Devo’s “Uncontrollable Urge.” Love playing the Devo. Moves around a bit.
Devo’s “Uncontrollable Urge.” Love playing the Devo. Moves around a bit.
Nirvana “School.” I need to go back and work on this one. Love the drums in this one.
Let me preface this by saying that I am not a musician. My son got me a Yamaha fretless bass to replace the Yamaha bass he took with him to college. He really didn't need to do that, but now there's this bass....
I've been working on the bass riff (which I know isn't actually a bass riff) from Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Yeah, but that riff is fun to play.
That was the first thing my daughter learned to play on her bass. She showed it to me and it was pretty fun.
In reply to Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) :
I think it’s one of those easy-to-play/high-reward things. Plus it has a good groove and you can dance to it.
Good timing with this thread. Drumming practice continues and lessons resume next week. Today I was attempting to learn a few RHCP songs. Under the bridge is pretty straight forward. A few more days to learn all the changes and fills and I'll claim it learned proper. After that I worked on The Power of Equality, which is a very similar beat, but faster and funkier. Also still nailing down Modern Love, by Bowie. I can manage it rather clunkily, but once they smooth out it starts to get really fun. I think the next track I want to force is a Down track from their second album
My "goal song" is Hearts Alive, from Mastodon. Hopefully I can manage a semblance of it by the end of the year.
I've been splitting time between the bass and drums lately.
Bass: I started messing around with alternate tunings, and ended up trying to learn songs off of two polar opposite albums. First is Thursday's emo classic Full Collapse. That one is lots of nostalgic fun for me, and I was able to play through most of the album on my 1st try. The second is the album Symbolic by Death. This one is NOT easy, but I started to learn the songs Symbolic and Crystal Mountain. Those songs are technical and heavy as hell!
On drums, it's been slowing down and mastering stuff I mostly know, mainly to perfect the songs. Been playing a lot of slower stuff, like the songs Sacred Heart by Dio and Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden. In my younger days, it was all about how fast I could play, but that created bad habits. Now, I'm older, wiser, and slower. 
In reply to Tony Sestito :
You’re not being slower. You’re being more efficient–like Tommy Ramone. :)
I'm a sax player and play as part of a 13-piece (give or take) saxophone ensemble. Been trying my hand at arranging some stuff, which is a good learning experience. Saw a CBS Sunday Morning piece on Henry Mancini and was inspired to do an arrangement of the Peter Gunn theme.
I only have a bari and alto at home, so I can't get the whole tonal range. I think it sounds ok-ish (and I'll apologize now for the drumming - it's certainly not a strong suit, and alto is not my main horn, so that's not the greatest, either). Here's the results as allowed by the number of takes the family would put up with. I used the Acapella app on my iPhone for recording, which uses the headset microphone, so that can be improved upon, too..
Way cool, another sax player on the board! If you haven't already checked it out, go to Johnny Fierrera's site, howtoplaysaxophone.org. He has more than 200 really good backing tracks available for around $12 - $15 each, and you can check them all out onlne for free. His versions of Green Onions and Whiter Shade of Pale got me and a friend hooked, we use them for small gigs for dinners, birthdays, senior centers, etc or just for fun. Lots of different styles to choose from.
Keep on playing, I'm 77 and still play bari/tenor/alto and some soprano in a classic rock/blues band and a pretty good regional concert band. Music keeps the old brain alert and young!
In reply to Jim Pettengill :
My father played trumpet in a klezmer band into his 80s, so there's a lot of truth to the power of music. At 57, I'm one of the "old guys" in the group I play in - mostly 20- and 30-somethings, several music educators and conservatory graduates (of which I am neither). We play everything from serious concert band repertoire to jazz, pop, and funk, all arranged for a dozen saxes, so I'm constantly being challenged to stretch my abilities (in a good way). Definitely keeps me on my toes...
A dozen saxes, boy, does that sound like fun! I've played with six (mostly regular quartet arrangements), but a whole sax orchestra sounds great! Have you ever checked out the Nuclear Whales Sax group? They broke up around 2008, but they were an amazing sextet, everything from sopraninos to a contrabass. There are good videos of them on you tube, highly recommended - particularly listen to Casbah Shuffle. I saw them live in Albuquerque back in 2003. Check them out!
In reply to David S. Wallens :
My old drum teacher used to tell me that playing fast was easy. Playing slow, however, was not. It's natural to want to speed up when you're playing, especially after fills. I used to have a terrible habit of doing this, so actively practicing playing slow really helps. I usually don't practice to a click track; I practice to songs, so I always keep a few slower ones in my practice "setlist" for focusing on slow timing.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
My teacher has me practicing to different time signatures, but more importantly to varying divisions. For example, here's a linear beat, practice it at 80bpm. Then practice at the same speed to a 160 click, then at the same speed but with a 40 click. 40 is by far harder to keep on beat.
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