A lot of us here are older guys. We've played a long time, and we've learned a lot of lessons, some the hard way. What would you tell younger musicians that would help them?
A lot of us here are older guys. We've played a long time, and we've learned a lot of lessons, some the hard way. What would you tell younger musicians that would help them?
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
ear plugs
don't smoke cigarettes
drink after the gig not before
don't get on the helicopter if it's foggy out, wait for the van/limo/whatever
"Live and learn and flip the burns"
I'm only adding to this thread because I'm old, not because I have any other reason to be listened to. And it's not simply about music, it's about life in general: "Follow your dream. Life is not a dress rehearsal!" In other words, if you have the chance to reach for the golden ring, then do it! Don't get to the point in your life when you look back and say, "If only..."
Stop trying to play like your favorite artists. Be yourself with that guitar and give yourself enough time with it.
Originally Posted by DanTheBluesMan
Oh, yeah that too.
I guess 'hookers and blow' is out too?
You're only young once...
I love you, renderiit.
How could I forget blow and hookers? Probably because I was doing Quaaludes at the time. I'm not advocating for drug use here, but I swear I've had moments of rapture with a bottle of Pepto Bismol and a stripper named Cherry.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
not necessarily
"Live and learn and flip the burns"
I'd tell them to go to college and get an education.
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
Best advice ever.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
Used to be. These days, college grads can't spell, read, or worst of all, THINK.
Tell me about it, OS. That's part of the reason I couldn't take it after 30 years of college and university teaching. I met a lot of smart students and a lot of students who worked hard to get smart over the years. But in the last 15 years, I saw a steady decline in the level of work students did. And on top of it, there was a steady growing resistance to education. I was not a teacher stuck in the past--I tried whatever worked. Edutainment? Ok, there you go. Software? Audio, video, games. Good old fashioned pedagogy too. I tried every day to find a way to the students who resisted learning, but eventually, I started burning out.
Now I think a lot of the younger generation is amazing, and for 15 years I have been teaching at a small town college. Our pool of students is much different from say a professor's in Atlanta. But from what I hear from my prof friends in America and Europe, at good institutions, that they're running into the same problem. As a result, you have a lot of demoralized faculty. And now administrations lay the blame on the teachers. If Johnny can't read, it's not because Johnny is a fuck off who doesn't care. It's because his teachers haven't inspired his candy ass to perform.
Sorry, I'm touchy about the subject. Retiring from the job was the best thing I ever did. Education needs younger, less jaded faculty. It was time for me to go.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
I think too many were pushed to go.
I did shitty when my parents were paying for it.
Later, when I decided I had figured out what I wanted to do I went back.
Got 2 B's, the rest were straight A's and graduated with honors.
They could solve a lot of this by requiring you be at least 21 to go.
Maybe by that time you could have pushed all the crap outta yer head...
Yeah, but then you'd get the same pushback about 18 year-olds being old enough to die for their country, but not being old enough to drink/vote, etc.
You know, in Germany, my male students had done two years of social or military service after they graduated high school at age 19. Most males were 21 or older in my classes. They had learned discipline and work ethic, and they were better prepared for the university experience. I wish we had such a system here.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
Yup. Love music, not just guitar.If nothing else... "Learn music theory"!
I had an instructor once, brilliant jazz guitarist. He studied under Ted Greene. I asked him once, "Who's your favorite jazz guitarist?" Without missing a beat, he said "John Coltrane."
Lol
Johnny said it well!
Which I think is valid. If they are not allowed to have 'full rights' as in drinking or whatever they should not be allowed to join the service until that time either. Simple.
Wow, I'd challenge that statement. I often work with newly graduated engineers from good schools and these kids are SHARP! Anybody who graduates from an ABET accredited university and not a teaching college (and knows the danged difference!) is usually not a dumbass.
Chuck
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
A lot of advise has been posted so the only things I’ll add is...
dedication, hard work, and professionalism.
If you want to be good at your instrument/craft work hard and practice, practice, practice. You’ll find that your non-musician friends may not understand your dedication to your goal but it is what makes pros out of amateurs. Finally, when you’re on stage if you’re playing to ten people or ten thousand, always play that ten thousand people show. I’ve worked with musicians who thought it was more important to drink and party on a gig where I always felt I was hired to deliver a quality product that, if not at 100%, was like ripping off whoever had hired me.
Listen to all kinds of music, and if you want to write songs, don't neglect music that people never listen to: popular songs from the 40s and 50s, British and Irish Ballads, British pub songs, Tennessee mountain folk music, etc. Learn the chords to these songs. Of course you don't want to forget the blues or rock or whatever else you are into. From all of this music, you can figure out how the writers structured the song, the interaction between instruments and vocal lines. And you'll also discover some incredible music you've never heard before.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
I always tell young musicians the same things:
Learn to play keys, no matter what your main axe is.
Learn to love the process. That means loving the practice and the frustrating recording and the crappy gigs.
Learn the ways you can make a living as a musician without being famous. So many young players (myself included when I was a kid) imagine that performance is the only avenue. There are dozens of jobs for musicians that don't require live performance in front of thousands of fans.
Learn to create original music. Being a content creator is the only way to turn a buck in this business.
That's solid advice, Jim. Remember when little convenience stores kept a comic book rack, a magazine rack, and those rotating book racks? At 14, I bought a book called "So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star." It had some solid advice, but it also dealt only with becoming a big star. I read it at least 5 times in a row. It only supported the fantasy of becoming famous. I didn't really want fame, but I thought that was the way you made a good living playing and writing songs.
I am saddened that music programs are disappearing. A lot of these arts high schools and programs give the kids a realistic view of the business and directs them toward a realistic goal. Of course no educational institution gets it each time. But these places nurture talent. And kids are taking lessons, becoming more proficient, more knowledgeable. They need that arts program guidance.
In 82, I was lucky to get studio time At Middle Tennessee State University, in Mufreesboro, TN, about an hour from where I lived in Nashville. Students produced projects, and we benefited by being end projects. As a result, we got a great recording of one song. I didn't know many people in the program, but I knew four who went on to successful careers in the music biz. One became Prez of Warner-Chappel in Nashville, another the house engineer at Sony / ATV when Michael Jackson owned a big part of it, and one a sessions drummer. Another guy I know from that time who made it joined a band, co-wrote a minor hit, demanded A&M give them complete control, got dropped by A&M, but he drifted into an anonymous job in management, and made his living.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
Don't get into the "guitar tech" business.
They seem to go hand in hand, but if you are any good, you will loose your identity as a musician. It will edge out every bit of your energy to the point you don't want to play.
I've become a luthier / guitar tech, etc... I've accepted my fate, but you don't have to. Be a musician, or be a guitar tech. the two don't mix well in the long run.
The Best Guitar Photos On The Net!
Photoweborama
True words. While art and science are
closely related, they are separate. Each one typically excludes the other.
Mark
If I could go back and give myself advice it would be to take lessons... practice more and master the instruments rather than learn enough to get by. I'd tell myself to get out and meet other musicians and play lots of music - not just my own. Oh - and take lessons...
oh - and don't use the freakin' table saw!
"We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness." Mark Twain
There was so much pressure to be perfect and to be quick about getting perfect. I'd advise musicians now to take it one step at a time, that there's no hurry to learning the craft and no shame in not knowing everything.
I learned so much on my own, and I'd syphon off whatever I could from folks I played with. But there were times when I should have let ego down a bit more to beg folks to show me things.
The other bit of advice, and this is the most important: forget about being famous. Fame is so so so unimportant. It's great if you get it, but the most important things are to learn your trade, to get used to playing with other musicians, and to figure out what kind of audience you want. Play live? Great, pinpoint the type of audience you want to play to and adjust accordingly. Record and play live, or just record. In any case, decide on your audience.
And importantly: have fun with it. Enjoy it so that when you do it, everything else slips into the background during that time. Selah.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
If you want to do it for a living or part-time job, IT'S A JOB. Be professional, show up on time, prepared. Be a team player. Respect those you play with.
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
Exactly. I was chatting with Carol Kaye, and that’s exactly what she said. It was a job. Show up on time. Be ready to work.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
Learn to play rhythm. Girls can't dance to guitar solos, and no one wants to hear them anymore, anyway.
If you must persue soloing, learn that the pentatonic minor scale is NOT the "go to" scale for playing guitar. It is just one useful tool among dozens of others.
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight.
Don't be tempted by shortcuts.
If you do take shortcuts, you'll contaminate your sense of melody and harmony and if you
ever want to be any good, it will take you twice as long to unlearn the shortcuts and finally learn the right way.
If you oppose that and insist on "just playing what you feel," give up now and find something else to do that will be a more productive use of your time.
We've got the CuNiFe
Learn these four things:
1) How to read music
2) Theory
3) Ear training
4) Dexterity
These are the foundations of being a working player.
You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a guitar player who relies on barre chords and pentatonics. But players that can show up, read the chart and anticipate will never be out of work. Knowing theory and training your ears is the key that unlocks most of it. Then the dexterity to implement it while playing in time.
Chuck
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
This
Met a lot of great shredders, no sense of time.
The main thing I would stress is learn to be a musician. Build relationships and understand what you can bring to the concept as a group.
Mark
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