Weird musical things you do.

[CountVoorhees]

I make terrible music... on purpose.

[nemesiskoen]

My right-hand pinky is crooked, it used to interfere with my keyboard-playing but now I developed a technique where my pinky is the most-used finger when I'm playing keyboard or piano. It looks funky but it gives me a lot more possibilities.

[LTE]

I hybrid pick a lot now, I rarely strum full chords all with the pick, I'll hold the pick with my index and thumb while using my middle, ring and pinky to pluck the other strings.

I string skip all the fucking time.

[Marvellous G]

If I'm in the right mood I can spend literally 20 minutes jamming to a something amazingly simple and boring for anyone except me, like soloing but keeping an A then an E bass note going with my thumb, and going into stuff like Lenny. It's sooo relaxing, but I really need to stop wasting time on it. 

[Ultimetalhead]

If I'm in the right mood I can spend literally 20 minutes jamming to a something amazingly simple and boring for anyone except me, like soloing but keeping an A then an E bass note going with my thumb, and going into stuff like Lenny. It's sooo relaxing, but I really need to stop wasting time on it. 

Totally. I do this all the time.

[Rafael Guerra]

People say I make weird faces while I'm playing...but I don't know about that!  
When I play my Kurzweil, I really like experiment with very creepy/dark sounds that don't even sound that good, but I just like to feel the darkness in it. Like, every single time I test a new dark sound, the first note I play is the lowest and highest notes at the same time...its awfully cool

[Jarlaxle]

I sometimes use four fingers on my strum hand while playing bass, makes for a good rhythm, then if a more difficult part pops up my fingers aren't tired

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Another thing I do (and for some reason, I noticed this last night while watching Dog the Bounty Hunter), is when I hear something, like a slightly syncopated musical pattern, I will try to visualize the rhythm in my head.  I will almost literally draw the rhythm pattern out in the air in front of me.  It's like decoding a secret message or something and it always bring a tiny bit of satisfaction when I've completely figured it out.

[Birch Boy]

Another thing I do (and for some reason, I noticed this last night while watching Dog the Bounty Hunter), is when I hear something, like a slightly suncopated musical pattern, I will try to visualize the rhythm in my head.  I will almost literally draw the rhythm pattern out in the air in front of me.  It's like decoding a secret message or something and it always bring a tiny bit of satisfaction when I've completely figured it out.

+1

[RoeDent]

I've been experimenting with extended techniques for the acoustic guitar. One of my favourites is holding the guitar like you would a cello and bowing the individual strings using a small artist's paintbrush, sliding my fingers up and down the fretboard.

[Dr. DTVT]

I make terrible music... on purpose.

and I make terrible music...because I'm not very good.

[Dark Master Of Sin]

Another thing I do (and for some reason, I noticed this last night while watching Dog the Bounty Hunter), is when I hear something, like a slightly syncopated musical pattern, I will try to visualize the rhythm in my head.  I will almost literally draw the rhythm pattern out in the air in front of me.  It's like decoding a secret message or something and it always bring a tiny bit of satisfaction when I've completely figured it out.

I conduct in the correct time signature all the time, I guess it's sort of the same....

[CountVoorhees]

I make terrible music... on purpose.

and I make terrible music...because I'm not very good.

Yeah... that's another reason for me too.

[Marvellous G]

Another thing I do (and for some reason, I noticed this last night while watching Dog the Bounty Hunter), is when I hear something, like a slightly syncopated musical pattern, I will try to visualize the rhythm in my head.  I will almost literally draw the rhythm pattern out in the air in front of me.  It's like decoding a secret message or something and it always bring a tiny bit of satisfaction when I've completely figured it out.

This might just be because I'm a liiiitle OCD, but if a song has an odd time signature I CANNOT ENJOY THE SONG until I figure it out. This is why I took a long time to enjoy Open Car.

[Quadrochosis]

What is Open Car in? is that like 15/4 or something?

[Marvellous G]

I think one bit is in 17/8, but I'm not 100% sure. I've actually just given up with stuff like Dance of Eternity, hence my hatred for that song.

[Fuzzboy]

I just fell in love with a new tuning:

(low to high) C-G-D-A-C-G

Totally awesome, and inspired by dudes on Youtube playing Mandocellos.

[ScioPath]

Piano: When i'm not using my pinkies they rest awkwardly on top of my ring fingers. Maybe it's because my ring fingers are weak and my pinkies want to assist them.

[Marvellous G]

Guitar: I always try to transition awesomely between two songs as if I'm actually doing so live. 

[Orbert]

I do the same thing a lot when I play the piano.  I figure one of these days, I'll actually get to play in front of people, and when I do, I'll have some cool transitions worked out.

[Bonham]

I took drum lessons for about six years and didn't practice once 
Honestly didn't know I had to, but when I went to Burklee for a percussion festival a couple years back, I realized everyone was better than me.
I've been playing piano for awhile and just started guitar, and I practise those constantly, but I guess drums were always kind of boring for me.

[jfwund]

I have a kyser "quick change" capo, and I always put the capo on upside down (i.e. handle pointing down rather than up). I remember back when I used to play in church, as well as in a couple of bands, and it would always drive the other guitarists nuts because it looked "wrong"...

[Manolito Mystiq]

Another thing I do (and for some reason, I noticed this last night while watching Dog the Bounty Hunter), is when I hear something, like a slightly syncopated musical pattern, I will try to visualize the rhythm in my head.  I will almost literally draw the rhythm pattern out in the air in front of me.  It's like decoding a secret message or something and it always bring a tiny bit of satisfaction when I've completely figured it out.

I did that with this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38XvG7SO2qY

Morricone gone prog.

[sneakyblueberry]

I have a kyser "quick change" capo, and I always put the capo on upside down (i.e. handle pointing down rather than up). I remember back when I used to play in church, as well as in a couple of bands, and it would always drive the other guitarists nuts because it looked "wrong"...

Isn't it annoying for you though?  If I do it handle down it always gets in the freaking way.

[nemesiskoen]

Another thing I do (and for some reason, I noticed this last night while watching Dog the Bounty Hunter), is when I hear something, like a slightly syncopated musical pattern, I will try to visualize the rhythm in my head.  I will almost literally draw the rhythm pattern out in the air in front of me.  It's like decoding a secret message or something and it always bring a tiny bit of satisfaction when I've completely figured it out.

This might just be because I'm a liiiitle OCD, but if a song has an odd time signature I CANNOT ENJOY THE SONG until I figure it out. This is why I took a long time to enjoy Open Car.

I usually have the same problem. I have to figure out the time signature all the time. Usually when it's impossible or when I think I have it I use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_works_in_unusual_time_signatures, which is a quite extended list of songs with odd time signatures. "Open Car" is not on there though, the Dance of Eternity is, it's funny what they say about it: ""The Dance of Eternity" by Dream Theater. This instrumental contains mixtures of faster and slower beat groupings in 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4. It goes through 104 time signature changes in just over six minutes."

[PlaysLikeMyung]

Another thing I do (and for some reason, I noticed this last night while watching Dog the Bounty Hunter), is when I hear something, like a slightly syncopated musical pattern, I will try to visualize the rhythm in my head.  I will almost literally draw the rhythm pattern out in the air in front of me.  It's like decoding a secret message or something and it always bring a tiny bit of satisfaction when I've completely figured it out.

This might just be because I'm a liiiitle OCD, but if a song has an odd time signature I CANNOT ENJOY THE SONG until I figure it out. This is why I took a long time to enjoy Open Car.

I usually have the same problem. I have to figure out the time signature all the time. Usually when it's impossible or when I think I have it I use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_works_in_unusual_time_signatures, which is a quite extended list of songs with odd time signatures. "Open Car" is not on there though, the Dance of Eternity is, it's funny what they say about it: ""The Dance of Eternity" by Dream Theater. This instrumental contains mixtures of faster and slower beat groupings in 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4. It goes through 104 time signature changes in just over six minutes."

There are songs in 59/48?

[Marvellous G]

Technically Tool's Lateralus is in 24/8 if you combine it all, and Schism was joked as being in 6.5/8. I love being a musical nerd.

[jfwund]

Isn't it annoying for you though?  If I do it handle down it always gets in the freaking way.

Nah -- it's never gotten in the way, and for whatever reason, it's easier for me to change it on the fly. Like I said, it irritated the hell out of the other guitarists I was playing with, to the point that I ended up playing lead in church just so it wouldn't distract the other two guys...
(it was a "folk" style Catholic mass, piano and guitars, strummy kind of stuff, so guitar leads were out of the norm)

[PixelDream]

What's uncommon about my approach to creating music..

As a guitar player I used to focus all my energy into getting fast chops etc.
Nowadays, it's much different. When writing/recording music with my band, 50% of my task is thinking about the arrangements and the orchestration of every part. When thinking about 'what to play over that particular chord progression' , I'm hearing the notes and rythms in my head. Without consideration for difficulty, I'll just learn it on guitar no matter what. Sometimes I make up stuff that is impossible for me to play, so I'll just practice for days to get the damn thing right.

So that's how I'm 'teaching' myself guitar now. I rarely play other people's songs, and in this way I'll get my chops automatically up to par with what I want to achieve. And it's 'real', because I took the 'creation' approach instead of trying to mimic other bands' music and feelings, which I am not very good at.

[MykeHavoc]

I play upside down.

I'm left-handed, and play a right-handed guitar, strung as is, simply slung upside down.
I have an entirely unique approach to playing, especially with strumming patterns and such.
I've met or known of a handful of guys that do this, but it doesn't seem to be all that common.

[sonatafanica]

Like Jimi Hendrix?

[Marvellous G]

Or Dick Dale.

[MykeHavoc]

Jimi Hendrix flipped the strings, so no.

Yes, like Dick Dale. He played the guitar strung as is.

[Marvellous G]

I wish I could even begin to have the dexterity to do that. 

I have a leftie friend who is pretty competent at using our righties, and it blows my mind to even try that, let alone the way you're doing it.

[jackbauer114]

Ive seen some bass player do that before... weird.