SEEKING
Other, Keyboard, Other Percussion, Drums, Bass Guitar, Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar.ABOUT
I'm a rapidly improving, self-taught novice guitar player. In the past few weeks, I've been making an effort to practice at least an hour a day due to a renewed desire to explore my love of music.
I'm also quite a competent singer. My range is rather flexible and I have good control over the quality of my voice. This allows me to decently emulate some of my favorite singers, like Bradley Nowell and Jack White, to some degree, though I'm more interested in developing my own style than emulating others.
I'm currently listening to a lot of White Stripes and I'm very interested in the minimal/garage-type sound, but I'm more interested in incorporating that into some other styles rather than focus solely on one style. I hate categorizations, they're too limiting! I like the Sublime style and am a fan of industrial music, like Nine Inch Nails, but I would prefer to incorporate all these different kinds of music into a solid, rock foundation for music that really kicks.
The great thing about the White Stripes for me is that they are making music for the sake of music (art for art's sake). There's no message because the music IS the message. They simply rock and that's what I want to do. They've also introduced me to a lot of new musical styles that I wouldn't have really gotten into without their unique take on it (like blues).
I've probably sold myself short, but I wanted to be modest. I would consider myself musically gifted. I can hear notes in my head and figure out what they are. I tune my guitar by ear. I've taught myself how to play guitar by watching and listening to others. I've had a few years of formal training in music, studying music theory in both high school and community college while I was going to high school. I've been playing instruments (starting with piano) since I was 5. I went into the Navy when I was 19 and spent 5 years not having enough time to really play, so I haven't really spent a lot of time playing until recently. But the degree of improvement in my playing has actually surprised me, to the point where I know I've got enough talent to the next Jack White, or whoever, if I really work at it.
So that's it, I'm looking for a person or two or three who loves music and wants to rock, and maybe isn't too far away from me (I own a decent-sized house so jamming at my place is definitely an option).
I'm most interested in making some neat sounds. I don't mind covering music that I like, but I can't make a musical career out of covers. I want to develop a unique style and unique sounds. I'm not interested in emulating a certain "sound" or style, unless it just so happens to work in that particular instance (but still, the goal isn't to emulate, the goal is to make good music).
- Screen name:
- rarson
- Member since:
- Jun 29 2007
- Active over 1 month ago
- Level of commitment:
- Very Committed
- Years playing music:
- 15
- Gigs played:
- Under 10
- Tend to practice:
- More than 3 times per week
- Available to gig:
- 4-5 nights a week
- Most available:
- Nights
Influences
The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, Tenacious D, Stone Temple Pilots, Sublime, Nine Inch Nails, Led Zeppelin... alternative, classic rock, grunge, ska, punk, garage, a whole lot of different stuff. No country music, at least not the crap that passes as country these days (Johnny Cash was freaking awesome).
EQUIPMENT
Peavey Predator guitar... this one was laughable at best until I started modifying it. I've replaced most of the crappy electronics and installed a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the brigge. I'll be modifying it further very soon. It's working out great so far, I do like the Peavey neck.
Practice amp, a little Behringer that sounds amazingly good for it's size. I need to purchase some bigger equipment for gigs sometime down the road (I'm not gigging currently though, obviously).
Roland D-20 keyboard, hasn't been played in a long time. I'm looking to dust this one off, learn every nook and cranny in this thing (it's got a difficult interface to use), load up some new sounds, and get the great stuff that I've heard is possible to come out of this keyboard. I'm also looking into buying another keyboard, a Kurzweil K2000 or 2500/2600, and I might be tempted into buying another Roland Juno-60 (I wish I hadn't let the first one I had go).
Some kind of Peavey keyboard amp. This thing has always sounded like crap to me. It's as old as the keyboard, which is to say they were bought new in the late '80's and haven't been used much in the last 15 years or so.
I suppose that's it. I've also got a computer that I would like to dedicate to recording, but like everything else, that's going to require spending more money to get the gear that I need. I've got an extra vehicle sitting around that I only use for drag racing, which I'm planning on selling soon, so hopefully I'll have lots of shiny new stuff within a few months. Music is the main focus of my life right now.
