Thread From Another Forum Shocked Me...

I can’t envision NOT playing some kind of music. The concept just doesn’t register with me.
Even now, sitting in my recliner, I don’t have to fully extend my arm to have a guitar in hand(or a keyboard-yep-with black AND white keys...only 49 though, and I need to connect it to something like a phone, tablet, or computer to make noise....really horrible noise...bit I digress).
Though I don’t gig much these days, I did gig a bit in the past, and I may again.
I think that I’d have to be in a really “bad place” to quit playing music.
For guitar related stuff; I signed up at MLP in 2009...then the old SG place in 2012....now I’m here.
Thanks for having me.
Much like Tony M. I’ll probably stop 2 days after I’m dead...maybe.



Why after your dead, keep on playin!
 
I practice 2 hours every day, do a few gigs here and there and Luv it! and since I have started I have grown in my playing, I am no Clapton or Richards that's for sure, but I like pretending I am. I have noticed how far I have come and I thirst to be even better in improvement. Practice , practice, practice. Do you know how many people out there would love to be able to play guitar like you guys can? Many! So guys stay in the Brotherhood, don't leave your guitars on the wall for decoration, use them!
 
I wonder how much of that is due to maybe some of them are just physically incapable of playing a guitar anymore. That thought scares me... :ohno:
Thats kind of a conundrum for me: my ineptitude is because I am physically incapable (of making the correct movements at the correct times) - from a skill standpoint though not a physical debilitation.

Tis better to have played and have sucked,
Than to have not played at all.
 
Thats kind of a conundrum for me: my ineptitude is because I am physically incapable (of making the correct movements at the correct times) - from a skill standpoint though not a physical debilitation.

Tis better to have played and have sucked,
Than to have not played at all.
As I have moved deeper into being a card carrying member of The Old Geezers club, I have lost some dexterity in my fingers..... mainly it seems, my left hand. Today I actually warm up a tad before I get going. Something I never did before. After a few minutes everything seems to get working right and it’s off to the races.
 
I've thought a few times about whether I will still be playing when I get much older. There may be a time when it's physically impractical to play for more than fleeting moments, so I try to get as much time in now as my life and schedule will allow.
 
As long as it's fun and I feel playing is rewarding, I'll keep at it. And as long as I'm physically capable of playing I can't see that ever not being the case. For a few years when my kids were younger I didn't play much, simply because I didn't have much time for it. But I never quit. There was never a week that went by without me picking the guitar up. These days I play every day. It keeps me sane.
 
Thats kind of a conundrum for me: my ineptitude is because I am physically incapable (of making the correct movements at the correct times) - from a skill standpoint though not a physical debilitation.

I get it. It comes down to muscle memory for me. Got a song I’ve been working on for a bit now. A particular sequence of notes/chords I’ve been struggling with. I’ve slowed it way down and can play them, but at normal speed. Not so good. But I’m slowly getting it. Last time I played the song, while I didn’t nail it, I was lots closer to getting it.

But yeah. I only really need to impress me. And playing is way better than not playing.

As has been said here before. Those of us that play, regardless our skill level..... we can do something the vast majority of the population cannot do. Embrace it. Enjoy it. Keep on rockin’.
 
naw... the one that gets the best girls is the one that looks confident.
Confidence is attractive, don't you know? It doesn't matter if you're playing a bass
or a guitar or keys or drums, if you look confident, you'll be successful.
Most of the audience doesn't know the difference between a guitar and a bass, or what.
So they look at how you present yourself. And the ones that present themselves as
top of the line are the ones who might even get there.

That goes for getting girls, for you young guys, and it goes for getting invited back for us pros.
You might know me, I'm a gimme both kind of guy. So I like to get the girl and the gig, even though
I'm not as good of a guitar player as so many others. So I learned long ago, if you goof, make it part
of the show. (I goof a lot)... Bend it into a solo, and you've figured that out.

But I'm "mature" now and I'm in a steady relationship with a woman I met (at a gig) more than forty years ago.
So I don't need to go out for a hamburger when I've got steak at home. But I'm an unrepentant flirt.
I'll add to my cynical sounding first paragraph, that the way to look confident is to practice your arse
off. If you've got the depth and the background work to actually be confident, then you're gold.
There are lots of technically great guitarists who have the stage presence of a mail box.
They might be technically great, but they're not entertaining. That's death.

It's much better to use whatever talent you are given, and do as best as you can, and never
let your self doubt show. People come to shows because they need something. And it's our sacred duty
to give it to them
, to the best of our ability.

There's always going to be someone who plays better, or sings better, or writes more compelling songs.
But so what. There's always a dozen or a hundred who play worse, or who don't play at all. Just do what
you can to the best of your strength
, and be content with that. This mantra has carried me for literally
decades. I'm sure I've made hundreds of dollars, working it.

Never got rich, never got famous. There are thousands of other musicians like me. We play the gigs,
we make the recordings, we do as best we can... I believe that we are the real thing. The ones who
get that "rich and famous" contract might turn into something they never imagined. But there's a dark
side to it that I've never seen. I've never seen the gold side of it either. But I don't mind. I've kept my
feet on the ground, and made good music, and rarely was seen on TV. But TV is bullshit, man.

So's Nashville, and New York, and L.A. ...the real thing gets played at local fairs and churches, local
bars and coffeehouses, festivals, concert series, and house concerts. Jazz musicians, classical musicians
folkies like me, Bluegrass artists, country boys, rockers and rocka-billies, shredders and bluesmen... all
stripes of artists are out there making their way. I forgot players of sacred music.... that's a whole 'nother
sub culture. Pretty far removed from the pop music scene, as seen on TV. But just as valid, if not more
so. And most of us are included.

Never give up. Never quit. Never sell your SG... sell something else.
We've seen so many posts where guys who stupidly sold their SG come back, saying
"Man, I wish I'd never sold that one..."

Over and over we see it. I ain't selling mine. I'll sell some other instruments. for sure.
And I ain't giving up. I'm old now, and my hands hurt, and my arms tingle so I got to go get
carpal tunnel surgery done, or I'm finished. That sucks, but I'm not giving up anything if I don't
have to. Carry on, mu-fuh's...
 
Good words this day from The Colonel.

I've always taken on a different persona onstage. I am a different person. I've a background in theatre, so i suppose I immerse myself as much into my musical character as I did anything else. I've adopted quite a few personas in the musical world - from playing the part of Don Felder in an Eagle's Tribute - to adopting a post-apocalyptic musician drifter for a special band project - I have always endeavored to give my absolute best to the crowd.

I make it a point to never turn my back to a crowd, something that Buck Owens impressed upon me at an early age. It's attention. I find that the most memorable music events were those in which the artist paid attention to the crowd.

I was never into girls, really...at least not in the sense that I allowed them to interfere with my music. In fact, I shunned girl's who showed any interest in me whatsoever because I felt the interest was less than genuine and more of a musical infatuation. I am happily married to an exotic and tiny thing that still takes my breath away as much today as she did the night we met. I don't flirt in any capacity as I believe the one thing that has always set me apart from my peers was my acute sense of morality and commitment.

I do not look down on anyone who enjoys flirting, I just do not indulge. It has paid huge dividends in my musical work because I have forged a reputation of being uninterested/unswayed by females and a person who adheres strictly to the project at hand without distraction.

I daresay that I am most content with my life...with my wife, the car I drive, our home, my modest guitars, my music salary, my Dubliner Cheese and Cilantro/Avocado/Lime Triscuits...all of it. A better life cannot be had as far as I am concerned.

Music...it is a great love of mine, ad no doubt my greatest non-human love. Metal and rock from the 1980's/1990's is my drug of choice and a simple song from that era can transport me back to a beautiful place in my past. Aye, there are many better players than I. of this I am most assured, and yet, in my chosen genre, I feel that I still rock as hard now - at 53 - as I did at 18, and perhaps ever more so than I did them. Most assuredly I have far better equipment now than I did back then!!!

For me, however, the SG must go. I just cannot bond with it. Ironically, I have developed a deep bond and profound trust of my double neck - which is a form of SG I suppose - but I have never been able to bond with my Gibson SG. I do play it on some recordings, but I don't feel confident with it when playing live, even though it's a remarkable guitar. The one guitar that I would not want to be without is my 2016 Gibson Les Paul with the .951" neck and 498T/496R pickup combination. It has now officially logged over 500 recordings and it is my most trusted guitar. Each and every-time I play it - or perform a step-and-a-half-bend - I know it will be in tune. It has proven itself time and time again and it is the guitar I always reach for first and foremost.

Most of all, I am gratfeul.

Grateful for this life, grateful to live in America, grateful to have enough to eat and indoor plumbing...grateful for all of you too.

I have no words of wisdom to share, just opinions and things that matter to me....

Wishing you all the best and peace and prosperity in everything that you do....

Me & Cony.jpg
 
I may joke about the guitar player gets the girl..... but in my case it’s true. Sitting in a coffee house type situation playing my Yamaha 12 string and this young lady came over and started chatting. About guitars of all thing. I won’t bore y’all with the details, but that was summer of 1974. We’ve been together ever since.

By the way. I still have that 12 string. It has some issues and is basically unplayable now.... but I won’t part with it.
 
I may joke about the guitar player gets the girl..... but in my case it’s true. Sitting in a coffee house type situation playing my Yamaha 12 string and this young lady came over and started chatting. About guitars of all thing. I won’t bore y’all with the details, but that was summer of 1974. We’ve been together ever since.

By the way. I still have that 12 string. It has some issues and is basically unplayable now.... but I won’t part with it.

Great story, Man!!!!!
 
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