what kind of guitar or guitar-like instrument do you play with it in front of you (like a piano)....

pedal steel

http://www.gfimusicalproducts.com/Images/Gene%20and%20History/Gene%20and%20Steel.jpg

which ones are the most user friendly (easy to play) but have lots of intricacy unlike say a kazoo... I'm looking to purchase

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/8638/keytar2py4.jpg

I watched some youtubes and decided these sound sucky

which ones are the most user friendly (easy to play) but have lots of intricacy unlike say a kazoo... I'm looking to purchase

-- CaptainLorax, Wednesday, August 13, 2008 12:12 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Pedal steel is really hard. You can get something called a table steel, which is basically a pedal steel without pedals.

lorax are you actually as much of a moron as this thread is making you seem or is this just some sort of pose

Maybe you're watching the wrong youtubes. Try checking out some Speedy West like "Stratosphere Boogie," or Red Rhodes' work on Notorious Byrd Brothers and the early Mike Nesmith solos, or Sneaky Pete Kleinow in the Flying Burrito Brothers. All fantastic.

I just realized that country blues is never my thing

electricsound - it's a pose

aha

god damnit I want to compose music without all the work of playing an instrument or going through crappy sequencers like Reason 3.0 (the only one I tried).

perhaps you should try a key-board

Perhaps you should try a rock.

I just want a damn good sequencer that has as many synths as reason. reasons sequencer sucks balls

http://www.art.net/~simran/SoundSculpture/HeavensSpeak/images/SCR_Reason_CmajVibePat_med.jpg this thing sucks to hell

imagine making everyone of those dots by hand... no guitar chords presets etc

Autoharp?

otm. also, organ.

thanks, one day I will find the sequencer that suits me though, but I'm sure there's a strong learning curve for all sequencers..

ive been barred from ILX... lets see if its ILM

http://sourceforge.net/projects/schismtracker

Daxophone?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/156/362621518_930d42bc67.jpg

Anybody seen that robot that plays like five musical saws at once? I don't know how this thread reminded me but I so want that jpeg right now.

wait, *looks up*, yeah ok I guess I know why this thread reminded me...

Sequencers vary in ease-of-use, with Reason 3 (and 4) being quite clunky. However, the basics of drawing in every dot of midi, then the velocity, then mods and pitches, are the same across the board- much easier of you play an instrument especially keyboard. Or key-tar.

For an easier time, try Reaper, a free non-commercial use midi sequencer and audio editor. There are plenty of freeware vst instruments you can download legally, just google them.
There are plenty of alternatives such as Fruity Loops or Acid for sequencing samples, or Ableton Live for samples and instruments. Or Protools, but if this is a pose that would be a bit of a waste. Still, at least you could use all the reason modules and sequence with a sane interface...

Autoharp OTM. That is, if you can find one. Dying breed, but oh-so awesome. Hmmm, S/D autoharp?

Uhm... IMM?

Omnichord

Anybody seen that robot that plays like five musical saws at once? I don't know how this thread reminded me

Is it anything to do with the robot that starts like five shit threads at once?

nah I really want to get into sequencing one day soon

get a decent keyboard/synth w/midi capabilities

http://www.global.yamaha.com/tenori-on/downloads/pdf/poster.pdf

http://www.guitarsite.com/newsletters/gnw/images/ugly06/01-11penis.jpg

lol

Is that a BASS wangcaster???

I watched some youtubes and decided these sound sucky (pedal steel or table steel)

― CaptainLorax, Wednesday, August 13, 2008 4:22 AM (3 months ago) Bookmark

I have new found appreciation for this instrument after hearing it in music that doesn't sound too southern or country. I cant remember an example of a song that uses slide guitars and isn't southern or country. Can you all give me some examples?

or cool songs with lap steel guitars that don't sound country or southern.

cannot believe no one has pointed you towards robert randolph

daniel lanois has made some pedal steel albums that aren't country at all. very pretty but pretty boring. pedal steel is an awesome instrument though.

any bill frisell album with greg leisz on pedal steel, like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Intercontinentals-Bill-Frisell/dp/B000088SX8";>this</a>

oops

I cant remember an example of a song that uses slide guitars and isn't southern or country. Can you all give me some examples?

Pink Floyd "One Of These Days"

Also check out Susan Alcorn and Scorces

have new found appreciation for this instrument after hearing it in music that doesn't sound too southern or country

^^^this idiocy shouldn't be encouraged guys

Ken Champion plays pedal steel on Archer Prewitt and Jim O'Rourke solo albums. I think that is why I originally became interested in pedal steel.

Yeah, I was gonna say Jim O'Rourke, Insignificance has lots, and it's good.

have new found appreciation for this instrument after hearing it in music that doesn't sound too southern or country
^^^this idiocy shouldn't be encouraged guys
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, December 12, 2008 10:03 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

^^^your nerdyness shouldn't be encouraged either.

no actually i have to agree with shakey on this point

if nerdyness = not hating all things southern or country then sign me the fuck up. you can keep your petty regionalisms to yourself.

eh, I live in the south, I have the right to hate most the stuff. but you know, I like some junk as much as the rest of the people.

but generally speaking, most the stuff sucks <--- that's what I was getting at. not all the southern and country stuff

I find this guy painfully boring but he is definitely neither southern or country

Throbbing Gristle: neither Southern nor Country

but for the record it is weird to praise a particular instrument while simultaneously complaining about the genre that popularized it. I mean you can't really escape the fact that the most beautiful and accomplished examples of pedal steel playing are to be found primarily in country music.

Ministry "Jesus Built My Hotrod"

those last two suggestions rock

http://www.buddyemmons.com/

jazz pedal steel, if you want it.

play it through a bass amp

now I wanna hear some pedal steel with distortion and delay and reverb and chorus and flanger and phase shifter... like the time I played electric guitar and had all those pedals plugged in and I was messing around with the knobs until I found the perfect sound :)

was it the sound of you not posting here anymore?

OCTAFUZZ

wanna hear it? I have a recording I can upload

Some not-so-country pedal steel:

Ry Cooder - most albums are wide ranging roots songs with slide guitar, but I've a soft spot for his mostly pedal steel instrumental Paris, Texas & Trespass soundtracks.
Bruce Kaphan (of American Music Club) - Slider: Ambient Excursions for Pedal Steel
Daniel Lanois - instrumental album Belladonna, and Eno's Apollo: Atmospheres soundtrack.
Last Town Chorus - (close) Megan Hickey plays lap steel (sometimes distorted) with a volume pedal in subdued 80's inspired songs.

Its pretty damn rare outside of mainstream or alt-country, pedal steel's sonic signature is so strong that it almost compels other music to sound alt-country by its very presence (cf Cowboy Junkies, Hum, Mojave 3, Tarnation). There's a local experimental/drone/tape manipulation band that used pedal steel in their live performances, but their name escapes me at the moment.

By the way, I'm really enjoying this live in studio session by Lanois recorded in March of this year:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91195762

i love pedal/lap steel, and i wish there was a thread that did not have cap'n lorax on it so the adults could talk

start talking old bean