Saturday Philosophy: Many discussions and thoughts on the music business, gear, etc, and I would like to thank everyone who comments and contributes to these discussions. One thing I truly appreciate about todays world is that we can openly and instantly communicate in real time while even including recorded samples, stats, and whatever else is relevant or not to the case. Its quite interesting to see how geography, population, and environment deeply influence how we approach how we do things, and yet some thing remain universal across the board. Anybody whos been toying with this music thing for decades or more has certainly earned my respect for stubbornness, yet also has me thinking at what point do you bail and just get on with life...you know, job, mortgage, family, all that sort of thing. Life is a terrific balancing game of all things, but at what point do we pull the plug on destructive patterns and try and rethink all of this? While were at it, how do we define destructive and is it destructive for everybody, or just certain people? From a personal standpoint, for all the tens of thousands of hours of playing time and learning, I couldve never been a professional full time musician for the long term. Im too industrially minded and too much of a homebody. Theres no right or wrong here, but leave my family for days on end to go gig? Never. I didnt do it on the day job either. Then again, Im still married and still BS with my kid regularly about all kinds of things, so, maybe we reap what we sow? The music biz has always been a tease for me. I got offered some cherry gigs at points and always turned them down. Sure, I guess I can really light up when I want to, but that home thing always wins out. The steady money, the straight ahead thinking, the industrial drive. These kept us fed and watered through all things. It also keeps us in contact with just the good people who do much the same everyday and which a lot of artists seem to lose touch with...and of course they do! Its a byproduct of the path theyre on. So, its a Saturday afternoon here in our little hovel. I taught a bit of banjo this morning, put a hot rod 5th string capo on a banjo, and did a bit of setup and cleaning in our little guitar shop thats rarely open. I must say, not having been down there in a while, we have some awesome and unusual gear! Ah the gear thing, what a whole other bag of tricks. Many musicians are absolute suckers for branding and propaganda. No wonder they cant do anything original, theyre following everybody elses lead! Heres a tip...if you buy all of Stevie Rays stuff, youll probably end up sounding somewhat like Stevie Ray, except not as good...lets not be ridiculous here, the guy was untouchable. But, what about your sound? Oh this is huge... Well, your sound means a lot of experimenting. Trying unproven gear, tireless searching and experimenting, lots and lots of listening and WORK. Oh, there we did it...much easier to just buy off the rack. Same goes for the retailers...go for the tried and true easy sale. Its in the bag, keeps stock moving fast and makes money. Good ol money! If our shop had to be a serious business it would suck all the fun right out of it and wed be closed in a month. Then again, maybe not...Duelling Banjos is big business. But then we dont sell pre war Mastertones so, down we go. There are so many awesome instruments out there and ways to use them we have a more fertile ground for discovery than any time I can remember. The world is our oyster and theres mountains of oysters to choose from! In many ways, I think my deep deep love of music continues because it isnt my job. Its my love. Last night I burned away a few hours on the fretless J bass. Grooving, swinging, singing, and just absolutely digging the whole experience in its entirety. Probably not the most epic fretless, or the best amp, but who cares...at that moment it sure was. Its absolutely perfect just the way it is. Much improved over stock and on a track all its own now. Point being, Im super happy its not my full time gig but still contribute all the necessary effort to continually improve and learn with no real purpose other than genuine joy. I was asked this week why I wasnt pro, well, do I have to be? No. I dont.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 20:04:45 +0000