Paco Dennis
SF VIP
- Location
- Mid-Missouri
I have play guitar for 55 years.
I absolutely love chord melody on the guitar....you can play melody and Chord changes with being very inventive. You made a great choice going down that road. I played in groups always...so it was either rhythm or lead. I have to admit that I have pushed the distortion button for many years.I play guitar and piano. There is a broad range of styles in the area of guitar. My interests tend toward acoustic fingerstyle i a style known as "chord melody". On piano that would be called "cocktail piano". I have never really understood why the difference in terms other than the word "piano". I have never been inclined to sing and never developed much taste for electric guitar, especially when cranked up and distorted. Anyway, that is my take in a nutshell.
55 years is a long to be doing something. You must be really, really good by now.
Tony
Though not my style of music, I recognize when it is done well. So...well done!I started playing guitar back when I was in High School. I'd practice at my house then go out on weekends and jam with other local musicians. Then later I started playing in bands and doing gigs. Just local stuff, nothing fancy but I was having a ball.
And that's what I did till 2010 when I decided to make a switch from playing out and about. I did some research and we put together a little modest recording studio. Then we started writing and posting our own songs on SoundCloud. That worked out great and put a whole new twist for us playing music. Right now though we're in limbo cause of the corona bug..
I'll put our band link below if you're curious. They're just some homemade tunes we wrote and recorded while learning how to do it all on the fly..
Go to our web page, here
My parents resisted my interest in guitar. When I was in 5th grade (the only grade school year I went to public school), my teacher offered to teach any of us guitar after class. He said he would give the kid who improved the most, a guitar. Instead, my parents had me play violin in the school orchestra. I never had lessons for that or for playing trumpet in the high school marching band later on. In both cases, I had to teach myself.I absolutely love chord melody on the guitar....you can play melody and Chord changes with being very inventive. You made a great choice going down that road. I played in groups always...so it was either rhythm or lead. I have to admit that I have pushed the distortion button for many years.
Well, my parents got me my first acoustic when I was 13. I was so excited that I open tuned it to a major chord and played "Louie Louie" for days until my fingers hurt so bad I HAD to stop.
Oh YES you are a musician.I'm not really a musician but for the last 15 years I have been chording my Epiphone left handed guitar and singing. I do 4 songs twice over each morning from a collection of just over 1,070 songs. Love to sing those old songs, mostly but not only country songs. Apparently, playing and singing is really great for keeping me away from dementia and Alzheimer's. So far so good! Touch wood!
In my personal view, anybody who plays music is a musician. I am glad I didn't stay with it as a career because I would probably be burned out on it by now and wouldn't enjoy playing anymore at all. I know too many who have experienced this.Musician here. I play the piano, alto and soprano saxophones and sing. ( alto - soprano )
I can sight read but prefer to play by ear. When I pick a song I like, the first thing I do is pick a key I prefer to play or sing in and write the main keys on paper. The entire song needn’t be there. This I find far more enjoyable than playing in a stage band. There’s a sense of simplicity and comfort that irreplaceable. Another thing I enjoy doing is creating background music for songs I enjoy.
My favourite type of music are ballads but in almost every type of genre. I like pop, rock, new country, classical, soft jazz, early folk etc
I play and sing for nursing homes during the warmer months.
That can be amusing or annoying depending on whether those within earshot appreciate art.I play the Spoons, but only when I'm eating.
The only note I play is a Hemidemisemiquaver.That can be amusing or annoying depending on whether those within earshot appreciate art.
Tony
Oh I got incredible joy playing in the senior and stage bands. For a while I played semi professionally and the gigs were really fun. Some of them I sang for. I’ve still got my microphone and amplifiers etc..In my personal view, anybody who plays music is a musician. I am glad I didn't stay with it as a career because I would probably be burned out on it by now and wouldn't enjoy playing anymore at all. I know too many who have experienced this.
Tony
That is one of the greatest things about playing music - it is an endless and gratifying journey. That is why, at least to me, it would be a real shame for it to become just a job. That is what it was feeling like for me toward the end of my time on the road and I knew I wanted it to be more than that.Oh I got incredible joy playing in the senior and stage bands. For a while I played semi professionally and the gigs were really fun. Some of them I sang for. I’ve still got my microphone and amplifiers etc..
Playing in a band with others had its rewards BUT until two years ago when I got my soprano sax, I hadn’t really considered compiling a booklet of my favourite songs I enjoy playing / singing and had no idea how much joy I’d get out of it. It took my music to an entirely new level that I couldn’t even imagine.
Oh, that is when the needle playing the record album (remember those?) gets stuck.The only note I play is a Hemidemisemiquaver.
(Disclaimer: Sorry, I wasn't told there would be no math...)Back around 1976-78, I played full time in a trio as a union sideman (AF of M). We played a week at each gig which included Holiday Inn circuit, decent supper clubs, and resorts. We played what was then called MOR (middle of the road) music and the Great American Songbook material. Each of us did two things. The drummer did vocals, the band leader played sax and one of those electronic keyboards (essentially bass when I took a solo), and I played guitar and a Crumar foot pedal bass.
Over time, I realized I really didn't like being on the road all the time and left the band. I went through a variety of paths until I landed in college and got into engineering (considering other posts here, this is starting to sound familiar).
I also taught guitar on the side for a while. My suspicion is that there are several of us who have travelled similar paths.
Tony