Best years in music

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

Nobody wortha shit plays real instruments anymore. I mean there's a few out there left that do and who are authentic but there not much.

That's because there is absolutely no money in trying to become a "Rock Star".

All of the best musicians and composers today are working in Film & TV, whether as Composer/Producers, Ghost Composers, Hired Guns or all of the above. I know dozens of guys earning $300k a year and more that own homes and have families without ever having to leave their families to go on tour.

On the other hand, only the Legacy Acts and current superstars are the only people really earning money. All of those bands on Warped and Van's tours are paying out of pocket to perform on stage, with more than 95% of them supported by their parents.

It's just nearly impossible to earn a living writing songs and playing clubs with the hope of getting a song on the CW or a Netflix/Amazon/HBO series in order to drive traffic to iTunes and Amazon.

The good news is that last year, Fender Guitars was on the verge of bankruptcy but due to COVID, sold $700 million dollars in merchandise to have to their best financial year, ever! Ibanez, Gibson, Seymour Duncan and so many others in the MI business literally ran out of parts in order to keep up with the demand and many are still out of parts and electronics.

We can only hope this leads to a new generation of people that want to write and play their instruments live, slinging guitars, basses and drums onstage as opposed to a laptop and a turntable.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

On the other hand, only the Legacy Acts and current superstars are the only people really earning money. All of those bands on Warped and Van's tours are paying out of pocket to perform on stage, with more than 95% of them supported by their parents.

Most of the bands I support are like this. They depend on merch sales to get them to their next gig. If a van breaks down or something, the tour is over. A lot of them only tour half the year and spend the other half working construction or other seasonal jobs to fund the next tour.

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

We can only hope this leads to a new generation of people that want to write and play their instruments live, slinging guitars, basses and drums onstage as opposed to a laptop and a turntable.

Making a comeback. It's absolutely true. My daughter is in her room practicing her guitar right now.

[Mennonite]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Making a comeback. It's absolutely true. My daughter is in her room practicing her guitar right now.

You're doing it wrong. Rock is about rebellion. You need to bang on her door and threaten to send her to a military school if she doesn't stop playing that devil music. Throw in some random phrases like "Straighten up and fly right!" and "MY house MY Rules!" and occasionally grumble under your breath about "dope smoking negroes" while you're at it.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Mennonite

You're doing it wrong. Rock is about rebellion. You need to bang on her door and threaten to send her to a military school if she doesn't stop playing that devil music. Throw in some random phrases like "Straighten up and fly right!" and "MY house MY Rules!" and occasionally grumble under your breath about "dope smoking negroes" while you're at it.

Only if she were playing country.

[Mennonite]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Only if she were playing country.

Yeah, I hate 99.99% of country music, too. Some of those old guys could play the hell out of a guitar though:

Spoiler!

[GayFrogs]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

The good news is that last year, Fender Guitars was on the verge of bankruptcy but due to COVID, sold $700 million dollars in merchandise to have to their best financial year, ever! Ibanez, Gibson, Seymour Duncan and so many others in the MI business literally ran out of parts in order to keep up with the demand and many are still out of parts and electronics.

We can only hope this leads to a new generation of people that want to write and play their instruments live, slinging guitars, basses and drums onstage as opposed to a laptop and a turntable.

Just to piggy back off this, I used to scoff at how you could find good new music that's underground, but it's not even hard to find anymore if you look at youtube. Lots of amateurs make their own music, and prog rock has been taken to a new level by young musicians. It's like guitar music never stopped evolving since it was last popular, and it's exciting discovering it. (check out sarah longfield for a good rabbit hole)

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by GayFrogs

Just to piggy back off this, I used to scoff at how you could find good new music that's underground, but it's not even hard to find anymore if you look at youtube. Lots of amateurs make their own music, and prog rock has been taken to a new level by young musicians. It's like guitar music never stopped evolving since it was last popular, and it's exciting discovering it. (check out sarah longfield for a good rabbit hole)

Sarah Longfeld is awesome. I watch a lot of those YT channels. I especially like Stevie T because so many people hate his schtick but holy **** is he great at guitar.

[lawrenceRaider]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

The good news is that last year, Fender Guitars was on the verge of bankruptcy but due to COVID, sold $700 million dollars in merchandise to have to their best financial year, ever! Ibanez, Gibson, Seymour Duncan and so many others in the MI business literally ran out of parts in order to keep up with the demand and many are still out of parts and electronics.

We can only hope this leads to a new generation of people that want to write and play their instruments live, slinging guitars, basses and drums onstage as opposed to a laptop and a turntable.

What pickups do you prefer? My current favorite set is Black Winter from Seymour Duncan. I'm a pretty terrible player, but man do I love the way those pups sound. My son can properly make them scream.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by lawrenceRaider

What pickups do you prefer? My current favorite set is Black Winter from Seymour Duncan. I'm a pretty terrible player, but man do I love the way those pups sound. My son can properly make them scream.

I have a DiMarzio P-90 in the neck of my 335, and a DiMarzio Tone Zone in the bridge.

My Tele Deluxe also has DiMarzios - HFH-1 in the neck and I forget what went into the bridge, but it screeams.

Ryan has Seymour Duncan Antiquities in his Les Paul, and I like the Duncan Pearly gates. I have a Lindy Fralin single coil in my 50's style P-bass, so Fralin is always on the table for me now...

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by lawrenceRaider

What pickups do you prefer? My current favorite set is Black Winter from Seymour Duncan. I'm a pretty terrible player, but man do I love the way those pups sound. My son can properly make them scream.

I depends on the guitar and what I'm doing with said guitar (or bass) but generally speaking, every guitar is completely different. The main thing that I want from each guitar is a Balanced Sound. Not too bassy, not to midrangey and definitely not too bright. The Classic 57's are pretty much my baseline pickup but then each guitar requires a different pickup in order to achieve the sound I want to hear because all woods, necks and hardware are different, although I tend to go with low to medium output pickups because I want to hear the guitar, not the pickup.

Jaguar: Seymour Duncan Jaguar Antiquities

Mary Kay Strat: Fender 69's

Telecaster: Lollar 52's

Nashville Tele: Duncan Tele Neck, Lipstick in the middle, Quarter Pounder in the the Bridge.

Les Paul Custom: Gibson Classic 57 in the neck, Duncan Pearly Gates in the Bridge. I had a Gibson Burstbucker Pro in this guitar from 2008 until 2 weeks ago The PG is far more balanced.

Les Paul 60's Tribute: Classic 57 neck, Classic 57+ bridge

Custom Charvel - Duncan Jazz in the neck, Duncan Screamin' Demon in the bridge (I just replaced a JB that had been in there for years)

Custom Charvel (Dropped D): Duncan Jazz Neck, Duncan Custom Custom bridge (Same as above. Too much low mid from 200-400 so I swapped it for a CC).

Elitist Casino: Lollar 50's P90's (Freddy King) in both positions

Elitist Sheraton: Lollar Imperial Low Wounds in both positions

ESP Custom Stratocaster: Cool Rails Bridge, Classic Stack RWRP Middle, Vintage Hot Neck

Epiphone Broadway Elitist: Gibson Classic 57's.

Epiphone Prophecy 24 fret Baritone(I rarely, if ever, use this guitar): EMG 81 & 85

Gibson 61 Reissue SG: Lollar P90's

I have a 51 reissue ash body Precision in which Lindy Fralin made a custom, side-by-side single coil/humbucker which is killer.

All three of my fretted Jazz Basses have the Fender Vintage 74 pickups while my fretless Jazz has Duncan Quarter Pounders. The only stock bass I own is an Epiphone Jack Casady, which Dave Grohl turned me onto and it's really cool for specific tones, generally what's called Modern Rock today, although I've used it on some uptempo Active Rock tracks as well.

[lawrenceRaider]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I depends on the guitar and what I'm doing with said guitar (or bass) but generally speaking, every guitar is completely different. The main thing that I want from each guitar is a Balanced Sound. Not too bassy, not to midrangey and definitely not too bright. The Classic 57's are pretty much my baseline pickup but then each guitar requires a different pickup in order to achieve the sound I want to hear because all woods, necks and hardware are different, although I tend to go with low to medium output pickups because I want to hear the guitar, not the pickup.

Jaguar: Seymour Duncan Jaguar Antiquities

Mary Kay Strat: Fender 69's

Telecaster: Lollar 52's

Nashville Tele: Duncan Tele Neck, Lipstick in the middle, Quarter Pounder in the the Bridge.

Les Paul Custom: Gibson Classic 57 in the neck, Duncan Pearly Gates in the Bridge. I had a Gibson Burstbucker Pro in this guitar from 2008 until 2 weeks ago The PG is far more balanced.

Les Paul 60's Tribute: Classic 57 neck, Classic 57+ bridge

Custom Charvel - Duncan Jazz in the neck, Duncan Screamin' Demon in the bridge (I just replaced a JB that had been in there for years)

Custom Charvel (Dropped D): Duncan Jazz Neck, Duncan Custom Custom bridge (Same as above. Too much low mid from 200-400 so I swapped it for a CC).

Elitist Casino: Lollar 50's P90's (Freddy King) in both positions

Elitist Sheraton: Lollar Imperial Low Wounds in both positions

ESP Custom Stratocaster: Cool Rails Bridge, Classic Stack RWRP Middle, Vintage Hot Neck

Epiphone Broadway Elitist: Gibson Classic 57's.

Epiphone Prophecy 24 fret Baritone(I rarely, if ever, use this guitar): EMG 81 & 85

Gibson 61 Reissue SG: Lollar P90's

I have a 51 reissue ash body Precision in which Lindy Fralin made a custom, side-by-side single coil/humbucker which is killer.

All three of my fretted Jazz Basses have the Fender Vintage 74 pickups while my fretless Jazz has Duncan Quarter Pounders. The only stock bass I own is an Epiphone Jack Casady, which Dave Grohl turned me onto and it's really cool for specific tones, generally what's called Modern Rock today, although I've used it on some uptempo Active Rock tracks as well.

Thanks man. Really appreciate the listing. I love guitars and have learned a ton about them. Love picking up non-functioning guitars and fixing them. Mostly they just get placed in the guitar rack in my kids room. He mainly sticks with his Epiphone 1984 Explorer. He currently idolizes Hetfield and loves playing metal. Though he has played in his schools jazz band. Picked him up an inexpensive MIM Fender Strat HSS a few years ago that he uses for that.

I picked up this bare Warlock off Ebay a couple years ago and just dropped some cheap china pickups in it. They sound surprisingly good, and it is super easy to play.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by lawrenceRaider

Thanks man. Really appreciate the listing. I love guitars and have learned a ton about them. Love picking up non-functioning guitars and fixing them. Mostly they just get placed in the guitar rack in my kids room. He mainly sticks with his Epiphone 1984 Explorer. He currently idolizes Hetfield and loves playing metal. Though he has played in his schools jazz band. Picked him up an inexpensive MIM Fender Strat HSS a few years ago that he uses for that.

I picked up this bare Warlock off Ebay a couple years ago and just dropped some cheap china pickups in it. They sound surprisingly good, and it is super easy to play.

That's awesome, Dude! And yeah, guitars have come a long, long way in terms of quality, playability and sound in the past 40 years. You can find a $200-$300 dollar Mexi or Chinese made Fender guitar or bass, swap out the pickups, do a nice setup and have an instrument a million times better than when I was a kid when all the cheap guitars were Hondo and other trashy off brands.

Enjoy and have fun!