I've read Nick O plays music so wonder if anyone else do such a thing here on DhO  

I play guitar and usually come up with riff ideas but lack arrangement skills. And I'm terrible at writing lyrics. 

share if you dare  

aloha che,


   I don't play, and they won't let me sing, but I love music and listen to it all the time. Andf I love musicians, right brainers all, intuitive and present.

   What I can share is a story about socrates. Socrates famously had a daimon, a familiar being who counseled him from the invisible world from time to time. The daimon only indicated that he should not do something, always in a negative way, often saving him from error. Only once did it speak and it told him, "Make more music."

terry

Hi CheGB,

A few weeks ago, I released my first album, something that was in my bucket list. Sort of "rock latino" , if you ever heard about this style. Here's a dharma related song of mine (lyrics are in Spanish) uploaded in Spotify: Desde el Umbral. There I sing and played the arpeggio guitar. Hope you enjoy it!

PS: In order to open Spotify (for free), a Facebook acount or gmail is required
 

Thanks Terry. That's a lovely story. 

Pepe I'm looking forward to hearing your album. I like fusion styles and Latino grooves. 

I like Botinera It does remind me of an old partisan song called Bella Ciao which I also like. I also like the Migrantes, shame I cant speak Spanish to be able to understand the lyrics.

Nice! There is this gypsi feel to it which I like and can also be found in Hungarian and Serbian gypsi music. Fine stuff! Well done!

Here are some songs I made with a frind of mine. He is the one writing lyrics and arrangement and Im behind the riff/melody


https://soundcloud.com/papa-dusko/sets/the-harley-benton-band

I like the songs!  In general, they show cool sonic landscapes, that sometimes I relate to The Cure or early U2. My favourite is Grain of Salt , it reminds me of The Black Keys' Gold in the Ceiling  and Lonely Boy. Tribes No More is an excellent track, it needs lyrics! Into The Spring has a great riff, it's has a U2 vibe I love, add it some lyrics too! Last Dance for the Wicked has a cool intro and solid background guitar. In Damascus you are using an Harmonic Minor scale, isn't it? That's what I think you found a gypsy vibe in some of my songs. I loved the chorus of Chop Wood, Carry Water. It remined me of Pink Floyd, The Wall.  Roots are Showing reminds me of some 80's american rock band, I can't recall now. Keep on with the good music!

Regarding my songs, good to know you liked Botinera most. It's about soccer stars girlfriends. It describes in comical way -with soccer lingo- how beauty queens of sorts find a career path by chasing soccer stars. In fact, some botineras actually have more space in the news than their partners   This song and others may have a gypsy feel, as they mix Natural Minor and Harmonic Minor scales, and that coupled with a ska groove, sounds similar to Klezmer, a jewish variant of the Gypsy/Balcanic styles. 

Migrantes is inspired in african and sirian refugees crossing the Mediterranean. Below, a loose English translation of the first half of the lyrics. The poetry is unfortunately lost, but at least you'll get the meaning. Hope you like it.

Cold at dawn,
lost gazes on a never ending flat horizon.
Nothing to lose,
with an illusion clinged to a few vague promises.
A matter of faith.
Intertwined fates,
a major milestone in their lives
No plans for D-Day,
a creed to hope ...

Anonymous trips of joint destination,
Exiles, migrants, their hearts in suspense.
Errants at the seas, weather-beaten skins,
Peace awaits ahead, nothing to be afraid of.
Uh... sleepless night on the high seas, 
so far from home...

Hey Che, I am a musician as well, glad to see people talking about it here.  Recently I've been thinking more and more about how to incorporate music into my practice in a more formal way.  Would love eventually to find and help grow a community of like-minded spiritual musicians.

Here's some of my tunes if you're interested:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/45J4yniJbxmwheNqO0UAJO?si=t7C6A8tDSWecW_Y-s0xdcw


Working on new stuff now that is a little but more, uh... Buddhist...

I've been playing power chords on Rickenbackers and banging drums since my teens. After stream entry, though, my interest took a nose dive and I hardly play anymore. 

Some of you might like this recent track by "Van the man" called "Dark night of the soul":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GqszEwXPlc

It's clearly about the progress of insight, and meditation is mentioned in the lyrics.  Van has a longstanding interest in spiritual matters so it's no surprise that he knows about this stuff.

Conal

PS In reply to the question posed for this discussion (which I've hijacked!), I am learning to play saxophone, late in life, mainly because I always regretted not being able to play an instrument.

Today I saw an episode of Explained (Netflix series) on Beauty, where it's discussed that aesthetics are intimately related to the sense of self. So it makes sense that for some meditators, once the sense of an separate self is seen through, aesthetics interest & preferences drop too. But, as aesthetics is also a cultural construct, it may remain for others.

This is the only related link I found so far.
DMN Wikipedia link.

I play drums. I spent a few years not practicing, kind of let it go after a while of practicing meditation, but came back to it last year. It's amazing how much concentration and mindfulness skills help with playing the instrument. My sense of rhythm is better, my co-ordination is better, I have clearer tactile and audio senses. I remember I would always fuck up the rhythm because I'd end up distracted thinking about something. Not so much of a problem any more.

Makes complete sense. Certainly the idea of being a musician was one of many facets of persona that have fallen away. Thank you for the links.

Hi Pepe and everyone else!

I am Che Guebuddha but for some reason my old account could not reply any longer hence me not replying in a long time. I could log in but had no reply options for some strange reason (Admin is trying to figure this out). So I've opened a new account that has no issues.

Love those lyrics man! Nice one!
Yeah , Grain of Salt is a song about Trump also one of my favorites  

Tribes No More is an instrumental that was a collab between 5-6 people. That raging solo is not me as Im suck at soloing. Its a very fine player from Down Under. Love collaborations! Maybe we could start one DhO Band as an online collab think?

Damascus is a fine song. I wish we could have found a singer that has that Gypsy feel. The singer is my mate from UK and he just cant bend and vibrate his voice that well as lets say a Spanish could. The melody/music is great but would love to find another vocalist for it.
I dont know what mode Im playing in as I cant read music nor do I know theory. I kind of go by the ear. Sorry for that  

I see we have a few who still fiddle around and some who dont feel like doing it any longer.

I felt this year some sort of dispassion for music. Maybe I was in the Disqust state of mind   Now I do Just Playing  

Me too! I have a song of mine dharma related with lyrics in English (I'm half way yet) that could be fun to work on. I'll PM you 

great stuff! I have a few good riff ideas which are trying to find a new home  

For some time now Im feeling that "passionate urge" to make music and instead of making it happen I just keep "watching" it to death, meaning not reacting on it. This way I simply dont make much stuff anymore. Im seeing it as I see many other arising; it arises, it is seen and let go off ... not acted upon. 

Must get out of that shit when it comes to life and keep stuff on the cushion separate from the off cushion life otherwise it can get rather stale and non-active. 

Cant remember last time I set my microphone and amp for recording properly so managed to do it tonight and this is what I came up with. Just an idea for a song but still.
original LINK DELETED as this idea got developed further into a demo song, new link bellow;
https://soundcloud.com/papa-dusko/when-impermanence-howls-with-lyrics-3rd-edit

For some reason I have totally missed this post mate! Sorry for that! Awesome stuff that you have on Spotify! I see you love that Reverb on your vocals a bit too much maybe I wish I could hear the lyrics better as they are washed away by reverb no biggie as the songs are very good and I think your voice is really good! Is that you singing? You play keys right? Do you record at home? (yes interrogation here going on ) Im not entirely into that genre but I think what you do could be an intersting merger with my new idea. Im trying to make a song about the police murders taking place in US and have only chorus written by my mate in UK. Im missing verses and of course a good vocalist and some keyboard goodness. Its no rush by any means. Here is my new idea to give it a listen and see if it resonates with you melody and groove wise (also if you think some other topic could fit this melody better and you have the lyrics, be my guest as I love collaborations ) ; https://soundcloud.com/papa-dusko/murder-by-cold-decree-2nd-edit-idea-for-a-song

That f..cking stream entry

When I see a Rickenbacker I immediatelly think of Johnny Marr! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJRP3LRcUFg

(I was likely blind when these few posts were made as I have missed them somehow, sorry for that)
Nice man! Do you play in a band?

My 4 yo son wants me to buy him those pad drums as he seems to be interested in it more than into all my guitars or the keyboard. Funny really as he always has wooden sticks from the forest in his hands instead of toys we bought for him. Maybe time to get him a pad drum set with HEADPHONES so he doesnt drive us mad while drumming  

I play music every day, it's one of my greatest joys. I play the saxophone mostly.

Pah, as if we're having linear experiences anyway

If by pad drums you mean those gadgets with around 6 small pads, and a couple of pressure sensitive pedals, that's exactly what I started with after playing around on a real kit at school. They're actually pretty decent though transitioning from that to a full kit is difficult just in terms of remapping space in your mind (a kid would probably have no problem actually...)

They aren't anywhere near as loud as an acoustic drum kit, but you'll likely have the lovely sound of wood-on-plastic/rubber and floor stomping running through the house regardless!

And no, I haven't played with a band in probably 10 years - these days I mainly play for fun/practice (especially through lockdown), but I'm always approaching it from a kind of concentration/mindfulness perspective. Rhythm itself is this strange phenomena, that we can experience and play around with these divisions of time. Just watching how the body learns to play more and more effortlessly with repetition. Seeing how many different places and phases you can feel your playing from - can I play just focusing on the hands, can I play just hearing the result of the playing, if I lose rhythm, what was the last thing I could note/recognise before the rhythm broke? It's interesting, though not sure how well a 4 year old would be interested in that stuff over just hitting the thing as hard and fast as possible

My top tips for a 4 year old drummer in the making:

• Learn to hold the sticks properly, youtube "stick grip"
• Learn to play using the fingers, hands and wrists more than the arms
• Learn to play things as gently as you can, it's the best way to learn to play with comfort
• Play to a metronome (those pad things will have one built in!)
• Practice those rudiments and stickings until you can do them in your sleep (youtube again)

In many ways I find playing instruments have similar qualities to aspects of practice - the delicate, gentle rest on the object (the rhythm), the rich sensory clarity in the body (the tactile feeling, how you move your body and adjust to accent the playing). Then there's the tremendous creative power, the equanimity of playing perfectly and nailing it, the resistance in the mind and body when it gets challenging, it's all comparative to practice. Similar thing with athletes. It's surprising that these skills don't spontaneously transfer to the domain of mindfulness by themselves. Maybe they do sometimes (perhaps with the right parenting )

yes, i make my living as a musician. teaching, performing, touring, blah blah blah.
mostly improvised music, free jazz, but i also work with indie groups.

when i got deeper into meditation practice, my desire to listen to and play music greatly diminished.

has anyone else experienced this?

for me, particularly as an improviser, the current of the music is very much like sitting practice. 

if you feel like checking out some stuff, you can find it here:

a few different things:
https://jarrettgilgore.blogspot.com/p/media.html

compositions/solo project:
https://lilypicker.bandcamp.com/

improvised music / experimental ventures:
https://jarrettgilgore.bandcamp.com/

Papa Che, finally after a ridiculous time delay, with legal issues between CDBaby and Youtube, I was finally able to upload my album "Sacro & Mundano" in Youtube. Enjoy! 

Nice one Had a listen to it while making dinner and then another listen with my family while eating dinner My son loves the songs with trumpet in them  (I even had to dance tango with him)
I think all songs are made very well! I like the way you left lots of space for each instrument. Nothing seems squashed in. My favorite seem to be the first 3 songs and it's shame I can't understand Spanish  

Well done Pepe! 

Used to Dj ,guitar, grooveboxes . 

Sorry I missed this reply of yours! I'm Che Guebuddha btw  

Love this stuff If you have told me that you play in Snarky Puppy I would actually believe you you sure have that "something"  https://lilypicker.bandcamp.com/track/boop

When are we gonna create the DhO compilation collab album? Me and Che already working on the first track 

(No musical experience necessary... well, some of us will need to provide music but lyrics are another thing... and never been my strong suit. But thankfully we have a plethora of wordsmiths here!)

When? What about NOW  https://www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/message_boards/message/21946684

Alright, you are already on top of it! Count me in my friend.

You can post your arranging in that new thread once you get it. Then we can see if someone wishes to join in on that idea and maybe we also get the lyricist involved (ya, anyone is welcome but I am looking at Tim FF over there trying to fix that fire extinguisher as our mini Bar stage is on fire!!!  )

Thanks Papa Che! Those with the horns section are the ones my son loves too  

Hi fellow musicians!

Spotify now allows to add for free short video loops to songs (up to 8 seconds). So I added one to a song of mine, it's about migrants crossing the Mediterranean. We have had something 'similar' in LatinAmerica, when Venezuelans literally walked 7.000 kilometers down to my country. About 5 million people have abandoned Venezuela in the last 5 years.

https://open.spotify.com/track/1d69mCULCOvtSKtqMuRRMg?si=f5dbf5f18ddb4815 The video loop can only be seen in smartphones (not in Spotify's PC app). You must click in the title name and then in the image to see it in full color. Below, a loose translation of the lyrics. Hope you enjoy it!


Cold at dawn,
lost gazes on a never ending flat horizon.
Nothing to lose,
with an illusion clinged to a few vague promises.
A matter of faith.
Intertwined fates,
a major milestone in their lives
No plans for D-Day,
a creed to hope ...

Anonymous trips of joint destination,
Exiles, migrants, their hearts in suspense.
Errants at the seas, weather-beaten skins,
Peace awaits ahead, nothing to be afraid of.
Uh... sleepless night on the high seas,
so far from home...

 just saw this this morning and thought I would share... talk about honesty and presence, damn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAPUkgeiFVY

KL is a meditator by the way

"You can't help the world until you help yourself, and I can't blame the hood the day that I was killed"
(spoken as now-deceased Nipsey Hussle)

Let me add this new blood! I like his lyrics (music maybe less so my thing) 

https://youtu.be/o5p8dGHELOc