#1337422 - 05/02/01 05:19 AM
What's the point?
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Tedster
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This comes up every now and then...I think (I know..."Who CARES what YOU think, Ted") it's worthy of discussion.
Why do we do what we do? I mean, to paraphrase John Sebastian "any one of 'em plays twice as better than I will" (from "Nashville Cats"). There are a lot of very proficient people out there. When you look at the bands on, say, mp3.com or other sites, it's amazing how many people there are playing music out there. A lot of great talent. And a lot of great bands that aren't even on the web. It all adds up to a lot of music that will hardly ever be heard, and tens of thousands all vying for that spot to "be heard". A little different from being "famous"...just being "heard and appreciated".
So, that all said...why do we continue against such overwhelming odds? Like tens of thousands of salmon swimming upstream to spawn...only a select few will complete their journey, yet all have the drive to try.
Whaddya think?
_________________________
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine...(WAH WAH WAH WAHHH!)"
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#1337423 - 05/02/01 05:46 AM
Re: What's the point?
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Chip McDonald
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Originally posted by Tedster:
Why do we do what we do?
To utilize life fully: to be a unique human being.
http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald
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www.chipmcdonald.com (tagline inlieu of having a representational page of downloadable music for the moment...) / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien
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#1337424 - 05/02/01 05:46 AM
Re: What's the point?
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stratman_dup1
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IMHO the answer to that is pretty easy, because we HAVE to. I have often asked myself why in the world I sit here and practice day after day, especially given the fact that I started so late as compared to most of you here. Most people on this board were probably better guitarists at 18 than I am now at 29.
But every time I start thinking about quitting music I try and think of something else I'd rather be doing and I just can't come up with anything else. I mean what am I gonna do, go fishing, work on advancing myself in a career I hate??? And believe it or not, I used to actually enjoy going fishing on a warm summer night when I got off work. But now, shoot I haven't even gotten a fishing license in almost 4 years, I just find it to be a complete waste of time now.
So I would say that if music has gotten a hold of you, you really have no choice but to be a musician even if you never make a dime off it and spend every spare moment trying to improve your skills. I tell ya, even if I never play in another band and never get another pat on the back (hope I do though, those are kinda nice once in a while), I'm gonna keep practicin and playin this Strat till the day they put me in the ground. I've even got a classical guitar on the way and gonna take some classical lessons, even though it probably won't lead anywhere professionally.
To me music is much like life, it's about the journey not the destination.
To quote a quote " I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate "
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#1337425 - 05/02/01 06:19 AM
Re: What's the point?
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Tedster
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Quoth Chip
>>>To utilize life fully: to be a unique human being.
What a succinct answer from Chip...bravo!
Strat...I think one needs to do stuff like spend a quiet evening on the banks of your favorite lake as well..time for reflection...time for inspiration.
And the idea about "better to be a failure at something you love than a success at something you hate" is excellent, too...
_________________________
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine...(WAH WAH WAH WAHHH!)"
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#1337426 - 05/02/01 08:14 AM
Re: What's the point?
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d gauss
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probably 'cause we're too stupid to know any better. ya know chuck berry got into this because he found he could make more money playing music than painting houses. well has anyone seen what it costs to hire a painter lately? me thinks we're in the wrong business...
-d. gauss
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#1337427 - 05/02/01 11:51 AM
Re: What's the point?
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strat0124
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Because if you didn't get it out you'd go insane.
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#1337428 - 05/02/01 12:29 PM
Re: What's the point?
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tld
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All you have to do is occasionally take note of all the people out there whose lives revolve around stuff like the kind of car they drive...there's your answer right there...all that takes is money. I may well get more exitement out of writing one song then some people will ever know...wouldn't trade it for anything.
Chip summed it up quite well.
Tom
http://www.digitalaudiorock.com
The Protools Plugin Preset Co-op
This message has been edited by tld on 05-02-2001 at 09:33 AM
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#1337429 - 05/02/01 12:39 PM
Re: What's the point?
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Tedster
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Yep...I like Chip's reply...and Strat's ..."if you didn't get it out you'd go insane"...
I summed it up to my wife thusly:
Me: "What do you do when there's a song you really have to hear?"
Her: "Oh, I don't know...go buy the CD...wait til it comes on the radio..?"
Me: "Well, what if the song you really want to hear exists only in your head?"
To me, there's nothing more cool than hearing the tunes in your head come to life. They don't have to be the best tunes...they're yours. It's like giving birth, or being Dr. Frankenstein...
_________________________
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine...(WAH WAH WAH WAHHH!)"
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#1337430 - 05/02/01 01:40 PM
Re: What's the point?
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Scott from MA
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Originally posted by Tedster:
It's like giving birth, or being Dr. Frankenstein...
My music sounds like Frankenstein giving birth! 
Why do I do it? Because I can't describe my life in words alone.
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Scott
(just another cantankerous bastard)
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#1337431 - 05/02/01 01:48 PM
Re: What's the point?
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Lee Flier
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Yeah. I've never understood when somebody says something like "Well I just saw Jeff Beck and I might as well just give up the guitar, I'll never be that good." Comparison and competition have nothing to do with it. It's all about what comes from inside you and what you have to contribute as a unique individual. You may not be as technically great as the next person but you are still going to have something unique to say on the guitar vs. that person.
People have always wondered why artists and musicians are willing to suffer through having no money and often being marginalized by society. They don't get that if the music is in you, you don't need much else. You're happy just to play, and it's way better than money or cars or anything like that. It's really nice to be able to go through life not feeling like you need much to be happy. It IS good, though, if you have enough money to keep your van running long enough to get to the next gig, change your strings reasonably often, and buy a few recording toys.
--Lee
This message has been edited by Lee Flier on 05-02-2001 at 10:50 AM
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#1337432 - 05/02/01 02:22 PM
Re: What's the point?
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jef5f
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You mean there is more to life then guitar?
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Psalm 33:3
The best instrument you have, is your heart.
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#1337433 - 05/02/01 03:17 PM
Re: What's the point?
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LiveMusic
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This thread is something I think about all the time.
I am vastly different from everybody on this board except the difference with me is that I am just now, at age 47, embarking on a quest to play for others. Pretty weird, huh? I just love music. Always have. And I think I can entertain others. Just something I want to do.
Who knows... I might become the best songwriter there ever was. I do want to pursue that part of it as I can write poetry and prose very easily. If nothing happens beyond my first gig... that's the end of it... that's okay, too. This is just something I want to do. There is one quote I have never forgotten... from Sir Edmund Hillary, the Mt. Everest guy. "Why do you want to climb that mountain?" "Because it's there."
On the other hand... I constantly think of musicians that I discover that are kickass musicians and they've never gotten very far. Are they happy? I dunno. I hope so. But I just hope they make enough money to survive decently. I fear some of them keep going and they've suffered greatly by staying in music so deep. I've stuck with things in my life too long... and I have lost bigtime because of it. You gotta know when to fold 'em.
If there is any one thing I have learned in my 47 years, it's that being broke all the time sucks. I've been rich, I've been poor. Poor sucks. Well, I'll rephrase that. Not being able to buy the things you want and do the things you want (within reason)... that sucks. Struggling financially... pressure, pressure, pressure... now, that REALLY sucks.
I am visiting my brother at the moment. Going through these CDs he has... I am again struck by the seemingly endless supply of kickass musicians and I've never even heard of them. Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Lucinda Williams, Buddy West, Diana Krall. Who are these people? Never heard of them. I hope they make a decent living... cuz they're good.
Point being... if these people are able to make even a decent living... I'll bet they're reasonably happy. At least, they are doing something to they love. And I will second the motion... that life is too short to work in a career that you hate.
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Duke
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#1337434 - 05/02/01 03:38 PM
Re: What's the point?
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KHAN
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I Jam, Therefore I Am ! ! ! !
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#1337435 - 05/02/01 03:46 PM
Re: What's the point?
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Chip McDonald
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Originally posted by LiveMusic:
the things you want (within reason)... that sucks. Struggling financially... pressure, pressure, pressure... now, that REALLY sucks.
[/B]
Not as much as giving up something you're good at and want to do.
http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald
_________________________
www.chipmcdonald.com (tagline inlieu of having a representational page of downloadable music for the moment...) / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien
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#1337436 - 05/02/01 03:59 PM
Re: What's the point?
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tld
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Amen Lee. I hate when people reduce music to an olympic event. It is, after all, an art form. I'm a huge Jeff beck fan...he's incredible. But on the other hand he's never written songs like, say, Neil Finn. There are countless ways to be great...most of which haven't been discovered yet.
Tom
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The Protools Plugin Preset Co-op
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#1337437 - 05/02/01 04:24 PM
Re: What's the point?
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dansouth
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Great topic! "Why do we do it in the first place?" is a good thing to ask from time to time.
I don't feel that I'm competing with anyone. My stuff is different from the norm, so it's not like I'm trying to get a piece of the grunge market or the cool jazz market or the pop divas market. I simply write the music that I want to hear, and I try to do it to the best of my ability. If someone else enjoys it, that's a real bonus. But if you gave me a studio on a desert island, I'd write the same material that I write here, among the masses.
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#1337438 - 05/02/01 04:59 PM
Re: What's the point?
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Anonymous
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I'm simply obsessed, it's scary.
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#1337439 - 05/02/01 06:09 PM
Re: What's the point?
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Scott from MA
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Originally posted by dansouth@yahoo.com:
...if you gave me a studio on a desert island...
Ohhhhh.... that would be a dream come true! A place to just sit all day and record whatever pops into my head, without any interuptions.
OK... so here's a related topic. Lately I've been kinda down because I'm about to turn 31, and my music career has gone nowhere (in fact, it was more successful when I was 20). My last band broke up a few years ago, and since then I've just been writing and recording. Now I'm ready to put a new band together, but I'm finding that a lot of the local musicians don't want to play with me because I'm "too old". Funny thing is, I feel like I'm writing better music now than I ever did before. I've noticed a lot of you are my age or older, which has made me feel a lot better, but I still need to know... am I really too old to be starting over again?!?!
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Scott
(just another cantankerous bastard)
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#1337440 - 05/02/01 06:47 PM
Re: What's the point?
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SteveRB
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I look at music the same way as I do sports. It's more fun to participate than it is to watch on TV or from the bleachers.
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#1337441 - 05/02/01 07:17 PM
Re: What's the point?
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Lee Flier
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Geez, Scott. If you're too old, I might as well go shoot myself right now! I'm 38, and in the process of "reinventing" myself and getting a new band together too.
I don't know who thinks you're too old, but they must be too young - mentally, that is. Most of the guys I'm working with are older than I am, but a couple are younger, too. And many of the "young up and coming" bands in this town are actually in their early to mid 30's or have some members who are. Even when I was 18 I always wanted to be in bands with older musicians because I felt they had more to bring to the table.
Tell all those idiots to have a nice boring life with all their stupid preconceptions, and find some people to play with who are your age or older, or some young people with a clue, and have a blast!
--Lee
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#1337442 - 05/02/01 07:21 PM
Re: What's the point?
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ricknbokker
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Jeez, I don't give a flying *uck at a rollin' donut if anybody EVER hears my stuff.
I'm the original selfish bastard in that regard. This is all about me.
Of course, I love to help others out and collaborate and stuff, but I learned a long time ago that other peoples opinions just don't matter to me.(Bread song?)
Anyway...excellent thread again, Mr. Tedster!!! Please pardon the free-association thingy.
Steve
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#1337443 - 05/02/01 07:30 PM
Re: What's the point?
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Chaoticspaceman
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i play because i need to. i have so much inside of me that if it doesn't come out i will explode in to little tiny pieces. The music i write is me in my purest form, it can't be categorized. some times i'll pound on the guitar so it's only making bleeping screaching noises, and sometimes i'll write a soothing classical piece to lull me to sleep, or combine both in the same song!!!!!!!! either way i play music for myself and my own sanity, but my dream is to share it with the world. the passion and emotion of your playing will have more impact on anyone then exactly what you are playing, but passion emotion and a good song will always prevail no matter what. so thats why i play cause hopefully someday i can be that person that some kid sees and says, "yeah! i want to play guitar like that!" and he or she will play till one day some kid looks up to them and says the same thing. someday we will all be gone but our music and dedication will never be forgotten.
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#1337444 - 05/02/01 07:42 PM
Re: What's the point?
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LiveMusic
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Chip, you might find it hard to believe I would disagree with that, but I do. To me, there is NOTHING worse than being broke. If I had to give up music, I could do it if I had to in order to quit being broke. It's a silly statement, since there's no reason to have to do that but if I _DID_ have to do that, I would. There are MANY pleasures in life; music is at or near the top of the list for those of us on this forum but if we suddenly didn't have it, we'd survive. But being flat ass broke all the time, that's living hell to me.
And there are countless numbers of musicians and golfers and the like who continue to chase a dream that isn't going to be fulfilled. It's a hard call... depending on what one's dream is... but many suffer immeasurably because they don't throw in the towel soon enough. Nothing wrong with having music as a hobby and making a living in some other manner.
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Duke
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#1337445 - 05/02/01 08:04 PM
Re: What's the point?
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michael saulnier
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Originally posted by Lee Flier:
Yeah. I've never understood when somebody says something like "Well I just saw Jeff Beck and I might as well just give up the guitar, I'll never be that good."
--Lee
I agree... I typically say... "Well I just saw Jeff Beck... He was great... Now I'm inspired to play my ass off..."
guitplayer
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#1337446 - 05/02/01 08:09 PM
Re: What's the point?
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Scott from MA
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Originally posted by LiveMusic:
To me, there is NOTHING worse than being broke. If I had to give up music, I could do it if I had to in order to quit being broke. There are MANY pleasures in life; music is at or near the top of the list for those of us on this forum but if we suddenly didn't have it, we'd survive.
I have to disagree with you, Duke. I grew up VERY poor, and for a while, in my 20's, I was even homeless. Even through all that I still had my music. I couldn't ever give it up! I'm sure I COULD survive, but would I WANT to?!?! If I had to choose between being poor and not making music, I would be poor again.
Here's another scenario to consider... I knew a guitar player who lost his arm from the elbow down in an accident. Since he could no longer play guitar, he quit music all together. I couldn't believe it!! Of course, I would be devestated to not be able to play guitar, but I would certaintly find other ways to play my music.
This message has been edited by Scott from MA on 05-02-2001 at 05:15 PM
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Scott
(just another cantankerous bastard)
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#1337447 - 05/03/01 12:08 AM
Re: What's the point?
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Tedster
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<>
My take on this...I've said stuff like this before "I just heard so-and-so, so I'll chop my guitar into kindling"...
I don't really mean it. When I say it, I usually mean it in a humorous way.
As for the guitar player who lost his arm, he oughta take up something else, like drums. Maybe he could get Rick Allen to teach him the one-armed method...
No matter what disability, there's a way to overcome it in part. I knew a right-handed kid whose left hand fingers were deformed, stunted from birth. He played a great left handed guitar. There's a girl who has one arm around the Kansas City area...beautiful lady, beautiful singer.
_________________________
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine...(WAH WAH WAH WAHHH!)"
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#1337449 - 05/03/01 12:18 AM
Re: What's the point?
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Steve LeBlanc
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Not to take away from the tragedy of a musician losing their limb here's what happened to me...
I had a bad car accident in my teens and broke my wrist really bad, the doctors, etc told me several times "You won't be able to play guitar anymore, in fact you could do more harm by trying"
well...I didn't play guitar in my teens, I was and still am a piano player...they assumed because of my long hair that I was a guitarist. So what did I do? I started playing guitar...it was a rebelious act really but I did learn there's very little you can't do if you're hard headed enough.
My left hand is still not what it used to be on the Piano though 
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#1337450 - 05/03/01 04:04 AM
Re: What's the point?
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Skip_dup1
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Hey guys-great thread. An issue close to home for most of us.
I was going to start a new thread until I saw Lee`s comment about quitting because someone else is great...
During the 80s I worked with just such a person. It was a job that didn`t last long, but the first day I heard guitar music blasting out of the office and though `I`ll be working with this dude? cool!` Well this guy had been a guitarist, but one day he just quit-sold or gave away all his gear. He said he couldn`t stand `the frustration `. I guess he listened to a lot of the 80s techno whiz kids and thought, `well I can`t play like that-screw it`. It just confused me. I mean, there are times when I am unhappy with my playing-more than a few of them on tape, unfortunately-but how can you just quit? I still don`t understand that.
As for financial success and all, I think that if that`s really your goal and you`re not a full time, play-anything pro, then it`s important to look outside music. Develop ALL your talents, and employ ALL of them to succeed. All media is tied into all other media these days. A lot of the hip-hop guys know this better than anyone. The point is not to be the best at anything in particular, the point is to get attention. After that, how much you have to bring to the table is what separates the 15 minute career types from those that last. Hope this helps.
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#1337451 - 05/03/01 04:18 AM
Re: What's the point?
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michael saulnier
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Originally posted by Scott from MA:
I have to disagree with you, Duke. I grew up VERY poor, and for a while, in my 20's, I was even homeless. Even through all that I still had my music. I couldn't ever give it up! I'm sure I COULD survive, but would I WANT to?!?! If I had to choose between being poor and not making music, I would be poor again.
Scott... didn't you steal that story from Jewel?
(Love that snaggle tooth girl!)
Here's another scenario to consider... I knew a guitar player who lost his arm from the elbow down in an accident. Since he could no longer play guitar, he quit music all together. I couldn't believe it!! Of course, I would be devestated to not be able to play guitar, but I would certaintly find other ways to play my music.
Some years ago the Pope visited the US. At one of the events they had a guy who had no arms... He played guitar with his feet...
It was AMAZING, and awe inspiring, and humbling. I never quite believed in "CAN'T" after that!
guitplayer
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