The Music thread

Changgi

Member
I tried searching a bit but I wasn't able to find any thread about music in particular and since I really got into it recently after I lost interest in my hobbies, I thought it would be interesting to share and hear about each others' stories with music and your favourite genres.

I grew up listening to nothing but oldies (50s-70s)/retro (90s) pop and classical music pretty much. My father had tons of vinyl records and CDs of those genres and often played them so those were the kinds of music I had exposure to. Also, after watching Fantasia 2000 the movie (back in 2000), I told my father I would like to be a conductor and he asked me to learn to play the piano or violin if I wanted to be one. I chose the piano because it looked easier.

A number of years back, I forgot how many, but it was probably something like 8 years ago or so, some people (which included strangers I met in an inter-school competition as well as friends) got me into Touhou, which is kinda famous for having good music. For the longest time, that was the only thing I listened to besides classical and oldies/pop. There's also some occasional chiptunes I heard due to me being fascinated by 80s video games, but mostly it's just been classical music.

Last year I played Plants vs Zombies 2 which had a punk rock background music piece to one of the zombies' appearance and I didn't like it because I thought it was loud and I couldn't hear anything aside from the drum beats, which probably taught me this idea of counting beats (in the enjoying music sense, rather than the performing music sense). This paved the way to my enjoyment of the surf rock pieces that's also in the same game. I guess previously I always thought surf pieces from spy movies sounded good but I never extensively listened to them alone like I was able to in this game. I very much enjoyed it, and now surf rock (and swing that I later got into but it seems like my post is getting too long so maybe I'll leave swing out maybe for another time) is my favourite music genre. I've started making surf rock pieces too, and recently used one in a game I made, which is something I had been wanting to do for a while. This is the last piece of music I've recorded to date:

So what are your favourite music genres and do you have any interesting stories about yourself relating to music that you'd like to share?
 
My main genre of music is metal, but my preference is on the sludgier, groovier side of metal. Love old bands like Black Sabbath and Pantera, and more modern ones like Mastodon, Devildriver, and Giant Squid.
It actually took me awhile to realise I like rock or metal. As a kid I would listen to whatever my friends or family did and it wasn't until I was a teenager that I started noticing those songs that had a little bit of a rock vibe or distorted guitars were the ones I was most into. Then I made some new friends who helped me follow that lead to proper hard rock and metal and I have been hooked ever since.
That said, I still enjoy a wide variety of music. Bands like That Handsome Devil, Regurgitator, Beastie Boys, The Cure, among others.
Then there are video game soundtracks which come in many varieties and are often so amazing for many different reasons.

I knew from a young age that I always wanted to play guitar, so I eventually convinced my mother to get me an electric guitar and I loved it, played it all day every day through my teens. I still play, and my skill level has increased a little over time haha. I also play bass and drums now too, just not as well. In my opinion, everyone should learn an instrument or too, music is a great way to relax, and playing with others is such a satisfying experience, regardless of your skill level. I was dragged to a camping folk festival as a teenager and had some nice old people teach me some guitar stuff as i jammed along with them, a small group of guitars, banjos, violins, and accordians. It was so not my style but still sounded awesome and I had a great time.
 

Changgi

Member
Oh man, playing with others would be so much fun, I've been wanting to do some makeshift ensemble/band thing over a voice call on Discord but I haven't really been able to find people who are available the same time I am and have access to an instrument. I only jammed with my teacher once and it was improvised over When the Saints Go Marching In. We never practiced together but it was nice. I do wish I paid more attention to his cues though cause I knew he was going to go soft but I went hard anyway and I've always regretted that.

But man you play a lot of instruments. I'm trying to take up the guitar currently but I've been finding it quite difficult to memorize where the notes are, coming from a piano background, and my father looks down on guitarists too.

It must have been neat to have them teach you stuff too.

Actually with me being into surf and swing they seem to be pretty niche genres so I've never found anyone else who also likes surf outside of surf rock communities but swing seems a bit more liked among my friends, so there's that I could share with my friends heh. A lot of my friends like metal or classical as well.
 
I don't think playing together over discord or any other voice chat app would work all that well with the latency unfortunately.
I'm actually pretty terrible at improvising and jamming, prefer having a song to learn or rehearse, but jamming can still be fun when it's simple. Little mistakes happenbut that's part of it!
I mainly play guitar, but a bass is like a bigger guitar so it wasn't too hard to learn to play it(though there are still big differences!). Drums on the other hand were a bit trickier to get used to but a lot of fun.
I've been playing guitar for like 15 years and I still don't really know where the notes are while I'm playing, nor do I really know chords or their names. I'm mostly self taught and I play by ear so I get by.
Shame that your dad looks down on guitar, or any instrument for that matter. Music is music, if I had my way, I'd have every instrument possible!
Surf rock can be fun, that guitar twang is neat. I recently saw a video on YouTube where a guy played a bunch of classic metal riffs without distortion and a few of them sounded like surf rock songs haha.
I can't remember the exact quote from the film Idle Hands, but the gist was "Metal is basically just classical but louder".
 

Changgi

Member
With Skype Discord I haven't really experienced much of any latency with most of my friends, just occasionally in bad connection environments. In fact I think we succeeded one time but we played only 2 bars before my friend slipped cause they're new to their instruments so we didn't really get past that.

I do prefer the flexibility in improvisation, but if one wants to have anything fixed I don't see why that wouldn't work. In fact my friend and I were just trying to play wipe out together.

I'm not all that familiar with the difference between playing a bass guitar and a regular guitar, although I do see regular guitar being often played with picks but a bass guitar being played with just the fingers.

Drums seem harder than I imagined at first, having to coordinate the beats between both hands and the feet. But then again I've also mostly been looking at stuff like Wipe Out and Sing Sing Sing which I don't think would be famous for being easy lol.

"I've been playing guitar for like 15 years and I still don't really know where the notes are while I'm playing, nor do I really know chords or their names. I'm mostly self taught and I play by ear so I get by."
That's peculiar. Not what I'd expect.

I've seen metal and surf stuff being compared. There are many videos of crossovers on Youtube and some "memes" around where people take metal songs and arrange them into surf rock called "Trve Kvlt Svrf Music" or something like that.
 

Changgi

Member
Never would have known you play classical music heh. Is that from a school show or something? That sounds quite good. I don't play nearly as good as I used to after not having used a piano for a few years (because I started studying abroad). I hope to get back to where I was at least.

Interesting that everyone I talk to on the internet seems to either like heavy metal or classical. I seldom met anyone who liked other genres (I know a few who like pop but that's generally not my thing). I know 3 people who like rock, but I'm not sure if they like the same kind (surf-sounding) I do, so perhaps it's another niche thing of mine. I also know 2 people who like swing, but they didn't seem too big on it.

Also I just made new music yesterday. It's kinda inspired by Dick Dale having made a vocal surf rock arrangement of it, and Walk Don't Run (cause I've seen a lot of stuff in surf pieces where they'll start off a piece in a well-known surf piece then proceed to the actual piece), in addition to the details mentioned below.

I've always preferred instrumentals (and I think me having grown up on classical is a big factor in that) and I thought the Brothers Four's version was overall my favourite, but I wished it had the drum beats present in the Dick Dale version, or better yet, spice it up with the surf beat, so I decided to see how it'd be...

For most of my music I record the instrument sounds separately and stitch them together using Audacity. Exept the drums, and sometimes part of the accompaniment too, which are usually program-generated.

Sloop John B/The John B. Sails is a folk song recorded by various artists. This instrumental arrangement is based on the version from the Brothers Four, which is the first version I've heard. Additionally, the inclusion of the electric piano instrument is inspired by the Chantays.
 
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I have eclectic tastes in music, but in general, I listen to a lot of Beatles, Panic At The Disco, Modest Mouse, Muse, U2, a lot of classical music (though mostly I just have the classical station on, rather than selecting specific pieces). I've spent most of my life playing in bands, from when I was like 15 to just a few years ago (I was around 27-28 (I'm 31 now) was when my last band broke up, haven't done much since then). All the bands I was in, I was singer/guitarist/songwriter (I guess it's kinda hard to create and hold a band together unless you're the one really driving it). Here's some stuff from my most recent band, The Colour Society: https://thecoloursociety.bandcamp.com/. I'm singing/rhythm guitar (plus the songwriter for it), my brother is playing lead and the drummer and bassist were a married couple, it was quite a fun band. We went on tour and released that EP on the bandcamp page (free to download if ya want).

But yeah, music has played such a large role in my life I dunno what I'd do without it.
 
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