I'm Using Acoustic Instruments More and More

[Anderton]

Not really sure why, maybe I've just been doing synths for so long it was time for a change. I'm playing blues harp for solos almost as much as lead guitar, and acoustic guitar along with clean electric sounds for rhythm guitar parts. And I've been using almost all acoustic drum sounds for several years now (granted they're loops, but they sound like a real drummer because they are).

 

But - what's interesting is I haven't given up on synths, and when combined with acoustic instruments, somehow they seem to gain more power. Or maybe it's that acoustic instruments have less of a tendency to hog the frequency spectrum, so there's more room for the electronic sounds to "stretch."

 

Many years ago I got a Lag ukulele and sometimes carry it around the house and play because it's so portable. But two night ago, I used it on a song and you know what? It actually sounded really cool. A recorded ukulele sounds a lot different compared to hearing it in an acoustic space. Guess I'll have to stop making fun of ukuleles in my show reports now.

 

 

[MikeRivers]

Good for you! Next we'll see you writing about microphones. Just don't take up the fiddle or your family will move out and your dog will run away. But you might enjoy a pedal steel with a MIDI pickup.

[Anderton]

Well I used the Neat King Bee on the ukulele. Having an output transformer and a large diaphragm added a nice little bit of "meat" to the sound.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Not really sure why' date=' maybe I've just been doing synths for so long it was time for a change. I'm playing blues harp for solos almost as much as lead guitar[/quote']

 

I've tried a few times, but that's the one instrument that has totally defeated all my efforts to learn it.

 

Guess I'll have to stop making fun of ukuleles in my show reports now.

 

Noooooooooooooooo!

 

[AlamoJoe]

Ok now I want a Uke and Harp song outta ya!

 

[Notes_Norton]

I mix sax (my primary instrument) with flute as acoustic instruments on stage. Oh and voice.

 

Electric guitar isn't really acoustic, but it's not a synth and it's my newest instrument, so I play it a lot on the gig.

 

Along with that I use wind controller with 3 synth modules and backing tracks that I make myself that are all synth.

 

My duo partner plays electric guitar and Thunder Tactile MIDI controller with a synth module. Oh, and she is a fantastic singer (I'm adequate).

 

I agree, mixing the acoustic with the synth is nice, they complement each other.

 

Notes

[nat whilk II]

I truly love synths and use mine all the time, but that tactile, real wood and strings acoustic feel is the only thing that scratches my player's itch. Piano or guitar, electric or acoustic.

 

It's always seemed to me that one of the rarest birds in the musical landscape is the brilliant synth player. There are quite a few fantastic synth programmers and sequencers, but players...that's another thing.

 

I suppose I put Zawinul up there on the top of my list of greatest synth players of all time. It's his versatility - his combination of programming and composition and touch and feel. There are brilliant players who basically play piano-style on synths - but outside of some pitch bending and a little foot controller action, they stay pretty locked in to the piano style. Zawinul molded his playing style to the patch and the patch to his playing style, and everything to the song, creating new sounds and gestures - another entire level of creativity and versatility.

 

Jan Hammer is pretty high in the pantheon, along those lines, too. But his range is still a fraction of Zawinul's synth range IMHO.

 

nat whilk ii

 

 

 

[Mats Nermark]

Guess I'll have to stop making fun of ukuleles in my show reports now.

 

I sense a massive change in media strategy coming.

 

Cheers,

 

Mats N

 

[UstadKhanAli]

I've always mixed electronic and acoustic instruments before. Whether it is aesthetic or my preference or whatever, I feel it sounds better and more complex harmonically.