Jump to content

Motivation


Mark L

Recommended Posts

  • Members

To add to the above, using the same gear as in the above post, but recorded better. It was for a project CD a friend of mine was doing in his home studio. He is a gutarist/songwriter/singer and liked my synth guitar - not because it sounds exactly like a guitar, but because it sounds like a synth guitar, so I did this for him (first take) and I have his permission to post it.

 

Wind controller MIDI guitar-ish sound

 

The project never got off the ground, as his teaching and gigging schedule just didn't leave him enough time or energy to learn the skills of recording to his satisfaction.

 

But electronic instruments can sound expressive.

 

As far as inspiration goes, the only 'writing' I do is improvised solos. When I try to write a song, I've never come up with lyrics that I like - they always sound too corny to me. But I never need any inspiration than the music itself. Sometimes they turn out nice, sometimes meh, and sometimes they surprise me and I think they come out fantastic (of course I'm prejudiced).

 

Insights and incites by Notes

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Don't they have a neural-interface for a virtual violin yet? Cuz like, I can visualize just fine...and you wouldn't believe how much playing I do in my dreams. :)

It would not surprise me if within the next thirty years you'll be able to slap a couple of headphone like devices on your temples and not only write music with thoughts, but shoot entire movies. Will require levels of concentration I do not have though. I could perhaps do a three minute song without my mind wandering somewhere else and breaking the chain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

If things had gone any differently I would likely not be so lucky. And seen in that light, I wouldn't change a thing. I used to come home to an empty house after rehearsals, performances...to work on the songs I thought of as my children. They still kinda are, but they don't love me back quite the same. Not at all. There is a difference. Still, there's a part of me that just will not rest...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It would not surprise me if within the next thirty years you'll be able to slap a couple of headphone like devices on your temples and not only write music with thoughts, but shoot entire movies. Will require levels of concentration I do not have though. I could perhaps do a three minute song without my mind wandering somewhere else and breaking the chain.

 

Yes, it probably wouldn't take much to upset the cart. Given how much the mind can wander as one plays a physical instrument-while the fingers go where they've been often enough, it would take discipline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Yes, it probably wouldn't take much to upset the cart. Given how much the mind can wander as one plays a physical instrument-while the fingers go where they've been often enough, it would take discipline.

 

 

Have either of you seen the movie "Forbidden Planet"? It's a 1950's re-working of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and aside from having the first electronic soundtrack ever, weaves a brilliant cautionary tale about what happens when you can control things with thought. I won't spoil it in case you haven't seen the flick, but I recommend the movie very highly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I wasn't comparing to an acoustic. My electric violin is quite capable of getting me where I wish to go also, when I'm capable.

 

Just saying that it will never be the same. I'd found my voice. I don't have anywhere near the facility with a keyboard that I have with the violin - having played since I was 5. While I did have some fun fabricating some keyboard *chops, it's not the same as being practically one with an instrument you've spent your life with. I'm sure that some will manage to express themselves quite well with the gear you mention, and I meant no slight to such gear, really.

 

And yeah, one of the last things my dad said to me on the matter was, "Sometimes you have to work with what you have left." I can't stand to play my acoustic much at all. But I came up with a way to strap my electric instrument on, quite discretely. It's easier on the neck, and it vibrates a lot less so I can actually stand to play it a fair amount on my good days. Enough that I believe can finish my project, as me. For that I'm thankful! I do my best to accentuate the positive, but and at the same time I have few if any illusions anymore. I work on my songs now for the same reason that I started writing in the first place. And all the dark, lost days were just a temporary setback. :thu:

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, but...maybe there's a reason for you being forced to use a different voice. My primary instrument is guitar but when I play keyboards - which I play adequately at best - my compositions take on a whole other flavor. Lately I played with a ukulele almost randomly because I was getting impatient with my computer booting, and ended up using it as the basis of several songs. I'm no great ukulele player, but the songs really turned out well...probably because I'm not a killer ukulele player :)

 

That you are persevering is bound to infuse your music with a different dimension. While I understand you will not be able to regain what you had, perhaps you will gain something you wouldn't have had otherwise. And although working with what you have left may be discouraging, "what you have left" may be more than everything others have.

 

Lately I've been learning to celebrate what I've done rather than focus on what remains to be done. It's given me a more balanced perspective. It sounds to me that you already had figured that out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I really appreciate your thoughts, Craig.

 

There is nothing quite like hobbling your main thing, or having it hobbled for you, to get a shift in the paradigm. And I think no less of my songs that didn't start with a riff from my electric violin. There are a few of my songs that I believe could go far with the right lyrics and a singer. But I'm with Notes -as far as lyrics go. Wordy, in my case. Needs more sha na na, shoobie doobie, oh baby, that kind of stuff. very-happy.png.197c47f720636f02390cc2b0a33804da.png' alt='smiley-veryhappy'>

 

I love so many points in the songwriting process, not just when I finally start scribbling all over them with the violin. I absolutely relish the advent of the bass line. I'm rolling my hands, cackling, drooling.

 

I have an idea for a movie, and a TV show- which could really help save music I think. Seriously. It needs saving, doesn't it? :D

 

I've taken up the mandolin-the fingering is the same as a violin. It's a red Epiphone Mandobird. It's just that those frets kind of get in the way, and I can tell you that bow skills do not transfer to picking very much. It is fun though. I tried an Ovation Mandolin. It seemed very nice, though I had no grounds for comparison. But for $2000 I thought I shouldn't be seeing torn away wood on the inside where they'd punched through. So I sent it back. Sometimes I wish I hadn't. I intend to revisit the search for another mandolin though, but $$$ are tight right now. My mixes improved a lot by taking a time out from song-writing and ironing out some things, and I'm really glad I did that.

 

Speaking of movies, bells were dinging all over the place for me when my son and I saw Dr. Strange. Ego death, indeed.

 

I certainly do miss playing an acoustic, and being part of an orchestra, fairly often. But I was straddling a fence, and to a fault, couldn't seem to choose. So, the choice was made for me. I'm pretty much back in business with the electric. I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to figure out a way to strap it on. I was sitting looking at it one day and it just dawned on me. Matter settled in a few hours. So, if my pain levels are low enough that I can do much of anything, I can play it. That really meant worlds to me. The universe, or maybe it was karma, made it's point though.

 

This is all not to say that there weren't days when I couldn't get out of bed, (particularly before my kid was born) and it wasn't just the physical pain that kept me there. There were plenty of days when this beat me. Like Nat said around here somewhere, you can't steer if you aren't moving.

 

There was a woman that thought I was worth it, and I owe a lot to her. smiley-happy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...