Am I asking too much?

[Visirale]

I can't find anyone local that has my same extreme dedication to tone and making quality music. I'm in a weird limbo right now because I dropped my music major because I just didn't want to pursue music in a set academic path and now I'm doing more of my own thing. I'm moving on in college on a different path, but if an amazing band came around and the opportunity to tour prevented itself, I'd probably take some time off to at least try it.

Everyone around here that I've played with just seems to be in it as a hobby and can't really take it seriously. I mean, I'm not sure what can be said about me since I'm choosing to bypass the traditional root of becoming a professional, but my attitude is as professional as you can get, academic credentials or not.

I can't find a guitar player who is serious enough about his tone or style to suit me. I've had better luck with drummers... but guitar players and vocalists are holding me back. I've been trying to find a band that has decent original material but nothing is presenting itself. Songwriting isn't even my forte (not even close) but I'm thinking about getting a guitar and dedicating some real time to it, making quality material, then finding a guitarist who would be ok with me saying "This is how it should sound."

I think part of it may be that the town I'm in doesn't really have an original music scene any more. Whatever we had died, and now it's all just cover groups. And I'm not hating on that (Hey, I used to play in one) but I really want new and original stuff to be made. It seems the music industry is going in the direction of regurgitating the norm (I mean how many generic modern aggressive rock bands can you put out that have all the same tone and all the same lyrics?). Maybe if I was in a city like LA, NYC, or Chicago I could find some people more serious about it?

Is it right for me to be this picky? Or do I need to put up or shut up, and start writing my own stuff?

Give it to me like it is, TBers. I'm ready for it.

[ROON]

Hi Visirale,

I have never been in a band so my suggestion is probably going to be crap. But why don't you start up your own project, advertise around for other members and audition them. Make it clear that you're in this for real, you want to get somewhere. You might just find that there are other musicians out there as determined and professional as you are. If you find some people that are, they could help out with writing material as well.

[Bard2dbone]

Wow. I'm seeing my youth from the outside.



Way back in the dawn of time, I had a band that did okay for a while. We did about 95% originals in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

The part of your post that made me shake my head and smile was how familiar it sounded. The four of us had completely different backgrounds. We didn't so much meet in the middle as collide.

The keyboardist was classically trained. I was a mostly jazz and some blues guy. The guitarist and drummer were brothers who both were into straight ahead rock. But one basically wanted to be Neil Peart, and the other wanted to be Keith Richards. I wrote all our lyrics except for one song which I co-wrote with the keyboardist. But we all contributed to writing the music. I never intended to be the lead vocalist, but I knew what I wanted the stuff I wrote to sound like, and we never could find anyone good enough to do what I heard in my head while writing. I wasn't good enough either, but at least I knew what to try for.

Generally whoever had the first idea for a tune would bring it in to a practice and essentially browbeat the other three of us into doing it his way. After a few times through we could start to apply our personalities to the parts he'd come in with.

I noticed that whatever instrument I was playing when I had an idea for a song would get the most interesting part. As I added other parts they would become simpler, which could be a real bummer as the bass player if I was playing guitar when inspriration struck.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Visirale

I can't find anyone local that has my same extreme dedication to tone and making quality music. I'm in a weird limbo right now because I dropped my music major because I just didn't want to pursue music in a set academic path and now I'm doing more of my own thing. I'm moving on in college on a different path, but if an amazing band came around and the opportunity to tour prevented itself, I'd probably take some time off to at least try it.

Everyone around here that I've played with just seems to be in it as a hobby and can't really take it seriously. I mean, I'm not sure what can be said about me since I'm choosing to bypass the traditional root of becoming a professional, but my attitude is as professional as you can get, academic credentials or not.

I can't find a guitar player who is serious enough about his tone or style to suit me. I've had better luck with drummers... but guitar players and vocalists are holding me back. I've been trying to find a band that has decent original material but nothing is presenting itself. Songwriting isn't even my forte (not even close) but I'm thinking about getting a guitar and dedicating some real time to it, making quality material, then finding a guitarist who would be ok with me saying "This is how it should sound."

I think part of it may be that the town I'm in doesn't really have an original music scene any more. Whatever we had died, and now it's all just cover groups. And I'm not hating on that (Hey, I used to play in one) but I really want new and original stuff to be made. It seems the music industry is going in the direction of regurgitating the norm (I mean how many generic modern aggressive rock bands can you put out that have all the same tone and all the same lyrics?). Maybe if I was in a city like LA, NYC, or Chicago I could find some people more serious about it?

Is it right for me to be this picky? Or do I need to put up or shut up, and start writing my own stuff?

Give it to me like it is, TBers. I'm ready for it.

Well there are many ways to be a professional musician :

Playing Sessions
Orchestral/Big Band work
Hired gun for touring artists
Teaching
Cruise Ships/Corporate Entertainment
Services ...etc etc.

You seem to have a vague idea that "making it" with an original band will be the answer - why?

I think you need to define exactly what you want and/or expect to get?

I think whether original bands make it - is very much down to luck. right/place right time - and even if they do well - it's rare that they make enough money to live on and especially now - when everybody expects to download music for free - it's probably the toughest it has ever been to make money this way!

[chadds]

Read "the Music Lesson" by Victor Wooten.
After steeping yourself in there you will attract great people and great fulfilling musical experiences.
These settings may be in different genres than you have played but you will know you feel real.
If it's about money take the steps to make the money you want to make. If it's about Music take the steps to make the music you want to make. If it's about both take the steps to get both. I chose A&B. I wanted health insurance, retirement funds, healthy spousal relationships, and kids. I didn't want a moon tan. I play the music I want to play, where and when. I have played with some of the greats.
Put yourself in this book and see if you are in any blocking your own desires. You can always move if you care enough. Generally the people you want to be with are there just not where you've looked so far. (Obviously) sorry.

[Visirale]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Well there are many ways to be a professional musician :

Playing Sessions
Orchestral/Big Band work
Hired gun for touring artists
Teaching
Cruise Ships/Corporate Entertainment
Services ...etc etc.

You seem to have a vague idea that "making it" with an original band will be the answer - why?

I think you need to define exactly what you want and/or expect to get?

I think whether original bands make it - is very much down to luck. right/place right time - and even if they do well - it's rare that they make enough money to live on and especially now - when everybody expects to download music for free - it's probably the toughest it has ever been to make money this way!

I don't even want to make it professionally. I'm now a business/economics major and will likely make my money elsewhere. I just want to create some quality music while I'm on this Earth, and I'm the prime age to do it now... it just seems that I can't find any like-minded peers. I tried out for a gig on saturday that will most likely pan out, and it's good music, but it's not at all what I want to write and leave as a legacy, though it will be fun to play for.


I just want to write an amazing rock and roll album that will leave everyone speechless. The Siamese Dream of the 2000's. I don't even know if something like that would succeed now with the current popular music trends.

I'm going to be wearing a suit for the rest of my life after college and grad school and I kind of wanna live the rockstar thing now before I get there and have a family and all that.

It just seems like my time is ticking until I'll have to lead a normal life and won't have as much time for these passions.

Hope I'm making myself clearer, thanks for the advice thus far...

[Visirale]

Originally Posted by chadds

Read "the Music Lesson" by Victor Wooten.
After steeping yourself in there you will attract great people and great fulfilling musical experiences.
These settings may be in different genres than you have played but you will know you feel real.
If it's about money take the steps to make the money you want to make. If it's about Music take the steps to make the music you want to make. If it's about both take the steps to get both. I chose A&B. I wanted health insurance, retirement funds, healthy spousal relationships, and kids. I didn't want a moon tan. I play the music I want to play, where and when. I have played with some of the greats.
Put yourself in this book and see if you are in any blocking your own desires. You can always move if you care enough. Generally the people you want to be with are there just not where you've looked so far. (Obviously) sorry.

I'll have to check out that book. Thanks!

[Visirale]

Sorry I keep on adding to this, but it keeps on coming to me slowly.

It seems all the best musicians are trying to "make it big" but making it big now is highly unmusical. Most big band acts write songs to formulas their record companies give them. Highly skilled players are writing highly unimaginative and unoriginal music because that's what is popular now. The ones that aren't concerned about appealing to record companies, try to write their own stuff, but really lack the chops to pull it off well. Alternative is the new pop. Indie is the new pop.

It just seems like such a paradox. I guess I just need to find a scene with more like minded people. The original music scene here is dead for the most part. I am stuck here because of good family ties and scholarships that cover all my tuition through undergrad. Not a bad situation by any means, just not the best for my creative side. I guess I could start trying to write my own stuff here, and by the time I'm done with school (3 more years) I could move to somewhere that could have a scene to support it, and also be beneficial for my other career goals.

Haha, sorry. I think I'm just having a quarter-life crisis...

[Bruce Lindfield]

Well I think we have had a discussion about this before - so in the 60s, 70s etc - bands toured continuously and honed their chops on the road - meaning that when they got to the studio, they were very tight and had loads of ideas that they had developed together.

But nowadays in the age of MTV and dozens of other channels, music everywhere on the web and huge expectations - people seem to try to do it the other way - that is, record material in their bedrooms with PCs and then try and generate enough interest to get a band going.

I think this works against musicianship - with everybody isolated, sitting in their bedrooms, surfing the net for ideas and waiting for their big chance to come to them.

Rather than getting out there and doing it!

I feel like this has been the story of my life - so I got excited by the music scene in the 70s as there were so many great live bands touring that were just incredibly good.

I played in bands for a while - then got a contract with EMI, got disillusioned and in the 80s, home recording gear and synths, drum machines and computers started to become affordable and everybody wanted to record at home!

I got bored with this and eventually lost interest - only to have it re-kindled later in life by Jazz - which is all about live music,playing with other people, improvising etc. and not about sitting in your bedroom, creating a magnum opus!!

[BassChuck]

Originally Posted by Visirale

I don't even want to make it professionally........
I just want to write an amazing rock and roll album that will leave everyone speechless......

Why not write an album that will leave you speechless? Why depend on the opinions of others to justify your choices? As long as you are making a living with other sources, make your own music the way you want to. If you need to rely on other musicians to meet your goal, save your money and hire good ones for the recording sessions.

You might do some research on the life of Charles E. Ives. He was a very independent soul. You might not care for his music, IMHO its some of the most beautiful ever made, but the way he lead his life, and the way he kept his musicial visions is well worth noting.

[Bard2dbone]

Originally Posted by BassChuck

Why not write an album that will leave you speechless? Why depend on the opinions of others to justify your choices? As long as you are making a living with other sources, make your own music the way you want to. If you need to rely on other musicians to meet your goal, save your money and hire good ones for the recording sessions.

You might do some research on the life of Charles E. Ives. He was a very independent soul. You might not care for his music, IMHO its some of the most beautiful ever made, but the way he lead his life, and the way he kept his musicial visions is well worth noting.

That is the important part of that post, to me. I did stuff like that for a long as kind of 'personal therapy'. Do it. Be aware that the first few things you come up with will be things you'll throw away and be embarassed by later, though.

(for example) I composed an entire rock opera in which: A guy figured out how to become such a major cult leader that he could make the jump to actual Godhood, but was worried that the pre-existing Gods would be jealous and punish him. So he figured out a way to make another guy be the patsy who got blamed for it and punished by the Gods while he, the first guy, was still reaping the benefits of his plan. As a side benefit of all of this both become immortal. So one guy is getting to become a respected member of the pantheon, while the other has been cast down into magma for thousands of years. When the stone cools and eventually wears away, he gets out and is PISSED! So he rounds up the misshapen first attempts at humanity made by the early Gods (We call those demons. But they weren't actually evil. It was all bad press.) and starts the big predicted battle that we expect to be Armageddon...except it doesn't happen on our world where the prophecies all predicted. He takes the fight straight to the homes of the Gods, basically leaving us out of it to go on living our lives as we will.

It was pretty excessive. Now I look back at it and roll my eyes so hard that it's a wonder they don't fall out of my head.