If you were granted a wish to be a virtuoso on any instrument...

[bill5]

As long as we're daydreaming...

 

You find the lamp, the genie puts this qualifier on your one wish.  You can be regarded one of the world's greats on it, to be remembered for many years after you're gone. What would you choose? 

 

This is hard for me. My first thoughts go to sax or violin, but...in the end...I've played far too much air guitar to think I could pass that up.  

[KuruPrionz]

I would choose my voice, I'd want to be a virtuoso singer. 

I'd still play guitar,  I'm good at it and it's one of the instruments that you can play and also sing. 

[Anderton]

Vocals. Without a doubt!

[Joe Muscara]

jazz piano.

[Dave Bryce]

Violin, I think.  Or maybe sax.

 

dB

[Winston Psmith]

My first, almost reflexive thought is Violin as well, but if we're talking genies granting wishes, I'd love to go completely nuts and master the Sitar.

[Jeff Leites]

Guitar!  I've only been able to go so far.  I think it takes a certain amount of talent to start with, then more work than I'd want put into it.

[KuruPrionz]

Just now, Jeff Leites said:

Guitar!  I've only been able to go so far.  I think it takes a certain amount of talent to start with, then more work than I'd want put into it.

Some ways of learning guitar are more complex and frustrating than others. Many of us learned by using shortcuts that make sense on guitar but may be foreign ideas on keyboards.

 

As an example, a guitar with 20 frets in standard tuning (EADGBE) will have FIVE different string/fret positions that are Middle C. 

If you are coming from a keyboard-centric standpoint, there is only ONE place for middle C (or any other note) and you instantly know your hand position when you see that charted on standard European music notation (which was originally written for keyboards). Guitar notations will require more complex information to indicate actual hand position, some charts may have this and others may not. 

 

Try something different - think of scales/chords as "patterns".  Unlike keyboards, a major or minor pentatonic scale on guitar can be exactly the same shape in every key -  you simply move them up and down the neck.

 

The same is true for chords, although you will have to fret notes that are open strings in the "cowboy chords".  Pentatonic scales are the "skeleton" of most modern music on guitar, get the skeletons down and you can add other notes and scales that are defined by the chords of the song in question. It will always be a work in progress, that's the joy of music, no?

 

There are LOTS of charts online and lots of different ways to approach this but learn the notes on every string and every fret and you can move all of your scale and chord shapes up and down the neck easily without needing to learn a new pattern for each scale (which is an aspect of playing keyboards). Please note that I am NOT saying that one instrument is "better" than the other, that's an absurd idea as all instruments are different and all sound beautiful in their own way. Guitar happens to be the path that I got on and stuck with, I LOVE the sounds of piano, organ, clarinet, bells, kazoo, trumpet, etc. Singing can be the most amazing skill of all. 

 

Honestly, most of the time I don't think in terms of notes/keys. It's almost like playing a video game or chess or something. I just scoot around because I've long since memorized the chord and scale patterns that I needed to succeed in the genres I love to play. There is much more that I DON"T know than what I DO know, this is the essence of what makes music such a rewarding lifetime avocation, none of us will ever know everything so it's never boring. 

 

The last bit would be to learn your basic "chordal scales" as patterns. There's much more to know but that can make getting to the next levels on guitar make more sense. 
It's simply different than playing keyboards, using the same strategies will result in frustrations going either way. Quite honestly, I'm so used to playing guitar that I find keyboards difficult to parse since I can't use the strategies I've got etched into my tiny brain. So it goes...

[Nowarezman]

Since for ever I've felt that no one has fully tapped the potential of the synthesizer.  I don't even know what that would look like, er..sound like, rather.  Not to say there have not been incredible synth productions and programmers and players....but IMHO we're still waiting for the first major virtuoso-composer-super-genius to blow our minds and make us rethink synth playing and programming from a revolutionary, revelatory new point of view.

 

So that's my choice, since we're just dreaming here.

 

nat

 

[Paul Vnuk Jr.]

At this stage of my life...Touch Guitar.

 

https://www.touchguitars.com/

 

 

[Jeff Leites]

4 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

Some ways of learning guitar are more complex and frustrating than others. Many of us learned by using shortcuts that make sense on guitar but may be foreign ideas on keyboards....

 

Thanks for all that advice.  I'm not a beginner, but what I meant when I said I'd only been able to go so far is, I've only been able to get somewhere into the intermediate range. I could never be a session musician, a guitar god, or even as competent as the not so famous players in the local gigging bands (some of which I find amazing).  

[David Emm]

A mere-75-pound hardware GX-80, with two zoneable keyboards, a monster sample section and racer flames on the sides.

 

No one will really know what to call it, so I name it Tarkus McGonnigle, which doesn't exactly roll off the tongue nor help in any way.

 

YOU lot will laugh & snort, but everyone else will be all "The.... whut?"

[KuruPrionz]

2 hours ago, Jeff Leites said:

 

Thanks for all that advice.  I'm not a beginner, but what I meant when I said I'd only been able to go so far is, I've only been able to get somewhere into the intermediate range. I could never be a session musician, a guitar god, or even as competent as the not so famous players in the local gigging bands (some of which I find amazing).  

I made no assumptions regarding skill level and there's nobody playing anything that cannot improve. 😇

No need to defend, you probably can play circles around me on other instruments. 

 

I was just sharing a path that I took (and still am on) that got me farther faster than trying to translate the realities of the guitar to a system of "recording" that was created for the keyboard. I still play daily and that is certainly an important ritual for any instrument, at the very least to retain a certain level of dexterity and musicality. 

I think if you try approaching the guitar in terms of patterns that you'll be surprised how quickly you come to understand the fretboard as a whole. One single set of patterns can be universally applied to any key, it's very straightforward in that regard and an aspect that appears to be limited to stringed instruments, fretted or not. Keys, woodwinds and horns cannot be approached successfully in that way as far as I know.

Cheers, Kuru

[pinkfloydcramer]

My choice would be guitar, however.  I'm not a virtuoso on keys, but it's possible for me to be get close(r) to that. A wish-granting genie is the only way I would get close on guitar.

 

1st of all however, some discussion on what makes for a virtuoso, would seem to be appropriate. Speed, technique, chops? I would trade some of my chops for better time and feel, pocket etc., in a heartbeat.

 

[KuruPrionz]

40 minutes ago, pinkfloydcramer said:

My choice would be guitar, however.  I'm not a virtuoso on keys, but it's possible for me to be get close(r) to that. A wish-granting genie is the only way I would get close on guitar.

 

1st of all however, some discussion on what makes for a virtuoso, would seem to be appropriate. Speed, technique, chops? I would trade some of my chops for better time and feel, pocket etc., in a heartbeat.

 

Time, feel, and pocket are really what drives the dance floor, just for one. 

The other super important skill that sometimes gets overlooked is "knowing when not to play." 

I've seen so many players (all sorts of instruments), playing solos while the singer is singing the chorus. I have no idea what they think they are doing. 

[RABid]

I cannot sing and it drives me crazy, so vocal. For a physical instrument, piano.

[dmitch57]

The DAW. What electric guitar was to the second half of the 20th century, the DAW is right now. We've only scratched the surface of what can be done "in the box". Someone is gonna come along and totally blow everyone away...

[KuruPrionz]

2 minutes ago, dmitch57 said:

The DAW. What electric guitar was to the second half of the 20th century, the DAW is right now. We've only scratched the surface of what can be done "in the box". Someone is gonna come along and totally blow everyone away...

See the thread in the Recording Forum regarding ATMOS. There is a revolution brewing. 

And yes, the DAW provides possibilities that were unheard of not long ago. I love home recording, I can easily do things that would be insane to attempt using tape or even one of those "all in one" digital recorder boxes. 

 

Manipulating audio on the computer screen has endless permutations. 

[harmonizer]

Vocals. And part of that would include a high enough range to sing my favorite male tenor voice pop sings. I'll take one "McCartney", please.

[GovernorSilver]

Keys.   Then entering ideas into DAW/workstation/groovebox would be as efficient as possible.  I would be able to play more melodic lines/harmony lines simultaneously with my hands, and play the parts I envision for my music in real time, even the fast and intricate ones.

 

I can live with being only a mere mortal on violin and guitar.

[Notes_Norton]

I am very good at saxophone, it is my voice. I was first sax in the all-state band every year that I was in school, and in the decades since then, I've continued to progress at it.

 

Sax fingering is transferred to wind synthesizer, and I believe I'm quite good at that.

 

I'm decent at vocals, enough to hold my own, but not a world-class singer. I don't have a world-class instrument.

 

I'm adequate on guitar, decent at what I play, but limited to what I've learned, it's my 8th instrument (including voice).  Electric only, barre and other moveable chords, plus improvised melodies that work for pop, rock, and country songs as long as the chords aren't too complicated.

 

I've played bass and drums in bands, and when in practice, I can do that just fine. I played bass for Freddy "Boom Boom" cannon for a while, and doubled on drums in bands (the instrument I started on).

 

My weakest instrument is piano, I would take a gig playing any of the instruments that I play, except piano. I suppose with a lot of practice I could develop those chops, but I don't have the time. I'd rather learn and make a backing track of a new song for my duo, writes some styles for Band-in-a-Box, or something else that transfers into a paycheck this week.

 

So dreaming what I would like to be a virtuoso on and remembered for gives me a bit of conflict. I narrowed it down to two choices

1. Saxophone. I'd love to be remembered like Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Lester Young, Stanley Turrentine, Paul Desmond and other greats are. After all, sax is my main voice, and the instrument I can express myself best with. But what good will a reputation like that do for me when I'm dead? Did it make any difference to Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Desmond, Getz or Turrentine after they died that they are still remembered?
2. Piano. I know there are scores of pianists that will be remembered for eons to come, and I'd only be a needle in the haystack. But being a piano player while I'm alive means I can always get work, play accompaniment and melody at the same time, and be truly independent.

Conclusion. Since I am alive, play music for a living, and don't think I'll know anything about any legacy when I'm gone, I'd pick instant virtuoso on piano.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

 

 

[Piktor]

I am going to cheat and wish that my skill would be in composition or song writing. 

[NewImprov]

If I could play jazz piano with the power, fluidity and grace that McCoy Tyner had, I would be a happy being.

[CEB]

[bill5]

 

On 12/12/2022 at 11:58 AM, dmitch57 said:

The DAW. What electric guitar was to the second half of the 20th century, the DAW is right now. We've only scratched the surface of what can be done "in the box". Someone is gonna come along and totally blow everyone away...

? A DAW is not an instrument. 

 

 

On 12/13/2022 at 3:18 AM, Piktor said:

I am going to cheat and wish that my skill would be in composition or song writing. 

Also not an instrument. This isn't about having a skill broadly related to music. Off to detention with you.   

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

Voice.

 

If we must choose a physical instrument, then electric guitar.

[hurricane hugo]

1. cello

2. piano

3. drumkit

[KuruPrionz]

I know - Butt Trumpet!!!! 😇

[KenElevenShadows]

2 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

I know - Butt Trumpet!!!! 😇

 

The Gates of Immense Wealth, Fame, and Fortune would open wide for you. 

[David Emm]

5 hours ago, KenElevenShadows said:

 

The Gates of Immense Wealth, Fame, and Fortune would open wide for you. 

 

(Don't say Brown Note, don't say Brown Note, don't say Brown Note) "BROWN NOTE!" Well, damn.