The fact that LMF did not screw up much lyrics even though their raps are notoriously fast and furious shows the amount of effort they put in rehearsing for their gigs. One thing's for sure, they blew the crowd away at St James on Sunday night. Despite having to work the next day, at least 300 moshers turned up at the concert.
2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 drum, 4 rappers on the stage caused so much havoc below. I believe in the importance of vocalists. One voice will not be able to garner as much response as one more voice. Therefore I look forward to Malkee trying for vocals and I'll be backing for it. Listen to how the recording will sound.
Next Thurs when we meet up to jam, we should have a casual sit-down chat like how we used to when bro Rick was the drummer. At the shop outside Wee Lee studio. And just hear each other out and cultivate a look-into-each-others' eyes that culminates into a "let's fucking do it" impetus.
Singing lessons for me scheduled to start in Jan 2010.
Yours humbly,
Dee
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
A Ritual
When i saw "Last post 15th November 2009"
I felt a tinge of sadness. I am the least experienced in the band, the one who is always reluctant to spend the money to jam, and I always felt that we're going no where.
I felt a tinge of sadness. I am the least experienced in the band, the one who is always reluctant to spend the money to jam, and I always felt that we're going no where.
That was before
1. we got a bandname
2. we started to build our identity
3. we try hard to source for venues to play.
4. i had the inspiration to drive this band upwards ( hand motion with five fingers pointing to the air )
Now, I believe you all are serious musicians. We dont pour money into the salty sea by paying beat merchant or shiin 40 bucks a shot, to lower our stress level and heal our emotional health by releasing the negative emotions by singing dont look back in anger.
I believe the band, is like any other sport. My apologies - for being the first to roll the snowball, for i remembered there was once upon a time, when it was much easier to set up jamming sessions. But I fucked it up, by giving excuses, and we have to delay the sessions. And like any other team sports, once one team member fuck it up, others dont see a reason why they cant do the same.
What we have to do is hold on together, sit down, and think of a future. What is the future which we want ? Are we playin it purely for recreation ? In any organisation / team / group, we have a target. We must have. If not we are just having fun. And of course- there's nothing wrong with that either. But we have to synchronise our end goals, then we can sync our paths, and manage our expectations.
I hope that we can get more exposure playing for free at events, fuck things up a little, learn and then when we get better, hopefully we can play at some paid events.. and slowly move up.
All the emails and entries about making ourselves better, will not work if we dont talk about what we wanna achieve in 2010.
That's important, and this band has no soul, until we stare into each others' eyes and say, let's fucking do it.
We all have other komitmens. We're not full time musicians. But we have to sit down, and realistically say - ok, let's do 3 times a month. or twice. And stick to the ritual.
I hope we can stack our own pillows and think about the future of this band.
The bassist who cares,
Not-going-to-be-fat-anymore-alex
Sunday, November 15, 2009
15 years of playing
I guess one of the finer examples of people playing together and therefore staying together must be this band, Budak Pantai. They were talent show winners back in the early 90s and have since made the effort to meet once a week to play. They're a good example of how career, family and music can be balanced, topping it off with performances outside of Singapore, to show that it can be done.
I've met them in person and have interviewed them in fact, and have found them to be flamboyant, unlike the bad-ass rockers type, but they still answer questions indirectly in a frustratingly witting way, for the journalist to decipher the meaning behind their comments.
Full story here:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainmentfeatures/view/1017990/1/.html
I've met them in person and have interviewed them in fact, and have found them to be flamboyant, unlike the bad-ass rockers type, but they still answer questions indirectly in a frustratingly witting way, for the journalist to decipher the meaning behind their comments.
Full story here:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainmentfeatures/view/1017990/1/.html
Review
Last session at Beat Merchant, some issues that surfaced. Other than 2 members being fashionably late by almost half an hour.
- Learnt that the mid's of the amp can be turned up to give a fuller sound in-studio. That's something I usually kept tuned way down because I didn't know what it was for. Usually the bass would be up a third and treble 3/4 up.
- Felt that a larger room (compared to Fourtones and Shiin) helped the sound to dissipate better and would not deafen me to the point of losing my pitch when performing vocal duties.
- Realised that when everyone's quiet, the lead guitar amp is too loud, but when jamming it may get drowned out by the sounds produced by 3 other instruments and a bellowing vocalist. Solution is to turn/rotate the lead guitar amp to face the other players more to allow the solos and riffs to cut through.
- The issue of a band name should be resolved by 22 Nov 2009. If you're reading this, do come up with words. Notice I didn't ask you to think of names by yourselves. I'm not going to either. Just words in your head. The more random the more fun.
- Exposure from gigging is precious and preferred over studio practice any day. Tell people you play in a band and they ask you, where do you guys perform, or can I see you guys play? They don't usually ask where you jam. Point is, if we can get exposure without hurting our delicate ego, it will be much appreciated I'm sure you'd agree with me on this. Maybe look at playing gigs with less pressure, or try going to pubs with open mike sessions where set up is there we play and watch other musicians like us play. The purpose is not to look stupid or show our mistakes, but to get exposure.
Humbly,
Your frontman, Dee.
- Learnt that the mid's of the amp can be turned up to give a fuller sound in-studio. That's something I usually kept tuned way down because I didn't know what it was for. Usually the bass would be up a third and treble 3/4 up.
- Felt that a larger room (compared to Fourtones and Shiin) helped the sound to dissipate better and would not deafen me to the point of losing my pitch when performing vocal duties.
- Realised that when everyone's quiet, the lead guitar amp is too loud, but when jamming it may get drowned out by the sounds produced by 3 other instruments and a bellowing vocalist. Solution is to turn/rotate the lead guitar amp to face the other players more to allow the solos and riffs to cut through.
- The issue of a band name should be resolved by 22 Nov 2009. If you're reading this, do come up with words. Notice I didn't ask you to think of names by yourselves. I'm not going to either. Just words in your head. The more random the more fun.
- Exposure from gigging is precious and preferred over studio practice any day. Tell people you play in a band and they ask you, where do you guys perform, or can I see you guys play? They don't usually ask where you jam. Point is, if we can get exposure without hurting our delicate ego, it will be much appreciated I'm sure you'd agree with me on this. Maybe look at playing gigs with less pressure, or try going to pubs with open mike sessions where set up is there we play and watch other musicians like us play. The purpose is not to look stupid or show our mistakes, but to get exposure.
Humbly,
Your frontman, Dee.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Streams of Consciousness by Dream Theater
Listen to 5 minutes into the video, amazing things keyboard can do, always thought those parts were done by a guitar.
Tmr easties take cab down aight!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bass Lesson: Technique, Slap Bass, Left/Right Hand Coordination
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCoHgfCVbYE
Embedding is disabled, so please access the URL.
I like this lesson. Shows how much coordination between left and right hand is really important. Good set of exercises to develop flexibility and strength.
Alex, here are a couple things I will recommend you try:
1. First, whenever you need to learn the bass parts for a song, start by familiarizing the notes. You need not play to a drum track at this point. Just go as slow
as you want, and progressively get to a moderate tempo. The idea for this first part of the practice regime is to let your hands 'memorize' the notes. I
really don't recommend looking at the tabs while you play, because it will develop a bad habit of not trying to remember what to play. Just have the tabs
beside you if you need to recall certain progressions to play. Otherwise, you need to try to let your hands familiarize the playing like its second nature.
It will be good if you are playing this while watching a video, movie, maybe, because it will take attention of your head trying to recall notes, and forces
you to 'remember' with your hands instead.
2. After you have more or less familiarize, start practising with a drum track. This is very important because when we play together as a band, your coordination
with the drummer will set the whole tempo and rhythm, and it is the first building block to the song feeling 'tight'. Also, as guitarists we usually reference mostly
the drummer timing and then your basslines for the general feel of the song. Hence, work closely with Yuchao.
3. Make sure you are developing dexterity in both hands. Try out the exercises to get a feel. Never mind if you cant reach this standard yet. The idea is
just to get into the swing of things, and later on you can hone your speed.
4. After the familiarizing, get into the swing of playing without looking too much at the fretboard. I find looking at freboard throughout the whole song
very distracting to the mind, and it usually takes the feeling from really 'playing' a song. Just try look briefly for reference, and time to time shift your eyes away
from the fretboard. Don't worry. It's all a matter of habits.
5. Watch closely your fretting. Really avoid hitting on the metal pieces of the frets.
6. Make sure you train all your fingers. Keep into the habit of using all of them. First, you may wanna consider buying a Gripmaster, which is a tool
used for training finger muscles.
7. We will go through your technique one of these times, and offer some alternatives and solutions.
Cheers mate.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Case Study: Don't Look Back In Anger
Observing live performances is a definite good way to case-study how sounds should be like.
What I like about this performance, is you can hear immediately what is lacking in our own sound. The richness of the Brit-Rock, distorted rhythm guitar sound. It stands out the most from all the instruments. Even the lead guitar seems to sit back as a support to the 'thickness' of the rhythm until the solo. It is a combination of the bass sound, and the rhythm sound from the beginning to the end which will give us the 'wholeness' of the song. This will be what we are going to achieve for the next jamming session. I want to be able to hear Damon's guitar more.
The volume we had last session for this song was a little weak. It is okay to go with the volume we have used for first song of the session (Holiday) in my opinion. What I propose is we after we have plugged in, set-up the effects, and done the guitar tunings, we will carry out a 10 minute sound check.
This is what I feel we can try out:
1. First, we will try out the bass and the drum together. I think Yuchao's drumming volume is quite moderate, so we will use it as a guide. I would rather not have Yuchao try to lower his volume, because drumming is more physical activity and by asking him to lower his 'volume', he will shift out of his natural playing state which will make him play softer, and also SLOWER at the same time. It happens to alot of drummers, so we should avoid doing this. Following, Alex will try out his bass together with Yuchao. At this time, maybe Damon and I can judge if they are okay.
2. Fill in rhythm guitar and vocals next. At this point I will try to see if all three of you guys are blending well.
3. Then I will knock in the leads. You guys will take-over and check to see if I am okay.
4. Getting others to sound-check for you, will relieve you the burden of trying to do too many things at a time (sound-checking while trying to remember your parts). Besides, they will be able to hear and judge better at that point because you are already concentrating on something else.
5. This method is just a try-out. We will work out what fits us the most in the next session. There will be room for changes.
Most important thing is still, vocals should ALWAYS be the LOUDEST!
Got a decent article:
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/why-singers-must-conduct-band-sound-check-77193.html
What I like about this performance, is you can hear immediately what is lacking in our own sound. The richness of the Brit-Rock, distorted rhythm guitar sound. It stands out the most from all the instruments. Even the lead guitar seems to sit back as a support to the 'thickness' of the rhythm until the solo. It is a combination of the bass sound, and the rhythm sound from the beginning to the end which will give us the 'wholeness' of the song. This will be what we are going to achieve for the next jamming session. I want to be able to hear Damon's guitar more.
The volume we had last session for this song was a little weak. It is okay to go with the volume we have used for first song of the session (Holiday) in my opinion. What I propose is we after we have plugged in, set-up the effects, and done the guitar tunings, we will carry out a 10 minute sound check.
This is what I feel we can try out:
1. First, we will try out the bass and the drum together. I think Yuchao's drumming volume is quite moderate, so we will use it as a guide. I would rather not have Yuchao try to lower his volume, because drumming is more physical activity and by asking him to lower his 'volume', he will shift out of his natural playing state which will make him play softer, and also SLOWER at the same time. It happens to alot of drummers, so we should avoid doing this. Following, Alex will try out his bass together with Yuchao. At this time, maybe Damon and I can judge if they are okay.
2. Fill in rhythm guitar and vocals next. At this point I will try to see if all three of you guys are blending well.
3. Then I will knock in the leads. You guys will take-over and check to see if I am okay.
4. Getting others to sound-check for you, will relieve you the burden of trying to do too many things at a time (sound-checking while trying to remember your parts). Besides, they will be able to hear and judge better at that point because you are already concentrating on something else.
5. This method is just a try-out. We will work out what fits us the most in the next session. There will be room for changes.
Most important thing is still, vocals should ALWAYS be the LOUDEST!
Got a decent article:
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/why-singers-must-conduct-band-sound-check-77193.html
Drum Lesson 02: Rudiments
http://www.vicfirth.com/education/rudiments.html
Don't need to learn all. It's up to you what you feel is necessary. Remember whatever you learn, try to make it for practical use as well.
Start using the Guitar Pro software I have passed you. I can run through with you roughly how to use it.
Don't need to learn all. It's up to you what you feel is necessary. Remember whatever you learn, try to make it for practical use as well.
Start using the Guitar Pro software I have passed you. I can run through with you roughly how to use it.
DRUM LESSON 01: Doubling Technique
Important/REMINDER Points: YOU BETTER REMEMBER THESE!
1. HOLDING THE DRUM STICK THE EFFICIENT WAY - Observe how the drummer holds the drumstick, using his index finger and thumb as the pivot point. I notice you are holding the sticks pretty much the standard method. How about considering leveling up with this method? This is definitely one of the technique you MUST know.
2.DRIBBLING METHOD - I have tried learning the dribbling method mentioned in the video before. Very useful and can apply in many situations. Make you know how to get a proper pivot point first, then observe what he does with the remaining middle, ring and pinky fingers to achieve the dribbling effect.
3. LEARN THE DRUM FILLS IN THE VIDEO - I recommend you learn the drum fills he is showing on the video. They can be used straightaway in songs. Don't waste time practicing drum fills that are ONLY for practice purposes. Personally, I would want whatever you learn to have a practical use in songs.
4. Make sure you practice this technique for both hands.
5. Do this for 15-30 minutes daily. If really no time, 10 minutes is good enough. I recommend you try it out on a hard surface, like a thick book, to feel the bounce off your drumsticks. This should give you the closest feeling to the real thing.
GUITAR/BASS LESSON 01: IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SOUND
I won't have time to be able to organize some kind of a lesson plan. Hence, I will put in information as I go along, which I feel it is relevant. If I have time, I will try to structure them a bit. If you already know the things I have posted, just supplement with more information of your own, or debunk them, or just take it as remedial.
I have been having problems with achieving a proper sound during jamming sessions. Hence, I decide I want to find out more about amplifier settings. Because we are playing electric guitars, the amplifier is equally important to the instrument.
Here is the video I am referring:
I have been having problems with achieving a proper sound during jamming sessions. Hence, I decide I want to find out more about amplifier settings. Because we are playing electric guitars, the amplifier is equally important to the instrument.
Here is the video I am referring:
After you have watched the video, these are the main points:
1. Before playing anything, set the EQ level for bass, mid, treble to the middle unit (So, if it is from 1 to 10, put all of them at 5). This is a starting point. The author terms it the '12 o clock' position.
2. Bass setting: This setting helps for power-chord sounds. Bass setting adjusts the 'thickness' of the sound. It is a setting I would experiment for a song like 'Holiday', with its mostly distorted, power-chord rhythm.
3. Mid setting: The most important, which the author terms the 'voice' of the sound. When I played 'Holiday', I realize I did not crank up this setting properly. Hence, the power-chord rhythm was a little weak. I think for 'Don't Look Back In Anger', the mid-level is important too (A lot of major chords being played for rhythm with distortion, thus achieving the heavy rock sound).
4. Treble setting: The 'attack' of the sound. Adjust this setting if you need more edge and a sharper feeling. It is most important for lead playing, solos.
5. Presence setting: An even higher frequency level than Treble. I would experiment with this setting, only after I have played with the 3 main levels FIRST. They are the most important settings to tackle before anything else.
6. An EQ setting for a live performance should be different from the EQ setting in a room. This has to do with the different acoustics in different environments. In a room, the acoustics are kept in within the walls, so I reckon it is easier to achieve the sound you want. In a big room, or something like a hall, and with other instruments in the picture, you need to figure what settings to adjust to compensate for this. As a guideline, bass level is usually lower than before, and mid level is usually higher.
Troubleshooting issue for sound: If the sound is not powerful enough, or overly-muffled, it is probably the mid levels you need to troubleshoot.
Bass setting is cranked up when playing in a room, but it is usually turned down a lot for a live show.
When the treble level is cranked high, the sound becomes very screechy which might puncture people’s ear drums. I usually have a problem when using it together with the Wah-Wah effects, because this effect will raise the EQ levels in a way (Bass sound become even more bassy and muffled. Treble sound even more screechy). I am still trying to find a way to balance these settings. This problem arises when I play the lead parts for ‘Dani California’.
At the end of the day, all these are just guidelines. I will continue to research more into all these sound settings and offer more insight into the specific details.
IS that our new band name?
coz if it is it's still pretty good stuff. as we talk now the recording is being transferred to the computer. can't wait.
to answer coach's question honestly... i would just like to share with you, that it's been a childhood dream since seeing oasis live on stage, and their MTVs, that i would spend my productive homework time in their shoes, even if it's just to fantasize and have the dream shattered by parents of the practical establishment mentality who do not want their children to enter the entertainment industry.
instead of putting me in my place, music lets me get out of the skin that i have to wear when going to work, it lets me feel proficient in something more, another level of expressiveness that allows connection with people from punks to the jaded office worker to the person below the stage looking up at us play.
with such a desire to play gigs, i would think we have to put nervousness behind, heck even the quality of music is secondary as compared to our band chemistry, of making mistakes and following through and coming out still tight, as seen from the people watching us.
in short, please be brutal in asking improvement of us, coach. but that would be technical bits only. i would like to know what the others feel about where this band thing can go.
dee out.
to answer coach's question honestly... i would just like to share with you, that it's been a childhood dream since seeing oasis live on stage, and their MTVs, that i would spend my productive homework time in their shoes, even if it's just to fantasize and have the dream shattered by parents of the practical establishment mentality who do not want their children to enter the entertainment industry.
instead of putting me in my place, music lets me get out of the skin that i have to wear when going to work, it lets me feel proficient in something more, another level of expressiveness that allows connection with people from punks to the jaded office worker to the person below the stage looking up at us play.
with such a desire to play gigs, i would think we have to put nervousness behind, heck even the quality of music is secondary as compared to our band chemistry, of making mistakes and following through and coming out still tight, as seen from the people watching us.
in short, please be brutal in asking improvement of us, coach. but that would be technical bits only. i would like to know what the others feel about where this band thing can go.
dee out.
Malcolm In The Middle
If you haven't read the first post, read it first before this.
My personal thoughts about our journey so far.......
Our progress is like a wave ~. Up, and down periods. Lately, there is some decline. We all know the reasons also lah. So, no need to mention.
It is expected. Because we all have other important things to do. And these things take the time off time to practice. And it is also out of our means to have frequent jamming sessions.
Having said, then what can we do in order to maximize the limited time we have, and yet can still train ourselves to a decent level of musicianship?
My own answer to this is mainly, knowing what and how to practice correctly (Maximum ground with energies used in the correct areas. No, I do not mean masturbation).
Once I receive the feedback that I am waiting now for, I will start me 'coaching' on everyone, with what I have observed so far. By the way, you are more than welcome to disagree with me on anything. However, try to give a benefit of a doubt. Most important thing for this is, complete HONESTY! Let's just trash everything out yeah? End of the day, there should not be hard feelings, because no one is targeting anyone in particular. It is all about IMPROVING.
Run on, team
Mal
P.S: I am afraid I may sound like I am lecturing, blaming, or being pushy, what-so-ever. In any case, just know that I definitely have no intentions of such.
My personal thoughts about our journey so far.......
Our progress is like a wave ~. Up, and down periods. Lately, there is some decline. We all know the reasons also lah. So, no need to mention.
It is expected. Because we all have other important things to do. And these things take the time off time to practice. And it is also out of our means to have frequent jamming sessions.
Having said, then what can we do in order to maximize the limited time we have, and yet can still train ourselves to a decent level of musicianship?
My own answer to this is mainly, knowing what and how to practice correctly (Maximum ground with energies used in the correct areas. No, I do not mean masturbation).
Once I receive the feedback that I am waiting now for, I will start me 'coaching' on everyone, with what I have observed so far. By the way, you are more than welcome to disagree with me on anything. However, try to give a benefit of a doubt. Most important thing for this is, complete HONESTY! Let's just trash everything out yeah? End of the day, there should not be hard feelings, because no one is targeting anyone in particular. It is all about IMPROVING.
Run on, team
Mal
P.S: I am afraid I may sound like I am lecturing, blaming, or being pushy, what-so-ever. In any case, just know that I definitely have no intentions of such.
1ST POST
Hi all,
I bet everyone is buzzed from this session. Thanks for trying your best to give it all, despite busy work schedules and others.
I want to understand better what everyone is thinking with regards to playing for this band. The idea is just to see if we are on the same mindset.
1. Is it just purely for relaxation? (Meaning, even if we play like shit, it doesn't matter because we are just using this activity to destress, and there is no need to be very anal about what we play and how we play it) - Having said, it is perfectly FINE to think this way. There will be no hard feelings what-so-ever. Just wanna see how you guys think?
2. Is it we are looking to become better musicians? To hope to play before a crowd one day, and perhaps write a few songs so we have some identity of our own. This mindset will mean that we need to change some methods to how we approach learning music. And this blog will serve its purpose. This will also mean a minimal amount of discipline and commitment issues to be addressed. But don't worry, if you are prepared to touch your instrument for just 30 minutes a day, I suppose we can still get somewhere. An hour will be ideal.
So is it (1), or (2), or there is (3)? ( 3 = what you think otherwise)
Not having a band for so many years ever since I started music, I relish now that we have a complete lineup. Personally, I just want to be able to play well with you all together as a band, and have a few songs which we can write together. Maybe perhaps play before a crowd. It is still a hobby, a sideline, but I think deep down we probably want to be ZAI in what we do. If you all don't mind, I would like to try my hand in 'coaching' a bit, and ensure you all are practising the right methods, and having a proper training routine. I have not gone through formal musical training, but I have learnt a few tricks through the years.
Likewise, I am more than happy if you have suggestions on how I can improve.
Once I gather some feedback from you guys, and if favourable, I will kick-off the 'coaching'.
Cheers,
Mal
I bet everyone is buzzed from this session. Thanks for trying your best to give it all, despite busy work schedules and others.
I want to understand better what everyone is thinking with regards to playing for this band. The idea is just to see if we are on the same mindset.
1. Is it just purely for relaxation? (Meaning, even if we play like shit, it doesn't matter because we are just using this activity to destress, and there is no need to be very anal about what we play and how we play it) - Having said, it is perfectly FINE to think this way. There will be no hard feelings what-so-ever. Just wanna see how you guys think?
2. Is it we are looking to become better musicians? To hope to play before a crowd one day, and perhaps write a few songs so we have some identity of our own. This mindset will mean that we need to change some methods to how we approach learning music. And this blog will serve its purpose. This will also mean a minimal amount of discipline and commitment issues to be addressed. But don't worry, if you are prepared to touch your instrument for just 30 minutes a day, I suppose we can still get somewhere. An hour will be ideal.
So is it (1), or (2), or there is (3)? ( 3 = what you think otherwise)
Not having a band for so many years ever since I started music, I relish now that we have a complete lineup. Personally, I just want to be able to play well with you all together as a band, and have a few songs which we can write together. Maybe perhaps play before a crowd. It is still a hobby, a sideline, but I think deep down we probably want to be ZAI in what we do. If you all don't mind, I would like to try my hand in 'coaching' a bit, and ensure you all are practising the right methods, and having a proper training routine. I have not gone through formal musical training, but I have learnt a few tricks through the years.
Likewise, I am more than happy if you have suggestions on how I can improve.
Once I gather some feedback from you guys, and if favourable, I will kick-off the 'coaching'.
Cheers,
Mal
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