time waits for no one...

Have you ever thought you suck and practicing is just wasting time?

If you didn't make million dollars by now it ain't gonna happen anyway...

I quit once and had 3 years break while I didn't touch any keys.

When I returned to playing I was much wiser what to play and how to practice not wasting precious time but still from time to time I have second thoughts and thinking about selling all my gear leaving only acoustic piano, mainly as a furniture. I wonder how many of us have the ability to honestly say to yourself - I suck, I have no talent whatsoever and will be better for me to move on...

[YOUTUBE]g7BqdaFLfO4[/YOUTUBE]

in the end, even a Horowitz fails

do what gives you pleasure

also: one of the big differences (maybe THE big difference) between great players and okay players is the time they've spent playing the instrument

I agree ^ natural talent is a factor... but i dont think anyone inherently sucks.. i think it's a feed back cycle about the pleasure you get from it to spending time with it. if you constantly keep putting it down you must not be enjoying it very much.

aside from that, it's normal to have doubts. it's harder than ever not to have them or just to enjoy playing for playing sake when you get on the internet and see tons of bands clamoring for the ever smaller and smaller piece of the attention pie.

in the end, know thyself and let that be your guide.

It's a combination of natural tallent and time spent practicing.

I know that I have to play my guitar for at least 3 hours a day, 3 months straight before I can play like I used to. But I've seen 15 year old guitar players that have only played for a year that play better than I do. It's God given tallent.

I can spot natural tallent in any musician, young or old, novice or seasoned pro.

It helps to play out and receive feedback ...

I recently played out and was stunned when the audience started clapping DURING the song ... Now THAT's a great feeling ...

BTW .. I PRACTICE ... A LOT ...

Sucking is kind of relative. There are worse things than sucking.

I suck and I don't care.

If you're doing music to make it rich and get some chicks, you're doing it wrong.

Compared to many pianists, I suck talent wise. But then again, many of those rich and famous musicians out there suck worse. (Charisma, zeitgeist, all of that made them rich and famous.)

I wish I could put more time into this craft, but it's not like the very talented get rewarded that much for this art these days.

If you simply love playing, it doesn't matter whether you suck or not. You'll get better, and you'll eventually be good. Talent is a factor, but you have to love playing, too. I've played keyboard instruments in some form since I was about 5 years old (I'm 42), and I've long believed that a genuine love of the instrument is a primary factor.

I remember reading an interview with Jimmy Vaughn (guitarist of the Fabulous Thunderbirds) where he tells this story about his late brother Stevie Ray when they were teenagers. Jimmy was going out with his friends on a Friday night, he walks by Stevie Ray's room on the way out and sees him sitting on the end of his bed playing the guitar. Stevie was trying to figure out how to play a certain riff. Hours go by. Jimmy comes home that evening, maybe 6 hours later, walks down the hallway, and sees Stevie Ray sitting in the same spot on the bed . . . still working on that same riff.

Like I said . . . love of the instrument.

If you live for that reward the instrument gives you, the beauty you hear when you get something right, then you'll get somewhere in music.

so why to not give up if you see somebody else getting better results in half of that time you spend? Isn't it a sign maybe you have talent for something else then playing? why push it?

I agree but how do you know you really love playing and not just the equipment, the gathering, programming midi sex etc...

I mean people lack of self criticism - look at the youtube - so many garbage there and yet people are not ashamed to publish theirs "performances" that's why I think many just don't have the ability to say "I suck and I should quit now!" There is one thing noodling for yourself in your room and another thing to publish it.

I guess if your only goal is to not suck, and you don't see yourself getting better with practice, you should quit.

Personally, when I sit in front of a keyboard, my goal is usually to give myself an eargasm and I don't care how I get there as long as I get there. I will never quit.

but you do agree we should masturbate in private...

No, I don't think it should be compulsory, you'd end up getting sore.

so you're suggesting gruppen sex...

[YOUTUBE]yPg4vGXmSao&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

I'm sure everyone has their own reasons, but speaking for myself, I know that I love to play because it never mattered what equipment I had. Don't get me wrong -- I really like my equipment, especially now, and it took a long time to acquire it. But I still feel the same way about playing as I did 25 years ago when all I had were two entry level synths and a drum machine, or back in the 70s when all I had was a cheap electric organ. I'd still sit and just play for hours, trying to figure out my favorite pop songs and classical pieces by ear, and writing my own music. I wasn't concerned about what anyone else might think of it. I just loved doing it.

I have a story that sort of relates to this.

Years ago when I was in junior high and high school, I played clarinet in the concert and symphonic band. From the 8th grade onward, I was the first chair clarinetist. We used to have challenges (some of you might remember this from your own school band days). The person one chair down from you could challenge you for your chair. I saw a lot of challenges from 2nd chair players, but in all that time I never lost my chair.

However, when it came time for solo and ensemble competition, etc., I was never very interested in doing it. My band director thought this was odd and a real waste, and eventually called in my mother for a conference. He asked her why I never wanted to do the competitions. Her answer was that I apparently didn't care about those things. I just liked to play.

And she was right. She was after all the one who gave me that first electric organ.

So my advice -- not that you asked for it -- is to simply not care or compare yourself to others. Don't worry about whether you'll ever be 'great' or world class. Just find things you like to hear, and play them.

I think, in every "crappy" video there is an element of fun, even if it's only for the player. If you have fun doing this, nobody else has the right to make you say "I suck and I should quit now!".

There's no need to be ashamed. Unlike a symphonic orchestra, performing at grand events, YouTube doesn't impose any standard of artistic performance - it democratises music, which is a good thing.

I don't like most of those videos but I appreciate the fact that everyone has got a chance to share their musical or less musical ideas. If I think a video is not up to my expectations, I just don't watch it till the end or come back to it. But there are many brilliant videos.

The majoriy of people aren't musically talented but making music shouldn't be the exclusive right of those who are.

VCOrhubarb: You sure are a wise man!

why the {censored} do people equate making music with masturbation?

I am not "masturbating" when I publish, at no real cost to anyone, anything on the web. Instead I expose myself like a flash artist should.

One of the very few rights as a human being I have left is the ability to attempt to annoy as many self-proclaimed or otherwise musical geniousiousses and other asshats as possible in my lifetime

you are pervert

here is the example of gruppen sex:

[YOUTUBE]hbGhoiGgVQM[/YOUTUBE]

you sir are far and away my favorite harmony central member at the moment. well played.

Flash won't work on the iPad. Your exposure is limited.

as long as you aren't a longhaired metalhead with a jackson, or a prog/fusion devotee, there is no masturbation involved. oh, also: prog and fusion sucks.

we'll see who can annoy more people....

I dont suck I lick.

because playing music is a form of masturbation whether you like or not. When you're doing this in public it's gruppen sex.

didn't know-back in the day I had to play well with others to make serious-sounding music-thank goodness those days are behind

you are pervert

Ah- I would describe myself as 'jaded old man' who avoids other people (in the real world).

LOL-the band or the audience?

back when I did perform it seriously took a great deal of internal conflict/ vs getting paid to face an audience. Money won almost always. I found a method of acting as a different personality besides the wimp I am to overcome this aversion.

I think it might be easier for someone to post a self-made video when there are no other people involved. Almost anonymous in a sense.

I however, wouldn't. I do post my crap music because it's only crap music with no pictures of me futzing on the keys.

A lot of the stuff is kinda fun/funny... I see no harm in someone making ANY effort to do something besides passively existing.

the best part- not forced to watch or listen for too long.