"It's Just a Thought."

[Ralph onion]

I played my first gig in 1959 at the Teen Tower in Oblong, IL. We knew 3 songs. One of them was of course Honky Tonk and I dont remember the other 2. Anyone who came in to hear us left rather quickly. But we thought we were hot {censored}. Musicians ego? 2 years later we packed the place and several other places all over IL and IN and we tore it up. We did only covers. Nothing original. We thought for sure we would "make it" big! Well for 5 years after and some personel (sp) changes we did ok. Made alot of money and met a lot of one hit wonders. The Rivieras, Trashmen,Chantays,Surfaris,Bobby Fuller 4 etc. But we were too damned dumb to make original music. And along about 64 or 65 the small independent labels were smotherd out by the big boys. Later, I, and we, started writing our own songs. Did real well with that. Bought my first 4 track Fostex F-15 and we began recording. Did that {censored} for at least 10 years and got some damned fine songs on tape. Still have all of the mixdowns and masters. But somewhere along the line {censored} happened. The pc. All the advanced promo {censored} and it just got too damned complicated. So we wrote and played in the big bedroom content that there was no way to "make it" in this new {censored}ed up world of music. So we drank beer and smoked pot and wrote and recorded songs and had a ball. {censored} making it big. But I did learn one thing. Few cover bands "make it." A waste of time when you become proficient on your instrument unless you are content to play the local bars etc. I watch videos in here of original artists who are really good but I am left in the dust of a Mississippi dusty road as to how they can make it. All the {censored} you guys have to do to "make it." Not all of you want to "make it." I contend that few will ever know you existed. I am so sick and {censored}ing tired of Bruce Springsteen and Slash and Zakk Wild and all of the others that are just driven into the ground with so much publicity and big gadamned bucks from the majors behind them. It used to be "The Best of Simple" but now you have to wade thru the tangled forest of all this {censored} that is thrown upon us daily with advertising blitzes and TV appearances. Except for a few the best rock and roll and jazz and blues we will never hear. BS's new album is so {censored}ing compressed it hurts my ears. It was mixed down and so compressed to sound good on cheap ass boom boxes. Sounds like {censored} on a good component stereo. Country aint country no more and rock aint rock no more. Rap is the lack of music. I aint even goin there. Just a thought!

[Ralph onion]

You {censored}ing ass holes! Reply!

[Elias Graves]

Don't think too much Ralph. You'll hurt yourself.

I do that {censored} sometimes...nothing but trouble.

 

EG

[Poltergeist]

there is still amazing music today, dont tell yourself otherwise. there is still great music out there, and in alot of cases better music then what was done before. and there are still bands that sounds truly good.

and well, you only get bombarded with {censored} if you allow yourself to be. i dont know basically any artist that goes on MTV right now because i don't really watch TV, dont listen to the radio, etc, etc, etc.

[Northstar]

Paragraphs. It will change your life.

[stuehmer13]

I hear ya man I wish it was like old days sometimes but things always gotta change. There's still great artists and if you don't like anything new you can always to listen to the old sftuff

[Mr. Fahrenheit]

Things were only "better" back then because the only stuff you remember is the really GOOD stuff. The bad is unmemorable--not to mention nostalgia and attachment you'll have to things from when you were much younger.

 

And rap is awesome.

[Ralph onion]

Thak you guys. Just what I needed!

[Carbohydrates]

Friday night drunken ramblings?

 

I kid, I kid. There's some amazing modern music if you go looking for it, but you're not always gonna find it in the spotlight. One wonderful thing about music today is that you don't have to "make it" for people to be able to hear you since we have other avenues available besides the radio. I've never anything by Andrew Bird, Still Time, That Handsome Devil, or the Mother Hips on the radio, and I never would have heard of them if music was promoted these days like it was in the 50's and 60's. Thank God for the internet and social media.

[pixelchemist]

commercialization sucks... but its what happens when things become money factories.

[Patuney]

Hunter S. said everything you need to know about the music business. You have to just love playing music!

[Stay Puft]

This thread packs all the poignancy and mystique of a pasteface production. This Ralph kid is going places.

[DaveAronow]

The people that came before you think that YOUR music is stupid too.

 

How do you know that THEY are not the ones who are right? For the same reasons the people that came after you dont think YOU are right, thats why.

 

Its all just music, man. Lighten up and just enjoy the music.

[PrawnHeed]

Get over it.

[jhorne]

Paragraphs. It will change your life.

 

 

This.

 

Make the OP readable and I might bother to read it...

[poolshark]

[Road.Kill]

There is a great bitterness in this one. Methinks you've lost your muse.

Seriously though, something grabbed your interest, gave you passion, when you first picked up a guitar. You should try to find what that was, reconnect with whatever gave you the passion to play in the first place. I sort of feel bad for you if getting famous and "living the life" was always your only goal. Case in point: I'm 44 and I've only been learning guitar for 2 years, only about 1 year with lessons thus far. I'm still terrible--my daughter knows it, my husband knows it, hell, my dog knows it, but it's something I've wanted to do my whole life. I'm semi-retired, the kid's in high school and doesn't need me 24/7, and I finally have the time, so I don't give a flying fig how long it takes me or how fast I learn, I'm just happy as a pig in sh!t that I'm doing it. I go to a weekly lesson, and practice several hours every day. I mean it, every friggn day.

Am I going on to a big stage and living the life? Ummm, only if there's some secret shortage I don't know about for middle-aged housewives who love all things rock, blues, and metal. See what I'm getting at here? Something drives me to pick up a guitar every day, and enjoy it, and it's strong enough to keep me practicing hours at a time. I can tell you with 100% certainty it sure as hell isn't the call of the stage.

It isn't a lot of things, but I do know some of what it is: it's being proud of myself for being the kind of person who isn't too arrogant to put myself into the position of beginner at something. It's the hair-raising thrill I get when I hear my favorite solos, and then know that I am learning them--no matter how long it takes I will be able to make it scream out of my own hands any time I wish. It's holding my favorite beater guitar and knowing that I completely refinished the wood and learned to solder to replace the electronics myself. It's holding my '65 Kalamazoo, born the same year I was, and wondering about all her adventures. When I'm long gone my child, and maybe one day my grandchild, might also do the same. The world is full of examples of people who, like Grandma Moses, chose the joy of learning rather than a slow withdrawal from learning as they aged.

As an educater, I feel that learning is, should be, a lifelong process, and I recognize that there is a great deal to learn about the guitar. That's the fun. That's the challenge for me, and that's all I need. If you think you know it all about the guitar, then you're missing something--you've lost your passion, or maybe your passion was really for something else and the guitar can't change that. That passion is why B.B. King has been playing the same 5-note licks with soul-wrenching emotion for like a million years. Very accomplished professional players, the biggest names in music, quite often say that they're always learning, and that they're never satisfied with what they know about the guitar. This speaks volumes, and I don't think you're getting what they're saying.

This place is like reading a guitar magazine. You read just to absorb a little guitar culture, grab a few hints or lessons, laugh, whatever... You won't agree with everything, naturally, but in the end, if you like thinking about guitars it's time better spent than watching a dumb sitcom during "down times." No one else in my house plays, so this is a great guitar chat, like hanging out in a guitar club. There are as many goals, passions, reasons, as there are members, and everyone should get that, it should be accepted as a given.

Bottom line, when the passion and appreciation for the totality for any pursuit wanes it's time to move on. I'm also a fly fisherman, among other things, and it's the same. We always know that there are people who don't get why we chase little fish with little bits of feathers on little sticks. I've flown from NJ to AK to do only that. What they don't understand is that the love of the place, the time, the pursuit, is what's important, it's what defines the passion. I look at the guitar in exactly the same way. It all comes down to passion for the instrument. The difference between learning to play songs and learning the guitar.

[scuzzo]

some 63 year old troll...

just really sad..

put the mouse down and read or something

 

the interwebs may not be for you

music is for celebration not bitter whish we had dones...

[Ralph onion]

Road Kill. I am in love with you. You expressed my thoughts about me and my guitar better than I can. I still write and I cant keep my hands off of my guitars. I love music, it is the sound track of my life. My post got you to write something in here, mission accomplished whether you agree with me or not. But I still proclaim that the best music in America will never be recorded or listened to. I am not talking about cover bands, but musicians who write their own {censored}. Thank God for this forum. You go girl go!

[Road.Kill]

They all fall in love with me eventually! I have my own truck, canoe, kayak, and snowmobile, too. What's not to love?

Mission accomplished, though, that's most likely my longest post in any forum--ever. I usually stay pretty low-key around here, I guess I kind of just "outed" myself.

[Poltergeist]

if you think there is no good music out there these days, then you also have no knowledge of the musical scene itself.

[fu2jobu]

if you think there is no good music out there these days, then you also have no knowledge of the musical scene itself.

 

 

What music scene? There was another thread where people posted tons of You Tube videos of music of today. 95% of it was stuff that would only get played on college radio.

 

Im hoping, begging, praying, dying for someone to show me some new great music. Where are the new bands putting out great music in the last 7 years or so? We are going through a rock music dark age IMO. Somebody lead me to the light! I want it, crave it, nnneeeeeeeddd it!

[scuzzo]

if you think there is no good music out there these days, then you also have no knowledge of the musical scene itself.

 

+1..

 

its around you just need to find it.. and loose the tude that "In MY DAY...."

music is ever evolving... one of my fav bands is little known and most would call them complete crap.. The Brian Jones Massacre.. did not make it "BIG" ... but they put out some jaw dropping cool vibe..

[EADGBE]

In someways music has become big business. Has it always been this way? I still enjoy listening to my favorite artists. Not everyone that plays a guitar will make a lot of money from it. But it's still worth it. It's still a lot of fun. I believe music enriches our lives.

[jrockbridge]

Talented musicians are a dime a dozen. Only the top elite tend to be in demand regularly for their musicianship.

 

For the average musician in a band, you need songs with mass appeal to "make it." So, either you write great songs or pay a songwriter for great material.

 

Dave Mathews is just one example of an average musician with a below average voice who "made it." He even took the path less traveled building his audience through word of mouth about his live shows. But, he was able to write songs with mass appeal.

 

Buckethead is just one example of an elite talent who does NOT have material with mass appeal. He'll likely never make it really big with any of his music. But, he's talented enough to have a following and be in demand for his abilities. Even with his weirdness, he'll probably always be able to make a paycheck by playing his guitar. So, on a certain level, he has "made it" and he's known enough by the people who are fans of technical guitar playing.

 

Maybe, the point of music should be to "play it," rather than to "make it." After all, "making it" comes with plenty of pitfalls and is often fleeting.