part 4? tell us Prince's e-mail address or mobile phone number or something.

Well, here's the thread!

Thanks for your answer, artpal. It's somehow reassuring to hear of musicians sticking to old favorites.

This is what I'm learning to play:



Just the cheapest George Washburn there was.

And this I haven't really touched yet... it's a smaller guitar, my husband ordered a smaller model for himself, thinking it'll be nice for me to play someday too:



(Yamaha APX-5A)
[Edited 11/15/05 9:08am]

Heiress said:

Oh cool. I don't know much about mandolins. But you gave me an idea about guitars. I should probably buy a small acoustic for myself. I have small hands too. Those bar chords start hurting after a while.

I don't mind having older gear - it's the ideas that count. Sometimes I just want to sing and play the piano as a recording. Although I'm not the most versatile singer.

Talk about older gear - I remember gigging with Trouble Funk and toying around with their mini moog - the one that "drops the bomb". Talk about a vintage experience! That thing should be in a museum.

I also remember appreciating go go more than they did - since I was really an outsider in the scene. They said they would rather play jazz and they tried to venture into pop and r&b. Bad move. If you want to know who might have helped them move away from go go, part of it might have been me and my partner Jon. We introduced them to computers and sequencing. At first, they were reluctant to embrace the technology but then they came around. But they should have stuck to the live thing. They were legendary for it. Unfortunately, DC musicians don't respect go go music like some outsiders do. I remember when go go became popular in the college "intellectual" circuit - which was funny cuz at the same time, I saw from the inside how the musicians didn't respect their own music.

I think I'm rambling...
[Edited 11/15/05 20:19pm]

Hey Blaque, $8K sure is a lot of money. I'm gonna have to check that out too. One thing I like about Korg keyboards is the joystick. Those pitch and mod wheels on the other boards just don't compare. But - I'll just look... And yes, I did buy that Ensoniq along with a drum machine for $5. This guy didn't know what he had. I gave both to Bassdame, though, as I felt like I was satisfied with my own gear.

Dezz, I'm glad you like my analysis. Not bad for a Prince girl, huh? I don't think theoretically either. It's usually an afterthought. Like I can spurt out a sentence and later if I want to I could analyze that I used a noun, verb, etc. But music is something I hear, not read.

Muziqmkr, yes the Mirage puchase was quite a deal. Did you know that if you go to syntaur.com you can purchase an operating system for it that makes it multi timbral? Check it out!

artpal said:

Well, it's a good kind of rambling, anyway.

It's the ideas that count, as you said, and if you have a half-way decent ear (which I believe most musicians SHOULD have) you know if it sounds good or not. Whether it came from your head first, or you just kind of happened on it by accident in the course of messing around...

Speaking of which, I'm on my way to a jam this evening, with some bluegrass folks. Gonna try out a little song I wrote... I picked up this mandolin as a way to accompany myself because my voice is the main thing I have going for me, anyway... I just hope to not look like to much of a fool in front of guys who've been playing for 20 years, when I've had this lil' thing maybe all of 2 months!!!

Wish me luck.

artpal said:

Yeah I did that about 10 years ago thank big time though

Heiress said:

Well, how'd it go?

artpal said:

Oh my... it was very, very wild, to say the least. At least for me. For the next time, I know what to expect!!

Suffice to say, it was very loud guitar-playing men men men... and lil' old me. I was the only chick to get up on that stage the whole night. They had me screaming "Will the circle be unbroken" newgrass-style (triple time, it seemed), in G at the top of my lungs. I was so freaked out that I didn't hear the audience yelling for another (my friends told me about it later). One of the dudes offered me his electric mandolin (my acoustic would not have survived the din), but I luckily I had the instinct to just concentrate on singing, that first time around... But I swear, for the next time I'll take up his offer. Gotta practice!

But anyway, I had a good crowd on stage w/ me. Wild and loud, but good at what they did, at least. Whew!

Heiress said:

Oh - how exciting! Don't you just love the thrill of the stage? It's like you're really living life!

artpal said:

Heh heh, the first time I played in public, it was a very quiet, sort of acoustic thing this summer, for a festival that took place outdoors. This was quite the polar opposite - an interesting study in contrasts, to say the least!

But yeah, I love it!

I remember gigging with Trouble Funk and toying around with their mini moog - the one that "drops the bomb". Talk about a vintage experience! That thing should be in a museum.

I also remember appreciating go go more than they did - since I was really an outsider in the scene. They said they would rather play jazz and they tried to venture into pop and r&b. Bad move. If you want to know who might have helped them move away from go go, part of it might have been me and my partner Jon. We introduced them to computers and sequencing. At first, they were reluctant to embrace the technology but then they came around. But they should have stuck to the live thing. They were legendary for it. Unfortunately, DC musicians don't respect go go music like some outsiders do. I remember when go go became popular in the college "intellectual" circuit - which was funny cuz at the same time, I saw from the inside how the musicians didn't respect their own music.

Gotta bring Artpal's shit back to the top. Finally read first 3 threads in Entirety....WHEW!!! Sounds Freaky your MISADVENTURES. Robin such a Freak? I woulda had her at 3.... If Paisley and Minnie I be a Bi sexual Me. Ya dig ? Pretty Man play a Pretty Game.....Could he Keep with The Beat? One Day hope to see.

artpal, bassdame, and Uptowndame...thank you so much for the stories!

Krystal666 said:

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Uptown and Bass Dames, Krystal is trying to figure out a way to pry some of those stories out of you!

got any tips?

Hey this is something interesting! I was looking at Carmen Electra's album liner notes and she thanked Robin Power!
[Edited 12/2/05 2:55am]

Well, that's good. After all, Robin introduced her to Prince and therefore started her on the path to stardom (inadvertently, I admit).

sosgemini said:

I have one of those too! Tip - blow into it with your mouth. The other end of your body - well - already has its own special timbre.

artpal said:

I have a couple of those, too! They are the solo on the "Zat You, Santa Claus" track that SWANG & I did. Happy Holidaze, y'all! Thanks for the shout out Artpal.

UptownDame said:

Hi UptownDame. I know you are busy expecially around this time of year but I was wondering if you plan on telling the board of your first meeting with Prince. Again, I don't mean to sound pushy or anything I was just trying to remind you and ask if you still have plans to share the story. I hope I didn't offend you.... ...again we know you are busy and we appreciate your stories. Thank you!