hermit guitarists, you out there?

[emir]

I remember the time I met this fella at at mate's barbeque last summer. the girls living there were musically-inclined so they had an old upright piano and a somewhat untuneable spanish guitar lying around. the tuning pegs for the conventional g and high e strings were busted. I know, because i've tried.

 

He seemed like a young guy, a stocky character of some South-East Asian ethnic origin. He introduced himself earlier as Nick, so by his accent, or lack thereof, im assuming that this guy must have been here for quite some time. We had a couple more cones while downing our Hoegaardens.

 

Nick picked up this old beater all of a sudden, fiddled with the tuning and voila; he tuned it to EADGBe. probably not at concert levels, but sounded good nontheless. he's lucky though, as the g and the e strings were in-tune. aaaalrrrriight Emir. hmm, now let's see what this guy has in his bag-0-tricks.

 

Oh man, this is quite a show. he was playing this jazzy slash classical slash new world instrumental, accurately hitting the notes in impeccable timing and harmony, with his original style of slapping in creating interesting textures in the play. He was amazing - later he told me that it took him 3 weeks to learn that Duck baker piece. According to Nick, he slaps that way to slur and conceal his mistakes. mistakes?!!! what {censored}ing mistakes? It's almost a lie that he's self taught... I cant get rid this feeling of humbleness with this guy!

 

 

Admittedly, his tone and style can be contrived at times, but Nick can definitely hold his own. Before he excused himself, I unashamedly asked him if he's keen for a jam with my bandmates. I wonder if he would be awesome playing in a band.

 

"Wow", said Nick with a smile. He's never been asked to a jam, let alone a band. He picks up his guitar whenever to just goof around the house and chill out. simply not having any prior urge to join a band and perform in public, he kindly declined my invite. I'm cool with that but that's exactly the point, mate... my loss, our loss. He should at least make an effort to expose people to his music, either by performing in a band, or if he prefers, as a solo performer. I mean Im average at best but at least play in gigs.

 

Nick, or any other closet musicians out there, why are you doing this to the world? Youre either bright or talented, and you know it. Get rid of your narcissism or self-doubt. hey, I connected. so would others. Give it a go, bro.

[nylon rock]

A lot of us, myself included, learn pieces for our own satisfaction with the notion that some day an opportunity like what Nick experienced may happen. It has happened to me often enough. The guitar, being the economical instrument of choice in modern times, has many devotees who are somewhat accomplished but rarely heard.

In Southeast Asia music is very melodic and pleasing sounding so as not to offend when intruding on the "ear-space" of others. (Society first, individual second.) For this reason humbly played music from that region has a very sweet slant to it that would make it extremely endearing to other "players" like yourself, but at times would seem to lean toward "contrived tone and style," as you pointed out. But you would hear a different slice of life just the same, which is a good thing. Remember that if you were to go to Southeast Asia and play what you know, many there would be facinated with your approach to music. So it works both ways.

Nonetheless, it is too bad that there aren't "cafe's" with house guitars lying around where most anyone could drop in, play a quick piece or two, and then leave, amazing those within earshot. That would allow for more exposure all around of world influences. Unfortunately, people who run enterprises like this never took up guitar because they were too busy building their empires, and therefore don't know to have house guitars lying around. So there is no template for this sort of thing. The closest thing are the clips you can hear at a website like this.

[Queequeg]

OK, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Hoegaardens are beers. what the heck is a cone? is that nz slang for a joint?
great story, BTW.

[dadgad7]

Boy did you hit home with this one............

I'm not claiming to be amazing like Nick, but playing for 20 years,
self taught, acoustic fingerstyle guy, I'm pretty good.

No real influences to speak of, no one has ever said

"Wow, you sound just like so-and-so" which I'm somewhat proud of I suppose.

my problem, if you could call it that, is I've never really been asked to play either, and not being the most extroverted person,
I kept it to myself, rarely even telling people I play.

Now this scenario happens routinely - someone hears me play and is blown away that I'm not in a band, or performing out or something like that.

then I get encouraged to go out and do that and I'm very intimidated that I won't be able to keep up. I'm afraid I will not be able to translate the playing that they saw in my living room onto a stage with other musicians. and at my level of playing I really SHOULD be able to do that.

so it's sort of an embarassment thing at this point now, and who wants THAT to be exposed....

You know, it's probably just that I have no balls in that area....

[theGOOCH]

Originally posted by Queequeg OK, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Hoegaardens are beers. what the heck is a cone ? is that nz slang for a joint? great story, BTW.

 

 

Beer know-it-all alert!

 

Hoegaarden (who-garden) is a Belgian Witbier (wheat beer/white beer). In fact they claim to be the first Belgian Witbier. They're very good

[Bitt81]

Originally posted by dadgad7 Boy did you hit home with this one............ I'm not claiming to be amazing like Nick, but playing for 20 years, self taught, acoustic fingerstyle guy, I'm pretty good. No real influences to speak of, no one has ever said "Wow, you sound just like so-and-so" which I'm somewhat proud of I suppose. my problem, if you could call it that, is I've never really been asked to play either, and not being the most extroverted person, I kept it to myself, rarely even telling people I play. Now this scenario happens routinely - someone hears me play and is blown away that I'm not in a band, or performing out or something like that. then I get encouraged to go out and do that and I'm very intimidated that I won't be able to keep up. I'm afraid I will not be able to translate the playing that they saw in my living room onto a stage with other musicians. and at my level of playing I really SHOULD be able to do that. so it's sort of an embarassment thing at this point now, and who wants THAT to be exposed.... You know, it's probably just that I have no balls in that area....

I can relate. I have been working to get better for the last several years (guitar is my mid-life crisis). I'm not too extroverted as well and won't just grab my guitar and play for friends and family. I wish somebody would ask me to play so I could blow them away...well maybe just surprise them a bit with what how much I've gotten better.

[kwakatak]

I was really into playing with friends from high school, Navy and on to college which was a good 15+ years. During that time I was big into classic rock (especially Zeppelin) and metal and soaked up just about any music I could get my hands on. Life was one big party (except for the at-sea Navy time) and all I needed to live on was day-old pizza, a box of Steak-ums, a block of government cheese and a 6 pack of Rolling Rock. Strangely though, I never was in a band and instead preferred to just jam with friends on an informal basis or come up on stage for just a song or two using someone else's gear.

I remember distinctly during a jam session with some shipmates in an off-base storage unit during my Navy days. Two of them had plans to relocate to Nashville after they got out and get into the production end of the business. They told me I had what it took to make a good living at playing, but it needed to happen before I was 25 or it never would.

Then I went to college and met a new bunch of budding musicians. In three years a couple of them went from being beginners to professional-level musicians. I remember several recording sessions in one guy's dorm room using a 4 track mixer with a cassette deck and many more late night jams with the black light, lava lamp and incense burning. I had a chance to join a band with them after college, but I had just met my future wife and they and I had some ego conflicts over it so I decided not to go through with it.

Instead I decided to try my luck in Corporate America and impress my wife and her family. 12 years, 3 moves, 2 dead-end full time jobs and 10 "long term" temp jobs later I'm 37 and have fallen out of touch with all my former "jamming buds". Now with marriage vows to think of, one kid, and another in the works I don't have the time or energy to even try my hand at any sort of musical collaboration. I still dream about it though, so at least I know I'm not completely dead inside.

Lately I've been able to contribute musically in my church, but it isn't quite the same. I'm not really able to "open up" with my playing and most of the other guys in the band are just getting back into playing after their kids had grown up and moved out, so we're not all on the same level. I try not to step on their toes, but sometimes I feel glad that I never put my guitar "under the bed" for very long.

I envy you guys who can go on family vacations and jam around a bonfire or close the local bar while playing through the night. Having a family has filled some empty parts of my life, but I gotta tell ya it's hard to turn my back on something that carried me through some hard times. At least I still have some of my skills and a couple guitars that I can play during free moments or whenever else I'm able.

[angus_old]

that is all style is, is the different mistakes that people keep making

gee, you people sure write long posts in this place... paragraphs and {censored}

[Old_Joe_Clark]

Originally posted by onbongos that is all style is, is the different mistakes that people keep making gee, you people sure write long posts in this place... paragraphs and {censored}

play guitar

[Davepch]

Originally posted by Queequeg OK, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Hoegaardens are beers. what the heck is a cone ? is that nz slang for a joint? great story, BTW.

 

 

for "cones" substitutue "hits from bong"

[emir]

Nice to hear from you all. and i thought i knew only of one hidden musical box!

I suppose everyone has their own personal reasons for doing, or not doing what others liberally do. as interesting as they are, I may not neccesarily understand them; but i can definitely relate at some other level.

Keep on rocking - with style of course.

cheers to the gooch & davepch for the translations work.

E

as you could probably tell, i spend most of my time lurking instead of making post hits on this forum. i guess its only fair if i feel to elaborate a little bit on my thoughts that matter the most.

[Queequeg]

Originally posted by Davepch for "cones" substitutue "hits from bong"

 

 

 

ah...merci.

(I'm so out of touch with popular culture)