Why did you stop?
ozwatto
Posted 2009-03-07 6:26 PM (#424379)
Subject: Why did you stop?


Joined:
January 2007
Posts: 672

Location: New South Wales, Australia
In relation to Losov's thread about doing it all again...I'm curious as to why so many people played for a few years and then just stopped...for decades in some cases.
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Trader Jim
Posted 2009-03-07 6:29 PM (#424380 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307

Location: South of most, North of few
Life got in the way.
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dvd
Posted 2009-03-07 6:31 PM (#424381 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 1889

Location: Central Massachusetts
Not that I have gotten very far to begin with, but for me, the interruption has been due to genetic redeployment [kids].
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Losov
Posted 2009-03-07 6:33 PM (#424382 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 489

Ah! Well, in my case I undertook a course of study that simply did not allow for any diversions as consuming as playing music. I put the guitars down and did not think about them for about six or seven years.

Thought I was done but then my wife engaged to someone in casual conversation who was looking for a guitar player for a local musical theater production. I was volunteered. Kinda stayed with it since.
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alpep
Posted 2009-03-07 7:00 PM (#424383 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10581

Location: NJ
got married

bought a house

took a day gig

tired of dealing with people with substance abuse

got depressed

sick friends family and relatives

life got in the ways says it all.
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gh1
Posted 2009-03-07 7:34 PM (#424384 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 972

Location: PDX
Frustration with the lack of progress.

In my youth i didn't quite understand that anything worth having was worth striving for.

_____
gh1
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2ifbyC
Posted 2009-03-07 8:10 PM (#424385 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?
Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6268

Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast
In chronological order:

1. Voluntary military service ('65)
2. Newly wed marital bliss ('69)
3. New family additions due to #2 ('71-'75)
4. $hortage$ due to #1, #2 and #3
5. Extra jobs to compensate for #4
5. Military retirement, aka career change, due to #3; enough moving for my Girls prior to their Jr./Sr. high school years. ('85)
6. $$$,$$$ for #3 educations
7. My bride's emergency brain surgery... ('06)

... which brought me here to pass some frightful times!

Thanx for being here for me!!! Seriously...
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Slipkid
Posted 2009-03-07 8:13 PM (#424386 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301

Location: south east Michigan
I never stopped completly but things got really slow while we were bringing up 3 boys.
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Mr. Ovation
Posted 2009-03-07 8:16 PM (#424387 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7211

Location: The Great Pacific Northwest
I've put a lot of thought into this of late, because as it stands now I haven't played in a long time. Months in between just picking up a guitar and noodling, years between playing an actual tune, 7 years since a band.

I did a lot of searching (sole and otherwise) and I just like playing in a band. I don't like playing by myself at all, and I guess I never realized it before, never thought about it before.

I only get excited if there is a potential gig with a band. Could be a group getting together to do one show for an event, or planning on playing every weekend, but it seems most of my life I would find a band, or put a band together, and if I wasn't working on that, I wasn't playing at all.

When I had my recording studio, I was around music a lot, so I didn't realize I wasn't playing that was 2002-2006. Then I moved out here in 2006 and it's now 2009.

I want to play... but I'm stuck it seems. It's not like I can just go "JAM" as it's been so long I got nothing to play, and to make matters worse, my arthritis seems to put a limit on how long I can play anyway, if I did have something to play. I haven't learned a cover tune in nearly 10 years, may be longer, and don't really have a desire to play anyone else's music, but I guess I would if I had to.

The real rut I am in is I (yep I'm gonna use a word I would NEVER use to describe any aspect of music)..... I hate the way I sound when I play, hate it. Songs that I should know I have forgotten, and my brain says "play it like this" and my hands just respond with "huh??" I can't force myself to practice, cause I just suck, there's no upcoming gig, and it hurts. I will once again gist a quote from Matt Smith in that "Music is supposed to be fun" that's why it's called "playing." I do not enjoy playing guitar anymore, period.

To add insult to injury.. ok.. find a band to play with. To my knowledge there is no real venue in the area for Metal. Lots of Country, Folk and Blues. YAWN!!!!!

I had almost reached a point where I thought I would do open mic nights. Just do it. (Thank to Damon and Alpep for the motivation really) Just strum rhythm, or maybe even bring a Bass. Then I saw the Iron Maiden in RIO concert (yes they are still touring) on VH1-Classic and realized... playing folk songs or doing some acoustic thing just ain't gonna cut it. I'm getting to old to waste my time with something I'm not interested in.

So.. that's it.. I guess I'm just done playing guitar. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, but it is what it is. I'm not going to say never... I would LOVE to play again. I just don't see how it's going to happen.
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Capo Guy
Posted 2009-03-07 8:45 PM (#424388 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 4394

Location: East Tennessee
Originally posted by Trader Jim:
Life got in the way.
+1
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ProfessorBB
Posted 2009-03-07 8:53 PM (#424389 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881

Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains
Never really stopped, but certainly slowed down due to all the above. Sure enjoyed playing with you, Miles, at the PNW gathering. If you really hadn't played in a long time, you sure retained more than I would have. Watching you and Al rip was a blast. But I totally agree with you on one point . . . playing in an organized band according to an established schedule serves as motivation to work harder at it.
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standing
Posted 2009-03-07 10:27 PM (#424390 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
December 2008
Posts: 1453

Location: Texas
When personal computers advanced sufficiently to be viable for graphic design, I got so deeply into computer graphics that I ignored my guitars… then I blinked and 20+ years had passed…

Last year, I happened to be in a music store looking for something for my son and I wandered into the acoustic guitar room and started picking up guitars. One of them was a Celebrity 12-string. (I still had my '79 Custom Balladeer.) I never owned a 12 string, but always wanted a 12 string Ovation (and a Rickenbacker, I'm half way there.) ;) I wasn't sufficiently impressed with the Celebrity… the store had no higher-end Ovations at all.

The seed was planted, I researched models on Ovation's web-site and eventually stumbled into the OFC, I blinked again and now I have 5 guitars, including 2 Ovations, and I am really enjoying playing all of them every chance I get. I'm actually trying to learn things I should have spent more time on when I was young enough to learn easily but too impatient to bother.

Long story, but you asked…
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muzza
Posted 2009-03-07 10:29 PM (#424391 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 3736

Location: Sunshine State, Australia
Originally posted by Trader Jim:
Life got in the way.
Snap.
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stephent28
Posted 2009-03-07 10:36 PM (#424392 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303

Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066
Originally posted by Trader Jim:
Life got in the way.
TJ nailed it
what more can be said!
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Mark in Boise
Posted 2009-03-08 12:34 PM (#424393 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750

Location: Boise, Idaho
Pretty much the same story here. Maybe that's why I spend so much time here--we have a lot in common besides Ovations. Neither of the girls were really into guitars until college. When looking for an amp for the oldest, I went to a bunch of music stores and found the OFC and ebay. I think I have 16 guitars now and the only non-Ovation is a Hamer.
Iffy, SWMBO has to go in for brain surgery soon. A fairly large, slow growing tumor. Life getting in the way is better than the alternative.
Miles, as you know, we are polar opposites in musical tastes. I've been looking for someone to jam with in Boise and all I can find is metal bands. I hate that crap. I have a friend that does country gigs and I'd join him long before I'd ever consider learning metal stuff.
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2ifbyC
Posted 2009-03-08 1:34 PM (#424394 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?
Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6268

Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast
Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
Iffy, SWMBO has to go in for brain surgery soon.
Mark, PM sent.
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PEZ
Posted 2009-03-08 1:44 PM (#424395 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 3111

Location: Nashville TN.
I haven't stopped I made a switch from rock (which I was never that good at) to country in 2002.
I got a bit side tracked with my parents getting sick & passing away one after the other.
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Darkbar
Posted 2009-03-08 2:53 PM (#424396 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535

Location: Flahdaw
I never ever "stopped", I always had a guitar around. I just never took it serious. Had only my old Tak from '77 until '99, when I bought my Collectors. Got re-energized for a coupla years, then kind of funked out until a few years ago when the wife bought the Everett.
My only regret is not pushing it a little harder 30 years ago...I might have been good.
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Jonmark Stone
Posted 2009-03-08 4:42 PM (#424397 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
May 2008
Posts: 1553

Location: Indiana
I guess this is a cross answer to both this thread and the "would I do it again" question Loslov posed.

I've been playing 40 out of my 48 years. I can't imagine my life with out a guitar.

The only time I ever stopped happened in '93 when a head on collision shattered my left arm. Post surgery, nerve damage resulted semi-paralysis... my left hand curled up in a claw.
It was touch and go for months.
I realized at that point how much it meant and how deeply I'd taken my relationship with the guitar for granted.

It all worked out OK eventually... and I'm a very, very grateful guy.
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Northcountry
Posted 2009-03-08 4:54 PM (#424398 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?
Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 2487

I came in on the tail end of the greatest decade in Rock & Roll (for me) and it was the music written and performed then that inspired me into learning and dealing with all the lunatics you need to find within a musicians circle (myself included) to form a great band. So once this was done and we started playing (79-81) I was living large for a year or two. Back then if you had a rock band that had the talent and the equipment to put on a show that could cover Floyd, Genesis, Rush, Yes, there were bars all over that were huge places and the coolest people went to see the coolest bands and back then our set lists were it. So we'd pack the house all the time. THere were a few rweal ood bands in our area that did this on a regular basis and you could get pid (up front) $1,200- $1,500 and split the cover at the door of $4 or $5. I was playing at least two nights every week summers three or four or five bar gig,s parties, fairs. Back then I was making more money than my Dad who was a hard working SOB and a Union Foreman. I quit college to do this. I was livin the life ya know. Mind of a 19yr old kid very often works like this, always will it seems. Anyway around 81 or 82? I don't quite remember, anyway, that was the year the drinking age was changed, and the Police started enforcing the DWI laws more stricktly then the laws kept changing, liquor licencing became more and more expensive. Occupancy, age, and time curfue rules were being checked and enforced. So the crowds dwindled from a packed bar of 250 people to 60. The new music was coming in and the girls noly seemed to care about the juke box songs as many bands (like ours) folded and the only bands that filled the void were the lesser musicians and they had a perfect vehicl to take the stage with in Punk Rock and goofy electronica crap like Too Too Shy Shy Hush Hush Eye to Eye. The Girls somehow thought Billy Squire was the sexiest thing alive. So to stay in music back then meant playing music I absolutly hated with a passion. I slowly began selling instruments and equipment and always figured this music will dye down and the good stuff will come back and I'll get back into it. Well it never really did, so then Life came along and a marriage and I did manage to keep one guitar. It was a real nice cream color Elite. And I forgot most of themusic I played and only took out the elite around a campfire. almost 20 years. My music nostalgic now and no longer "classic" rock it is "oldies" music actually. And for some odd reason I have been told by a few local club owners @ to be truthful that they have been getting requests for bands that can play the RUSH and YES and Floyd and Genesis again. There are a lot of guy's my age with cash to burn around the lake in the summers and they are sick and tired of the same bands who play the same crap over and over until they all sound the same. I am excited because I have united one old friend and past band mate with three new guy's who are the best musicians I have ever heard. I have recently combined two musicians, who I had seperate Duo's going with and I blundered into a drummer who is so fast and capable of what we need (at 30 he knows who Bill Bruford is)(he knows and loves King Crimsons work and actually does all the fills in Frame By Frame for us!) I am grining from ear to ear listening to this guy play..... So anyway myself and my dinosaur friend are tying to direct this herd of "testosterone mayhem" [Good name for the band...??? "Focused Mayhem" ...??] toward a goal of creating a set list that is full of the best of what we used to do back in the day before I gave it up and a mix of newer music like 3 doors down It's Not My Time. Nickleback Rock Star... Etc. And we will knock the competition dead. So I hope that explains my reasons for giving up and I could not help but add what has happened to me since returning a few years ago with some perseverance and focused determination and a little luck/fate ? I have a working solo thing and a working duo and a second one in the works and now this Band. The members of the Duo's are in the band so no conficts of interest and I do my solo stuff when I want anyway. This is better than it was 28 years ago, only difference is the pay is reversed?

Glad the hand recovered in fine order from the accident by the way Mr. Stone.
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FlySig
Posted 2009-03-08 6:06 PM (#424399 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4028

Location: Utah
I've written briefly before that my hiatus was brought about due to my fiance having a thing with another guitarist. Kind of soured me to playing guitar in general. For about 20 yrs I picked up a guitar maybe a half dozen times until my middle daughter got interested. We bought her a 3/4 size Applause and that re-lit the fire for me.

Northcountry, your story supports my theory that the change in drinking age was a big part of the decline in pay for the average working musician. The anti-smoking laws have further eroded bar attendance. The advent of cable tv and now high-def satellite further reduces people's desire to go out on a Friday or Saturday to listen to a band.
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dobro
Posted 2009-03-08 6:11 PM (#424400 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 2120

Location: Chicago
Marriage, children, career.... that'll put the kebash on giggin' Now mine are a little older (11 and 18) so I can squeeze some music back in.

Great story, Northcountry
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Mr. Ovation
Posted 2009-03-08 6:22 PM (#424401 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7211

Location: The Great Pacific Northwest
"This is better than it was 28 years ago, only difference is the pay is reversed? "

And while I really hate to admit it, that's just the nail in the coffin for me. I did most of my gigging in the 80's playing pop music (yeah the stuff that caused Northcountry to STOP playing) to somewhat cash in on it. The gigs were fun and back then I really didn't care, nor did I realize there were "different kinds" of music. I played songs I liked, or could learn easily and entertained people and got paid. I was a Bass player in the 50's band at one point. What a hoot!!! AND it paid well.

In the late 80's I started playing my own music. THAT was the most fun, and I pretty much stopped playing covers of anything.

Today, the thought of ramping up to play, finding the musicians, finding the venue, working up the show, and NOT get paid.... I seriously don't think I can do that.

Good thread... fun to see everyones take on music, and life.

"I can't imagine my life with out a guitar." - Wish I had that gene...
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Losov
Posted 2009-03-08 7:06 PM (#424402 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 489



Today, the thought of ramping up to play, finding the musicians, finding the venue, working up the show,
Yeah, I think I'd rather confuse my eye drops with Lysol than do all that again. Not to mention lugging all the crap SOMEbody in the band thinks you need into the club then back out again at O-dark thirty while it's three degrees and snowing. Then there's the inevitable wife/girl friend who wants to sing and is placing EXTREME pressure on the unfortunate band member to make this happen.

It's solo or duos for me now, if I play at all. I'm seriously thinking about chucking the whole playing in clubs thing.

Don't know what you guys are referring to about not getting paid. If I'm playing in a profit seeking establishment, I'm getting paid.
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Darkbar
Posted 2009-03-08 8:12 PM (#424403 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535

Location: Flahdaw
Hey Northcountry,
That was the best post I've read since coming to the forum. In fact, this is like a whole different category of thread....very interesting and relevant. Of course, I think you have to be about 50 or so to really get it. This isn't "general posting" stuff. Like I said, this deserves a whole new category.
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Northcountry
Posted 2009-03-08 8:59 PM (#424404 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?
Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 2487

Well thank you. I noticed all kinds of typo's glad you made it through. I am a mess on a keyboard, that goes for piano as well !

I am actually 47 so almost there and I was quite young to be in bands like the one I got into and playing music like that. I was lucky enough to be able to sing Jon Anderson & Geddy Lee's work right on the money back then, so my guitar skills only had to be basic. What we were doing was real advanced stuff (compared to the competition) and there was some original stuff but never good enough to make the change and go the next step, besides we ran out of time even if we could have gotten that far that fast.
I still can figure out almost any complicated song, with a little effort, and I do have some original ideas but I have a novices ability to write lyrics that are abstract enough and clever enough to be considered good. My music is actually fairly intricate but I have no idea how to write a song so there is a way to thread a vocal melody line throughout the song. I go for the King Crimson style stuff and can't do a dam thing with it. ....other than an instrumental ? Ohh well, I applaude those who can write anything with lyrics, I mean anything! I don't care if it is the simplist song there ever was, that is more than I can do and my hats off.

Miles you gota find a couple of guy's who have the same likes in music. It took me since the time I joined this group, until now to find the right fit. They were right here all the time I just had to turn that many rocks to find them and to now get them together. Thre has to be more guy's around who are of the age to do the metal or the 80's 90's era stuff. Your music is not really the acoustic or the solo kind of stuff, much of mine is not as well. For what you want to do you need the band, the drums the bass the second guitar. Some volume, some distortion, and then the leads and vocals all fall into place and you find yourself grinning. Go for it, this shit is a blast and you only get better every second you spend working on it again.
I have not laughed while playing in a long time. This guy who is our lead guitarist actually is so good he makes me laugh while I am jamming and listening to him play.
I got that little tingle in the back of my skull and on my neck when we hit a nice little, spontanious, perfect, three part harmony...... just for a few seconds ....and came out of it right into a solo. while we were all playing at practice last night. I know now that that...is something I had forgotten I missed about music. I can't wait to find the other things I have forgotten.

We are working the RUSH real hard right now. Peter Gabriel is next! Enough about me, I tend to ramble. Glad some of it is interesting. I know there are a bunch of us Older Farts, who are rapidlly approaching Old Fartdom and it is good to see we all share a few things the same.
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Mr. Ovation
Posted 2009-03-08 10:44 PM (#424405 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7211

Location: The Great Pacific Northwest
" gotta find a couple of guy's who have the same likes in music. "

LOL... yeah after everything else.. I actually was really pleasantly surprised when I met Damon, although we are not exactly on the same page music wise... closer than anyone else I've met in the last 3 years. Wish we lived more in commute distance for me.

Seriously, I find it surprising that bands like Soundgarden, Nirvanna, Queensrÿche etc.. actually came from this area. Of course, I'm not real close to Seattle and there is a metal scene down there, as well as I believe in Bellingham as well.

Haven't given up. Currently life is in the way.
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beatlejuice53
Posted 2009-03-09 2:57 PM (#424406 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
May 2004
Posts: 383

Location: Indiana
Alcohol
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seesquare
Posted 2009-03-09 5:10 PM (#424407 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3604

Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire
Life stages. More behind, than what's ahead. Cuts through the horsecrap real fast.
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2ifbyC
Posted 2009-03-09 5:58 PM (#424408 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?
Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6268

Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast
Originally posted by seesquare:
More behind, than what's ahead. Cuts through the horsecrap real fast.
Ain't that the TRUTH...!
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guitarwannabee
Posted 2009-03-09 7:57 PM (#424409 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 1477

Location: Michigan
it was 1965 and i heard some music from a band called the beatles.i immediatley went over to my best friends house and told him about them.thats when we discovered that our parents had these things that looked like guitars but didnt sound very good.they were tennis racquets.i think that my friend and i actually invented air guitaring.his folks bought him a guitar and i used to hang all day both of us tring to make something that sounded like music with it.finally my folks bought me a 35 dollar guitar that would make your fingers bleed after playing for a couple of hours but i just loved playing it.back then if you had an instrument you would find out everyone in the neighborhood who had one also.then as we learned to play we met a lot other people who played also.we put together a band and then we met more and more bands and then started playing at very small local venues.as we got into high school i started hanging with some guys in a band who played at a level that i could never never achive .they were playing everything from yes,e.l.p. king crimson like you would be putting on an album and i was a three cord player so i kind of gave up trying to play like them.i will never forget a party i was at with the bass player of that band when he picked up a acoutiscal guitar and played the clap like steve howe did and then he handed me the guitar and said you play something.i had to let the partygoers know that i had a sprained left hand and couldn't perform for them.i dodged that bullet and i gave it up until around 1990 and then i went into the basement and pulled out my 1965 john lennon casino and started to putz again.needless to say i was once again bitten by the the guitar gods and now i could afford to buy some of the guitars that i really liked.
it is a definate stress releiver and i sure need that kind of therapy in todays world.GWB
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AlanM
Posted 2009-03-09 11:42 PM (#424410 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 1851

Location: Newington, CT
Long story short: I was boring myself.

Now the long story: I started out as a rock 'n roller. It was THE way to get popular and meet girls. It worked in that regard, but I was too young, took myself too seriously and failed to keep it (rock 'n roll) in its proper place in my life.

I started to try to put together a whole musical ideology around my musical "preferences" (which, as I mentioned before, were really just a mechanism to get popular and laid). But, you see, I wanted desperately to be doing something significant as well. I became, along with my playing friends, a serious rock 'n roll fundamentalist, an insufferable snob spouting on and drearily on about the right kinds of rock and the wrong kinds, and blah, blah, blah...

One day I realized what a blithering idiot I sounded like, and had a severe allergic reaction to anything-that-resembled-rock-'n-roll-or-pop.

I started a long odyssey of studies of classical music, mainly by listening to it -- some of the most rewarding musical explorations of my life. In listening to the likes of Rudolf Serkin, Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir Horowitz, Jessye Norman, Julain Bream, and scores of others, I realized that these were uber-musicians. And that Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and others were uber-composers. These guys, in my very humble opinion, made the purveyors of rock 'n roll and pop look like insipid poseurs.

I had been practicing a lot on the side, but arrived at the conclusion that there was no point. I was listening to people whose talent was so far above mine that I didn't see the point of being anything but a spectator. I dind't have the talent to play classical music, and I didn't have the dedication, commitment, confidence, or the time or money to try to take it up.

My playing was boring me. All the while, others were telling me what a great guitarist I was. I was, frankly, disgusted with myself; feeling that I had become nothing more than the insipid poseur I was so scornful of.

The guitar went away.

Time passed. And one of the most enduring, hot-blooded, rewarding passions of my life, classical music, started to occupy HER proper place in my life as well...Our relationship mellowed to a gentle and sweet but strong love, that was more like a bone-warming glow than a heart-searing flame.

This allowed me to dip my toes back into the pool of less high-brow music, and I discovered a lot of stuff that could bring back some of the joys of youth. The same joys that had been present, but that I had later banished as all part of the silly, vapid world of rock 'n roll. There WERE, after all, babies in that bath water that I had unceremoniously tossed. (Some of you who have read another thread will recognize that imagery!)

I discovered (NOT re-discovered -- I had played them, but had not deigned to get to know them) the blues, gospel, some pop, jazz, flamenco and others. And I was delighted.

Then, 25 years after having stopped playing, I met Robin. (Just to show you how seriously I had abandoned the guitar, my mother called me up one day and said, "I gave away your Les Paul, was that ok?" I allowed as how it was, and shrugged. )

Robin. Sweet girl. Confused, issues, difficulties, baggage, but a nice girl, and one who loved the fact that I "played the guitar." It also made her amorous; not a bad side effect.

For her birthday, one day, I invited my friends Deva and Frank Varela (btw: Varela Music web site ) for a party at her house. Frank brought his new Ovation Legend and I brought my old pot. Frank and Deva performed -- she's an outstanding jazz singer, and he is one of the finest guitarists in the world (I know, I know...hard to believe, but I don't think I'm exaggerating). One of his greatest qualities...he plays with you, never out playing you. He is a consummate considerate musician. By doing this, he makes you seem both better than what you are, and to know what you're doing.

Frank and Deva played a bit, then took a break. I asked Frank if I could play his guitar, and he graciously allowed me to have at it. I suspect he was a tad worried for it. I noodled around a bit and thought, hmmm...this is nicer than my old pot. Then he picked up my guitar, and quitely started to provide a rhythm in a key. I just started to play a lead in that key, and some minutes later, we had completed a respectable impromptu jam session.

One of the assembled guests said to me, "I though you said you didn't know how to play the guitar. that was great!" Then, Frank said, "Yeah, man that was great. A whole lot of fun!" I was stunned and mumbled something that, I hope, resembled gratitude.

Time passed...Robin and I parted ways, but I still continued to bang around on the old pot. Then, I went to Daddy's and on an impulse bought an Ovation Ultra 2071. New...$800 (probably overpaid a tad, but that's ok -- live 'n learn!)
It was a revelation. Much better than the old pot.

Then I got the hunger.

I figured that if the Ultra cold be this nice, then a higher-end one had to be REALLY nice. Off to the races. The nicer the guitar I bought, the better I played! Hmmm...probably a lesson in golf, fishing, football, photography...life here. The better the equipment, the better the performance, or result.

Anyway, then I stumbled onto this site...

I further learned a great lesson from this bitter-sweet story. My mistake had been to abandon the instrument, not simply to try to pursue avenues that were less demanding or punishing; and to permit myself to make steady, long-term progress. After all before Itzhak Perlman was Itzhak Perlman, he was young Itzhak, making mistakes, playing clinkers, doing simple, boring stuff, and otherwise looking at a long time before he dazzled the world. And, of course, the whole time was the strong possibility that he would NEVER dazzle the world, but languish in obscurity 'til he died. After all, the "big break" doesn't always happen to the ultra-talented.

I was, however, too immature to admit to or understand all that. Even more sadly, when my maturity had arrived, it took another good many years before the fortunate confluence of events brought me back into the guitar-playing world.

I don't believe I'll ever let it go again.
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seesquare
Posted 2009-03-09 11:57 PM (#424411 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3604

Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire
Interesting catharthis. Next?
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AlanM
Posted 2009-03-10 12:05 AM (#424412 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 1851

Location: Newington, CT
Well, you asked...
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seesquare
Posted 2009-03-10 12:28 AM (#424413 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3604

Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire
And, I was very entertained & impressed, too!
My goal is to acquire some distinctive guitar-related anecdotes, as elements of my Bucket List. So far, I believe I have contributed somewhat to the release of new material by Jimmie Rodgers.
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Mr. Ovation
Posted 2009-03-10 2:03 AM (#424414 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7211

Location: The Great Pacific Northwest
Hey Alan, "entertained & impressed" and a bit depressing too. But I'm glad you found your way back before it was too late.
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Auriemma
Posted 2009-03-10 10:50 AM (#424415 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?



Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 639

Location: NW of Philadelphia
A beagle.
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deadfish
Posted 2009-03-10 3:28 PM (#424416 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
February 2009
Posts: 54

Location: Dayville, Connecticut
My guitar gots broked...oh yeah...and that "life" thingy...never know where it's gonna take ya.
Great stories folks...thanks for sharing

Rick C.
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AlanM
Posted 2009-03-10 7:12 PM (#424417 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 1851

Location: Newington, CT
Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
Hey Alan, "entertained & impressed" and a bit depressing too. But I'm glad you found your way back before it was too late.
I agree with the "depressing" part...one of the worst emotions to experience is regret! 25 or so years worth of it!
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AlanM
Posted 2009-03-10 7:25 PM (#424418 - in reply to #424379)
Subject: Re: Why did you stop?


Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 1851

Location: Newington, CT
Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
Hey Alan, "entertained & impressed" and a bit depressing too. But I'm glad you found your way back before it was too late.
Now, how 'bout YOU findin' your way back?!?!?
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