You and music: a poll for the discerning individual.

[Rain Man]

Don't think too much about the thread title. I'm working on my personal branding.

A conversation in another thread got me wondering about this.

When we think about music, I think there are three main things that one can do.

One can perform music without instruments, which I like to call singing.

One can perform music by playing an instrument, which I like to call playing an instrument.

One can create music, which I like to call composing.

Which one of these do you think is the hardest to do well? Which would you most want to be able to do well?

By "well", let's assume a definition that you're good enough to make an upper middle class living doing it. Not rich and no mansions, but you're comfortable.

Poll forthcoming in a one anna two anna ...

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

To be honest, I may overstating. I don't have an American Idol disaster voice, just not a very good one. And I'm not the best whistler either. But I think my ear makes me more critical of my skill singing. And maddened me eternally because I'd hear I was off and couldn't change that.

Me too. I think like me, youy wish your range was bigger and are too hard on yourself.

Originally Posted by eDave

I'm not saying singing is easy but I'm of the opinion that anyone can sing. Regardless of your 'voice', you can still be trained to sing within your limits. Or sing 'your' songs.

I'm a huge My Morning Jacket fan and many do not like Jim James voice. But, it's the only voice for 'his' songs. And it's perfect.

Know what I mean?

All of my compositions are in my head. I play through them constantly as I play a few hours throughout each day. Wish I could get to a point of laying them down. I might actually have something to share.

I can sing and I can play. I cannot do both at the same time.

I wish I could sing and play at the same time too.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Mr. Flopnuts

I wish I could sing and play at the same time too.

It's just practice. I was doing shows at the age of five singing and playing but I practiced every second my parents would allow.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by eDave

I'm not saying singing is easy but I'm of the opinion that anyone can sing. Regardless of your 'voice', you can still be trained to sing within your limits. Or sing 'your' songs.

I'm a huge My Morning Jacket fan and many do not like Jim James voice. But, it's the only voice for 'his' songs. And it's perfect.

Know what I mean?

All of my compositions are in my head. I play through them constantly as I play a few hours throughout each day. Wish I could get to a point of laying them down. I might actually have something to share.

I can sing and I can play. I cannot do both at the same time.

I'm talking about singing WELL.

Have you seen '20 Feet From Stardom.' It's a documentary on the difference between backup singers and stars, and a lot of it is more appearance and personality than skill. Those people can flat BLOW. And they back up everyone, one week it's Conway Twitty and the next it's Ray Charles, then it's on to a sitcom theme song, then movie soundtracks.

Those are people I think sing well, not just carry a ditty.



I just knew I couldn't something like this in my life

[eDave]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

It's just practice. I was doing shows at the age of five singing and playing but I practiced every second my parents would allow.

Tru dat. I don't have an interest though. I would rather just play a guitar composition, solo. Would have someone else on guitar if I sang because there is some cool shit you can do with vocals.

Take this for example (start around 4:30 for the good stuff):



I've been playing with this on my new looper.

Just what I am. Thinking of adding a layer of some violin and/or chello.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

It's just practice. I was doing shows at the age of five singing and playing but I practiced every second my parents would allow.

I have a decent acoustic guitar. I've thought about diving back in full steam.

[phisherman]

I can play guitar and piano and can comp along appropriately. Singing comes fairly naturally to me and I have a decent ear. My 4 year old loves music she hears on the radio so we frequently will look up chords and I will sing them to her; most tunes are super simple.

Composing, to me, is easily the most difficult. And it's not even close. Good composers truly have a gift that I cannot fathom.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by eDave

Tru dat. I don't have an interest though. I would rather just play a guitar composition, solo. Would have someone else on guitar if I sang.

Just what I am. Thinking of adding a layer of some violin and/or chello.

Well truth be told, I stopped singing lead and playing guitar simultaneously when I was 18 years old. Thankfully, the bass player in my band was a very good singer, so it was no big deal. That band is still out there BTW, minus me, of course.

I never enjoyed singing, my vocal tone doesn't fit rock or modern rock and even when I've sung background vocals, they just never seem to fit in a mix. I don't care for my vocal tone, overall, so no real loss.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Mr. Flopnuts

I have a decent acoustic guitar. I've thought about diving back in full steam.

Cool, Man! If you've got the time and the passion, go for it!

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Cool, Man! If you've got the time and the passion, go for it!

It's just for my own enjoyment, why not, right?

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Mr. Flopnuts

It's just for my own enjoyment, why not, right?

Right!

[ptlyon]

Hey man, it looks like we're putting the band back together

[eDave]

Originally Posted by Mr. Flopnuts

It's just for my own enjoyment, why not, right?

Dude, I've been married twice. Had a kid. Lots of other girls and friends. Even a family.

No one has ever heard me play. To this day.

[Rain Man]

My musical talent is thus:

Composing - I've never tried, but it would be cool to do. I could do lyrics, I think, but the music would take a lot of training. I'm in awe when I hear a complex song like Jungleland. How do you envision that in your head? Amazing. And a symphony with 50+ instruments? Mind-blowing.

Instruments - I like musical instruments and want to play. In my youth I was the first chair in my saxophone section, but I had no illusion that I was really good. I could play mechanical stuff pretty well and could play the fast stuff really well, but I couldn't really do the subtle things that make it really good.

Singing - I have an ear for music and can hit the right notes, but I have a range of about half an octave and I don't think my voice is very melodic. I never sing in front of anyone other than maybe my wife when the radio is really loud and I'm just singing along.

On the above note, out On Demand TV channel throws up experimental channels once in a while, and a few years back they put up a karaoke channel. The wife was gone and I found the karaoke channel and thought, "Let me give it a try." It was terrible, in part because they didn't have songs that I knew very well, but also because a song would be the wrong key for my limited range or it would be bizarrely slow or something. So I tried it for 20 or 30 minutes and then thought, "Ugh, that was a disaster."

And then my wife came down the stairs. I thought she was gone, but she was just up in the bedroom. She heard me doing this horrible singalong for a half-hour. I was mortified.