with more interesting instruments like vibes or glockenspeils or synths(i.e. vibraphone lullaby), or I can create more traditional hooks with piano parts ("Trolley") or just an acoustic guitar ("Bedside Regiments") that work better than a guitar through a POG through a Mutron through a Timefactor through an atom bomb or whatever. . .

In the end, it's just what works for the song, whether it's a heavily processed fuzz guitar with oscillating delay or it's a toy piano and an old organ drone. Just because you have crazy effects, doesn't mean to have to use them every time you write something, and I guess it's actually best to keep them rare and effectively sparse/surprising.

[MacBradley]

I have a friend who's working on an album, but we live halfway across the country from each other at the moment so there's not much going on there either...

 

 

You live in the UK, right? So it's like a 10 or 15 minute drive then. :poke:

[ReckedTrek]

Yes, and I'm using about 5-6 pedals.

When I'm not in a band, I usually end up with 9-12 pedals on my board at any given time.

[Noise...]

All of these MySpaces I must be linked to.

 

I haven't even made them yet. I basically just have a few tracks from each project on my hard drive.

 

I'm hoping to finish up some more of the noise/electronic stuff today if I get a chance.

 

Either way, all three will probably end up being posted for free download.

 

I'll be sure to post threads when I get myspace pages up.

 

 

Oh, and just for the hell of it, my gear list for these projects;

 

Instrumental;

 

Guitars: MIM Strat, CIJ Jaguar HH

 

Pedalboard: DE7>NYC Big Muff>Flanger Hoax>SMMH

 

Bass: Squier Vintage Modified '70s Jazz Bass (with flatwounds)

 

Pedalboard: NYC Big Muff>SMMH

 

Keys: ALL VSTi. MrRay73 for Rhodes, and a Moog VSTi I can't remember the name of.

 

Drums: Gretsch Four Piece Kit, Zildjian cymbals, Remo Pinstripe heads

 

 

Electronic/Noise;

 

Lots of ambient VSTi's, DE7, Flanger Hoax. Possibly some drum machines on a few tracks.

 

8-Bit;

 

LSDJ running on a DS. Pretty basic, but I've gotten good results.

[TomCTC]

That I do. Lead guitar and backup vocals in an alt-country band. Link in my sig.

The songs on the myspace are the better part of a year/two years old. They're drawn out for me at this point, and I only played slide on two of the tracks at the time. We are recording our next record the weekend of the 23rd/24th, and then have 3 more sessions booked in September to finish it off. Recording all off the floor, which is really exciting.

Effects wise, the older songs have nothing more than a TS-808 and a Muff on them for my slide parts. The newer songs I use alot of rotary speaker simulation doing chord comps for the quieter songs, and do alot of reverby compressed Telecaster pickin' stuff. Then for solos, I'll boost with a Rat and go to town. Very stripped down stuff, but I do plan to add in a POG down the road, as I'll be throwing alot of B3 on the record, and an RC-2 with a tap tempo to play seperate violin/pedal steel parts live through the P.A. Should be fun.

[willburford]

hahah yus! My brother used to bow his guitar at church, it was a good touch

 

yeah, definitely! it's a tough balance, though. because you don't want people focusing on you as musicians, and yet as a musician you can't subject yourself to playing the same thing every time the same way. It's hard to get people to stop looking at you and start focusing on the lyrics with a cello bow, so I don't use it as much as I'd like.

[bisticles]

I had a hard time getting into a band after college, but I found a couple of guys who also have 9-5 day jobs and similar low-hanging-fruit goals, and we've been picking up songs every week. Just did our first "gig" last night, a backyard housewarming party. Not a whole lot of people, but those who were there seemed to enjoy it. Good practice for next time.

[valvestate]

yeah, sort of. I play on the worship band at my school/church. we don't write the songs, but we have the task of making them interesting seeing as most are in the key of E or G and follow a I - V - VI - IV progression. or a I - IV - V.

 

 

yes, same here. I play at least 3 times a month in two different Church. Pretty cool actually... If I'm not in a band, I will not spend anymore time with purchasing gears.... just totally not worth it for bedroom players IMHO.

[Just Mike]

Yeah, I play in a classic rock cover band. I use an OCD in front and a Duncan Pickup booster and either a Roland GP-8 -or- a Boss GT-6 in the loop.

[rileykill]

yep

[light years]

in my sig. but were not together anymore

[Amplifier Worship]

Yup.

www.myspace.com/regularjohnmusic

[Kayzer]

only to reason the fact that i am buying so much gear! See my signature ;-)

[goodhonk]

just play at church now, use fuzz, delay, comp. when i was in a band, all i used was a wah and amp distortion. those were the days.

[Brian Krashpad]

I'm in 3 local originals bands (linked in sig), but none has been playing very often lately. I only use one or 2 pedals, an OD and a volume pedal.

Am in auditioning process at my church so I can at least get in a few songs per week in public. I may add some sorta multi-effects pedal for that gig, but in general I follow the "KISS" philosophy: "keep it simple, stupid!"

[Ice Monster]

only to reason the fact that i am buying so much gear! See my signature ;-)

 

 

Oooh. I do like "When The Promise Of Forever" quite alot. What is the second chord you play there? Very beautiful yet dissonant.

 

Hmm. I'm not normally into stuff like that I guess. I like all the instrumentation, but I can't really get into the vocals. But the extent of my death metal is Opeth. lol

[Jon Hiller]

I used to be, but am not currently, unless you count our on again, off again worship band at my church. I DO play in a band situation a few times a year, though, as I sit in with the pit orchestra/band for the local community college for their musical productions, and for their choir's easter cantata. This has been a lot more musically satisfying than I first thought it would, it has stretched me quite a bit as a musician, as I have never really been much of a lead player but I have had to be for a few things, so it's forced me to better myself. The last two the college has done were Fame and High School Musical, which we had a kid who's new to the college this year (and a really, really knocked out player) play lead for, so I didn't have to cover any lead work except for one song that we decided to trade off on. The kid was real easy to play alongside, which made it fun, and I learned a good bit from it. Both plays were fun musically, too, but for different reasons. I love the music from Fame, it's really diverse, a lot of different styles. HSM was fun because most of the crowds were kids who were screaming and singing along, the loudest crowds I have ever played in front of, easily. We were using headphones for monitors and at a couple points we were having trouble hearing ourselves because the kids were screaming so loud! The music was catchy, but if it hadn't been for the crowds, wouldn't have been nearly as fun as Fame was, at least for me. If you ever get the chance to play in a pit band situation, you should do so, it's really a cool thing to get to do. This fall they're doing Wizard of Oz, and next spring they're doing Grease. Fun times.

 

My old band might be getting back together for a few things now and then too, since our one original guy is back within a couple hours of us now. It would be cool to get together and play some music again, for sure. I've talked to all the guys and they've all suggested it, so we may have to do that.

[Kayzer]

Oooh. I do like "When The Promise Of Forever" quite alot. What is the second chord you play there? Very beautiful yet dissonant. Hmm. I'm not normally into stuff like that I guess. I like all the instrumentation, but I can't really get into the vocals. But the extent of my death metal is Opeth. lol

 

 

Thanks i am playing a dropped C Tuning and the first 4 chords in tabs would look like this (on the 3 lower strings ;-)

 

7 8 14 15

5 4 12 11

5 4 12 11

 

This should be right but i dont have a guitar here at work and i am only 99% shure...

[kidofthecorn]

In a band, and if you check our place at reverbnation youll find some half decent demo recordings with our songs and the massive (over) use of effects such as Compressor, Wah, Phase, Chorus, Trems, Fuzz, OD/Dist, etc... Since we decided to produce ourselves trough a sort of home studio at our practice place... the recordings are a little rough... Anyway, We'd love to get some input form you guys!

www.reverbnation.com/rainyseason

[Inspector 71]

I am in a Non-performing band. (currently)

I use :
Bad monkey
EHX English muff'n
EHX POG
Dano Chicken Salad
Dano Fish & Chips

I sound aight at times. I mostly use the OD pedals and add the POG for a 12 string sound.