General Music Chat

Your opinion of how good or bad you are DOES NOT COUNT. The only opinions that do count are those of your audience. It doesn't matter how much or little you know about music. There have been dozens or perhaps hundreds of world famous musicians who knew little about music. There have been the same number of world famous singers in my opinion who could not sing. Yet these people made a living playing and singing. There are bands around town that are always working, yet I think some of them suck. Does my opinion count? NO. The bottom line is this: when you gig do you get asked back? Do you hold a crowd? Do people come up to you after a gig and ask where you playing next? Does the crowd boo or applaud your efforts? Do you get beer bottles thrown at you? When you play a CD you've made for someone do they like it? Do they want to BUY one from you? Are you MAKING money playing music? You need to get a more down to earth assessment of your abilities as a musician. The correct assessments are from those people that HIRE you, that BUY your DC, that write a glowing editorial of your music in an entertainment newspaper, etc. Those are opinion that COUNT. Later...fisherman

Are you sure about that, Robert? You've taken self esteem right out of the equation. Without that, you wouldn't even compose or play. The ego (sens of self) in whatever degree we have it, drives what we do. Without a certain degree of confidence, maybe even pride in what you do, you'd never pick up an instrument nor walk onto a soundstage.

Whoa! I agree with you, Irminsul. The whole reason you put anything out there is because you think you have something to say or contribute to people and if they don't approve, and you have no guts about yourself, the public will chew you up and spit you out because you don't know what you think of yourself. If you have played music for any length of time, you are bound to run into criticisms and if you don't have some self assessments built in, you are going to crumble like a cookie. I have always been fortunate to have people encourage me but I have also struggled with self-doubt and I think any honest musician knows what I'm talking about, but what I have observed over the years is that , as odd as it seems, it's the truly good ones, that struggle and the people who have no business being out there, are fearless! My belief in myself has kept me going in the face of criticisms but also the encouragement of others. As for thoughts about myself, I know I'm good but I could be better. And, the more you play, the better you get at your craft. YOU KNOW WHY? Cos there's always someone out there that makes you want to be better! And it's not always the compliments but the critics that do it for me. Of course ,since I have some self-esteem, those critics are only fine tuning me the way I see it !

Well put Tessa and Irminsul!

I do see where Robertalan is coming from; however, I think that his point solely relates to the longevity of one's commercial availability not to their talent or ability.


I think that your point Robertalan also goes back to what I stated earlier, it is all subjective.

Like sassyJC I am my own worst critic. I know I'm good, but there are times when I worry I'm actually lousy, lol. So far my solo public proformances have been limited to Kareoke bars (sober!!! well, mostly) and I get lots of applause, and everyone has always told me I'm good. I've never auditioned though. Just put an ad up, and hopefully something will come of it, but it's just fun for me now. Would like to be in a wedding band or something. Why not do what I have a passion for, have fun, and make some money while I'm at it?

i think im pretty aware of where my talent stands. i like to give myself more credit than immature 14 year olds, in that ive actually written songs with bands and performed live, before saying i can be a valuable member of a band.

i don't think you can really gauge your talent until youve played for a while with other people, and played for other people. there is so much more to music than just straight playing..in the way of emotion and presence.

If you think you're good and you want to get heard, you should check out this site. It's an online radio station where any artist can upload their music (for FREE) and people can go listen to them--it's really good for someone who's wanting to get better-known.

Check it out!

http://www.RadioFire.net

If you think you're good and you want to get heard, you should check out this site. It's an online radio station where any artist can upload their music (for FREE) and people can go listen to them--it's really good for someone who's wanting to get better-known.

Check it out!

http://www.RadioFire.net

Theres also soundclick where people can stream/DL your stuff and they rate you.

Yes Hanilia! I've always thought that anything you can find that you love and can benefit financially from is a wonderful thing!!!

You have to have a minimum of self-esteem to get in front of people and perform, especialy your own music. However, don't get so self-critical that you can't perform, or won't perform. You ever hear of paralisys by analisys? Once you get enough self-esteem going and perform, let others tell you how good (or bad) you are. I've met a lot very talented musicians who are so self indulgent they never join a band and their talents go to waste. And then there's musicians who play out all the time who have minimal talent. Later...fisherman bob

Hey Robertalan, Hello! I never heard that expression before, paralisys by analisys, but it's pretty true. I think if you KNOW you should be out there, then you should just do what love and don't sweat the criticism, but use it to fine tune your skills. So, how DO you know the difference? Are you being criticized because you are not as good as you think or someone just doesn't care for your stuff or maybe they are the kind of person who is jealous of your talent. Then there's always the idiot who thinks they are better than everybody! I know that at times when I took a break from playing out, I would go somewhere like a restaurant or bar and there would be this person playing and singing , that really wasn't very good and it would make me want to be out there again. I always play at home and I 'm always at the music thing but I don't worry about whether I'm better or worse. There's always someone out there to point it out either way! I just go at my own pace. What I HATE , is booking!

I play guitar and recently started singing, im fairly good at the guitar, but you tell me, check out the song on my page at let me know what you think. www.myspace.com/ominouskc

I'm probably a bit better than I think but I don't think I'm that good so who knows?

hmm, music theory a? Let's see, I know all my major/minor scales and modes in any key, I know harmonic minor, super locrian and melodic minor... the chromatic scale... I can construct chords at any position in any key with any extension you would like... I am familiar with chrod substitution and key center modulation...
It isn't rocket science. There are no new notes... of course you could start using semitones and throw a wrench in all that wester music theory...
but western music theory on it's own is painfully finite... IMO, and one's knowledge of it hardly is evidence of ones mastery of an instrument...
I say we cut the contest to the quick and ask "what songs of yours are on the radio?" Mine? -none. I'm right up there with the best there has ever been on my couch.

I'd just like to point out that I think the hardest thing a musician will ever do is learn to play for yourself and yourself only... strip away all the other reasons to play and see if you still have one(reason to play)...
how good you are has little to do with the twisted popularity contest that is the music industry today. don't take my word for it... listen.
The only one listening to vai: guitar players.