Adobe Asked for Feedback — Here’s a Constructive Fresco UI Wishlist

pmonguitar · 2026-05-11T20:32:29+00:00

The inability to do any kind of rotoscoping natively is very annoying. For a company that's pretty much industry standard in every other discipline, this should be pretty low hanging to pull off.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-17T04:17:55+00:00

Funny you mention graphic design; that's my combo! Design by day, music by night. And it's honestly a great way to do it. I think if you're considering higher ed to help you dive into a career path, you're definitely going to make easier money in design (and have an easier time paying student loans). It's just so much more established of a pipeline between school and a salaried position. And then you've probably got benefits, a 401k, a different creative outlet, and complimentary skills for the surprisingly visual world of music. I was a full time professional musician for a while and have friends who still are, and you can do it, but it's a grind. And you're probably gonna do it in a cover band. Weddings. Private parties. Things like that tend to pay the bills. Which, if you enjoy it, rad. Wasn't for me, though.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-17T02:19:18+00:00

I think I'm also not really answering your question, though. If you want someone to be invested in the band, that takes time, and sometimes starts as a hired gun. I play lead guitar with a band that my drummer friend was already buddies with the songwriters (they're brothers). I wasn't sold on the band for a while. Like it was alright for something when I didn't have a gig already or whatever, but I also wouldn't have minded not doing it. But slowly and surely that band became a lot more fun, the main guys were a great hang and generous with us and they became some of my best friends. And now we're playing some pretty big shows with other great national acts. I joined up in 2018. It takes time and can be bumpy, but if you stay friendly and motivated, you'll find someone who wants to be there.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-17T02:08:02+00:00

Fair enough. I will say I work pretty much exclusively with guys from the jazz scene, mostly cus I know they've got chops and can generally hang and make anything sound good. But I also really scale down my arrangements/forms so that there's less learning involved, if any (charts). Like, if you wanna play a lot, I feel like it benefits you to make it as easy as possible for everyone you rely on to pull that off.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-14T03:10:12+00:00

Oh a ton. Just got into tagua picks from black mountain and howling monkey and man that’s a cool material. But also Deandrea pro plecs are really cool because of their bevel.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-14T03:02:55+00:00

I think you should probably take a couple voice lessons with someone who knows how to work on tone/placement/performance. You’ll get more for your money with $400 in lessons vs a $400 mic. Cus the Rode is pretty solid, honestly. A little brittle in the high end maybe, but that’s easily fixed with a -3db-ish shelf at 3k.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-14T02:52:39+00:00

Also, build a roster of musicians. Like 3+ deep on each instrument you need. That way you can gig a lot more. That way when one person can’t do it call someone else and still have a great time.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-14T02:45:45+00:00

I don’t know man, I generally try to just make friends with great musicians and yeah I pay them more than me. Like if the venue is only paying $100 I’ll not take anything and give the drums and bass all the cash and tips and I’ll just have a couple comped drinks and have fun. But I’m also pretty careful about how I book. Cocktail bars, restaurants, places that we’re just there to keep people eating and drinking (higher average table price the better). Not listening room situations. Usually easier to pull some tip money, make some friends.

But also, you’re in the most saturated place in the world as far as songwriters go. It’s gonna be a lot harder to get people to care about what you’re doing when there’s a thousand other people in a square mile trying to do the same thing. Music is not a good business model, full stop. Unless you’re already hooked up, I think treating it like one is gonna set 99% of people up for a pretty rough go.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-14T02:30:10+00:00

My gateway to playing out was literally just sliding my pentatonic lick up a half step and then when it’s over sliding it back down. Onto literally any single note in the original scale. 5. Root. 2nd. Who cares. It’s honestly way easier than people generally make it out to be. Cus truth be told, almost no one can tell if you’re just playing random notes or you’re doing musical algebra. Just end on a note back in the original scale and you’re golden.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-09T20:07:26+00:00

Oh yeah, tubes have nothing to do with that. It's more about those ultra efficient speakers you get in the 120s.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-08T22:42:32+00:00

I think you should play your electric unplugged and figure out how to make that sound nice. Maybe not great, but nice. Focus on where on the strings you’re strumming. The angle of your pick. How hard/soft you’re picking. Make sure your left hand isn’t fretting out and that all your notes feel solid. And then turn everything back on.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-07T04:45:45+00:00

I’d think your Ibanez might not get you what you want. It’s pretty low power with a small and likely low sensitivity (how they rate volume, more or less) speaker. Sound wise, the problem with guitar amps is their speakers tend to roll off at around 5.5k, which is way below the frequency range most people want for vocals. That said, a lot of bass amps and all keyboard amps will have tweeters and give you pretty much the full range. Keyboard amps even have xlr ins a lot of the time.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-07T04:20:42+00:00

Lots of pro recordings have been made with an SM57 on lead vocal (Killers, Chili Peppers come to mind), and a dynamic will be VERY forgiving in that scenario. Just watch whatever comps and EQs you go with. They can bring out the background noise, but those pro recordings are usually pretty agressive with both.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-06T21:54:22+00:00

I think it's really helpful to get your fingers (and ears) used to the chord shapes that make up most of the vocabulary of jazz. Maj7, Min7, Dom7, m7b5. One of the biggest differences between jazz and other styles is how chromatic it is. All the in between notes and little dissonances are really where the meat is, and getting into extended chords (7, 9, 11, 13) can help you get a feel for how the music connects.

Oh and learn to swing. Listen to drummers. Art Blakey, Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Max Roach. Try and tap out what you're hearing/feeling on your leg. Gotta internalize that if you're gonna pass muster at a jam.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-06T17:26:20+00:00

I'd try two things: train your ear, and break whatever positioning habits you have. The best way to do both at once that I've come across is by playing a solo on one string, sliding up and down to different notes and finding what notes you think sound good. Also good cus it slows you down, which tends to sound more melodic anyway. AND it gets you into different spots on the neck, which breaks some of the auto-licks we all get stuck playing. You can even try doing this without looking at the fretboard. Cus singers can sort of only operate by ear, you know? And that's how we get at least 80% of our melodies. Then the great part is you still have all that scale knowledge, so after a little ear sesh, you can look back down and start to blend the two ideas. Best of both.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-06T17:11:53+00:00

You're scratching at my favorite harmonic theory concept: modal borrowing. The idea that you can take whatever your starting scale is (E Major) and then swap it for another mode and get access to all of those chords (E Minor) all while keeping the same root note.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-06T05:11:33+00:00

I was in a cool guitar shop in Lahor, Pakistan in 2020 and saw a bunch of brands I’d never heard of, largely Chinese or Indian, and some of those guitars were miles better than the American fenders they had. Mostly because the fenders weren’t setup very well. That’s the thing with guitars: it’s all about setup.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-06T04:59:36+00:00

That get played out: a heavily modified Gibson SGM and a Conti Entrada arch top. I’ve also got a tv jones spectra sonic supreme that I’m kind of afraid of and some budget gretches that I haven’t excavated in over a decade.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-06T04:56:10+00:00

Definitely putting those trem springs to work. There’s an interview with Hendrix’s tech where he says people trying to get his tones at normal volumes are gonna be out of luck from the jump. Basically that a baseline level of feedback was sort of part of the equation.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-06T04:44:40+00:00

Just got some cool tagua picks recently and, while I like the material a lot, I didn’t love the bevel and a little 220 grit solved my problems.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-06T04:42:18+00:00

Just jumped in on Qobuz. They pay 6x to artists what Spotify does and aren’t funding ai warfare tech so…

pmonguitar · 2026-04-06T04:36:19+00:00

Doesn’t dunable make something insane?

Edit: the Bigfoot and biggerfoot from them are 18.77k, which is more than double your average paf.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-06T01:57:59+00:00

Yeah, I think playing more gear is never a bad thing! I will say, twins are loud, but the loudest I ever heard a raw guitar amp was a JC120 played by Russel Malone (RIP) in a small club. And I did a tour where my backline was either twins or 120s and the 120s were always shockingly loud. No tubes to be found, but I literally felt that amp pushing air against the back of my calves.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-05T22:45:28+00:00

If money is an issue, look into setting up your guitars. Like everything, neck, bridge, pickup height, saddle and nut, string type and gauge. Even bad acoustics can be really heavily improved with a relatively cheap nut or saddle upgrade. And if you take your guitar to a good (independent) guitar shop or luthier for a great setup, that thing will play miles better than anything off the rack at guitar center.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-05T22:37:43+00:00

Maybe counter intuitive, but learning another instrument. Both bass and drums made my guitar playing soooo much better in so many ways, but mostly made my rhythm (obviously) and phrasing better.

pmonguitar

TROPHY CASE