General Music Chat

For ever...

To hell with trying to organize, compromise, placate, motivate, ... gesticulate.

Never again will I put myself in a position to where I have to depend on anybody, musically.

Fudge it, I'll do it all myself from here on out.

What happened, what was the straw that broke the camel's back?

The short version:
Getting 75% done with a reunion project and album, then having two of the guys deciding that they'd rather not finish it.

Are you surprised, Zip>?

"Anything worthwhile is easily sabotaged by anyone else involved".

Sorry to hear..

One thing I have found - as I (and everyone I might play with) gets older, it gets increasingly difficult to get people to commit to doing anything that requires XX amount of hours over YY amount of months. When I started seriously looking for a band/others toplay with 2+ years ago, I thought it would be easier - figuring that with people around my age, their kids are gone, they are well-situated with a regular job, they have half-decent equipment and skills (after years of playing/practicing) and can devote themselves to music in thier spare time. I'm finding that's anything but how it is.

Recent conversation with a long term seasoned musician.
His implication was that, short of about 10K hours together, a group is basically just making time.
10K hours . . . think about it.
If we rehearsed 3 hours a week x 52 weeks ( one year for conversation sake ) we would be at only 156 hours.
At that rate it would take 64.1 years to reach the 10K mark.
Or looked at in reverse 192.3 hours a week over the period of one year!

Just assuming his 10K assertion is accurate, whom has that level of commitment ?

Wondering what my point is right about now are you not ?
Me too

Maybe it is enough to to what we love, fight our way through the difficulties, and accept one day at a time our little victories along side our little defeats.
Perhaps . . . this is enough?

Mike

I'm seeing some of that as well. The older guys I've jammed with in the last few years seemed kind of boring not to mention, lacking ambition. My current partner in musical crime is in his forties and has much in his way of course, but gets the job done.

For the actual performing of it I'm hoping to find some young, hungry guys who are still silly enough to believe it can happen!

Talbot

George - I've heard of that 10000 hour thing too, but for individual skill, not band. At 3 hours a day, every day, it's less than 10 years!

Mike T - you may be right about age, have to look at younger guys to find some commitment. There's a guy coming to my OM tomorrow (guessing he's in his early 20s) who plays electric and asked me to back him up on 3 Hendrix tunes. 20-something may be TOO young, though!

There's 'one' guy who i can depend on, but he's a drummer so he can only help so much, musically.

Anyone else from now on... there is gonna have to be a blood pact or something for me to consider working with them.
I would go up - as in joining something that is already pro and in the industry, but if it's a lateral move, I'll just stick to myself and do it all.
If I really want to play live with others, I'll find an open mic or something.

Going solo since 2001!

George, back in the day before I found out what was really important in life, my band met 6 days out of 7. We were either playing or rehearsing or partying or all the above for 8 years.

I use a band one or two months of a year but will never depend on one again. A few years ago I fired the whole band onstage for general un-professionalism (showing up onstage 10 minutes late because they went out to smoke cigarettes). They were absolutely fabulous musicians and I paid them well for half of a set, but I had to do it publicly or I was going to lose the gig entirely.

In the new music biz, you have to be able to bring it by yourself. That's not a good situation if you aren't a singer. One look at ReverbNation homepage and you'll see 95% of indies are solo/duo that travel light. That's a good thing for the rugged individual, but not so good for people who are in it for social reasons.

Understood

I trust in The Lord to make the difference . . . if it be His Will.

Amen

I think the saying is that a real master has 10,000 hours of experience.
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But a masterful group can have 50 hours experience, if they have 'the right stuff.'
Dedication is rare, now; there are too many distractions, nowadays . . .
.
On another note, I'm thinking that, as musicians gain hundreds and hundreds of hours of experience, that - over the years - they'd prefer to work with those who are near equals. (And, their personalities and music styles need to be compatible, of course.)
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And it is difficult to find those with experience AND 'the right stuff.'
If they are really good, and really committed, chances are that they are already performing as a solo act, or already in a well-established band.
The good players who ARE available, are available for a reason.

Good point.
I've noticed that much like the medical ( Nursing ) profession. Musicians eat their young.
It's a shame there is very little mentoring sharing mentality.
Too much competition vs too much egomania . . . you choose.

The best mentoring I ever had was from a jazz cat named Jack Lindsey. He took my bass and sat me down in front of a piano. His reply to my whining was a milestone for me as a player, "Are you an instrumentalist or are you a musician?"

Talbot