Current Skill You Are Developing - Page 9

RivaLiva · #81 03-08-2007, 10:41 AM

Website development - dove in head first.

Computer Networking in general - CCNA related

Trying to break out of my shell and be more social - I goto parties and to the bars 3 nights a week, but it seems the more I drink the less game I have. I don't know what it is, it's wierd.

skillzilla · #82 03-08-2007, 10:46 AM

im trying to learn this poker thing, i dont know if youve heard of it

Evan · #83 03-08-2007, 10:59 AM

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I also need to figure out how to show emotional investment while delivering a speech.

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Move around.

For me, I'm trying to learn how to run a company.

Mister Z · #84 03-08-2007, 11:07 AM

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I'm working on the "singer/songwriter" thing harder than I have in the past. I finally made the plunge into PC audio recording lately and I'm as excited about it as I was with poker when I first started 2+ years ago. I also had my 2nd singing lesson last night. I highly recommend this to anyone if you can find a good teacher. I've sung for years but was never sure if I had good or bad habits. Lastly I'm working harder on songwriting than I have in 4-5 years and the results seem really good so far.

I plan on hitting these 3 things extra hard over the next couple months as I'm about to have a lot more free time on my hands. It feels great to be excited about something. Poker is really not stimulating me the way in did a year or so ago.

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mister Z what is an example of something they'd teach you in singing lessons? More than most things it seems like something you're good at or not, I don't see how osmeone would practice/learn that stuff.

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Singing is a lot like playing an instrument or any skill. If you picked up a guitar today having never played you would suck at it. Not for lack of talent but lack of ever working at it. Guitar lessons won't make you talented or good at guitar, but time and a consistent effort will get you really, really far. Same goes with singing IMO.

The lessons will depend on where you're at with your voice I think. Some of the things we've worked on so far is projection, resonance, proper breathing, warming up, note placement, and exploring/building range. It's actually helped my normal talking voice as well (I tended to speak at the very bottom of my range - they say most people do). Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

Aloysius · #85 03-08-2007, 12:43 PM

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I'm working on the "singer/songwriter" thing harder than I have in the past. I finally made the plunge into PC audio recording lately and I'm as excited about it as I was with poker when I first started 2+ years ago. I also had my 2nd singing lesson last night. I highly recommend this to anyone if you can find a good teacher. I've sung for years but was never sure if I had good or bad habits. Lastly I'm working harder on songwriting than I have in 4-5 years and the results seem really good so far.

I plan on hitting these 3 things extra hard over the next couple months as I'm about to have a lot more free time on my hands. It feels great to be excited about something. Poker is really not stimulating me the way in did a year or so ago.

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mister Z what is an example of something they'd teach you in singing lessons? More than most things it seems like something you're good at or not, I don't see how osmeone would practice/learn that stuff.

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Singing is a lot like playing an instrument or any skill. If you picked up a guitar today having never played you would suck at it. Not for lack of talent but lack of ever working at it. Guitar lessons won't make you talented or good at guitar, but time and a consistent effort will get you really, really far. Same goes with singing IMO.

The lessons will depend on where you're at with your voice I think. Some of the things we've worked on so far is projection, resonance, proper breathing, warming up, note placement, and exploring/building range. It's actually helped my normal talking voice as well (I tended to speak at the very bottom of my range - they say most people do). Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

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I've been taking vocal lessons as well - it's really fun but it is difficult and easy to get frustrated. It definitely helps you appreciate great singing and music in general - listening to say Ella Fitzgerald, or Sinatra... those dudes are f'in musical geniuses.

The hardest part is breath control and proper breathing in general. I'm getting better but more advanced singers than me say it's something you never master - just get slowly better at.

Oh and Bruiser - as Mister Z noted, it's definitely similar to any other musical instrument, and you can get better at every aspect of singing with hard work and training (pitch, tone, range, etc.)

Although, without some prior musical training (like as simple as reading notes, understanding phrasing, chord progressions), I'm not sure how much one would get out of vocal lessons.

-Al

MusashiStyle · #86 03-08-2007, 12:48 PM

I'm working hard to condition myself in order to play basketball well.
I play alot of blitz chess. But I don't think that's the best way to improve one's rating (ICC I range between 1900-2100 blitz).

CappyAA · #87 03-08-2007, 12:55 PM

I'm really spending a lot of time learning how to incorporate finger picking into my guitar playing. I've been playing for a few years and I can pretty much play any rhythm if given the chords and I hear the song. But I struggle in songs where the guitarist is picking individual strings. This is very difficult and I feel like I'm learning all over again.

samjjones · #88 03-08-2007, 01:02 PM

Trying to learn some basic parenting skills in advance of next month.

garion888 · #89 03-08-2007, 01:24 PM

This...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXSB0yDlS54

I'm just getting the mechanics together so I can start doing it slowly and move up the metronome a couple of clicks a week...

turnipmonster · #90 03-08-2007, 01:38 PM

studying classical guitar. I take lessons from a flamenco/classical player, she's really great and I have learned a lot since I started playing. plus it just feels great to play a bach cello suite on the guitar.

also studying pak mei kung fu, although I really want to start boxing soon in addition. I have been talking about this forever and really need to just do it. We do a lot of sparring in kung fu though (actually have a black eye right now), and that's my favorite part of it.

other hobbies are reading and composing music, neither of which I've been doing enough of. also I have been learning ruby on rails which is a programming language+framework, really great for banging out web applications quickly.

on a work related front, I've been learning aspect oriented programming techniques, and getting up to speed on new features in java 1.5. also relearning a bunch of charlie parker solos I forgot how to play on guitar.