General Music Chat

I gave up playing for about 10 years . . . a combination of my wife moving in, and me getting bored with playing the same old songs.
And many of the new songs I liked (and thus learned) - turned out to be really an old song that was just re-written a little differently by someone else.
And much of it was too rudimentary, or just didn't appeal to me. The better stuff was performed by people with more experienced than me.
So, I only picked up my guitar about once a month, for 'bout ten years.
.
Then I found some old tapes of me playing some unusual stuff. And there was a lot of bits and pieces - some of it was pretty cool . . .
But since I recorded these old tapes I'd learned a lot of new chords & techniques . (I couldn't believe how I sounded 25 years ago.)
So I started applying my additional experience to the old ideas I'd had - and wow! I was hooked again!
Over about a year, I relearned abot 98% of everything I'd ever done.
And I realized that I'd spent my entire life mostly learning OTHER people's music, and not enough time learning my OWN music.
I started composing more originals - and realized that much of what I heard in my head could not be reproduced by the 30 - 40 chords (& variations) I'd learned.
So I spent a year or so researching and learning new chords. I wrote down about about 125 unusual chords which I liked the sound of; chords you rarely (or never) hear on the radio/TV.
. . . and found some NICE stuff . . .

If I couldn't find a chord to reproduce the sound I heard in my head, I'd work on the fretboard until I found that sound, - or sometimes a better sound.
And the new songs started flowing. So - now I write originals, and I'm more happy playing . . .
I still record those tapes of ideas, and still listen to them. Can't keep up with the ideas . . .
I Loooooove music.

Alan

Sometimes just shaking up your musical "world" at the time can snap you out of a funk. I hit a brick wall once when I was playing celtic harp music so often - so I took a night off and sat in with a bunch of Hawaiian music players. Had a great time, and it shook loose whatever was blocking me up. I highly recommend the activity.

Yeah, I hear you.

I have'nt given up yet, but there are times i feel like it. I'm a Bassist and dealing with egos can be a real pain! The singer/guitarist of the band i was with last week has a real ego problem. " I'll call you and let you know about practice. " We are supposed to play at "Yesterdays" tomorrow night. I have'nt heard from him since last Thursday! He would rather talk about all his acomplishments than do anything else. He's a really good guitarist, if he could just get over his self. I dont know if i'm still in the band or not. If not, then that's a pretty s**** way of telling me. I called him and left a message on his machine, but no responce.
If there's anyone in Jacksonville, Fl. that wants a newbi bass player or want to form a new band, let me know!

SweetBabyJames

Umm, you went from Celtic Harp to Hawiian... where do you find these people in the same town ?

http://www.livelocals.net

Umm, you went from Celtic Harp to Hawiian... where do you find these people in the same town ?

http://www.livelocals.net

Salt Lake City is a strange town that way. On the surface it seems all the same but scratch that surface and you find all sorts of weird and wild stuff.

Aloha.

I guess any town is like that. Calgary has quite the diverse scene for a primarily country hick town !

Now im going to get flamed by Calgarians

http://www.livelocals.net

I to took a long break from guitar and singing and both have suffered for it. I am now older, fatter and simply have less time then I once did. I have enjoyed picking up guitar again and like you I wanted to learn something new so I don't fall into the same old rut again, I have started to look for more local musicians that would enjoy the same things I do and that are looking to create no re-animate music, I do enjoy cover songs but they never really stirred anything inside of me the way it did when I was writing ( back in the day ) I need some new players to get my creativity back up and get that pen back to paper. Music has to be a passion you enjoy..

Jampy, you said you enjoy cover songs but they never really stirred anything inside of you, like when you were writing . . ."
.
I hear you. That's where I'm at, right now . . . .
.
.
gopher, I guess it boils down to a few things, primarily how much you love music.
.
eh?
After that comes stuff like talent, exposure, equipment, band-mates, a place to practice, a place to play and get paid for it, age, a receptive audience, your financial status, your marriage status, a good head for business, etc,etc . . .
.
But - I think, probably, first and foremost: - ya gotta REALLY love music . . .

Eleanor Roosevelt said something to the effect of "disposition is 9/10ths of circumstance."

I used to be angry because I felt the direction of popular music was moving away from anything I'd be interested in playing. Times may change for the better though because it seems every genre of music nomatter how outdated or dead has its own loyal following. The internet culture really won't let anything die. Somewhere out there on myspace is a group dedicated to 50's rockabilly, cool jazz, 70's country music, or even 8 bit techno tunes done using gameboys and old ataris.

For a while it seemed the culture was going in a scary direction where people were only interested in the entertainment that was mass marketed to them. It's more likely that as time goes you'll see the general popularity of all music begin to even out a bit (comparitively.) The biggest reason is that now you can more easily find and access different types of music. I hear that ratings on mtv are extremely low compared to a few years back. Maybe the 14 year old girls are wanting more?

Someone pointed out to me also that just about any form of music can be made into popular music if done correctly. Some would say its "comprimising" the music. Some may see it as inovating and improving it. It's all in how you look at it I guess. Goes back to that disposition thing.

Then again we all may be replaced by software 20 years from now and it won't matter at all. The drummers out there allready feel the pinch. The process of making music with instruments will be considered "traditional folk art" like quilting.

Then again we all may be replaced by software 20 years from now and it won't matter at all. The drummers out there allready feel the pinch. The process of making music with instruments will be considered "traditional folk art" like quilting.

I don't agree with this.

Over the last ten years or so, acoustic oriented bands have really enjoyed a comeback. It's a cycle like anything else. The trick is to do what you like - find venues for what you do.

bluesman25 -they will still need someone to write the software right?
then I'll always be ok.

When personal computers (like eniac) came out ppul said paper would be a thing of the past in 5 years... that was 25years or so ago, and paper use has actually increased. I for one am not the slightest bit afraid of being replaced by a computer, and if you had a better understanding of how they operate: you would know the same.
Do not fear the midi.

You got it Mikey. I use both MIDI and acoustic recording to make what I do. It's no longer an either/or perdicament.

These last couple of posts reminded me of a funny incident, that occured when I played in an all-keyboard electronica band called On Beyond Zebra. We were at one nightclub, getting set to play our next song and some obviously bothered individual yelled out "Hey, what's wrong with a pair of drumsticks!??" The stage we were on was still littered with remnants of countless band performances before us (this was a real popular club) and I noticed a few broken drumsticks still lying in the corner. In answer to the gentleman's question, I retrieved a couple, tapped out a little rhythm on my synthesizer keys (not hard enough to produce an electronic sound) and said to him "As you can see, this won't work too well!"