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Is playing still fun?


ABECK

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Have you ever just lost the joy for all of it? I haven't been excited about just playing (or programing or recording) in a while. Unless I have a specific gig or studio session, I find I won't just sit down and play or learn new songs for the fun of it. And when I do have to prep for a gig....it feels like work. Don't get me wrong, once I'm playing the gig, I'm enjoying myself. So, I still like that part. I think part of the problem is that I picked up guitar a few years ago and most of my learning and enjoyment playing have focused on that and my keys have gotten a little dusty. I'm trying to convince myself that new gear won't solve the problem.
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I'm trying to convince myself that new gear won't solve the problem.

You're right; new gear won't solve the problem -- but then again, it won't make it any worse either!

 

And maybe -- just maybe -- it could re-energize or stimulate you to get back on the keys more.

 

Honestly, my first thought on reading your post was to suggest you re-read your most-excellent review of the Genesis concert, and all the comments about Phil C and his condition... Based on that, I'd say you should do some serious soul searching for something -- hardware, software, a new gig, a new piece of music -- or anything that helps puts the FUN back into it for you while you still can.

 

We're all on borrowed time... Make it FUN and make the best of it.

 

Old No7

Yamaha MODX6 * Hammond SK Pro 73 * Roland Fantom-08 * Crumar Mojo Pedals * Mackie Thump 12As * Tascam DP-24SD * JBL 305 MkIIs

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I find when I lose joy in the things I love - like music making, it"s not music making that"s the problem. It"s usually because my stress has exceeded what I"m comfortable with and I need to back off. It"s ok to say no to a gig, watch a movie, get out of the house and do something healthy and relaxing, take a personal day from the day job. This time of the year isn"t as joyous as it"s made out to be - there"s an awful lot of crap to get done before the new year and you may or may not enjoy having guests coming in, or having to fly out, or who knows all what. You may just need a break, and maybe a break from playing as well. You"ll be back with new found dedication when you don"t have so much other stuff messing up the joy you normally get from playing/practicing/performing.

 

On a side note. I spoke to an old friend many years my senior the other day who came to play sax at a gig (he"s in his 80s). He told me he hasn"t picked up his horn in 18 years after a lifetime on the thing. I know I"m not there yet. But who knows. Maybe someday my interest will shift to something else. It"s possible. What would we do if for some reason we couldn"t play anymore. Scary thought, but it happens and life goes on.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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It's an interesting question, as to whether new gear can make playing more fun. To some extent, I think it can, in that you might find it more satisfying and enjoyable to play on a better action, or with sounds that have a deeper visceral effect on you, or on gear that more effortlessly lets you acheive whatever sonic manipulations you might like to perform. (In regards to that last one, I've also talked before about gear that makes you feel like you're operating a computer, vs. gear that makes you feel like you're playing a musical instrument.) So part of the answer here might depend on what your current gear is, and whether that gear is putting up even subtle roadblocks to getting what you'd really like out of it, and whether other gear could eliminate any of those roadblocks. (This also reminds me of my early thoughts about the Korg SV1. I'd see someone playing one and think, gee, that's a lot of money to pay for such a limited instrument. But then I played one and I got it. The things that can make something really fun/satisfying to play don't necessarily turn up on spec sheets.)

 

Your satisfaction in playing guitar is an interesting slant. Are you playing acoustic, electric, or both?

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When the rest of life has me down, I don't feel like playing--which is unfortunate, because ideally music could be a refuge to pull me back up. But it doesn't seem to work like that.

 

A few years ago, the band I was in was ALSO stressful, mainly due to the two yahoos that made up the rhythm section. The current lineup is much more chill and it's enjoyable to be around them, that makes a difference.

 

I have not found that new gear or software is much of a motivation to play more--it's all down to mental state. In that regard, eating healthy and exercise are the exact same--when I'm depressed, I tend to let my good habits go, everything seems pointless and not worth doing.

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During a recent rehearsal, my classic rock covers band (which usually has a pretty easy time at rehearsals) got some heated feedback from our bass player while working out a certain tune (with some difficult bass notes in it). He stopped the tune halfway through and said: (1) he needed more time to work the tune out at home (which he had time for), and (2) the band was starting to feel more like work and less fun than he expected.

 

Like semi-rational adults, we worked it all out before things got heated enough for a band member to quit. We had a discussion about the balancing act of having the band be fun for all of us (which it should), and also that the band be a tight, disciplined unit that takes the songs seriously. Like anything else in life that brings joy, it requires some work as well. But it should be work that you enjoy doing.

 

With the idea, of course, that the ultimate joy comes from playing these tunes at gigs.

Kurzweil PC3, Yamaha MOX8, Alesis Ion, Kawai K3M
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New gear will definitely not resolve the problem. In fact, playing music because of gear is a wrong starting point altogether. IMO one has to regain the happiness to perform and listen with whatever gear he/she has handy. Sometimes making and performing original music helps a lot - creating your thing instead of playing the same covers over and over again.

Just my 2 euros

Be grateful for what you've got - a Nord, a laptop and two hands
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I go through this every few years now. For me learning a new instrument can help because it gives me insight on a technique to take back to the synth. Changing direction can also help. Last time I went back to my classical roots and worked on trying to play the songs I was playing as a high school senior and working on music school tryouts. Wow, my classical chops had fallen. Now I am enjoying a dive into DAWless. It is new, yet it takes me back to 1980 when I got my first hardware sequencer.

This post edited for speling.

My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page

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Playing along with PX-560 presets is fun - it's like playing with a combo.

 

Two years ago, while driving from Arizona to Pennsylvania, I crossed the border from eastern Texas into Oklahoma on I-40. Not long thereafter, while fueling up at a Pilot Travel Center, I went inside to use the bathroom and heard an old Leon Russell tune (Tight Rope) on the sound system. I stopped in my tracks because I hadn't heard that tune in decades. "Leon Russell is from Oklahoma," I thought to myself. When I renetered my pickup, I created an extensive Leon Russell playlist and looped around the playlist all the way to Little Rock Arkansas. When I arrived home, I created a few Leon Russell PX-560 presets. My favorite is "This Masquerade" and I added a bossanova rhythm and segued into Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Meditation" for a lengthy preset. It's still fun to play.

 

One thing leads to another when we allow the spirit to move us.

Steve Coscia

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Have you ever just lost the joy for all of it? I haven't been excited about just playing (or programming or recording) in a while.

 

I'm trying to convince myself that new gear won't solve the problem.

 

If programming isn't exciting to you (it's not for me anymore either) then new gear won't solve your problem. You'll have to program new patches into your new gear and if it is a model that you aren't familiar with then there is the learning curve of understanding how to program it, then do the programming. I hit this bridge a few years ago. Covid shutdown actually helped to rekindle my interest; sitting home on weekends wasn't something I was accustomed to; also it wasn't something my wife was accustomed to; so getting out and playing probably did us both some good.

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

Exit93band

 

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Working on getting better at guitar/improving my guitar tone-making skills has got me playing more keyboards, actually. It's really interesting how much the guitar thing has me rethinking a decent chunk of my keyboard playing style.

 

dB

Totally agree, Especially with pitch bend.

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My mom never touched a piano again after retiring from 50 years as a piano teacher. I never understood why, but find I have come to the same place.

 

Since Covid shut down my cover band activities, I haven't touched a board in 2 years. Thinking of selling all my stuff except for my consoles.

 

I'm pinning my last hope of rekindling some interest on the Osmose whenever it comes.

Moe

---

 

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Over the decades, I've taken many breaks from music.

I always seem to come back with a fresh perspective, a different approach to an aspect of my own playing.

 

I fell like I am a better musician because I took those breaks and intentionally or not, I "reevaluated" what music has meant to me. It's difficult if not impossible to verbalize.

Take a break but keep your best gear. Nothing wrong with lightening your load or getting something different.

 

The other thing I've done just a couple of times was to choose 3 other musicians that I admire, put a band together, book a gig and just play songs that have one or two chords without any rehearsal.

It was important to me to select songs that I'd never played before and then not listen to them before the gig. I'd heard them before and just went with impressions.

Most importantly, I did not give one crap about how the song went, I knew we would find that out when we played and we did.

 

The last time I did this it was cajon/percussion, bass, vocals and me on guitar. I gave some lyric sheets to the vocalist at the gig, I never told her what songs we were going to do. I would tell the bassist "A" or whatever key it was.

 

Then we would just launch. It's super-fun and I always learn new things that way. It changes your perspective on music when you realize that you don't really need to practice, you just need to play with great players who are game for anything and can laugh their way through it.

 

Fear of failure is the quickest way to destroy success.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Since Covid shut down my cover band activities, I haven't touched a board in 2 years. Thinking of selling all my stuff except for my consoles.

.

:(

 

Just looked up the Osmose - very cool. Adding expressiveness is the next frontier...

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I find when I'm not into it, I just grab Bach's two-part inventions and just play (i.e. clam-dig) through a few. Clears my head.

 

Agree about picking up a new instrument. This year's haphazard journey into something resembling guitar playing has been a mind-opener.

I make software noises.
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I'm trying to convince myself that new gear won't solve the problem.

 

Mixed results with me on this one. If it was a board for work with a markedly better sound or feature set, yeah it would energize me and get me really excited. If it was a board with limited potential for playing in public, but something I thought would be fun to explore and experiment with at home - nah. After a brief fling they would mostly sit unused in a corner somewhere.

 

Ever since I stopped gigging on keys, I hardly touch any of them anymore. It's really scary. Unlike some in here, I've kind of gone to the dark side on this. Hopefully your path will be different.

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Yes, I find playing still fun, overall. 'Serving the song' - i.e., playing intention is something I've acknowledged for quite some time, but in practice I've been called out a few times over the past year. Taking group and private virtual lessons in 2020, along with guidance from a very seasoned church music director were the catalysts. So stepping up the game there has made me feel even more in-tune - so to speak - with fellow musicians: fewer showy moments, sticking closer to scored accompaniments and more thoughtful comping/improv where it's useful.

 

That said, I've become more attuned in a related area: playing to the audience. And that's where I've starting experiencing conflict and becoming short-tempered about a couple of gigging situations. I'm so over performing music that is 'cool for musicians', but in reality does little for a club audience that is there for dancing, drinks and socializing. I get the tribute band thing, and understand that there are audiences for that. But more and more I'm encountering this: " We're a variety band that's past 'Brown-eyed Girl, etc', and since you play keys we can now do lotsa Boston, Deep Purple, B-side Journey, Foreigner and Whitesnake"... Sorry, but just not my thing anymore, and hasn't been since the 80s :sick::laugh:

 

While I currently play a handful of those songs, I've seen acts that do too much of that materials lose crowds. I've been dreaming of going back to a simple, straightforward county/classic rock band that serves the dancers and maybe does a handful of Americana concert-style songs. Hey, at least a couple of the players I work with are starting to feel the same.

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Part of the problem is that their isn't much to look forward to playing music out anymore with COVID....

No doubt. We were doing some rehearsing for a while, then it kinda morphed into getting together just to play for fun...but without gigs to look forward to, there's no sense of urgency so we seem less inspired.

 

Hard to even get some members to pick a tune to play. :idk:

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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I'm a weekend warrior not a pro. Having said this, for me, new and better gear, and even technical skill of the musicians I'm playing with, are secondary variables WRG to how much I enjoy gigging in bands. Enjoyment for me has been more about the vibe and the organic spontaneity between the musicians I'm playing with.

 

The most musical fun I had playing in bands was in Houston during 1996 - 1999 when I was gigging usually with just an Alesis QS6 and crappy Roland KC500 amp mainly with down-and-out unrehearsed blues and R&B bands who had crappy gear, sometimes rented from pawn shops, and whose members were in a constant state of flux dependent upon who could make the gig. Sometimes there were musical train wrecks on stage but it was almost always "life on the edge" and fun, at least for me.

 

I currently have the best gear I've ever had and am playing with three bands here in Vegas, all of whom have excellent gear, are musically competent, and none of whom I'm having much fun playing with. One band is a Vegas lounge act that covers the musical bases using charts on Ipads, another is comprised of former Big Hair LA rockers doing generic blues rock and classic rock songs, and the third endlessly noodles in a living room on the same 10 -15 tunes, about half of them originals, making them more and more complex, and then recording the result.

 

Since I started venturing out to play gigs after being vaxxed late last spring, I've only played about 6 - 8 gigs with the first two bands and not had any fun. In fact, the only semblance of fun I've had gigging since then was on 3 or 4 pick-up gigs with unrehearsed blues bands, and even then, on balance, those pick-up gigs were pains-in-the-ass for me, loading in/ loading out for $50 - $100.

 

My New Year's resolution is to "diplomatically" quit all three bands and take a break, even from pick-up gigs. Who knows, I may discover that I'm the problem because I'm just old, lazy, and burned out on playing music in bands. In other words, as Ian Anderson famously said, I'm too old to rock & roll and too young to die. Perhaps I'll also discover that I've reached the level of my musical incompetence (i.e. Peter Principle), and new better gear and more playing /practice will not make me a better "happier" musician.

Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha MX88 & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2)

 

 

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Part of the problem is that their isn't much to look forward to playing music out anymore with COVID....

No doubt. We were doing some rehearsing for a while, then it kinda morphed into getting together just to play for fun...but without gigs to look forward to, there's no sense of urgency so we seem less inspired.

 

Hard to even get some members to pick a tune to play. :idk:

 

dB

When everyone was in hard-core lockdown last year, I was involved in a bunch of "virtual recording" vid projects. They were a ton of fun and I got to flex my performing and mixing chops. But now that most people are back to work, some gigs are happening, and life is busy again, there's not so much appetite from anyone to put the work in. I do have a gig coming up, so hoping I can get into the prep part without procrastinating too much. Glad to see I'm not exactly alone.

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I think everyone is burnt - it's just different ways for different people. This whole last two years has done a number on everyone's mental health.

 

A lot of what we thought we could expect from "normal life" was upended, and most people don't do well with extended periods of uncertainty.

 

I have no doubt that creatives are feeling it in unique ways, and that it's hard to identify or articulate what the heck is going on in our heads and hearts a lot of the time. And sometimes it just comes out in the way we speak to and treat other people around us, that we wouldn't have done two years ago.

 

That's not much of an answer for ABECK, other than to say, yes, I just played two gigs this weekend, and I still find it fun, entertaining and satisfying. It's different than it was pre-pandemic, but music is still something I want to pursue as part of my life, as long as I feel like I have something to "say". When I run out of things to say, or the ability to say them, I suppose it will be time to consider hanging it up.

 

At least for me, I don't think that time has arrived yet.

..
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The elephant in the room is - things just ain"t what they used to be.

They never are, of course.

But some periods in general are shittier than others. Avoiding crowds is no good for the entertainment business.

I"m just hoping the human monkeys running the big show can see the folly in a WWIII

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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In recent times playing have been fun but there have been times where I've lost the enjoyment of playing.

 

During those times it was always some other force -- too much travel, too much playing for entertainment value, accompanying singers with pitch and time issues, playing with bad drummers, playing more for money than for the fun or art of it, playing background music, etc. -- that spoiled it. Some soul sucking stuff for sure. In my later life I've cut out all of that and find myself with not too many gigs. But the gigs I do play are very enjoyable and that's what's important to me now.

 

When the pandemic hit I decided to try to up my solo piano playing. I previously saw myself as an ensemble player and had never focused on solo piano. It's been challenging, rewarding, and fun. It makes my soul feel good. I've now reached a point where I enjoy playing alone at home more than playing out with other musicians. Perhaps this is for the best because at 63 I can do without too much of the hustle bustle and am content to just make nice sounds in my home studio.

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