Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[theinevitable]

lfm: nah, nah. It's more like if you had a piano that didn't have as many octaves. Actually, that's exactly what it is like. I would say playing bass Well is harder, because it's really noticeable if you screw up.

...this is mostly because I played bass in a band, and had no idea how to do anything other than play the root notes, and everyone is glaring at me, why won't they stop, and my hands are so small and oh god just stop i don't like the bass any more....

[Bobby Isosceles]

The drummer and the bassist both suffer from the fact that.. as the rhythm section... in most cases, they're supposed to be in the background sonically. You only notice them if they're incompetent or if the song was specifically written to show off their skills.

...or if you have a tendency to listen to super-audio CDs and listen closely like a nerd.

Still, as a non-musician music nerd, it must be said:

33% less strings seems to bespeak 33% easier. If there were four less keys in an octive, I have to imagine I'd've had a better chance at playing more than chopsticks on the piano.

see also:new order

[AugustWest]

This bears repeating:

omg saddampoline

[littlefallsmets]

Like I say, I'm not judging...

My inability to learn the piano is one of my few non-lady-based regrets.

I just couldn't get over my left-handedness and get my right hand to play the complex parts.

Never figured out how to overcome it.

The ability to play any instrument, even one of the "easier" ones, is completely beyond me.

Being able to do that, even poorly, trumps me utterly.

[LCB]

I like how the checkmarks just got bigger and bigger until, apparently, Lyle had finally reached "WOMAN" status in Nice Pete's deranged mind.

[robot_god]

Well, with the bass, there is no immediate need to have your muscle memory learn the hand positions to play chords which is awfully difficult for a beginner to pick up on the guitar.  However, there is a slightly increased need for stretching.

I have a couple neanderthal-like buddies who can play a couple bars of song on an electric bass, so I'm going to use that as evidence to agree with Teodor.

[pmcd9]

33% less strings seems to bespeak 33% easier.

Using this logic i've reasoned that the trumpet is easier to play than the bass because it only has three valves.  Singing is the easiest of all because you only have one mouth.  Drumming is the hardest because i've seen some drummers who play upwards of a hundred pieces.  John Bonham must not be a very good drummer because he only used about 6. 

[theinevitable]

well, I mean, have you ever heard anyone argue that he was a good drummer? I'm not really up on all these hipster modern groups. I'm sure he can't compare to the groups back in the good days-- Led Zeppelin... now, -that- was some good drumming.

Paul, you can play Bass with me any day. Except, it would probably be really embarrassing for me.

(I'm not really sure where I was going with that zeppelin thing. huh.)

[jough]

... and Pianos have 88 keys, bitches, plus 88 little hammers, and hundreds of strings.

[robot_god]

well, I mean, have you ever heard anyone argue that he was a good drummer? I'm not really up on all these hipster modern groups. I'm sure he can't compare to the groups back in the good days-- Led Zeppelin... now, -that- was some good drumming.

Bonham is very highly regarded among rock drummers.  Alot of drummers overrate him, I think.

[linnea]

This bears repeating:

omg saddampoline

Jesus, Bobby, where do you find these avatars? Are you a goon?

[anotherpat]

Using this logic i've reasoned that the trumpet is easier to play than the bass because it only has three valves.  Singing is the easiest of all because you only have one mouth.  Drumming is the hardest because i've seen some drummers who play upwards of a hundred pieces.  John Bonham must not be a very good drummer because he only used about 6. 

As a pianist, a trumpeter, a bassist, and a (bathroom, but sometimes with my band) singer I have to say: a tiny imaginary can for you, paul. i'm not allowed to give them out yet, but once i am, you will get one.

the trumpet, when played correctly, is both incredibly sexy and horribly difficult. (listen to dizzy gillespie or miles davis if you don't believe me.) the best players can make it wail like a... (to be truthful) donkey. a very attractive donkey, mind you.

the piano is much easier, once you master the ability to relate those little scribbles on a page or sounds into finger movements. it takes most people about 3 or 4 years of practice. after that, it's pretty easy to play 'most everything with minimal effort (judging from the people in my music class in high school.)

The drummer and the bassist both suffer from the fact that.. as the rhythm section... in most cases, they're supposed to be in the background sonically. You only notice them if they're incompetent or if the song was specifically written to show off their skills.

...or if you have a tendency to listen to super-audio CDs and listen closely like a nerd.

another imaginary tiny can for you, sir. 'most everyone i know thinks the bass is guitar for people who were dropped on their heads when they were children. the rest wonder how exactly one plays a giraffe.

anyway. you can play the bass for yonks, and never get the groove one needs to play jazz, swing, or funk (the latter is the one reason why i play the bass. funk is the seximus prime of music.) of course most pop and "emo" nowadays is dead easy to play on the bass. but that's not it's fault! blame the long-haired, greasy-faced wristslitters that churn out derivative crap. hello, teenage wrist-slitters and indie rock nerds! have you perchance heard of talking heads, the buzzcocks, nirvana, the smiths, sunny day real estate, or joy division, or done more than just name-check them? god.


ahem. all apologies for nerding out about music. but i love me my music.

*retreats back into her tiny lurker cave*

[dejavroom]

Bonham is very highly regarded among rock drummers.  Alot of drummers overrate him, I think.

You can`t overrate John Bonham like you can overrate The Beatles. John Bonham is just the quintessential shit. You listen to his pounding on "In My Time Of Dying" and tell me he`s not.

[robot_god]

Yeah, he's alright, and all the musicians in Zep were... good.

But half of their catalogue should somehow become unrecorded.  Half their work is the most influential music ever recorded, and the other half is the most irritating music I've ever heard.  Misty Moutain Hop, Fool In The Rain, Heartbreaker, fuck to that.  The fact that no one in the band said, hold on, this song blows, brings all the musicians down a peg for me.  Dazed and Confused?  Gtfo of my face.

I mean, you can argue that the Beatles are overrated, but they put serious time into every single song.  They were always tasteful, while huge chunks of Zep's work sounds like it was filler written the day before the recording session, if not the same day.

[V-Adore]

the trumpet, when played correctly, is both incredibly sexy and horribly difficult. (listen to dizzy gillespie or miles davis if you don't believe me.) the best players can make it wail like a... (to be truthful) donkey. a very attractive donkey, mind you.

I am distinctly reminded of when we had just started elementary-school band, my fourth-grade year, and had our first "you have to play a little solo in front of the class" band quiz. One classmate of mine (who was, if memory serves, nine years old, and who had been playing the trumpet for approximately three weeks) finished his solo, only for our band teacher to announce to the whole class: "Malen, that sounded like a half-dead cow."

Ah, Mr. Criswell. For three years, he was the most bitter person I'd ever met; then I got to seventh grade and met his wife, a middle-school band teacher. Shortly thereafter I gave up music.