Multi-instrumentalists

[digestif]

I expect many of the artists here are multi-instrumentalists.
A challenge is keeping up chops on all the instruments at once (especially unrelated instruments like drums/guitar/clarinet) while also writing, and in some cases recording, mixing, mastering, usually as a spare-time activity when the day job allows.
I'd be interested to hear your approaches on managing all this.
The challenge causes me to write and record in album-sized batches - do all the writing, practice only drums for a couple of months, record all the drums, practice only guitar for a couple of months, record all the guitars etc.
It takes ages to get a project done and it's a daunting prospect near the start.

On a related topic, what are the most impressive one-person outputs you've come across? (One person writing everything playing everything recording everything).

[Rarebird]

Probably Haindling, a complete one man orchestra.

[progmatist]

It's been more than a year since I've written anything, but here's my approach to keeping my chops up: I practice each instrument in bite size pieces. Playing drums has become my exercise routine. I practice drums 3 days a week for about 45 minutes, in lieu of jogging or what have you. I practice keyboards at 6:00 in the evening while watching the news. I alternate between guitar and bass, focusing on each every other day for about an hour a day.

On a related topic, what are the most impressive one-person outputs you've come across? (One person writing everything playing everything recording everything).

My favorite is Mario Cottarelli. He's a world class composer and arranger. You just have to look past the cheesiness of playing everything on keyboards including drums, guitar and bass.

Second would be The Psychedelic Ensemble. Perhaps the most famous multi-instrumentalist whose name nobody knows.

[trurl]

I just play instruments when I need to play them, and in the studio I cheat a lot! Being in a studio pretty juch all the time I get chances to put my hands on guitars and basses a fair amount but I almost never get to sit behind drums these days.

[thedunno]

Check out Steve Unruh's solo albums. Het plays everything completely by himself. Guitars, drums , keys, violins, flutes...ridiculous.

[dlm]

I usually spend about 1 hour on guitar every night sometimes more, about 45 minutes on drums and 45 minutes on keys or learning something new about my hardware/software. I pick up the bass once or twice a week.

[Yodelgoat]

I learn to play the parts I need to get them recorded, then I pretty much drop that instrument. I do pick up a guitar every so often for fun or to work out a part, or go out to the studio and bang on the drums when I need to get some aggression out, but I never really get much better at anything. Ive been much better at all the instruments I play when I was simply playing them and nothing else. I struggle to get up to anywhere near to the quality that I'm capable of playing. I just get the part down, and then set the instrument down and don't think about it.

I play:

Bass
Keys
Drums
Guitars
Woodwinds (Sax and Flute)
Mandolin
Voice

No way can I be very good at any of these while focusing on all, but for me its about the composition, and certainly not Virtuosity.

[Mikhael]

I don't practice so much as work out parts nowadays. When I record, I record the drum tracks first, as odd as that may sound. My theory is that the drums drive the song, and then every instrument I put on after that follows the drums, and locks into them. All I know is the results tend to sound more like a real band when I do that.

[Yodelgoat]

I don't practice so much as work out parts nowadays. When I record, I record the drum tracks first, as odd as that may sound. My theory is that the drums drive the song, and then every instrument I put on after that follows the drums, and locks into them. All I know is the results tend to sound more like a real band when I do that.

I've written dozens of songs, and I always wind up wishing I'd done this too. I've always started with an acoustic guitar. Smart move on your part.

[No Pride]

Howard Levy (Bela Fleck and the Flecktones) has been a friend of mine (and a bandmate in a group called Chevere de Chicago) for 30 years. He's known as a harmonica and keyboard player, but I remember a time when he also played alto and soprano sax, mandolin, flute and practically everything but brass instruments. At a certain point, he decided he was spreading himself too thin and he decided to focus just on keyboards and harmonica and drop all of those other instruments. I know he practices his ass off on both equally. BTW, he plays jazz on diatonic "blues harps;" he found a way to get all 12 notes of the chromatic scale out of them.

As for me, I'm a guitar player by trade, but I started out on piano and I never stopped playing it, though I've never played keyboards in a band, I just use them to write. I've done a handful of gigs on bass guitar and I played drums for a while when I was 11-12. The drumset was destroyed in a basement flood and that was the end of that; whatever marginal chops I had on drums are gone now, although I think I understand the concept of drumset playing better than your average guitar player.

I'd say that if you're serious about more than one instrument, you should try to devote equal practice time to all of them. I can actually improvise and play cool voicings and stuff on piano in some keys, but because I never got serious about it, I never worked towards being equally strong in all keys. Of course guitar is much easier; if you can play in one key, you can play in any key, just a matter of moving your hand to a different part of the fretboard.

[digestif]

...but I never really get much better at anything. Ive been much better at all the instruments I play when I was simply playing them and nothing else. I struggle to get up to anywhere near to the quality that I'm capable of playing.

My experience too - but for me the knowledge that I'm playing below my potential, coupled to the desire to improve, makes me focus on an instrument for a while rather than finer-grained timeslicing.

No way can I be very good at any of these while focusing on all, but for me its about the composition, and certainly not Virtuosity.

Well said. But I feel that my limited playing could detract from the listeners' perception of the composition, hence the slow single-instrument approach.

[Soc Prof]

I just play instruments when I need to play them, and in the studio I cheat a lot!

I cheat when recording drums (actually digital drum pads) by layering the different parts rather than playing it all at once. Being a live drummer takes a lot of coordination. Being a studio drummer doesn't.

For synths, I usually transpose into C major related modes or whatever makes it easiest to play.

[progmatist]

I cheat when recording drums (actually digital drum pads) by layering the different parts rather than playing it all at once.

I used to do the same thing. Now my chops are up enough that I can record in real time, but still find it useful to slow down the tempo for more difficult passages. Therein lies the beauty of midi: the tempo can be changed with zero sound quality degradation, unlike with pure audio.

[Yodelgoat]

So, do you guys record your drums using MIDI? Does that actually work? I find that the natural drums and cymbals are so much more dynamic than the pads. In fact, its almost too dynamic, when I try to get it to fit into a modern sounding mix, it simply wont go there. It sounds much more like its from a couple decades ago. Not a bad thing, at least for my ears. I do love, well recorded music, but since my writing is planted in the 70's (thereabouts), It seems to work for me.

I've thought occasionally that I'd like to ditch the real drums for a decent digital drum set, but every time I start to get serious about it, My shoulder angel tells me to back off. I have 6 toms, 2 snares, and 13 cymbals. Not great quality, but the quantity helps my limited drum skills sound like I'm keeping it fresh - when its not. It would cost a lot to get anywhere near that via e-drums. So, for the foreseeable projects, the real drums are the tool of choice.

[progmatist]

So, do you guys record your drums using MIDI?

I use BFD2 to translate midi into audio, which is a very reasonable facsimile for acoustic drums. I really have no choice but to use midi...not only is midi more forgiving technique wise, but quieter as well. I live in a townhouse, so I can't very well bang away on acoustic drums. If I did, I would end up with the cops showing up at my door and multiple fines from the HOA. Plus, electronic drums take up less space, an important consideration when one's house is only 800 square feet.

[klothos]

So, do you guys record your drums using MIDI? Does that actually work? I find that the natural drums and cymbals are so much more dynamic than the pads. In fact, its almost too dynamic, when I try to get it to fit into a modern sounding mix, it simply wont go there. It sounds much more like its from a couple decades ago. Not a bad thing, at least for my ears. I do love, well recorded music, but since my writing is planted in the 70's (thereabouts), It seems to work for me.

I use multi-layered one shot samples of actual acoustic drums (as in a one-shot sample of a single drum with different stick/velocities - a simple 5-piece kit with a single crash and ride can be 70-100 samples) ... I have collected these over the years and there are many of these samples available for free online although it usually takes a thorough search to find them. Sometimes a mix-n-match works well (Yamaha kick drum from the Yamaha kit I have from that kit, the Sonor snare sample set from that kit I have, and the rest of the kit I may use that 70s Vintage Ludwig sample set that has been floating around the net forever)..........I have full files of just about every drum machine known to man as well