I Have Changed, So Change Things Must:

Inspector #20

Inspector #20

Ambassador of Tone
Fallen Star
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This has been nagging at me ever since my audition last Saturday. I wanted to post it here just to have someone to share it with.

I absolutely love classic 80's/90's rock...Scorpions, Maiden, Priest, Whitesnake, Dio, Great White, Aldo Nova, Def Leppard, etc., and I never, ever tire of playing these tunes. I get an amazing, almost euphoric sense from playing these songs...and I have discovered that I really don't like playing anything else.

I may listen, now and then, to other songs, but not very often and nothing brings me the level of joy that this era of music brings me. I have no desire to own or play an acoustic, and I actually find myself getting a little annoyed when I am playing other genre's of music, even when I am getting paid to do so.

I do love the more modern Scorpion's tunes like "Winds of Change," "Humanity" and "Send Me An Angel" too, so it's not just the headbangy stuff that appeals to me, but rather certain artists and the dramatic arrangements that seem to appeal to me.

I believe what my recent audition did for me was firmly cement into my mind that my place is truly in an 80/90's cover band, and not so much playing on different recordings, or even playing bass in a blues quartet.

So, yesterday I decided to start taking some music theory classes and actively pursuing a cover band gig.

How's that for being a silly 51 year old????

Thanks for listening.... :-)
 
Ironically, this is not as easy to find as one might think. Lot's of dude's in their 50's down here with Neil Young/Beatles/Stones bands, none of which I dig at all.

I really wish some of you all lived closer so we could cook something up...
 
Well lets see they already have Steel Panther .....

How about IRON LION! METAL Mustangs! HAIR BEARS....oh wait no thats wrong very wrong.....

uhm...........about this bass.......
 
eSGEe said:
Well lets see they already have Steel Panther .....

How about IRON LION! METAL Mustangs! HAIR BEARS....oh wait no thats wrong very wrong.....

uhm...........about this bass.......
Click to expand...

I will likely keep the bass just for my own recordings here at my home studio...but I am going to start to back away from these other genres...
 
Go for it and don't look back Robert. Nothing wrong with a cover band and choosing to be in one which does the style of music you like. Play the music you like and play it for people who want to listen to it.
 
Since you are already a good guitarist, 2 things strike me

1 - that you are not already familiar with music theory
2 - that it is a requirement for hair band music.

Please elaborate!
 
I'm 51 and all I listen to is classic metal; Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Rainbow and Dio. I also listen to 90s stoner metal like Monster Magnet, White Zombie and Electric Wizard. I also have a nice collection of CDs of early 90s European Deathmetal, Norwegian Black metal and Black metal thrash. So I say, listen to and play what you like and love. That's what music is all about.
 
RVA said:
Since you are already a good guitarist, 2 things strike me

1 - that you are not already familiar with music theory
2 - that it is a requirement for hair band music.

Please elaborate!
Click to expand...

Well...I suffer from learnng disabilities. I always have, but it seems better as I have gotten older. So, one of my goals is to educate myself more about theory in hopes it will make me a better musician, and especially a writer....
 
Go for it! What does age have to do with it. Life is way too short to not be doing something that makes you smile. I've got a few years on you and I learned when I was around your age that if you're not happy then change so you are. Sounds like you've figured it out. I'll say it again. GO FOR IT MAN
 
I've been playing guitar now for 30 years and I can't play entire cover tunes completely. I refuse to because I don't feel like copying other people's tunes. I like to develop my own style and I totally improvise these days.

People in the past always asked me to play Stairway To Heaven which I played well. It's a great tune but after hearing it for a million times on the radio and playing it, it is time to give it a rest. I would have to say to any guitarist...develop your own classics and stop imitating others. There will be never another Jimi Hendrix, etc.

Be yourself and put some effort into developing your own style. I'm simply getting tired of cover bands because they are riding on the coattails of someone else's fame. Be original...I know it's hard to do but it can be done. If you want to be a copy-cat then so be it.


;>)/
 
Robert Herndon said:
I do love the more modern Scorpion's tunes like "Winds of Change,"
Click to expand...



I can honestly say, this is the worst song, and worst video, by the worst singer, doing the worst whistling, wearing the worst cap, in the worst group, from the worst country, in the history of mankind or any other species in the known (and unknown or possible) universe(s)!!!

'

Worse still, when drunk, I can't help myself but sing along.

The next morning when I awake with a raging hangover in a police cell in a foreign country, clothes drenched with blood and feces, then start to recount the horrors of the night before, the murdering, pillaging, drug taking, hooliganism and debauchery, it is all overshadowed by the shame of singing along with, and even attempting to whistle to, The Winds of Change.
 
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