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Location: Newington, CT | Schroeder: Very rich post. However, you protest way too much. You ascribe character flaws to my "modus operandi," with the "decency" remark. Kind of a stretch in logic, eh? Yes I "invite" you to listen. You can decline. And, yes, I'd sit in on the practice sessions of LOTS of the guitarists on this forum.
If the answer to your rhetorical question: "So who else here when they post some
music posts their first attempt/practise and invites everyone to listen to it?" is: "nobody," then I'm happy to be the one to introduce you to something new.
Your criticisms are pungent, and as regards the music, I take them all to head and heart. However, in trying to marry all the musical critiques to my character, your mistakes are legion, and it leads me to believe that you suffer from a liver complaint.
Is it presumptuous of me to say that? Of course! But only as presumptuous as your conclusion that I have "an insufferable ego," that I lack "decency," that I'm "self-indulgent," etc., etc., etc., based only on "inviting you to my practice session."
Schroeder, I'll quote a luminary from this forum for your benefit... In the context of someone in Mexico putting a bad rendition of a Beatles song on YouTube, this worthy said, "when you put yourself out there, as this guy did, I'll have a lot more respect for your criticism." Yes, it's a rough paraphrasing, but that's pretty close to what the guy said.
Look, I'm very happy to accept the evaluation that my modus operandi is flawed -- at which point, I'll change it, of course -- but that has no relation to who I am as a person.
As to the rest of what you said, I have never made any claims as to my quality as a guitarist. I DO, however, like to get feedback from others who are obviously quality quitarists.
Also, you have no idea under the sun whether or not "this stuff is ever offered to the general public in clubs or bars." More, your assertion presumes that my goal is to offer my stuff "to the general public in clubs or bars." Surely that's not the only way one can experience music?
Yes, my "stuff" IS offered to the general public, but not in bars or clubs. Doesn't change, I have to admit, the fact that I'd like to.
With all that said, I appreciate the critiques. Your thoughts on the playing are very welcome. I venture into dangerous territory here, but can you point me to recordings of yours? I do NOT in any way mean that there have to be any, but you seemed to indicate in my case that I had to have an established body of work in order to do what I did with the DBWNSHEW...remember, my goals were MUCH more modest than what you seem to think I was aiming to do.
Oh, yeah...the guy who stood up for the Mexican guy with the bad rendition of the Beatles song? That was you.
...
Brad, Brad, Brad...when did I EVER imply that I was the emperor?!?!?!? First: Al (Pepiak) is the emperor! Next: Beal is Gandalf...or Buddha, or Yoda, or Obi-Wan. (3) I'm just a humble guitar player who hopes to be a little bit better today than I was yesterday, and a little bit better tomorrow than I am today.
Schroeder: I hope you can take my rejoinder in the spirit in which it was intended. I LOVED your attempted devastation of my humble offering, but HAD to respond with something in kind, or others would have been disappointed.
Gotta go...mass is in 25 minutes.
Best,
Alan |
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Location: south east Michigan | Brad, Brad, Brad...when did I EVER imply that I was the emperor?!?!?!? I was making a reference to the moral of the story, but if the invisible clothes fit....
Sorry Schroeder... I started it but you took the scathing collateral damage.
I hope you'll be okay. |
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Location: NW Washington State | I saw Mahavishnu a few times and have had the staying power to continue listening over the years. This sample bears no resemblance to McLaughlin, DiMeola, or Coryell.
Try playing scales and arpeggios slowly against a metronome or click track. You can't play fast if you can't play slow.
Work through some standard chord progessions- slowly- with the metronome or click track. Just play straight 4 (or 3 or 5 or 7), no accents, nothing fancy, not fast.
Record yourself playing the scales and progressions- slowly- and see if you're right on the beat. If not, you're not ready to play fast.
Rubato is nice if you also have a strong sense of meter and rhythm.
I used to practice more, but I don't play for more than a few minutes at a time now. So I'm just another wanking noodler, but I still like to hear the sound of the guitar. Maybe I should post some samples for everyone's enjoyment!
-Steve W. |
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Location: Budd Lake, NJ | Gee, I go to visit a friend in the hospital who's dying and miss all the...fun.
If the purpose of music is evoke a response in the listener (good, bad or indifferent) then it has done what is was intended to do. (Notice that the number of responses to this post got past the "0," "5," or "10" mark.)
I listened to it--and because I tend to think in pictures, in the beginning of the piece I imagined a beehive, alive with swarming bees around it; in the middle, there was something about it the made me think of butterflies. (I don't expect anyone to agree with me; that's just what it made me think of.)
I think the reactions posted here are fairly consistent with what the music made me think of in the beginning. :D ;)
--Karen |
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| I think Elaine from Seinfeld would have no problems dancing to it. |
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Location: Flahdaw | But is it sponge-worthy? |
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Location: Scotland | Alan, your verbosity is in indirect proportion to your musicality. Please, do us all a favour and stop posting these truly skilless dirges until you have learned at least a few of the fundimental rules of melody and composition. Dude, please.........give us a break |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Sponge-worthy
Got to love it.
George and Kramer might be able to dance to it as well.
But hey, Alan, do what you want to do.
Yoda? Budda?? QQF???
Je suis le Mauvais Beal. |
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Location: Newington, CT | Just a quick check in before I have to leave again and bring kids here and there...
I have to admit, I'm pretty concerned...I'm pretty sure that I've never represented that I'm trying to play in the same league as McLaughlin, Coryell, etc., yet what I hear is people comparing me to them.
So, I'm going to take as a supreme compliment the fact that so many are assuming so much from so little (paraphrasing Churchill). Schroeder compared me to a whole body of work about which I have no knowledge whatsoever -- free jazz, then proceeded to lambaste me because I fell short. That's a little bit like telling me, after a nice birdie on a municipal golf course, "Well, you're no Tiger Woods!" Ummmmm...I knew that already...but thanks for mentioning me in the same breath!
The fact that Schroeder thought I was in that arena to start, when I never made any such claim, is very encouraging. Numbfingers also compared me (unfavorably, of course) to McLaughlin, DiMeola and Coryell; yet -- you can look it up -- I truly have never made any representation that I thought I could play on their jungle gym!
Here's the deal...I'm a VERY busy single daddy of two youngish chldren, and I have NO TIME WHATSOEVER to become edu-ma-cated on music theory, or who does what when, or what rubato means, or what free jazz is all about. I play for fun in my living room, and I produce the occasional thing that pleases me, and sometimes some others.
A while ago, I bought a guitar from MWoody -- the now legendary DBWNSHEW -- that, I promised him, would produce (1) a review, (2) a recording, and (3) some pictures....I was late with all three, and in a recent thread, MWoody rightly chided me for that tardiness...I made the recording that has produced so much strum and drang (get it? "strum" and drang?) and thought I was pretty clever when I named it "OpenInG." That's about it. Oh, and I DID, I admit, ask for impressions. I was hoping that some might say that there was stuff in my song that might be nice to hear on an OFC CD or something.
Instead, Schroeder tells me I'm no free jazz master, and numbfingers tells me I'm no Mclaughlin or DiMeola or Coryell... Ummm...I know all that...
Now, the bottom line: the fact that some of you ARE comparing me in arenas MUCH larger than where I deserve to be, without my prompting, is deeply flattering, and I thank you. However, Karen's review came, I think, MUCH closer to summing up about what I reasonably could hope to garner in terms of feedback for the song itself: a number of moods and images that are roughly what I was picturing when I made it.
I was particularly grateful also to the others of you who made concrete suggestions for how to improve it (Kit, Colin, Brad, db, Waskel).
To those who indicated that they simply didn't like it for whatever reason (Stephent28, Beal)... much appreciated. ALSO perfectly valid and honest feedback.
And, thanks go to Brad, whose intent I completely misread (SCHROEDER is the naked emperor, right?), I apologize.
Karen's the one, I think, who came at this whole thing trying just to give impressions -- with no preconceived notions or agendas -- and I appreciate that a whole lot as well.
Everyone else seemed to have an exam form in hand checking for whether I had darkened the correct bubbles...all while I wasn't taking an exam...just playing a little something with a new guitar.
I know Schroeder will take a scorch that here is yet another 500 word essay about this or that, and what a colossal ego and all that, but the only reason I write these screeds is 'cause I can (cf, Segovia, Andres). And they're fun...or is Schroeder going to tell me what's fun and what's not? Ummmm...were we talking about colossal egos? And, this particular rejoinder covers so much ground only because schroeder and numbfingers took all this so seriously, despite the actual spirit in which it all originated.
No one has to read these dissertations of mine (so, of course, Schroeder will publicly "decline" to read it, indicating that he did anyway...) at all, but then we will be reduced to 12- to 20-word posts that are marvels of brevity, AND wide open to interpretation and misinterpretation, or are wonderful esoteric jokes known to only a select inner circle...ie that say nothing.
The REAL bottom line: You all have provided me with GREAT feedback, covering a wide, wide range of thought, and I'm grateful for it. Especially to Schroeder and Numbfingers!
So, THANKS! |
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Location: Jet City | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
That piece could be quite good if I were stoned, depending on what I was stoned on. Nope, I've tried 3 different mind altering substances now. Same result. |
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Location: Newington, CT | Originally posted by Paul Templeman:
Alan, your verbosity is in indirect proportion to your musicality. Please, do us all a favour and stop posting these truly skilless dirges until you have learned at least a few of the fundimental rules of melody and composition. Dude, please.........give us a break It's spelled "fundamental."
Temp, your wisdom is in indirect poroportion to your scottishness...Please stop posting these illiterate screeds, until you have learned at least the fundamental rules of orthography...
JUST KIDDING!!!
(But, it WAS fun to write!) |
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| Alan, sometimes showing off comes off as just that - showing off. Yes, we know you can play many notes in succession in a very short period of time, regardless of Western ideas of tonality, and I applaud you for your willingness to put it out there. Yes, we also know you can use a thesaurus. Repeatedly hitting people over the head with either of those exhibitions does nothing to ingratiate yourself to others.
Oh, and Paul is most certainly not Scottish. |
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Location: Newington, CT | I know...it was intemperate on my part, and I apologize.
However, in my defense, it WAS in response to a particularly mean-spirited post directed at me from Temp. I'm pretty sure that he wasn't offended, and I DID say I was just kidding. |
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Location: Newington, CT | Originally posted by Damon67:
Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
That piece could be quite good if I were stoned, depending on what I was stoned on. Nope, I've tried 3 different mind altering substances now. Same result. |
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Location: Scotland | My post was not mean-spirited at all. I was just offering a little friendly advice |
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Location: closely held secret | Alan, what I see is you constantly asking for, getting, and being grateful for feedback. You say you take it to heart, yet you continue posting (from what I can tell) the same thing. Same concept, same execution.
You seem either not interested in or incapable of applying any of the advice you keep soliciting... so why keep asking for it? |
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Location: NW Washington State | My post was not comparing you to those players, but Mahavishnu was mentioned earlier in the thread. The important part is about practicing before you present this stuff. Yes, it is "fundamental".
And don't drag poor dead Andres Segovia into this.
If I were MWoody, I'd want the title of this thread changed to "An Alan Smithee Recording".
-Steve W. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Hey! I let that whole collection of Alan's music play on the OFC Media Player...
It wasn't something that I could tap my foot too...
But it wasn't overly annoying.
Interesting background ambient sound for doing dishes and packing a Celebrity...
(It is not like cRap Music or anything Really annoying like that)
If being able to Play the Ovations that I own is a requirement for membership, I'm screwed. |
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Location: Newington, CT | Just a couple of quick remarks and a question or two...
• Waskel: this is actually the first time anyone's actually given me real, concrete feedback, despite the number of songs that I've place on ning. I have to admit this is my fault, in that I DIDN'T really overtly ask for feedback...just posted 'em, thinking that if they impressed anyone, either favorably or unfavorably, someone would mention it.
Now, at long last, I gather that no one likes my modus operandi, and I will be happy to change it. But it IS the first time that anyone's mentioned it.
• OMA: Your comments, above, are actually the very first comments on my "body of work" ever made -- at least that I'm aware of -- and I appreciate it.
• Numb: who is Alan Smithee?
• Beal: what does "QQF" mean? |
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Location: Atlanta, GA. | I see the pompous asses have raised their... asses again!
Alan, I say fuck'em... show off all you want. Maybe all it needs is a bass line added. |
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Location: Jet City | Originally posted by AlanM:
Originally posted by Damon67:
Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
That piece could be quite good if I were stoned, depending on what I was stoned on. Nope, I've tried 3 different mind altering substances now. Same result. |
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Location: Michigan | some things need no reply ???? GWB |
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Location: Flahdaw | Originally posted by Damon67:
Well share. Maybe I'll understand it better if I can get on a level plane with it's composer. [/QB] Just a guess, but I don't think it's Ambien. |
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Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | oops...when I first saw this posted I actually thought it was a recording by MWoody...my bad...
Hey, Alan, take it from me: guitar pictures always help...well..... :p |
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Location: Newington, CT | Originally posted by MusicMishka:
oops...when I first saw this posted I actually thought it was a recording by MWoody...my bad...
Hey, Alan, take it from me: guitar pictures always help...well..... :p I did! I did! I did! First post indicates there are pictures on the ning site...Complete with disclaimer that I'm not nearly the photographer that Damon67 or Dweezil is... |
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An MWoody Recording
