# Do you still play your instrument?



## JacquesMathias (Feb 21, 2006)

Hi!

Since i've got my first keyboard and an old computer 10 years ago, i've been obsessed for getting real results, either in orchestral, pop rock fields...But it took me ALL the time to keep playing! I was some kind of mad student for my acoustic guitar. Many hours a day...but now...a new sample library excite me more than a new guitar or a nice instrument!  When i see a new announcement i go to my kitchen and prepare a new coffes's bottle to help me through the new informations' reading.  

Am i going to be mad? Are we?


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## Craig Sharmat (Feb 21, 2006)

Yes we are!

this is basically an entire forum created for this disease, and it's not the only one.


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## Frederick Russ (Feb 21, 2006)

Hey Jacques, check out the new guitar controller:

http://www.musicindustries.com/axon/

We saw this at NAMM and the tracking is amazing using any synth, sampler, controller. It blew us away. Will let you use your guitar chops for your sampled and/or virtual orchestra


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## Leandro Gardini (Feb 21, 2006)

I still playing piano everyday...but that mean playing , not studing because I donÂ´t have enough time to study anymore!!!
When I stoped with piano classes I begun to exercice my finger everyday with the famous Hanon technique...it used to take almost 3 hours of techniques everyday , but than I realized that as I didnÂ´t want to be a pianist but a composer I wouldnÂ´t need to much technique , than I gave up :neutral: !!!
IÂ´ve tryed thi last January restart studing Hanon , but itÂ´s too time consuming for a composer  !!!


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## Herman Witkam (Feb 21, 2006)

Of course! Samples are still not a 100% substitute for musical instruments (and I don't think they'll ever be :wink: ), and certainly not for these: http://www.herman-witkam.com/instruments.html


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## JacquesMathias (Feb 21, 2006)

Craig, listening to your orchestral programming, i'm sure you are "The more crazy guy" here... :mrgreen: Very impressive.


Frederick, thanks for this information man! You have helped me a lot! I've been working like an engineer in some studios to make money. You know, i'm not exactly the "rich guy", so i need work and really make money, and like Leogardini also knows, get projects here ( Brasil) is very hard...We can't find. SO, i've not playing anymore, because i'm either recording bands, mixing or composing... I tried some guitar controllers before, but any of them had a reasonable latency. *Have you played with this new one? *


Leo, that's cool man! If you can play and you already have a full time composition, 3 hours a day to keep up your technique it's great , even because i feel that the emotional contact with our intrument increase the creativity.


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## Craig Sharmat (Feb 21, 2006)

Frederick and I were together when we checked it out. It definitly tracked better than the old Rolands. The demo guy had really good picking technique, I slur a lot, but it felt good. I would certainly suggest trying before buying since money is tight.

[schild=18 fontcolor=FF6347 shadowcolor=C0C0C0 shieldshadow=1]The Crazy Man![/schild]


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## Ed (Feb 21, 2006)

Craig Sharmat @ Tue Feb 21 said:


> Frederick and I were together when we checked it out.



Oooh, saucy.


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## Waywyn (Feb 21, 2006)

uhh, this thread hits me hard because once i really was a guitar maniac.

yngie malmsteen was nothing against me and frank gambale called me "little holdsworth" ... well the first one isn't true 

... but now? new sample libs, new plugins. then i am starting to buy some flutes, a violin and completely forget to do my chops on guitar.

but the cool thing is i think i am developing in music in general and not only on one instrument. i really makes me thinking when i see all those virtuosos and know that i didn't make it, but what is that feeling compared to be able to write music with a LOT of instruments.


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## gravehill (Feb 21, 2006)

I have a bit similiar story. I've been playing guitar for 17 years now and it's the instrument I'm the most proficient with. After starting to make music with computers etc I play guitar MUCH less than I used to. There were times when I would seriously practice guitar 8 hours a day and it didn't even feel like a commitment or anything. Now I play maybe an hour a week + rehearsals and concerts with my band. 

Maybe I'll just try to incorporate more guitar stuff on what I'm doing with Chaos Research...

[schild=17 fontcolor=9932CC shadowcolor=FFD700 shieldshadow=1]Guitar is still KEWL![/schild]


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## JacquesMathias (Feb 21, 2006)

Craig Sharmat @ Tue Feb 21 said:


> Frederick and I were together when we checked it out. It definitly tracked better than the old Rolands. The demo guy had really good picking technique, I slur a lot, but it felt good. I would certainly suggest trying before buying since money is tight.
> 
> [schild=18 fontcolor=FF6347 shadowcolor=C0C0C0 shieldshadow=1]The Crazy Man![/schild]



Tight is the better world you could choose...  But, from now i'm starting my composer career, maybe i get some money... :lol: I'm not sure if you had this experience, but working/producing and trying some bad band or artist sounds good was one of the best musical training i could have! 

*THIS ONE IS FOR THE GUITAR PLAYERS:* :mrgreen: 

I was recording some time ago with a band who guitarist had a Gibson Les Paul. Ok, so it was a time for overdub some guitars, double etc...So the guy arrives. I asked him to retune his instrument, i left a good tuner and a small cable to help him in the "TUNING JOURNEY" (it's really boring, i tune more than play). So he answers me:

No thanks man, i've tuned in my home...hehe :shock: Then, he played all the songs without retune his guitar! Nothing that i could speak could convinced him that his guitar was out of tune...


You guys , full time composers are blessed!


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## Waywyn (Feb 21, 2006)

hahaha, good one, of course you should tune your instrument from time to time (speaking in 10-30 min steps when you are in a studio session)

but there is some truth about the Gibson, i heard that many times:
never try to tune it, because you can't tune a Gibson, either you can play it or not


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## JacquesMathias (Feb 21, 2006)

[quote:20483c1f30="Waywyn @ Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:33 am"]uhh, this thread hits me hard because once i really was a guitar maniac.

yngie malmsteen was nothing against me and frank gambale called me "little holdsworth" ... well the first one isn't true 

... but now? new sample libs, new plugins. then i am starting to buy some flutes, a violin and completely forget to do my chops on guitar.

but the cool thing is i think i am developing in music in general and not only on one instrument. i really makes me thinking when i see all those virtuosos and know that i didn't make it, but what is that feeling compared to be able to write musiò3¬   2FÚ3¬   2FÛ3¬   2FÜ3¬   2FÝ3¬   2FÞ3¬   2Fß3¬   2Fà3¬   2Fá3¬   2Fâ3¬   2Fã3¬   2Fä3¬   2Få3¬   2Fæ3¬   2Fç3¬   2Fè3¬   2Fé3¬   2Fê3¬   2Fë3¬   2Fì3¬   2Fí3¬   2Fî3¬   2Fï3¬   2Fð3¬   2Fñ3¬   2Fò3¬   2Fó3¬   2Fô3¬   2Fõ3¬   2Fö3¬   2F÷3¬   2Fø3¬   2Fù3¬   2Fú3¬   2Fû3¬   2Fü3¬   2Fý3¬   2Fþ3¬   2Fÿ3¬   2G 3¬   2G3¬   2G3¬   2G3¬   2G3¬   2G3¬   2G3¬   2G3¬   2G3¬   2G	3¬   2G
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## JacquesMathias (Feb 21, 2006)

The guitar controller Frederick and Craig mentioned sounds interesting but I'm afraid if I've got any money to spend it will probably and unfortunately go towards a library. :mrgreen:[/quote said:


> hahaha....Can you see? Craig is right! This is a disease!


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## Markleford (Feb 21, 2006)

Still love my real instruments most, but I just fall more and more behind in practicing them all. Harshest to ignore are probably fretless bass (I lose my calluses: instant blisters!) and all the brass (lips turn to overcooked pasta!). Luckily things like sax and drums and electric guitar are pretty easy to pick back up intermittantly without being physically self-punishing.

Not much joy for me in samples, but they allow me to do algorithmic experiments immediately.

I'd probably enjoy virtual instruments a lot more if I had a more tactile and expressive instrument like a Continuum controller!

- m


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## TheoKrueger (Feb 21, 2006)

I always turn on my midi keyboard when i'm composing in Sonar but rarely touch it, usually i will play a very simple thing and then move to the sequencer where i develop it .

Haven't grabbed the guitar in ages which is a shame, i used to play hours and hours but now i've forgotten almost everything.

I play Kontakt 2 now, pretty amazing instrument once you practise it a little bit :mrgreen:


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## IvanP (Feb 21, 2006)

Well, I'm still studying, so I guess I do, but I have to divide everything between work, gigs, and academic studying....so sometimes I end up completely screwed!

There aren't enough hours in the day for me and I'm a so slow composer...


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## fictionmusic (Feb 22, 2006)

Neat to see so many guitar players here. 

I practice almost every day regardless of how much work I do otherwise (full-time composer) and I do a lot of gigs as a player and session lad, that is until Christmas.
I am developing tendonitis I think, or maybe arthritis, but as I have broken my wrists several times (riding my 18 speed like a madman) I am beginning to get incredible pains in my hands. Since Christmas, when I took a small break, the pains have stopped.

It doesn't hurt to play as such, but the next morning after a long session I can barely move them. By the evening they seem good again, but every now and then they ache for a whole day. I am going to start practicing for 1/2 an hour a day for awhile and then build it back up to 2 hours.

I too use a gtr controller, a Multiac, and it works fine. Steel strings have problems as do new strings that have lots of overtones, whereas dead nylon strings track really well. Nylon strings aren't as painful to play either.

I miss gtr though...I get antsy when I haven't had one in my hands for awhile (the electric gtr ie...especially my Gibson Howard Roberts hollowbody) and even though the new amp modeler programs are really really greta, nothing beats being plugged in and standing in that sweet spot.


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## fitch (Feb 25, 2006)

i still play to pay the bills :D but i still enjoy it though. I cut down to a part time job with the orchestra i was with for 11 years, just to i can have more time to build up the writing career.

it's a great balance to have both . . they balance each other out and inspire each other half


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