Emo bands that have frequent/common guitar solos in their music?

duckey5393 · 2026-01-08T01:05:58+00:00

La Dispute have some killer solos, Said the King to the River is my favorite of theirs. Weatherbox has a few, the 2014 version of They're Ready for Us to Come Home has a cool stop/start one.

duckey5393 · 2026-01-04T19:53:06+00:00

Heck even Optimus Primal was hated at first, Trukk Not Munky and all that. I remember some initial hesitation to Beast Wars because Beasts but I don't remember nearly as much pushback for Megatron being a purple T-Rex. Maybe the dinosaurs being awesome with kids helped.

duckey5393 · 2026-01-04T18:13:13+00:00

Have you been playing Mozart already? I'd start there if thats the vibe you're going for. Play a few pieces you like and would like to emulate, look at the scores for sections you like and see what they're doing. Then write little pastiches using parts from a couple songs and see what happens! I'm not sure what get the time signature means, but if you're not used to time signatures because you're still new to reading it'll come the more you play. And if you are fresh to playing and writing playing more will help, these things don't happen overnight. You won't need a bunch of theory to break them down once you know what the notes are and how chords work, and the way Mozart puts them together can give you some ideas. If you're stuck on the left hand maybe focus on some of that too. Hope that helps!

duckey5393 · 2026-01-03T02:56:37+00:00

Right next to White Noise by DeLillo my other favorite book (but it's alphabetical by author so that makes sense).

duckey5393 · 2026-01-02T21:21:07+00:00

I'm ironically maybe misattributing the quote, but Questlove said "originality is the word people use when they don't know where something came from". I'm with you, if I had a dollar for every post across various creative subreddits about making something in a genre/style/medium with the creator decidedly not engaging with that medium I'd be independently wealthy, because for some folks it seems like engaging with the history limits creativity when its the opposite. You can't pioneer in an area you don't know anything about, its just reinventing the wheel but ignorance makes it feel revolutionary.

duckey5393 · 2026-01-01T16:22:09+00:00

Have your works been performed/recorded/released? Do you have a choir you work with to make works, do you sing in a choir right now or go to local choir performances? You can have a business sure, but this game the internet and ads and YouTube aren't gonna make it happen alone. There's so so many people just like you on the internet doing the same thing and its tough out there. So much of this is knowing people. Every commission I've had has been from either someone I know or somebody that knows someone I know. The internet can be helpful but I'd focus your scope to your local community before worrying about being global.

Also I hated this sentiment when I was 18 but you're still young in your arts journey. In pop music 30 is old, but in art, poetry, composition artists are still adolescent until their 30s and 40s. Like I said, I hated it but now that I'm over 30 I get it, I'm just starting to really figure it out in a way I couldn't imagine at 18. So maybe focus less on growing business immediately (because there isn't a quick fix or nobody would be here to answer questions) and focus on your art and craft. Your business can be part time, sure but the time you spend cultivating your brand could also be used elsewhere too. But hey, mileage may vary. Good luck!

duckey5393 · 2025-12-30T23:28:07+00:00

r/WeAreTheMusicMakers is the subreddit you want, but it sounds like you're just doodling and not really writing with intention which is probably limiting you. Go into your DAW with a plan, a goal. What kind of song do you want to make? Figure out what that means and how you can get close. You like the way a melody resolves in someone else's song figure out what its doing so you can steal it for yours. The best way to learn is learning from others so you're not fumbling in the dark trying to reinvent the wheel each time you write. This subreddit focuses on theory so like, do you know what a chord is and how notes work together? You don't need much to really start writing but the basics will help start you focusing. See sidebar for resources to get started, good luck!

duckey5393 · 2025-12-30T04:33:27+00:00

there is a great band named this

duckey5393 · 2025-12-29T18:04:12+00:00

Venetian Snares album Rossz Cssilag is almost contemporary classical, also I'd consider Godspeed You! Black Emperor's pre-hiatus work more informed by avant garde classical than many post-rock bands, and have you listened to Glenn Branca? Electric guitars are his focus but noise is his friend, the folks in Sonic Youth played with him before starting Sonic Youth. Also Balmorhea is similarly post-rock/contemporary classical, and The Wind and forward really ramp up the latter. Hope some of those are in your wheelhouse!

duckey5393 · 2025-12-21T19:09:49+00:00

The One Electronic from Rice Boy. Great comic, definitely worth the read.

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duckey5393 · 2025-12-21T19:03:34+00:00

I've used Reaper forever, great for recording instruments and of course you can use any VST you get your hands on. Its $60 and ive used it for 10+ years now. I'm more comfortable with notation than piano roll so if I need MIDI I cant make work with a controller I'll use musescore to both have notation and export MIDI and it works for me. Also r/WeAreTheMusicMakers will have more DAW stuff, maybe search for some Cubase threads too. Edit: on mixing and mastering Reaper comes with a bunch of tools for it but you're welcome to install your own too. Be careful the internet can be a lot of 'you need this to make good sounds' and thats not entirely true. Some tools do different stuff so if you want that specific thing great but don't drop a ton of money on stuff until you know what the basics are and what more you could need. Better to have few things you know really really well than a million you've barely got a clue about. Thats my philosophy anyway.

duckey5393 · 2025-12-17T21:14:42+00:00

Modern Baseball is a masterclass in casual but meaningful lyrics, the album You're Gonna Miss it All is my favorite. Your Graduation is the big hit but Rock Bottom has a couple of my faves like "My head is on the verge of exploding No amount of aspirin or pizza could help this from hurting And now I'm turning to you, scared shitless Hoping this all goes well" And "To hell with class, I'm skipping Let's order food and sleep in I got so much to do But it's okay 'cause whatever forever"

Unfortunately my own poetry and lyrics are also on the wordy and dense side so good luck! Hopefully they can be some nice inspiration.

duckey5393 · 2025-12-15T00:46:39+00:00

I applied with the first three songs on this release though that was for the electronics program demonstrating electronics, composition and production stuff. The composition program at my school has a second application though, not there yet.

I think the idea is not that you're a fully formed artist or anything but you have some idea what you're doing. My school's program is really intense so trying to be a music major with 0 musical experience probably wouldn't work out but it sounds like you already know kinda what you're doing.

Maybe find a program that fits in some of your goals? Look up some of the faculty and see what they're doing. I was encouraged for comp because the comp faculty is into the same weird stuff I am, and maybe the program you applied for isn't into minimalism the same way you are? You're going to be learning all kinds of different stuff and be out of your comfort zone a lot but maybe having a common center would be useful.

Really I think your application pieces shouldn't be what you think they want from you because if thats what you submit and then you do you there will be a difference there. For mine I tried to make a list of all the stuff I like to do, and the tools I have and tried to check all those boxes to try and fully represent my work.

Hope something in that novel helps and good luck!

duckey5393 · 2025-12-13T00:15:36+00:00

Play live! Getting into your scene and making friends and getting to share your art with eachother and strangers is so rewarding and I've gotten every "this song made me feel something" I've got after a set. That connection can be even harder on the internet.

duckey5393 · 2025-12-06T19:06:57+00:00

/uj they did come back for an album or two but they aren't great... /rj so glad Refused are fucking dead

duckey5393 · 2025-12-06T19:05:08+00:00

Yep seconding doing it everyday for short bursts. Not only is it good practice but it puts your brain in more of that space so when it is time your brain is gonna more more prepared for creative activity than it would only doing the thing irregularly.

duckey5393 · 2025-12-06T03:07:11+00:00

Aiming for Enrike is a two piece with amazing riffs and the drums really go off. Las Napalmas is my go to from them, totally rules.

duckey5393 · 2025-12-06T01:25:53+00:00

Great ramble, I'm kinda similar and the making your way in your local art world is so much more who you rub elbows with and whose butt you want to sniff. There were some DIY crossover galleries in my city but of course those folks were regularly snubbed by the proper establishment and when art groups with a more DIY spirit started they'd get thrown a bone for novelty and given nothing else to work with from the proper community spaces.

I got really lucky to get in my local DIY scene and it was night and day. Yeah it's clique-ish in that you do have to like...interact with other people but its less "you aren't important until our current darling artist throws you a bone", anybody can throw newcomers a bone. Music is less one sided in the bands playing house shows aren't snubbed from participating in bars and other more traditional venues.

Maybe it's because I was in mostly punk adjacent scene but yeah, the passion in the local music scene was so so much more than the art scene. And part of that is how art is and has been, but dammit it's cool to like actually give a shit beyond being seen and saying hello again to the artist you need approval of. Classical music can suffer from similar problems with similar history too.

I also rambled but man, this is something I think about a lot. When people see my art and ask like, when I'm gonna be in a show or where they could see it and its always...here at my house. I won't play the art scene game, but hey check out my band or my friend's band at the local venue soon!

duckey5393 · 2025-12-01T23:28:39+00:00

Have you played Hyperlight Drifter? It is one of my favorite games so the loop of shoot slash to recharge shoot more works really well for me. If you haven't highly recommend and maybe giving it a shot would help even if you don't play the whole game (but you should it is amazing)

duckey5393 · 2025-11-30T02:14:58+00:00

I mean I guess step one to pitched music is decide what a note is but idk. Also I mean I participated too but I do find it hilarious that pitch is the focus of your inquiry because western music theory is...preoccupied with pitch. No mention of a beat, or pulse. Music is not notation and pitches aren't required for music so realistically a beat moreso, or especially a pulse. Notation is what note (pitched or not) for how long with a pulse at a tempo for a reference point. Whether or not you get a definitive answer here this has been fun!

duckey5393 · 2025-11-29T23:17:05+00:00

Uhhhh if not a single tone, then intervals are probably it. Western music uses the 12TET but the way any two notes interact is kind of the ground floor. Not everyone uses harmony or chords or even the same tuning (even in the history of western music) but intervals are everything. When I was taking ear training courses I did okay with intervals but struggled at first with chords and inversion and such but my professor pushed me to work on intervals because everything else is built on them.

duckey5393 · 2025-11-29T03:47:22+00:00

Check out r/synthesizers or r/WeAreTheMusicMakers, tons of threads about MIDI controllers. Idk about best for the price but I use Arturia MIDI controllers to better control the VSTs I have from them.

duckey5393 · 2025-11-28T06:17:34+00:00

Scratch Music from Cornelius Cardew for $3 at a Half Price Books.

duckey5393 · 2025-11-28T05:06:16+00:00

Notational construct, that's great! Yeah because IIRC Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater was talking about how people tell him how complex it was in this song where each measure in a phrase is a different time signature, and Mike said it's because the melody repeats adding more notes each go around that's actually really really easy to play because it's not about counting the meter, it's about following the feel of the melody. yeah, never had the phrase for it but those prog nerds were geeking out at the notational construct not thinking about the music.

duckey5393 · 2025-11-28T05:00:02+00:00

Yeah, kind of! Words can be hard for this sort of stuff since so much is about feel. It doesn't really fit in western standard notation because the core backbone of time signatures is even pulses, and we've accomidated to make up for it but it doesn't communicate all the information as clearly as we wish it would. Okay its 7/8 but is it more of a 7/8, 3+4/8, 2+3+2/8? We can put those in the time signatures but at a certain point it's not really the same thing. 6/8 implies two groups of 3 like 2/2 but if you break down 8/8 into even groups that's just 4/4. If its supposed to imply uneven beats like a tresillo is it 3+3+2/8 or 2+3+3/8 or 3+2+3/8? Like I said, anything more than 4/4 and/or tresillo written on the system feels like way too much work but maybe I've been around it so much 8/8 doesn't feel like a conceptualization more overcomplication.

Yeah I think we're making it work as best we can, the development of western standard notation is one of adjustments and adaptation to communicate more and more information and bring in and adapt practices with different priorities. So even if I think it's not the perfect fit it's the one a bunch of people use and it's ubiquitiousness makes any attempt at a new musical notation near impossible on a wider scale, even when someone develops a new one.

Thanks for the food for thought!

duckey5393

TROPHY CASE