General Music Chat

. . . what was the key factor in your decision ? Parents choice ? Good way to get girls ? To become rich and famous ? The love of music ? All of the formentioned ?

. . . myself, . . . I grew up with twin Sisters who were nine years older than I. I learned to dance while I was learning to walk. I would dance for bubble gum . . . and money. When the girls had a slumber party, . . . I was house entertainment. After I grew out of that . . . I fell in love with the drums. One of my old Brothers had a Marine Corps Marching Band snare at home and I took it over when I was five. My Mother put me in the Church choir when I was eight. I was fifteen when I started learning guitar chords.
. . . I really believe that the reason I became a musician was my Parents choice, because it was a good way to meet girls, while becoming rich and famous with the music I love so much !

( . . . the rich and famous part didn't happen) the rest is History 101. I have been in five bands in my entire life of fifty-one years. And the last was 1980. I just fell out of the mainstream ? I am working on a project right now. Southern / Metal . . . I have a band of younger guys wanting in.

Let's do a pole !

Hey man, sounds like ya got an early start and had a supportive family helpin along the way...Man, Im not really sure about me?. I dont think I "became"? I just "was"... I aligned pots and pans in the floor that looked like a drum kit at 2yrs of age with no help from anyone and played to records.Saw the drummer in the orchrestra pit in 65 at an ice capades show and BY GAWD SOMEHOW KNEW at 5 , I was gonna do that for a living?????It was a natural progression from there with only school band and garage band influencing till I hit the raod. No one in the family plays or encouraged really. Played pro US ,Canada, Mexico for 17 yrs.Just play local /regional now.
Thats my story..

John

I think my interest in music started when I was in kindergarten and my dad introduced me to dc Talk (Anyone remember those guys? They were ahead of their time by far), and I started my musicianship when I began taking piano lessons in third grade. I continued playing piano up through high school, picking up cello, clarinet, bass, and finally guitar along the way. I suppose it was mutual between my parents and me.

Well, what got me into it, was my mother. She has a totally different taste in music, but I think what really stuck to me were the Stevie Wonder records. Then I explored the soul, funk and rock genres respectively. And I thought, well, this sounds easy, I'ma sing along. I thought I was amazing the first 2 times. The third time, I recorded myself. And wow, I should've been shot for raping the songs. *Sigh*
Anyways, my mother said "Maybe you don't have it, but you can still have fun."
That it, killed me. I was furious, and I wanted to prove her wrong in every single way. So, I slowly improved after days and days of practice and noise-making. But all she would hear was a voice in another room. So I got up once [months after] and said "Hey, I got something to sing" and I did. She was shocked at the improvement. I pretty much shat myself in excitement. After that, I knew this is how I wanna feel after every gig.

There really needs to be a 'Other' choice.

yeah... "other"

I started playing guitar for all of the above I guess. 5-8 years later, I became a musician. It just happened. At some point the music became more important than any of it's monetary benefits.

I could say that it was constantly being around music when I was a kid. Probably had a subconcious affect, but...
It was really Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister videos.
Yeah, yeah... sue me. I was barely a teen and I wanted to have fun and be cool.
So I literally hounded my parents for a year and a half straight until I got a guitar for christmas.

20 years later I still play the damned thing.

It's all I ever really believed that I could do, & do passably well...it rules me. You didn't have that as a choice in your poll, so I didn't vote.

I've taken those personality/career choice tests numerous times during my life, & 90% of my interest is in the musical realm, with like 10% being in some sort of design area.

I started out as a child that was ruled by music...my earliest memories involve music, watching musicians on TV, hearing my father at the piano, stuff like that. (My mother had a tin ear. Not a musical bone in her body. I think my sister inherited that trait, & there are times when I envy her for that, believe it or not.)

At around 5 or 6, my dad took it upon himself to teach me piano. He started me on a book for beginners, & I found some blank notation pages in the seat of the piano, & wrote a variation of one of the exercises that I thought was more pleasing. When I presented it to him, I got my butt chewed on the subject of "plagiarism." Yeah, it was definitely a derivative thing, but if it were me with my kid, I think I've had "graded" it more on whether it was musically sound, & encouraged him to go further. Not my old man! I have always resented that. He never told me if what I'd written was "right" or not, musically. I still wonder about that. It was soon after that that he quit teaching me. I think it kinda startled him that I was so precocious that I was able to take a musical idea to my own level, to be driven to alter things & make them my own, & to even have the certain something in me to be a creator, a composer, of music, in a way...I think he resented that ability in me.

My father was a musical purist, classically trained. He never wrote anything that I ever heard of. He was the equivalent of the concert pianist at some point in his life, but decided that the only reason ppl invited him to parties was to be a "human juke box," & he quit playing in front of ppl. He put me down for wanting to be one, as well. If I wanted to hear him play, I had to catch him when he was in the mood, & played on his own. I remember sneaking down the basement steps to hear him play "Napoleon's Last Charge," & thrill to the way the music told of the guns, the horses, the battle itself, with nary a word spoken or sung. He was an amazing musician with a really crappy bizarre attitude about music, ppl, & me in particular...LOL

He did manage to put me off learning notation for many years, & these days it takes me forever, cuz I still feel resentful about it I guess. I simply refuse to put the necessary time into it, for some reason.

Silly, huh? Eh, we never saw eye to eye on much, in my memory.

Sorry, but this brought up some memories that I prolly shouldn't share like this, but wtf. It's made me who & what I am.

BOOBIES!

I'm not really a musician. I play bass and sing, but I can't tell what I'm doing. I just got lucky and I got it sounding good. And once in a while I get lucky and play for people. Yeah and I like boobies too.

Growing up my mom played guitar and sang, she did a song with elvis in the 70s at lakeside amusement in salem va. My grandfather, my moms dad played blugrass music. all instruments involved. CCR concerts are the most to blame. And I just love IT.

Wow! So many of you were fortunate to get an early start...I started at 20!!! While I was always somewhat interested in music, I had been exploring other creative outlets, such as writing, painting and photography. A friend of mine in college talked me into forming a band, and I've stayed the course ever since. Ironically, the band I'm playing with now was started by the same friend...we are playing together again after nearly seventeen years-and having a blast! It's really coming together.
For me (as a songwriter), music is the perfect creative outlet-the combination of music and words to create and idea.
I vote "love of music"...100%.

I have always been exposed to music. My love of music is what keeps me going. I guess I come by it naturally. My grandfather could play almost any instrument except the guitar. My mom and my aunt played the guitar because he couldn't criticize that instrument, being that is one he did not play. My mother can not read music but she has the ability to hear something and play it flawlessly on the piano. I did not inherit any ability to play an instrument, but I do sing. My aunt sings also. She did the folk stuff. She even did play out at folk type shows with other people. Mom, she can't really sing, it is that weird sound like warbeling for lack of a better descriptive word. Mom was into country and old stuff like Bing Crosby etc. I still like the old music from the big band and the old musical movies. Can't handle too much country. Mom didn't like us playing on the piano, we made too much "noise". I sometimes wonder if she had taken the time to teach us (my sisters and I) something about the piano if I might have been able to use both parts of my brain. LOL

Sweet jesus this kinda brings back some not so good memories.

Oh well, I still love singing. Hmmm I wonder if we go full circle. She played guitar because her dad didn't, I sing because she can't. Something to think about......

I've always wanted to play. For all of the reasons posted above.
I'm in there with Bob though. I dont consider myself a musician.
I am a guitar player. I write some lyrics. I put together some tunes.
But by in large without my brothers in the band, I aint got shyt.
I,ve only been serious about music for a couple of years.
But I am making up time FAST!

Thank you my friends! Thank you!