So i play in a metal band with my friend's, mostly high school friends. I have been playing in this band off and on since i was 16 so a good 4 years now. All of my friends are guys ranging in age 20 to 23 and i am the only girl in the band. i play keyboards. Ever since i joined this band (mainly a underground band, we cnt decide on a name) i have met some guys who only see me as the girl in the band- i feel like they dnt see me as part of the band except my own band member's. I have some guitar experience as well- when i was 13 i received a guitar and got lessons from a local jazz musician. When i joined the band they automatically gave me the position of keyboard player even though i could play guitar, though im more experienced with keyboard and piano. Even though they are my friends and band members they gave me the positions of keyboard with the mentality that "girls cant play guitar" especially in a band with 5 guys and 1 girl so they gave me the "frilly instrument" in their opinion. I feel a little offended by this but i would like to know from the trans women who are musicians here, after u came out and began transition- did people see u as a transsexual musician or a female musician? the reason for this question being that ive been treated differently because of my sex and because of my age. I mean if u started music as a male, did anyone's perceptions of u as a musician change because u transitioned? im not sure if this question makes a lot of sense- but im really curious to know 

I'm not in a band lol but I know how to play the guitar.

People are just like that. For example, Black Eyed Peas. They had a female member before, but she left, so they replaced her with Fergie. Clearly the position was only open to attractive women. In recent years Fergie and Will.I.Am have become foregrounded, the other 2 are just there. Will.I.Am gets it because he's like the leader, Fergie gets it because she's a girl. A girl just makes the band more interesting, and if there's too many then the band seems feminine.

When I first started playing bass, too many years to remember now, a mate was in a band with a girl drummer. They had trouble getting her to tone her playing down at times as she hit so hard.  Now I know why!!

Maybe you should get to rehearsal first so that you can be caught ripping it up on guitar as the guys walk in?  Just a thought because I like messing with people's heads nearly as much as Zappa did.

Karen.

   Yeah an old childhood friend of mine threw a party on st. patricks day and like nobody there knew me except for him so later on that night some of the guys started jammin on my friends guitar collection. I walk in there and pick up a fender strat and start playing hendrix & these guys were like "  wdf this chick is playing like a pro!" so yeah guys are def sexist when it comes to women in music. 

I've been in a few bands, and a big problem is that everybody wants to play guitar, and everybody can play guitar.  Everybody wants to sing, but not everybody can.  But generally, every band member is good at guitar.  Most bass players play guitar primarily, but find it's easier to play in a band as a bassist.
And I don't think sex or gender has anything to do with it.  Usually females are stereotyped to play bass or sing.

I sang in a band in college and later played bass in another band (who mostly wanted me because my bass is a 1962 Epiphone with a low end that blows everything out of the water).  But my first and favorite instrument is still the drums.  As I've transitioned, I've learned to embrace that even more because drummer chicks just rock something fierce.

And while I have a really good and flexible singing voice, let's face it: it got testeronized.   I'm currently trying to learn how to sing high without sounding falsetto, but the voice that comes out of my mouth is completely incongruous with how I look.  I'm proud of my singing voice, but it's also one of the few things that makes me totally, mind-numbingly dysphoric.  If I was simply a guy, that voice would be one of my favorite attributes.

i've been writing electronic music for over a decade now and i'm active on a forum and it seems that guys a) fawn incessently over you (especially if your the type of person who flirts with anything that moves) and b) will be much nicer about your music...as ong as you don't have an attituted problem than they would have been about a similar track from a guy

I play Jazz and Blues Piano primarily. But I've composed classical/cinematic pieces as well as winning remixes for established artists.

As I've gone through my transition and grown mentally, my musical tastes have grown accordingly. Now that I am more open to everyone, I am also much more open to music. Before my musical tastes were somewhat limited, but nowadays you'll be hard pressed to find a genre that I do not like. From Dubstep to Classical, From Country to Blues, From Rock to Jazz; I really like just about anything I can think of.

Quote from: Zoë Natasha on August 18, 2011, 06:58:40 PM
...But my first and favorite instrument is still the drums.  As I've transitioned, I've learned to embrace that even more because drummer chicks just rock something fierce.

Yay drummers!

I'm a percussionist - which is to say, I play lots of drums, but not with sticks. I'm doing what I can to make sure I don't lose muscle tone in my arms and shoulders (that do the work here), as drumming is my big love, alongside singing. And I'm actually happy to hang onto my bass voice - I met another bass woman on the singing camp last week, so now I know it's not that unusual . I've yet to experience what people think of me as a girl drummer, as I don't look like a girl yet. But my experience is that people tend to assume girl drummers have poor sense of rhythm until proven otherwise (which is a bit ridiculous when you consider the dancing and cheerleading and all the rest of it that girls get up to).

I agree with others above - if you want your fellow band members to know you rock on guitar, you have to let them hear you rocking . Then people will come - oh yes, they will come...^*

(^*Field Of Dreams reference, not sexual innuendo - though if we're talking guitar...)

Quote from: Padma on August 19, 2011, 01:15:40 AM
But my experience is that people tend to assume girl drummers have poor sense of rhythm until proven otherwise (which is a bit ridiculous when you consider the dancing and cheerleading and all the rest of it that girls get up to).

That's quite a big misconception people have, a friend of mine has taught drums and I've done it a few times and we found that girls tend to pick up the instrument in terms of basic rhythms faster than the boys did. But perhaps that's just our experience and it's more equal learning universal.

Quote from: Gravity's Child on August 18, 2011, 07:17:57 PM
i've been writing electronic music for over a decade now and i'm active on a forum and it seems that guys a) fawn incessently over you (especially if your the type of person who flirts with anything that moves) and b) will be much nicer about your music...as ong as you don't have an attituted problem than they would have been about a similar track from a guy

Haha, guys on Internet forums will fawn over any girl, especially if it's a predominantly male user base. Just out of interest what sort of electronic music you making/what do you use (hardware/software)? Since I've been composing electronically for about 2 years now using Logic Pro and Ableton Live making quite downtempo, Burial-esque dubstep tracks mainly but also a bit of drone and ambient, been messing around in Recycle for Reason to cut up drum samples recently which I want to make a liquid DnB/drumfunk track with.

Quote from: Nurse With Wound on August 19, 2011, 03:32:19 AM
That's quite a big misconception people have, a friend of mine has taught drums and I've done it a few times and we found that girls tend to pick up the instrument in terms of basic rhythms faster than the boys did. But perhaps that's just our experience and it's more equal learning universal.
Haha, guys on Internet forums will fawn over any girl, especially if it's a predominantly male user base. Just out of interest what sort of electronic music you making/what do you use (hardware/software)? Since I've been composing electronically for about 2 years now using Logic Pro and Ableton Live making quite downtempo, Burial-esque dubstep tracks mainly but also a bit of drone and ambient, been messing around in Recycle for Reason to cut up drum samples recently which I want to make a liquid DnB/drumfunk track with.

Interesting enough, we're supposedly more "wired" for creative thinking. So, it's easier for us to pick up most instruments.

Marta, I think you're just going to have to prove them wrong, but most boys just tend to love guitar and drum more. So, it might be difficult to have them give up their instruments for a "lesser one." Though, I've learned like six instruments now, and piano is still my favourite.

Back to composing music! I <33333 Logic Pro! I also have Ableton Live and Reason, but I can't be bothered to spend much time with them. Logic is just so powerful!

Quote from: Padma on August 19, 2011, 01:15:40 AM
But my experience is that people tend to assume girl drummers have poor sense of rhythm until proven otherwise (which is a bit ridiculous when you consider the dancing and cheerleading and all the rest of it that girls get up to).

I got a few compliments a couple of months ago on a two day freeride...had a go on some bongos for the first time ever and people were pretty much like "wow...that's quite a complex rhythm" In my defense and to make them feel better I did say I'd been producing beat orientated electronic music for over a decade, so I kind of understand rhythm.

Quote from: Nurse With Wound on August 19, 2011, 03:32:19 AM

Haha, guys on Internet forums will fawn over any girl, especially if it's a predominantly male user base. Just out of interest what sort of electronic music you making/what do you use (hardware/software)? Since I've been composing electronically for about 2 years now using Logic Pro and Ableton Live making quite downtempo, Burial-esque dubstep tracks mainly but also a bit of drone and ambient, been messing around in Recycle for Reason to cut up drum samples recently which I want to make a liquid DnB/drumfunk track with.

haha, very true. I'm a terrible flirt though and there's an on going joke about my collar bones. hee hee.
I'm quiet on the music front at the moment but I write a bit of everything, but really excel at odd ambient stuff. my problem is finding the motivation to finish anything right now.

Quote from: madirocks on August 19, 2011, 11:16:33 AM
Back to composing music! I <33333 Logic Pro! I also have Ableton Live and Reason, but I can't be bothered to spend much time with them. Logic is just so powerful!

Yeah, Logic Pro is what I mainly use for composing, since for that it's great. Though for Live performance it's a bit lack luster which is where Ableton Live comes in, nothing beats a load of outboard equipment running into Live to give you maximum control over your track.

Quote from: Gravity's Child on August 19, 2011, 11:58:24 AM
haha, very true. I'm a terrible flirt though and there's an on going joke about my collar bones. hee hee.
I'm quiet on the music front at the moment but I write a bit of everything, but really excel at odd ambient stuff. my problem is finding the motivation to finish anything right now.

Damn I know that feeling, so many unfinished tracks that will probably remain that way forever.

So my guy friends know now that i am a pretty good guitarist because i helped my friend Derek compose some guitar tracks for some songs that my band is writing. I am ok with playing keyboard since i really love adding my own sounds to it since my band is suppost to be a mix of a lot of things -hardcore, black metal and symphonic and i just love the symphonic part of it although a lot of times keyboards in metal bands simply just enhance the sound by adding a sort of atmosphere to the background. I really enjoy making the music a little bit more dark anyways since i a pretty big fan of goth bands- mostly 80's (bauhaus, joy division, sister's of mercy, etc.) although i feel like female keyboardists are a dime a dozen in metal- they are more common than  guitarist's, drummer's, etc at least from my experience. I appreciate all of the info and comments on this thread and i know that female musicians are pretty common and just as good as male unfortunately in the music scene that i come from us girls make up like 10% of 100 compared to how many guys are metal fans and in metal bands, i just feel like ive had to prove myself a little bit more than any guy who is in a metal band- 1. because i started playing music at age 14 and 2. because of the fact that im female, so the mix of being a teenage girl in a music genre that is like totally male dominated has kinda worked against me- sometimes i feel like a gimmick (some say women are added to bands to garner more attention towards the band) which i think is complete crap but you would be surprised at how many people actually believe in that and it certainly doesnt help that some women who play in metal bands look reallly slutty. I however am very certain that my bandmates do appreciate the musical part of me  anyway you all added some interesting stuff to this topic

Do you have any Youtube videos of you guys? I'm kinda interested now lol

Sure Trista

Here is a remix I did.


Here is a classical/cinematic piece I wrote.

I played the penny whistle on that song too, I wasn't very good at the time. But I still like the song 

I don't share much of my jazz or blues, but I'll see about recording some. I'm off of work today, so I'll see what I can do

Well done.

Trista, I've produced an album, but I'm not at the point yet where I'd like to share it. There's still a few changes that I'd like to make. I've been trying to create a few synthesizers, which I'm not happy with at the moment, so I might post something after I finish with those.

As I promised, here is some jazz Piano.

How do you do that exactly, write a bunch of notes or select sounds or something?

I play it on my keyboard and record it as midi, then assign various instruments to the midi.