Blog #5
I just recently aquired a guitar from my older brother. It is a 6 string acoustic and sounds great, the only problem is I dont know how to play it. He taught me a few basic things when I saw him but it wasnt enough to go writing songs or playing comfortably. I decided to look at some youtube videos about how to learn simple songs. That was cool for a while but playing only a few things over and over is boring. I decided a more fun way to get aquianted with the guitar was to just play on my own without really knowing how. I am a musical person and understand key and pitch and tone so knowing what sounds decent and not so decent is easy. So, I started improving. I came up with a few cool ideas and wrote them down in hopes that I can go back to them once I get really comfortable with the guitar. I guess I am just really excited to have a guitar and am excited to keep exploring the instrument.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Improv Exploration
Blog #4
Good news…I got my leg back. I can once again play drums and feel comfortable doing it. Since my knee was injured I have been experimenting with alternate techniques of playing which seemed to aid my improvisation style. Now that I have my leg back I actually feel like my ability has gotten better, so rather than keep using one leg I have decided to do a few things that may help aid my improving.
One thing I found very fun was using my drum pad and having another person listen through the headphones to what I was playing but only they could hear it. Since I was completely unaware of what exactly it sounded like I started ‘communicating’ with the person by watching their reactions to what I was playing. Sometimes they would look bored, so I sped up and they seemed to enjoy that, and then I may turn the volume up and they wouldn’t exactly like that. It was a very fun experience to do that.
Another technique I used was mixing up the drums I was playing. I would play a tom as if it were a high-hat, and put different cymbals at the toms, and the bass drum would actually sound like a snare. It sounded weird, but every once in a while I would play a cool jam and realize that I would never play that on a traditional style kit.
I guess the point I am trying to make here is that you can teach yourself how to improvise by trying new techniques. When I jam with people again I will most definitely play with some of these new techniques I have learned. I feel like if your unsure of what your playing then you will be a great improviser.
One thing I found very fun was using my drum pad and having another person listen through the headphones to what I was playing but only they could hear it. Since I was completely unaware of what exactly it sounded like I started ‘communicating’ with the person by watching their reactions to what I was playing. Sometimes they would look bored, so I sped up and they seemed to enjoy that, and then I may turn the volume up and they wouldn’t exactly like that. It was a very fun experience to do that.
Another technique I used was mixing up the drums I was playing. I would play a tom as if it were a high-hat, and put different cymbals at the toms, and the bass drum would actually sound like a snare. It sounded weird, but every once in a while I would play a cool jam and realize that I would never play that on a traditional style kit.
I guess the point I am trying to make here is that you can teach yourself how to improvise by trying new techniques. When I jam with people again I will most definitely play with some of these new techniques I have learned. I feel like if your unsure of what your playing then you will be a great improviser.
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