ken2esq + Musician in Bell Canyon, CA

SEEKING

ABOUT

11 years ago, at age 42, I decided to learn guitar. On this journey, I've taken detours including learning to program music from VSTi and record with the Reaper DAW, learning music theory, taking vocal lessons, learning to wire electric guitars to replace pickups, etc. I'm not a good guitarist, because I never took lessons and I don't practice consistently. However, I have written a lot of song ideas. Like hundreds. I rank them from zero to four stars, and try to be objective. I have may 15 that are four star. But they are ultimately unfinished. For most of them, I have chord progressions for verse & chorus (and maybe bridge), strum patterns, and a general "feel" (e.g., funky, bluesy, melancholy, etc.). But I can't really finish them myself being somewhat limited as a musician. I have used MIDI to make electronica versions of some of them, but I'm not a great electronic producer, so it's no Daft Punk, but it lets me hear how I might layer bass lines with chords, melodic lines, drum patterns, so I use it to help develop my song concepts. Oh, and I suck at lyrics. I only have lyrics for a few songs, and those probably suck, and that has also kept me from ever really finishing them.

I'm looking for a couple things at this point. First, I figure my playing ability is like that of a teenager who has played for a year or two, and who needs to join an band to improve on playing with others and be more motivated in general to improve. So, I'd like to find other players who kind of suck and need to improve, but want to improve with others in a band, to get better together in a non-judgmental setting. We can jam in person if we live near each other or, more likely, through videoconference, or whatever.

The second thing I'm looking for is help turning my unfinished song ideas into finished, professional quality tunes. Obviously not all of them, but maybe a few of them, just to see if I really created anything good here or if I'm just enjoying the smell of my own farts. If I had band-mates, I could use their help with this. However, I'm also open to the possibility of hiring better musicians -- musicians too good to be in a band with me or tour with me -- to collaborate and help finish these songs. Some I envision as alt rock, some I envision as bluesy/jazzy, and some I envision as EDM. For the EDM stuff, I don't so much need band-mates as engineer/producer types who can do a much more professional version of what I have tried to do with them.

Screen name:

ken2esq

Member since:

Mar 29 2023

Active within 1 month

Level of commitment:

Just for Fun

Years playing music:

11

Gigs played:

Under 10

Available to gig:

2-3 nights a week

Influences

I have a wide range of influences, which I'll break down by genre:
- ALT ROCK: Dramarama, Cracker, New Order, Violent Femmes, Oingo Boingo, Cocteau Twins, Nirvana, They Might Be Giants, Alphaville, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Police, U2, Harvey Danger, Social Distortion, Bush, Everclear, Green Day, Radiohead, Coldplay, to name a few...
- EDM: I'm partial to uplifting progressive trance and psy-trance. Some of my favs are Daft Punk, Infected Mushroom, Bassnectar, a lot of Hooj Choons singles, Mauro Picotto, Yves Deruyter, Chicane, etc.
- JAM BANDS: I've been to a lot of music festivals, and like various types from acid jazz to jam grass. Some of my favs are Phish, String Cheese Incident, Railroad Earth, Moe, Leftover Salmon, Olosbo, Om Trio, Partical, STS9, Zilla to name a few
- JAZZ: I enjoy a lot of older jazz, though not too sure how much it influences my own music.
- BLUES: I love blues, seen BB King a number of times, would love to make bluesier music.
- CLASSIC ROCK: Of course, I'm a fan of traditional classic rock, from Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Foreigner, Guns & Roses, ACDC, Deep Purple, the Beatles, and lots more
- RNB, HIP HOP, RAP, POP: I'm more of a dabbler in these areas, but love some of the stuff I've heard, like Run DMC, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Anderson Paak, the Weeknd, Harry Stiles, Ed Sheeran, James Blunt... well, there are more that I don't recollect at the moment, I know crappy list, like I said I'm a dabbler in this, but would love to make something as smooth as Anderson Paak's Tiny Desk concert or his Van's Tour performance on be.
INDIE: To me this is pretty close to Alt. Rock, but is a bit unique, so my favs here are stuff like: Decembrists, Johnny Marr, Passion Pit, Vampire Weekend, the Killers, Train, to name a few.

When I list my all time fav bands, it's generally Phish, Cracker, Dramarama and Oingo Boingo. I do have a sort of goth taste in music, in college I wore nothing but black for a whole year, etc. I'm more eclectic now, but at the core I might be be interested in some kind of bluesy goth jam band, maybe with some organic electronica influences (ala STS9).

Instrument experience:

Rhythm Guitar:

Intermediate

Acoustic Guitar:

Intermediate

Vocalist:

Beginner

Vocalist - Baritone:

Beginner

Bass Guitar:

Beginner

Electronic Music:

Beginner

EQUIPMENT

I have two turntables (Technics 1200s), mixer, around a dozen guitars (classical, acoustic, baritone, and various electric types - humbuckers, single pick ups, P90s), a couple bass guitars, a Yamaha electric drum set, a few amps, an M-Track Quad audio interface, a Schurr microphone, and some other miscellaneous stuff like cables, pedals, and such.