What makes you sound unique?

Don't forget all the sweet (and minutely detailed) critisisms..(y)
I ain't mad. I'm just here to expose how the greats were organized af, that's why they were great. Inspiration yeah, but also hard work, organization, and either a bit of theory or a lot of theory. Usually wasn't didn't know jack. Although there are some cases where greats knew minimal theory. But those are pretty rare and hard to document.
 
^ I ain't mad. I'm just here to expose how the greats were organized af, that's why they were great. Inspiration yeah, but also hard work, organization, and either a bit of theory or a lot of theory. Usually wasn't didn't know jack. Although there are some cases where greats knew minimal theory. But those are pretty rare and hard to document.
which greats?
 
I noticed you moved from the massive Hammond setup to what appears to be a Xylophone in your "mega-rig" pic? What's with that? Tired of playing with your organ?
 
I quit organ and sold it because I sucked at it lol. Vibraphone is going really well and it's pretty fun.

I actually can play organ pretty well without bass at the same time, but I couldn't ever get the whole thing with bass to groove well.
You sounded pretty decent I thought.
So what about guitar? Did hearing me in action make you give it up?
 
Ok so there are guys who bend notes in Jazz. It's something that I still would say is not super-prevalent in the genre, so I'm guessing they're the exception rather than the rule. They also tend to pick all their notes individually. Is that a hard and fast rule? I would'nt know 'cause it's (Jazz) not my thing.
I noticed no one said anything about classical guys ( I got that one right. huh? 😀 ) and who could have a dorkier approach more steeped in nothing but theory & book learning than those guys (y)

If you guys don't find trying to apply theory to your playing in real time (good luck w/ that at any kind of serious speed ..& I honestly mean that) restrictive & distracting, more power to you. It's just that that's not baggage I need to bog myself down with when I improvise (the bottom line being "I do just fine without it" ..so really...why?)

Improv can be super simple & just about the melody....



...but having a bit of feel and using one's ears, adding embellishments, some quirkiness/individuality, accentuation, vibrato etc (ie. feel) imo is what makes it sound nice. Sorry but immersing yourself in super-thick books of theory (or even pamphlets) can't/does'nt teach you "feel".

I can't tell you the amount of players I've heard who will string together dozens of arpeggio's and pick faster than a buzzing bee, throw in every generic technical lick you can imagine ..and you just know those dudes have sat around for days and nights working out every note & arp from books & instruction videos, so they can play it "clean" and perfect and then when they have to hold or bend an extended note at the end of a bar before launching into the next flurry of arpeggio's, it grates on your ears how terrible their vibrato/bending is 'cause they are all about theory & no feel. I'm just saying it happens more than y'all care to admit and yeah, I'd term that 'detrimental'.

You know this post just makes it really apparent: You don't listen to much outside of what you play, and you have clearly never made any effort to learn anything outside what you do.

And pretty much every statement you make on this topic is patently false. But then again, it is clear you do not know or listen to very much. You give an extreme example, that guys here with 50+ years of listening, playing, and learning experience are all saying is not true - at least in the very extreme way you present it.

I for one would like to thank you, however, because I rarely get an example of why claiming ignorance as a strength is such dumb@$$ way of thinking.

You keep talking stupid. It's entertaining. I think Steve Vai would say "You have to learn the rules before you can break them." Call me when you think you can post something half as interesting anything Steve plays.
 
I'll also say that theory can at times make you feel like your playing worse because it highlights all the things your ear falls somewhere else, especially if your background isn't strictly western. If your ear wants to hear double harmonic minor, the pentatonic scales aren't going to do anything for you.

Also like a metronome, if all you ever want to play is 3/4, a metronome setup to 4/4 is just going to confuse you.
 
You know this post just makes it really apparent: You don't listen to much outside of what you play, and you have clearly never made any effort to learn anything outside what you do.

And pretty much every statement you make on this topic is patently false. But then again, it is clear you do not know or listen to very much. You give an extreme example, that guys here with 50+ years of listening, playing, and learning experience are all saying is not true - at least in the very extreme way you present it.

I for one would like to thank you, however, because I rarely get an example of why claiming ignorance as a strength is such dumb@$$ way of thinking.

You keep talking stupid. It's entertaining. I think Steve Vai would say "You have to learn the rules before you can break them." Call me when you think you can post something half as interesting anything Steve plays.
Lol, bad day? What can I say? .......hope you enjoy your playing as much as I do mine! Peace out (y)
 
I'll also say that theory can at times make you feel like your playing worse because it highlights all the things your ear falls somewhere else, especially if your background isn't strictly western. If your ear wants to hear double harmonic minor, the pentatonic scales aren't going to do anything for you.

Also like a metronome, if all you ever want to play is 3/4, a metronome setup to 4/4 is just going to confuse you.
Well I DO like jammin' the snake charmer metulz..


With or w/o a metronome..

 
Your average Symphony Orchestra is what? 120 people. None of them do anything but stick to sight reading w/o the slightest hint of improvisation (for obvious reason's). And then on occasion you have 1 soloist who can improvise. I mean ...that's not very indicative of how well versed your average classical musician is at improvisation imo...
Orchestras are a tiny part of classical music. Most classical music performances are done with either one musician or an ensemble of 3-4 musicians. Most pieces for solo performers or for small ensembles have cadenzas that have a start bar, an end bar, and a big section labelled something like "improvise on these themes to get to the desired end bar."
 
Well I was going by video's like these (of which there are plenty out there).



Also common sense tells me there's not much room for everyone to improv in a 120 person strong Orchestra w/ everyone sight reading. I should have probably specified "orchestra" 'cause that's what I was referring to...

I'm a casual listener when it comes to classical music. I know they have small set-up's etc...but prsonally, if I do listen to it all, I like the whole big Symphony Orchestra's rather than the chamber music quartet/dude in the corner playing a harp by himself kinda stuff...
 
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