Hello, from Canada

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DeepDrummer
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Hello, from Canada

Post by DeepDrummer »

Hi, I'm Tom from Ontario Canada (somewhere in the lonely vast cold frozen wasteland we call winter).
I've been checking out this page from time to time over the past few years and I have to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the great posts and those responsible for this page which is helping me a great deal.
Now before I go any further know that although I've generally always had an acoustic guitar around somewhere but truly only recently have I gotten the itch to learn more guitar and particularly the blues which is by far my favourite style of music. So in reality, I am a pretty close to newbie status in my skill level.
I am not however totally new to music having been a trumpeter in a former life many many years ago. Yeah, and I play around on the drums too. Like guitar I have to refer to it as playing around on those instruments until (hopefully someday) I can say I play guitar but alas at present I am not worthy. Oh I'm ummm 55 or 56 years old (I forget as I don't consider that important enough to commit to memory (or maybe I fried my brain a bit back in the seventies. Darn).
I began learning how to write music for all instruments a few years ago and that is progressing well but the computer program I am using is, (for me) very difficult to get proper sounds in the playback regarding hammer ons, pull offs, slides and such but at least I have a pretty good handle on musical theory. That being said, this site and this forum has answered a lot of my questions just by sifting through the posts which as I said, I have been doing for years but I do have some questions that I will post in the appropriate areas. Again many thanks to you very fine folks in these forums and the producer/s of this page for making it totally my go to place for the blues. It's very much appreciated folks.
Ok, I have to go find a place to ask a nagging question.
Music is in my Soul and the Blues Makes me whole.
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VikingBlues
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by VikingBlues »

:welcome: to the forum Tom.

I know I've already said that in your gear query, but I hadn't spotted this post at that point. Us more mature guys with slower brains and glasses pushed down the nose trying to read small print have a good excuse for this sort of lack of observation.

I'm heading rapidly towards 57 - and there's quite a few of us :oldie: guys on 12bar. Doesn't stop there being some damn good music making though.

Glad you've found the best blues forum on this 3rd rock from the sun.

Look forward to seeing you around on the forum. :thumbsup:
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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12bar
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by 12bar »

:welcome: to 12bar!

We're always in need of a good drummer for our collaborations! :lol:
No drummer jokes this time. :big_smile:

And regarding your age - you don't change the average member's age... and it's never too late to play the Blues.
We like question about Blues and gear - lots of skilled members here, be it musical and/or technical.
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DeepDrummer
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by DeepDrummer »

Thanks folks. I'm not sure I would use the word good to describe my drumming especially after I just finished an hour long drumalong to blues session. I must have got some rust on my bones over the hardworking summer here. Mind you I'm pretty good at writing drum notation which is how I learn stuff on the kit. I play it back as it scrolls the notes at various BPM's. So yeah not in my mind a very good drummer. I've only ever played a gig on trumpet back in (yikes!!) '67 - 72. I just mess around at home here on musical things. I'm not sure I can afford to stay retired much longer but I am enjoying the time I have right now over the last month or 2 to get back into the guitar. I'd gladly give a shot at collaborating with my kit or supplying beats written (or borrowed from others *cough*). I Love drumming along to the Blues for sure and I love trying to improve my guitar playing as well. So much so that I find it hard to find time to drum. At this point both need work. It looks like I'm in the right best place to be for the Blues for sure.
Drummer jokes are fine, trust me some drummers love guitarist jokes as well. Being a never gigged on drums or guitar, I don't have the same frame of reference for where the jokes come from.
If you look in the manual for my Peavey Tube 120, when looking at the diagram of inputs and dials it shows an arrow going to the input and the description states: If you don't know what this is for get some drumsticks. LOL. Further in the manual as a footnote it states *no drummers were harmed in the making of this manual*. Go ahead laugh. heh heh. Heading to see the other post. Nice to meet you folks.
Music is in my Soul and the Blues Makes me whole.
MichaelRobinson
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by MichaelRobinson »

:welcome: Tom

As we say in Sweden. "Life is like playing a piano. You can never learn to much"

You seems to be very updated regarding music theory. That's somthing I wish I was.

So. You want to play blues. Lets go. Don't hasitate. Pick up youre guitar and start. You allready know how to write music so I persume you is talented. :music1:

You is not allone. Im 54 years OLD. :oldie:. My brain functions is not the same any more. My glasses is on the tip of my nose and I have lot of old mans problems. Don't worry about youre age. In this forum are people a bit older than in other forums, I think, witch is a good thing.

I can tell you that I play wrong notes all the time. Somtimes I care. Somtimes not.

Pick up your guitar and star playin' blues. :bb:
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DeepDrummer
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by DeepDrummer »

Good idea. Picking it up and plugging it in shortly. I've been playing for a couple or 4 hours a day for a few weeks now and I have about 2 1/2 plus a half positions of the Pentatonic Minor scale down not bad. I just found out today that the Pentatonic Major is just the same 3 frets down? Very cool. I'm no shredder nor do I want to be but definitely some more speed would help in spots. I still have a bit of a ways to go regarding theory but Yeah, I have been wracking my brain over theory for many many years. Still. There's lots to know and I seem to forget easily enough. I'll see if I can find a place to place to links to Music I've written so far. It's probably a bit odd, Well short of good blues but quite often uses blues progressions. Mistakes? Oh yeah. I rarely go back after writing something and just move on to the next trial.
My guitar AND drumming is rarely seen as copying someone or playing known songs and even rarely do I play known licks. What I play is simply what is inside me but that still requires a lot of learning yet to be done. I just need to learn how to recognize these tunes in my head and transfer that to the guitar. I'm going to see if I can't get a guitar track or video of me playing soon (it won't be pretty but it'll give you an idea perhaps of where I am which is only slightly above a beginner I guess). I've been holding off until I can play the latest drum part I wrote to it and play the bass and rythm parts as well when I can do that (Maybe I'll just simplify it in the end since my new guitar addiction is getting the better of my time). My biggest goal here is to be able to express myself and my feelings of the Blues through my own original creations (and a few borrowed licks). This site is great at leading me in all the right directions. Now I think I saw a "post your music section"....watch your ears and try to keep your food down if you choose to listen LOL.
Music is in my Soul and the Blues Makes me whole.
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DeepDrummer
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by DeepDrummer »

Oh well. It's in my profile anyway (following the rules). The only members to TCs Blues Band is myself LOL. Trying to play all the parts. Mostly just my written music played back via computer on the link in my profile but that is starting to change soon. Some of it uses over 25 instruments and is kinda classical folling way too many theoretical Music rules while not being able to reproduce Blues guitar via computer hardly at all.
I may as well try recording myself on guitar so I can look back and laugh in 20 years or so (or cry as the case may be). Ok my amps warmed up....gota go. Nice to meet you folks. Real nice...2,3,4...
Music is in my Soul and the Blues Makes me whole.
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2WheelsOfBlues
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by 2WheelsOfBlues »

:wave: Tom :welcome: here.

I now its a great site/forum and yes you can learn a lot by reading and lisen to the people here.
Olso theye give you an anser to any question.
play guitar like the wind, mysterious but definitely present....
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Blindboy
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by Blindboy »

Howdy, Tom... :welcome: to the forum from Northern New Mexico. :cool:
"Throw yo' big leg over me Mama, I might not feel this good again!"
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DeepDrummer
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by DeepDrummer »

Thanks for the welcome folks. I already know you're great folks since I have been reading posts and stuff here for quite a while (probably a year or two, maybe more). Lots of learning going on and you know what I just thought of. This site over the last couple years has taught me more about the blues than anything. Now, I used it at first to gain some knowledge of chord progressions and all kinds of blues stuff so I could start trying to write music for the Blues. I don't do too bad writing the chord progressions but writing lead eludes me and although I am fairly green, my playing blues lead sounds better than trying to write it but, I have a long way to go. Darn, I'm glad to be here.
Music is in my Soul and the Blues Makes me whole.
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drockadam
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by drockadam »

Welcome! :welcome:

I'm from Kingston, Ontario. :beer:
Keep The Blues Alive,

- Adam De Rocco
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larz
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by larz »

:welcome:
I am from Sweden :banana:
Beginner playing Fender Mexico Standardstrata, Hagström Absolut Vodka Ultra Swede Rock Edition and Fender Mustang III Amp.
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MojoJim
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by MojoJim »

:welcome: Welcome to the forum, Tom.

You sound like the perfect age for this forum. In my case, I'll be 69 in a few months and only took up blues guitar a couple of years ago. But you can't tell age by reading the posts - only the level of interest, dedication and skill - and we have plenty of all that here. :oldie:

You touched on a number of interesting topics. What notation software are you working with? Some of us have worked with various programs so that we could exchange ideas. Few programs support blues guitar very well - and none seem to be able to create a credible playback.

Some of us have tried linking drum machines into our DAWs. In my case, I don't know what blues drumming is supposed to sound like - so I will be very interested to hear some of your recordings.

Those are just a couple of the subjects that I think would be interesting to discuss in other threads. :clap: :thumbsup:

So welcome from warm and sunny central Texas. :dance: :banana:
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DeepDrummer
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by DeepDrummer »

wow thanks. Folks here from everywhere eh? Kingston is an hour and a half from me. I just retired from a job in Gananoque. Lots of music venues in Kingston eh?
MojoJim, thanks for the encouragement. I use SIbelius 7 but can export in a variety of formats.
I'm, not sure if I am allowed to link to my youtube videos here but I have quite a few of me trying (albeit poorly) to drum to some of my Sibelius pieces in a blues style. I don't bother playing to rock. It just doesn't turn my crank anymore. I was raised around Blues and Jazz and that's what I like to hear, to play and to learn to play.
I have a channel on youtube. It's not commercial at all. Just me playing my own non-copywrited creations with a few drum vids. Not sure if I'm allowed to post the link to that here though. I'm probably not allowed to suggest a youtube search on deepdrummer or anything so I won't *cough* sorry *hanging head* I don't want to get banned or anything but
It's pretty much music driven with a few personal things and might give you an idea of my take on blues drumming at my reduced level of expertise. I promise some guitar vids up there soon. Some is totally Sibelius (drums and all) and some is a combination. Not as bluesy guitar as I would like so well, that's why I am here.
Drum machines. awww man. I've got no shortage of Blues beats worked out (my way mind you). I can't promise I would be better than a machine.
One file alone has 635 bars of beats I have written/borrowed/modified/dreamed up. A lot fits the Blues. We just have to figure out what you need and stuff and how I can deliver it. I don't do drum tabs at all. I do it in notation. Drum tab is far too hard for me to read on the fly. Guitar is not as bad to read tabs as drum tabs to me. This is a guitar site and that's why I am here but if I can help in the drum department I'll give it a go. I didn't come here as a drummer though so what can I say. My kit is getting neglected a lot these days as my guitar fingers callous up, my drum hands are getting soft. I've got 5 pages from the Sibelius manual in front of me and it says I should be able to simulate anything a human can play on guitar. I haven't got that far into the guitar end of it ...yet. I will though. Thanks from the cold frozen wasteland to Texas. I blew 6 inches of snow off the drive 2 days ago. Good way to spend the winter. A fire going over there and me right here learning the blues. Anyway. How do you want your beats? How many bars? Beats in a bar? Length of progression? Midi, sibelius, notation, pictures of notation? If I spend too much time in that area though and it affects my guitar time, I'll have to step back a bit but hey right now I have time like when it would be wrong to make sounds during her afternoon naps etc.. Some folks have been pleased with my beats in the Jazz area before only because drummers don't seem to want to play the blues. They call it boring but not me. For me it's blues all the way. Aww man I can't pick up my guitar (she's sleeping right over =====> there). I know some don't consider them good guitars but I can't keep my hands of my new/used squire tele. Let me know how and where and in what format and we could try something in the line of blues drums. I probably should go and read the rules for here again. Sorry if I am breaking any.
Music is in my Soul and the Blues Makes me whole.
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tytlblues
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by tytlblues »

:welcome: Howdy from Texas and welcome, looks like you already got a good dose of the friendliest musicians you'll find on the web. This is s great forum, with a bunch of unique guitarist from around the world!!!! :music2:
Tytlblues

"Notes are expensive... spend them wisely”
BB King
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12bar
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by 12bar »

DD, feel free to link to your Youtube site, or even embed some of your vids using the youtube_id tag (see above).
You can also upload some of your recordings into the Blues room. It's made for that purpose!

One hint from me - don't think too much, let your fingers do the work. Listen to a good standard Blues with a known chords progression, may it me from BB, EC, Peter Green or any good Blues player, and just sit down, listen and try to play along.
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losaavedra
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by losaavedra »

¡Hola! and welcome from Spain (not so sunny at the moment!). Just been catching up on posts after my broadband router got fried a week ago during a thunder storm. Your 'drumming' post particularly interesting as, even after having the thing 5 years the percussion setup on my Boss BR900CD still totally defeats me. In theory should be able to do an intro, several types of verse with infills then an 'ending' via an assortment of 'patterns' and 'arrangements' available. But every time I try to tackle it via the (enormous) manual my brain switches off! I'll follow this up in a more appropriate section of the forum. In the meantime, again 'welcome' and have fun here!
Mike
"I feel more like I do now than when I first came on" (Ronnie Scott, Maidstone)
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DeepDrummer
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by DeepDrummer »

Hola losaavedra, thanks for the welcome.
Thanks alot 12bar. I've read a couple warnings you've given in the past and I sure don't want to be kicked out of this magnificant place. I have used this as my number one resource to assist me in writing some music and learning about the blues for a few years now. I just never registered or logged in until I picked a guitar up and at that point I knew this was the place I wanted to be. The backing tracks, tabs, history lessons, the links to Blues Artists and the information in the posts all surrounded by good people makes this the only guitar site I have ever needed. My appreciation for what you have done here knows no bounds. I tried to upload a 20 meg file yesterday and it sorta bumped me out. I though "oh no, I'm in trouble now. I was truly a bit worried. Like walking on eggshells. The drum forum that I frequented a lot in the past with my morning coffee is just getting to be a metal hangout more and more. I guess it's that so many youngsters coming up are into that and let's face it, there is some really bad music coming out these days and more and more I can't relate to that. Mind you, there are some awesome up and coming Blues Players out there eh? Now I don't even think about it. 12bar.de is my goto place for great reading and learning and great folks. Thanks for the direction and all that you do. I keep trying to play along but I find it hard to figure out the key most times but definitely I downloaded my first backing track from you folks yesterday. Not because it was the only one I liked but because it was at the top of the page. I love the way they are sometimes posted with the Key in the name. That helps alot. I'm working on it for sure. I know I am a long way form anywhere in my guitar playing but this IS the place that has gotten me this far and this is the place that is getting me there. I can't acknowledge that enough times.
Music is in my Soul and the Blues Makes me whole.
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12bar
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by 12bar »

DeepDrummer wrote: I tried to upload a 20 meg file yesterday and it sorta bumped me out.
20 MB? :yikes:
That's a bit too much, there's a (system) limit currently at 10 MB. If you try more, nothing will happen except that it will not be uploaded... :big_smile:

You can upload any Blues played by yourself as long as there's no 3rd party copyright, especially with the lyrics.
Many members use soundclick.com or similar websites if the copyright is unclear. Usually those bigger companies can handle lawsuits better than me... :whistle:
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DeepDrummer
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Re: Hello, from Canada

Post by DeepDrummer »

Yeah I figured that was the problem. I could break it up but really, I'm here for guitar mostly so it's not that important.
Pretty much anything I write is from my own heart and mind. I don't play covers or use other peoples songs at all. My goal has always been to be as original as possible. I haven't written lyrics in 30 or 40 years. No worries on copywrite infringements here. If you listen to anything I've written as I have posted on youtube, you'll find nothing familiar or copywrited. It's a bit different and a bit odd but it's me.
Pretty well everything I post there has my Music as a background for my drum vids and other slideshows and such. I consistently deny the youtube requests to turn it into a "money for views situation".
I hope to post a guitar or 3 or 4 instrument video soon but other things keep getting in the way. I have a few days coming up and the phone will be off the hook and this cat will be making music again. Looking forward to it.
Check it out if you like at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/DeepDrummer?feature=mhee
Music is in my Soul and the Blues Makes me whole.
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