So, like, I'm this guy. And like, I do stuff...
Chemist, musician, artist, programmer, coach, husband, dad, uncle, etc.
So yeah.
Advice-wise? There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.
Website: Not My Site!
E-mail: sporkopolis2001@yahoo.com
Gender: Male
Occupation: Chemist
Age: 32
Member Since: October 16, 2003
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I've been playing piano for a good number of years, but not as seriously as I would have liked. I'm 17 now, and really want to get better at piano but am not sure what to look for instructional-wise. While I've played the trumpet, I've never learned to read any music but the treble clef and am having a real hard time with it. I mainly just make up my own chords and get down and dirty banging on my piano. I love jazz, blues, classic rock - and I thought it'd help a lot more to get some sheetmusic of classic rock songs I already know. Anyone know of some good piano sheetmusic I can get my hands on?
I've also really started to get interested in bass guitar. I think it's awesome. I love many a song with a kick ass base line, and I want to learn more. I've mingled with the guitar slightly, It's basically a rearranged piano in my opinion, but had trouble with getting into it. It doesn't quite seem like the bass needs the same approach as a guitar does, though. My boyfriend has an old bass I could borrow. Anyone have tips?
Thanks for anyone replying. (link)
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well, first off on guitar vs. bass:
I replied to someone else just the other day wondering about bass and switching from guitar. Guitar is chord based, while bass is linear. Yeah, you can play chords on a bass, but that's not the instrument's primary purpose.
While I feel that knowing how to read sheet music is important, as knowing how to write it is very important, especially when arranging - you don't have to know how to read it, if you have a good ear. In fact, having sheet music should really only compliment having a good ear - knowing how to listen and play what you hear is very important.
Much of the classic rock sheet music I've run across over the years is, well, fucking terrible. Most of it is awfully written, dumbed down, not true at all to the original song. In fact, some of it, being published and printed by the likes of Warner music and other big-names - is just flat out wrong - not even CLOSE to what the actual song does on the album/cd. I try to use a combination of the sheet music (which is alwasy expensive - the nature of the business), guitar tab (often from www.olga.net) and playing by ear.
There are a good number of jazz fake books... but the best ones ever are these illegal fake books. I don't have a contact anymore on how to get a hold of them. I have volumes I and II in the Key of Eb (for alto sax), but knowing how to transpose, I can adjust the songs to any key. Each book has about 500 pages of transcriptions done in the 70s and 80s by college jazz students. The accuracy and intricacy of what they have in those books is simply astounding.
I might suggest trying to find a few people to jam with that are also multi-instrumentalists. That way, you all could litterally take turns on different instruments. Even better if you can find people with an interest in blues, jazz, and classic rock as yourself. I mean, hell... those are my interests! So clearly, if there are two of us, there's gotta be more ;)
If I can be of any further help to you (assuming my rambling has even been helpful at all) feel free to pop me a question here, or drop in the chatroom for the site (though often I'm just lurking in there).
Good luck!
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i cant afford a trainer...umm what can i eat or drink to make me sing better lol i really want to be able to...and how do u sing from ur stomach? ive heard that u like use ur stomach (link)
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drink lots of water
it isn't that you sing "with your stomach", but that you use your diaphragm and abs to support your lungs to better control your breath, which makes the air you expel for singing more controled and potentially more powerful. When you sing, essentially, your chest should not rise or fall. Inhale by pulling air downward so that your stomach area puffs out a bit - exhale the same way, by pushing from below and keeping your chest level. To do this well, you also need good posture - sit upright or stand, shoulders back, chest out a bit and hold yourself upright. Slouching, craned neck, droopy shoulders - all that makes singing more difficult.
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nebody kno a website that counts words in an essay for you?? (link)
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Most word processors have this function built-in. Microsoft Word, back to early version of the program, can give a word count, as can Word Perfect, AbiWord, WriteNow, MacWrite, StarOffice and the word app in Open Office.
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Hey! Well this is to anyone thats good w/ all this web crap! I was wondering can you get a www.WHATEVERHERE.com web sight w/o having to pay anything or you always have to go to free sights like geocities?!?! and if it is free to do it! Can someone explain to me in deatail what to do. thanks so much! -me (link)
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.com domain names are highly sought after, with domain squatting and fun things like that... because of this, .com domain names can be expensive, thus, you can't just get a .com name for free.
Hosting is never free... there is some price to be paid somewhere, even if it means your site hax a billion ads, banners, and pop-ups on it. And many people find those really annoying.
The web costs a lot of money to run - nothing on it is really free. Bandwidth, disk space, server costs, personel... it all adds up somewhere for someone. Even if you get the appearance that it is free, it really isn't.
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When I get period on my underwear, I try to rinse it out in the sink as soon as possible. My question is this-- should I use hot water to rinse it or cold? I've heard both opinios for the following reasons:
*You should use hot water because it will rinse it out better.
*You should use cold water because hot water will cause it to set and then it will be stained. So I guess my question is, is this true? (link)
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you use cold water to rinse out blood... blood will dissolve better in cold water (due the the contents of blood).
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i've been playing the guitar for almost 2 years now and i'm pretty good at it... my friends want to start a band but they need a bass player... i was thinking about becoming a bass player. has anyone here played guitar and then started playing bass? is there a big difference? how hard is it to play? and how badly will i get calisis on my fingers? (link)
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guitar is based on chords, bass is all linear.
I play both... I started on bass and picked up guitar later. Callouses on bass aren't any different than on guitar - but I finger pick both (aka, I don't use a plastic pick almost ever).
Fundamentally, though the bass guitar is a guitar, it is not at all the same, and the approach to the instrument is very different. You don't play it like a guitar, you play it like a bass - you are part of the rhythm section, not the lead.
Bass techniques like slap/funk, walking bass lines, and other such things are often pretty unknown to most of the guitarists I know. The guitar is almost delicate - the bass is beefier, heavier, and the strings are bigger. You're an octave lower and the bass can rage like thunder, or be fluid and elegant.
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what does "sic transit gloria" mean? i know it has something to do with sex, but what EXACTLY does it mean? thanks. (link)
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It means "glory fades" and has NOTHING to do with sex. It is a common latin expression.
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12 years ago, my hubby was married to a woman that left him for his b/f. He had friends who claimed to be neutral, but were really not (they let ex and b/f use their home as a hotel, and helped the affair in other ways). When we met they became carrier pigeons for her, as did her bro.I put the skids to it. Her marriage fizzled.She kept up trying to corner my hubby about me (b/f and hubby sometimes worked together and she would see him then), and our relationship. She re-remarried, had kids (none with my hubby-thankfully), moved 6 houses away from us, started dressing like me and wearing her hair like me, and walking past our house, looking in our windows. Tried the courts and was told it was a public street and she never left it to look, and cuz she lived there, too bad for me. The only way to stop her was if she became violent towards me. We moved 3 years ago. Last weekend, a relative who is friends with the carrier pigeons wanted to know why I didn't like the ex, and what could she have done to make me not like her, and on and on. Hubby figures if he buries his head in the sand, it will all go away. I say no. We moved 45 minutes away, stopped associating with people who know her. She runs away from me (literally) if she sees me, but when she's with her friends and I'm alone, she calls me names (even did so in front of my son), so confronting is out of the question. I think she needs help and is just plain weird. How do we get rid of her???? (link)
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Yow, that is freaky. Indeed, it sounds like she needs some severe help, possibly medicated. Since you've already moved 45 minutes away, I would wonder if that wasn't far enough (not that moving is just the easiest thing in the world to do). Sadly, the legal implications are correct - they can only do something if violence has been threatened.
At best, all I can think of would be to no longer address her. If others mention her, simply state that for the safety and sanity of your family, you will no longer discuss issues regarding the ex. I am guessing that she thrives off the attention she recieves from all this, and when she acts out against you the way she does, that is yet another way to garner attention. By stopping the attention, by no longer addressing her, by not acknowledging her existence, you cut off the attention she so craves. Hopefully, this will get her to move on with her life.
Good luck.
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I am a 15 yr old who plays sports but i got injured (i fractured a vertebra in my lower back) ne ways i had to sit out for over a month i could not work out... Just a simple yes or no is 5'9" and 140 fat or not ? (link)
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no... 5'9" and 140 is not fat.
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Why does everyone hate emo so much? I'm not complaining, I'm just curious. I personally like emo bands, certain bands, not all. And if you are going to respond to this question, don't just say "Cuz its stupid" I want an honest response, and on honest opinion. Your response is greatly appreciated. (link)
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The genre just has no appeal to me. I find much of it to be whiney, and the music rambling and sometimes pointless. It does not match up to what I like to hear in music, or lyrical content. It just disagrees with what I like.
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I am a thirteen year old female and I got a guitar for Christmas.And I want to learn how to play.Right now all I am able to do on it is play the beginning of The Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes.My family is on a budget and we can't afford guitar lessons.I have tried watching the so called educational DVDs.They didn't help.I'm not a visual learner.I know they have books out there to help people learn but I wouldn't know which one to buy.Is there any other alternative ways of learning for a beginning guitarist? (link)
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I have seen a methods book from deceased guitar virtuoso Andres Segovia. He was a classical guitarist, and absolutely amazing. His techniques are applicable across all styles of playing. You might look to see if the likes of Joe Satriani or Eric Johnson have any books out - I know they both had some videos, but I think they had print instructional material too. Satriani is a very good teacher - he's taught many of the larger names in rock, including Steve Vai and Kirk Hammet of Metallica.
Lots of people talk tablature, too. Tab is a handy resource for learning. I prefer books that present both tab and sheet music together. www.olga.net has some of the best tab I've seen on-line. Might check them out as a starting place.
The website Musician's Friend has some on-line resources. Also, Guitar Magazine and Guitar Player Magazine have series of articles - not sure what they have on-line, but again, worth looking into.
Harmony Central has many and wonderful on-line articles and lessons: http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/instruction.html
Also: http://www.guitarnotes.com/links/instruction/
If you look on Olga, you'll see that a gentlemen has written a kick-ass java-based guitar chord generator - I love playing with that thing - it is really nice. It is a great way to quickly look up guitar chord fingerings and alternate fingerings. It is also a great way to get familiar with different chord voicings.
Also, one of the best things you can do is listen to lots of different kinds of music. Guitarists like Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, Andres Segovia, John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, Paco DeLucia.. all amazing guitarists that have influenced many others. Jazz, Classical, Flamenco, and Rockabilly techniques are all worth at least listening to - even if the music itself isn't your scene, you'd do yourself a great disfavor by ignoring these other musicians. Listening is your greatest tool - listen to what they play, how they play it. Your ears can teach you much.
Good luck! Let me know if I can help you further!
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i play drum set and it's fun, but i never really want to practice or have a lesson. people are always saying "that's so cool it must be so fun to practice" but i get bored. my parents say that if i want to i can take a year off or something, but i think if i do they might get mad or think that i want to quit or something. I also think that if i take a year of or something my teacher will think i want to quit, or maybe i'll decide to quit! i don't know. should i just stick with it or take a risk and take a year off?I DON'T WANT TO DISSAPPOINT ANYONE, INCLUDING MYSELF! (link)
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Ask yourself this: are you playing to please yourself, please others, or because it is a means you can use to express yourself?
Also, do you play in a band of any kind? Perhaps if you don't, you should consider trying a band situation. I always recommend jazz, as it encourages improvisation and communication between the players - it is a great way to expand what you know and moreso how to really play well with others.
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Alrighty... I play guitar... Have been for about a year... And I've never taken lessons. People who play guitar are kinda better then me... Or I think so... Because they all have buddies to play with... The problem is, I'm a female... And guys don't really like playing with me becaus I am a girl... I mean my boyfriends nice about it... of course... He taught me the solo to Knocking on Heavens Door... I thought that was sweet... But he doesnt like play with me... Its not like 'hey come over and jam'... it just comes up sometimes...And like I'm super horrible at bar chords, and theory... So I was wondering if there's any way... any website... any tips... You guys and gals can give me to help me out... I have a super nice guitar... And I mean... I can play songs... thats about it... I don't know any theory behind the guitar... And I want to be more musicaly inteligent not just.. looking up tabs when im bored... Thank you all :) (link)
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ack! I can't find my list! No, really.. I had a list of a few very good sites I've found for music theory.. if I can find it, I'll add it to this answer...
People always like to mention tablature - I use a little tab, but only for getting the basics of songs. This is because most tablature is usually wrong, sometimes really, painfully wrong.
That said, check out http://www.olga.net Not only does Olga have tabs, but it has lots of tools and discussions on chords and playing in general.
Musicians's Friend isn't a bad site to check out either.
Now, as far as learning more songs - I would litterally slap in a CD and just try to play along with it. On bass, I've learned entire CDs from start to finish (I did this alot during high school and college).
Now, I had the basics of theory from being in band playing saxophone. But I learned a lot more on my own just by learning about chords, scales, and chord changes, especially in jazz. You might try picking up a jazz fake book of standards and just look through the songs - see how they used patterns of chords to move the song along. The websites I mentioned in the beginning talk about this aspect of theory, it is actually a rather logical thing, and much of western music tends to follow certain patterns, certain voicings, etc.
Also, if you can find a book that lists the sheet music AND tablature together, those are great ways to learn when you don't know a lot of theory.
It is really unfortunate that people blow you off when it is clear that you are eager to play and want to get better. I'd just keep asking away - eventually they'll realize that gender doesn't have shit to do with ability to play an instrument and you'll have more jam sessions than you know what to do with. Heck, I'd be more than happy to jam with you sometime... you never know...
good luck! let me know if I can help you further
(fyi: I've played sax for almost... *gulp* 20 years, bass for about 16, and guitar since, oh, about 1997).
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so last week I was at camp and this guy and I got to be pretty good friends. We exchanged CDs back and forth all week. He lent me some Grateful Dead that I absolutely loved. However, I don't know much about the album excepting that it was by the Grateful Dead and it was live. It had Sittin' in Limbo on it. If anyone knows any album that fits this description I'd be really grateful (muah ha ha) because I really enjoyed the Dead. (link)
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The Dead had many albums... and the fact that it was live means you're doomed... no, I'm not kidding - you see,the Dead allowed anyone and everyone to record ALL of their concerts. Because of this, what you heard could have been any one of THOUSANDS of live Dead CDs.
Update for ya: I found this site: http://www.deaddisc.com/index.html
disturbing in-depth discography of the Dead...
Personally, I don't have much by the Dead, though perennial favorites like Terrapin Station, Blues for Allah, and 1970's Workingman's Dead are great albums. I'll check with some of my DeadHead friends and see if they can't provide a little more help for ya.
I can't find a reference to the Dead playing that song. I can find the Jerry Garcia Band playing it live, though: http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/SITTLIMB.HTM
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does anyone know of a way to get an anti-depressent(i.e. Zoloft©) without going to see a doctor??? I need something along those lines but i can't tell my parents that i need an anti-depressent for certain reasons. My depression used to be just the common teenage cliche of {boredom + no life + no friends + girl troubles = depression}. Earlier this week i realized it was a much more serious problem when i was alone(drunk + depressed) and for some reason got to thinking that i dont want to live anymore.......So i went downstairs, got a knife from the kitchen, went back up to my room and proceeded to stab myself in the wrist numerous times. It bled all over the place for a while and then i turned really pale felt really cold and also a bit numb....then i just kinda zonked out. The next morning i woke up in a puddle of my own blood, and thats when i realized that i cant do this anymore. So yea my question remains is there any way to get an anti-depressent along the lines of zoloft or ya know something like it without seeing a doctor???
(p.s.) - anyone who says "you should tell your parents" gets a rating of a 1 and i automatically dont like you.... (link)
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This is NOT something you can just up and decide on your own - you are not a medical professional, you are not a psichiatrist or psychologist. And NO, you can't get such drugs without a prescription - and they will likely NEVER sell such drugs without a prescription due to the nature of those types of drugs.
Don't talk to your parents - that's your choice... but it sure as hell sounds like you need to talk to someone... find an adult you can trust and talk to them.
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ok...in my advice column...there were lot of ppl rating me..n da number was 144 n then it went to 133...n now its in 96...how can dat go down like dat?!?!?! hmmmmm =/ (link)
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it's in the faq: http://www.advicenators.com/faq.php
Only the more recent ratings are used in the calculation of your current displayed rating... thus, the numbers will change over time.
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My stomach is feeling extremely, uh.. acidy? acid-like? Is there something I can do to solve this? (link)
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first off - what have you eaten? Anything spicy? Or did you eat really late? That can cause excess acid. Have you tried to calm your stomach by either drinking some water or eating some soda crackers (not just any crackers, but soda crackers)? Might be worth a shot...
secondly - regarding the question not showing up - all questions go through an approval queue - it is a Friday night... moderators who approve things are volunteers and have lives... it happens.
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i'm 14 right now...but my dad keeps bringing up college. i don't think i want to go...i want to be in a band. My dad's gonna make me, i think. i know i've got about 4 years...but what do i do?
i thought about running away with my friends after graduation...is that wrong? (link)
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we had a lot of bands that formed in college... just a little something to keep in mind... ;)
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I'm in 1/2 of a band, and i have 2 questions here i guess..
1. We have only guitarist (myself) and a bassist (my friend.)...how can i find out if anyone is a drummer?
2. I'm kind of nervous to play guitar in front of people...and possibly sing if anyone thinks i'm any good....how do i get over my stage fright? (link)
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best bet is to just ask around... other thoughts are to put up a flyer of some sort asking for drummers to contact you - make sure you mention how long you've been playing and what styles you're looking for. Many music stores will let you post flyers like that - while you're there check out other flyers, sometimes individuals will advertise themselves, so you might just find a drummer looking for a band.
regarding stage fright - just keep practicing, and slowly start inviting friends to listen while you practice... maybe play in a garage with the door up so people just passing by can see, but aren't necessarially watching you.. this way you slowly get used to people watching and listening without being thrust in front of a crowd. Other thoughts are to not look at the whole audience, or just focus on one or two people - or look past the audience, right over their heads. Usually when I'm playing, I'm so into the music that I don't even notice the crowd anyway.
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I'm in love with this guy. He's considerably older than I am. Ok, it's you! I LOVE YOU, MFS! (link)
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LET'S HAVE PUPPPIES TOGETHER!
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