The follies of youth become apparent with age.
If i could only by 16 again. I'd take classical and jazz lessons. I'd learn to play piano, drums, gutiar and trumpet. I'd start writing songs then. i'd get a part time job and save my money for a good bass and rig, and invest in the stock market. i'd buy 100 shares each of amazon.com and microsoft. i'd play in a rock band.
i'd audition at more than 2 colleges. i'd keep taking classical bass lessons. i'd also keep playing electric bass. i wouldn't move in with that guy less than 6 months after meeting him my freshman year in college. i'd date a lot of interesting people before i settled down. i'd practice every day. i'd transcribe every day. i'd play with and listen to good musicians whenever i got the chance. i'd still get drunk with good freinds. i'd keep in touch with my old friends. i'd learn to surf. i'd take all the chacnes i missed.
of coures, you don't see these things untill it's too late. keep your eyes and minds open, kids. every one else, it's not too late. keep it real, i'm off to transcribe

Umm... Please pardon my B.S. I don't know what came over me,
chelsea

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ChelseaC:
Umm... Please pardon my B.S. I don't know what came over me,
chelsea<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Its ok. I forgive you.

BS? that's almost everything that I think: Actually, if I had it to do over again, I would have:

Insisted that I get a different piano teacher when I was in grade school, so that I would have kept taking lessons into high school and beyond (probably should have gotten a teacher who was more jazz oriented).

Practiced practiced practiced.

Opted to major in music when I went to college.

At the very least taken some theory and composition classes in college, plus played in the orchestra the whole time, plus the jazz band, plus kept up the low brass and played in the marching band.

Taken time when I was a young pup to try the starving musician bit at least for a year or so.

Remembered that you will never be in a social situation like college (where almost everyone is single, emotionally available, and has plenty of time to talk) ever again and acted accordingly.

I wasted my youth. I just hope I don't take it out on my kids should I ever have any.

-dh

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Celebrate national part time workers week this Monday, Wednesday and Friday

do you honestly think us sixteen year olds have that much time?i mean i am pressed between my bass,uke and guitar playing already,as well as driving getting a job school we dont have all the time in the world.

Originally posted by ross
do you honestly think us sixteen year olds have that much time?i mean i am pressed between my bass,uke and guitar playing already,as well as driving getting a job school we dont have all the time in the world.

This thread reminds me of that scene from the play "Our Town" when the girl dies and gets to go back and look at a single day in her life and realizes how much time she has wasted.There is enough time to accomplish what you want, if you manage it correctly and take advantage of every moment. The only problem is that, at 16, I did not have very good
time management skills. Ah, 20/20 hindsight!

thankfully, when i was 16 i was a social derelict. there was no internet, and the best games around were on an apple 2e and a commodore 64. so i practiced my bass alot and cracked all my games, sector-editing disks and changing the way games played. i also learned how to program pascal on an apple 2e.

i remember telling my mom that i knew enough in 10th grade to get my second real job after college (first one two). B.S.EE, Georgia Institute of Technology were the most expensive words on my resume. :D i wouldn't trade my education for anything, though, even though i don't really use it. in fact i would love to go back to college, walk around barefoot everyday, hang out and talk philosophy with people. play at many many parties (i was never into substances, so i really enjoyed the parties only if i was playing them).

gawd, college ruled.

AS someone who wasted a great deal of my life....I would say to young people...make the most of every moment. Follow your heart...and use your mind. Or someday...YOU will be older...and have thoughts of.."what might have been."

John, you should have majored in geology. Never too late, you know.

The "If only I had" game is a rough one. There are certainly some things I wish I had done. I wish I could read music well enough to play it by sight, but I can't. I wish I had NOT stayed in a band for 6 years thinking that longevity would pay off (the guys had a distinct lack of real desire), but I didn't. I'm not sorry for my life, and it hasn't been easy. I made some choices, and either benefitted by, or was hurt by them. All the good and bad things that happened to me make me who I am now. To take away either part of those experiences would make me someone different. I learned more about life from 6 years on the road than I could ever have learned in school, and I attended college twice - with a ten-year gap between stints. I wouldn't change a thing that's occurred over the last 20 years (and there's one thing that I sometimes wish had never happened, but...). There's only one piece of advice I'd give, and it's something I read in a newspaper article - "Never become too good at something you hate."