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Northcountry |
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| 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 |
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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 |
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Joined: May 2004 Posts: 383 Location: Indiana | Alcohol | ||
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| seesquare |
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Joined: November 2002 Posts: 3603 Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Life stages. More behind, than what's ahead. Cuts through the horsecrap real fast. | ||
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| 2ifbyC |
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| Joined: December 2006 Posts: 6268 Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by seesquare: Ain't that the TRUTH...!More behind, than what's ahead. Cuts through the horsecrap real fast. | ||
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| guitarwannabee |
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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 |
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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 |
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Joined: November 2002 Posts: 3603 Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Interesting catharthis. Next? | ||
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| AlanM |
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Joined: April 2008 Posts: 1851 Location: Newington, CT | Well, you asked... | ||
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| seesquare |
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Joined: November 2002 Posts: 3603 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 |
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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 |
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Joined: October 2008 Posts: 639 Location: NW of Philadelphia | A beagle. | ||
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| deadfish |
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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 |
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Joined: April 2008 Posts: 1851 Location: Newington, CT | Originally posted by Mr. Ovation: I agree with the "depressing" part...one of the worst emotions to experience is regret! 25 or so years worth of it!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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| AlanM |
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Joined: April 2008 Posts: 1851 Location: Newington, CT | Originally posted by Mr. Ovation: Now, how 'bout YOU findin' your way back?!?!?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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