Can You Play A Musical Instrument..?

[harv]

Thought this part of the forum was looking pretty empty so it's time for an addition!

Can you play a musical instrument..? If so, what is it and have you ever played in public..?

I play the guitar and bass guitar and have been in 2 bands, the first one was a punk band called The Exiles From Pluto and we did 5 or 6 gigs. The biggest of which was in front of 128 people but we averaged around 70ish which isn't too bad. I wore a French Maid's outfit on stage (I was drunk when I agreed to it in front of witnesses ) and for a gig around Christmas I made myself a turkey outfit lol.

The other band I was in, Blood Moon, was heavily Sabbath influenced but we didn't get around to playing any gigs before the drummer chickened out lol. Blood Moon were pretty good, a four piece with my good self on the bass, a singer, a guitarist and a drummer. A shame it didn't work out because musically we were streets ahead of The Exiles From Pluto.

I had to sell my two bass guitars and acoustic guitar years ago but am now thinking about getting a kit to build myself an electric guitar and another bass.

Have seen a double bodied guitar kit for around 85 quid so am tempted to give that a go because I've always loved the sound of a 12 string, very 70s

I'm also thinking about getting a violin too because I've always wanted to try one out!

Got to spend my gambling winnings on something

[Dragontao]

I was learning to play the guitar but broke my left hand when some git stamped on it playing football at school. Well I only suspect the stamp broke it because, unfortunately for him, I shattered his cheekbone, eye socket and three of his ribs, partly with that left hand, so that may have contributed to it.

One of the meta carpals never healed properly and makes playing extremely difficult. Never could be bothered to learn to play left handed. In all honesty I probably wouldn't have been that good anyway. I was never going to make it as a singer either. I'm completley tone deaf. I was ordered to mime in a school musical. Dreams of rock superstardom dashed at an early age lol.

I did play the drums a bit, played one gig for a friends band at a school dance.

When I wanted an electric guitar, my mum told me I couldn't have one. Came home from school one day and told her I was buying my friend's drum kit. For some reason she let me have an electric guitar. 

I still have an electric and acoustic guitar, but apart from a little strum now and again, they are little more than ornaments and I doubt they are even in tune at the moment.

[harv]

I'm also planning on getting a Mandolin and Sitar as well. The latter has always struck me as being pretty cool since hearing Steely Dan's Walter Becker playing his Electric Sitar solo on the song 'Do It Again'

Not too sure where I'm going to put these instruments yet, might have to get a few wall mounts sorted out

Edit: Nice. Have just found an electric spray gun to paint and finish my guitar with for less than 30 quid. A much cheaper option that getting one that needs air and a compressor Not sure what sort of finish or colour to do yet though. I quite like the idea of having a crackle finish but then I'll have to mess around with either Nitrogen or set it on fire I think lol

Might be a little too adventurous for my first effort.

I've also been toying with the idea of a fretless guitar too, have never heard of anyone using one before so maybe there's something to do with the setup that prevents people from doing it. Can't see why the bass would be any different though.

[Dragontao]

If you let somebody else look after your Indian instrument, are they a baby sitar?

I thought about a fretless guitar but it turned out not to be fretless. I was worrying about finding the right chords all the time.

Where's the get my coat emoticon when you need it. We need a bigger set of emoticons lol.

Rolling Stones Paint it Black was the first number 1 to feature a sitar I believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6d8eKvegLI&feature=fvwrel

[harv]

I've also seen an electric Mandolin kit in the States too. At the moment I'm thinking of getting an SG kit, a double necked 6 and 12 string kit, finishing my PJ bass I started years ago and a Sitar kit if I can find one.

I might even scrap my idea of getting an electric spray gun and go for the more expensive HVLP gun with a compressor, the latter will give me a better finish and as such a cleaner sound.

I'm also thinking about making a template of some sort so that I can have a United badge on one of them lol. Perhaps a burgundy one with a United badge, a starburst or cherry burst, a black one and a crackle finish.

Edit: Decided not to go for a compressor and will go for nitro aerosol paint instead. Have also found a violin kit which looks pretty cool.

I'm liking the idea of a burgundy SG with a United badge on the front with Giggs and the number 11 on the back.

A white or maybe ivory strat with a black Jimi Hendrix stencil on the front.

A red double necked 6/12 string without any pics on it, although I'm tempted by a Mandolin/6 string double neck too.

Think I may go for a sunburst finish for my violin.

[harv]

Have now ordered my SG guitar kit. £68.02 or might be 4p I can't remember lol. A bit of a bargain.

Next up on my list of things to buy is conductive paint for where the wiring goes, sealant, primer, sandpaper, and nitrocellulose paint and lacquer. Have decided on just going for a Dakota Red colour rather than messing around with stencils and sun/cherry/honey bursts, and am going for aerosol paint rather than getting a spray gun.

I'm going to keep this thread updated with pics so you can see how things are coming along

Am going to have to shape the headstock but that shouldn't be a problem because my step-father is a carpenter so tools aren't going to be a problem

Edit: My guitar kit has now been processed, should be getting it in 4-8 days

Another Edit: Am in the process of downloading the equivalent of 2 years worth of guitar lessons and a shedload of guitar tabs which are basically an idiot's guide to playing songs. Can't wait for my kit to be delivered, have also got my eye on a Marshall M4 mini stack which is basically a tiny practice amp, about 25cm high with built-in Overdrive. Have checked it out on YouTube and it sounds pretty good.

I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas lol

Can't for the life of me remember where I saw that double necked guitar for £85, wish I bookmarked it!!!

Yet Another Edit: Got a multi effects pedal sorted, has got rave reviews all over the place and is pretty much indestructible...someone ran over it with a car and it still worked afterwards lol

So that's my guitar bought, paint and finish decided on, cheapo portable amp decided on and a great sounding multi effects rig decided on. Nice, all I need now is my guitar to arrive and I'm going to get started. Going to put it all together first so that I know it all works, can test it on my 100W Marshall bass head and 2x15" Peavey bass speaker cabinet...will just have to keep the volume low to prevent me blowing anything! Will hopefully arrive tomorrow or Thursday.

Woo hoooooo!!! Got it delivered!!! The wood grain on the body and neck looks great, not so good on the front of the headstock but I'm painting the body and headstock Dakota red anyway so won't make any difference to the price of chips. Very pleased to say that the headstock is shaped so it's going to save me bugging my step-father to use his tools to shape it lol. It came delivered in two boxes, an outer box which was huge and a smaller inner box. I've taken pictures of the inner box unopened and opened below. The packaging was very well done so it's very unlikely that it'll suffer any sort of damage in transit. Delivery took 5 days including Sunday so am very pleased with the time it took to get to London from Germany. The only caveat is that the instruction book is in German but not a big deal, can't be too much trouble to put together and there's plenty of info out there on the interwebs!

Here are the pics:











Ooops, pic above is upside down lol







Apologies for the crap camerawork lol.

Have ordered a DigiTech RP255 multi Effects pedal and an emergency backup guitar tuner. You can use headphones with the RP255 so I may wait a while before I get my Marshall MS-4 mini stack. Very happy, now need to pop over to wood green and get myself some decent screwdrivers and some allen keys and I'm all good to go!

Edit: Finished! Haven't put the strings on yet because I need my guitar tuner or RP255 to arrive before I can get the intonation sorted. Am going to ditch the plastic thingy from the switch because it looks a bit pants. Managed to put a couple of small dinks in the body whilst I was putting it together but I'm going to need to use pore filler, sealant and plenty of sanding before I paint it anyway so no biggie. The only complaint I have is that the back cover's holes are drilled in the right places but that's easily solved too. Very easy to put together in the end, although I do have a nut left over for some reason lol. Final pic here:

[harv]

Christ on a fucking bike, this multi effects pedal is bloody ridiculous You can basically get any bloomin sound you want out of it lol. Got my feeler gauge so can now set up the guitar properly, action isn't quite right but not bad considering it's my first effort and I was doing all this without a tuner.

The RP255 is amazing but not great for gigging because of the way you select effects and amps etc. But for practicing and recording stuff at home it's bloomin amazing. A real bargain of the highest order for £115. Amazing value!!!!

[styles]

Yes.

[harv]

Yes.

Care to elaborate..? You always come across as quite talentless

[styles]

You always come across as a free loading lunatic.

Can play guitar, banjo, keyboard, tin whistle, flute, borum drum and triangle.

[harv]

Nice selection of instruments. Ever been in a band..? Played live?

I love flutes, excellent for rock music.

[styles]

Never been in a band. Just used to play sessions in the pub at uni. Traditional Irish music.

Hardly play at all now

[Dragontao]

Styles and Harv have found some common ground.

The end of the world is nigh.

[harv]

Have now replaced the chrome tailpiece and bridge with black ones, looks a lot better. Am also going to buy some black machine heads and at some point replace the entire electronics including black pickups. Should look stunning when I eventually paint it Dakota Red.

Am really enjoying my Digitech RP255 too, have created some nice effects...most of which use a bit of delay because I've always liked the sound. The church organ effect that someone has made and uploaded to the Digitech web site is probably the best I've heard so far, it's brilliant.

Am probably driving my neighbours mental practicing my scales though, although I'm not playing with a great deal of volume until I get better lol.

[harv]

Have just been messing about with my guitar for the first time in ages, have learnt 3 out of the 5 Pentatonic Scale shapes and have just got the hang of my Wah-Wah pedal. Going to have to find some funky chords to play because I'm just playing 7ths at the mo and they're not quite funky enough for my liking. Can't remember the chord shapes for 9ths now because it's been a while since I've played.