I done lost my last guitar pick!

[Uzriel Raven]

But it's okay, good time to start practicing fingerstyle. How's everyone doing with their musical paths? I myself wish I was progressing at a faster pace, but I can't complain, I make small improvements here and there, and it's still my first year. Does anyone play the violin? If I ever get enough money for it I'd love to try to learn violin.

But yeah, feel free to talk about anything you do with music in here. From creating electronic music loops, to singing, to banging those drums. Anything.

[Kent Strider]

I think I might go back and get a keyboard like I had when I was younger

[Kerbal]

Cello is my next instrument, or keys. Cello would be awesome.

[Uzriel Raven]

Cello is indeed awesome! Apocalyptica has demonstrated that quite well, they really push the limits when it comes to cello.

[Glarundis]

cello is an instrument with lots of possibilities, i'd like to try it, but i guess i'll go for oboe (and a bit more years of pipe organ) after i finish the degree.


about violin, with the music knowledge i can play easy stuff, but since i never had any lessons and only played for a few minutes for a few days when a friend comes by with the violin, the quality of my sound sucks

[Uzriel Raven]

Haha, well I'm still jealous, at least you've touched a violin!

[Glarundis]

good violins are expensive. if you're looking for some shitty so that you can learn how to play, 100€ is enough

[Aileth]

Violin can be quite tricky it will sound horrible the first few months no matter how good of a musician you are.

I never use a pick to play guitar (too lazy to get it, or can't find it)
I've been self teaching to play the bass and guitar, so far it's going good.
Is there any easy way to play B chords (or even F chords) without having a finger step on all strings? My hands are quite small, I can't seem to accomplish this with a good final result.

[Glarundis]

you'll get the hang of it. it's not necessarily about strength as in pressing the six strings with your index finger. it's more about how you place the finger and you should think of it as clamping the fingerboard between your index and your thumb (don't put your thumb too much to the left (so it's stays in front of the index). try to put it in a way that it supports the rest of your hand but is somewhat close to the index so you can "clamp".
also, most of those chords (barre chords) you don't need to press all the fingers, you only have to really press the ones that are not being pressed by another finger, so you can "adjust" where you press (can be tricky)

finally, you can decide to play chords but not playing all the six strings, so you won't have to have your index finger pressing all of them.

if you're going to play all the six strings and you want a "normal chord" (major or minor) you have no other way. if you play with open strings it will be a chord with sevenths or sixths or whatever freaky you can imagine (you have musical knowledge so you understand that shit)

you can just play them the easy way, only using the four most treble strings.

F major chord:
E 1
B 1
G 2
D 4
A 0 (optional)
E 0 (don't play)

B major chord:
E 2
B 4
G 4
D 4
A 0 (don't play)
E 0 (don't play)


since you have musical knowledge, all you have to know is the "name" of each string and know that each fret up means half tone up and you can know where are all the notes. and you know what makes a chord, so you can see what effect having open strings will have on your chords or not.

[Uzriel Raven]

Glar, I tend to have trouble keeping my fretting fingers near the strings while I'm playing(1-2 cm is what I'd like to do). I try to focus on that aspect, but it's been hard for me. Is that something that came easy for you, or was it a skill that developed after a year or two? I'd like to not have my fingers all over the place, I know the way I play right now will prevent me from achieving faster speeds and retaining control/grace.