cynicalgitplayer
Group: Members
Posts: 6
Joined: Sep. 2005 |
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Posted: June 12 2006, 07:05 |
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Dude, I know what you mean by composers block, but I can assure you, NEVER LOSE FAITH.
As you can see by my previous posts, I also write my own songs, mainly for personal fun and enjoyment, and it’s rare that anyone outside of family gets to hear my stuff, also because I have my own fun website rather than posting music to loads of music sites etc.
Loads of times I’ll sit there and wonder what the point is as it will never get me anywhere, doesn’t make me any money and doesn’t get any recognition.
But the fact is, I can’t help it.
I have to compose, it’s not something I have any choice over or any say over. Sure famly life gets in the way, work gets in the way, but somehow I manage to record a collection every 3 or four years and it keeps me sane.
I used to get disheartened when someone would criticise a guitar part or not like a synth melody or take the piss out of my voice and I would get pretty depressed as it was important to me that people like it.
But recently I had a revelation about all that stuff and perhaps its an age thing or a personality thing, not sure but now?…I couldn’t give a toss what people think of my stuff, if they like it then that’s enough for me, if they don’t, well, I think of it like this:-
I’m 40 and have been listening to TOTO since 1978, they had great albums upto 1988,then went crap with blues and rock-blues rubbish. I still bought their albums as a fan and always hoped that they would do something great again.
Fat chance.
Until this year, the latest offering is fantastic, 18 years of albums and they finally do something worth buying.
But here is my point.
Do they give a toss about one middle-aged bloke in a country they don’t even tour in anymore,? Who buys each album regardless?
Do they heck..
They think about the thousands of people who quite liked the blues ramblings of the inbetween years and sold bucket loads of ‘em to eager listeners.
Point is, you can’t please all of the people, all of the time, even when your’e in a band with some of the worlds greatest session musicians.
Take Mike Oldfield, now again, got into him in ’79 with ‘guilty’, my Dad bought me Incantations which was that years newest album , and I sat through the whole double album at 13 waiting for that one disco song I heard on the radio.
My first reaction was ‘what the hell is this shit’? Hours of repetitious mundane looped xylaphones and choir girls bangin on about Hiawatha?…where the hell is the Guitly track.
Two things happened in that year.
I realised that Incantations sowed the seed for what became my fascination of all things multi instrumental and it also made me aware of the fact that I too had an ability ( albeit at 13) to play different instruments and not know how to read or write a damn note.
So, lesson two, are you telling me that after 4 albums of 20 minute progressive rock that Mikes’ fans were happy for him to come out with a ‘let’s try to be up to date with the disco trend’ and release a poppy, disco synthy, 3 minute chart single?, or did they throw up arms and moan about where Tubular Bells 2 was and where were the 20 minute guitar solos were and what’s this disco shit?…
I doubt Mike really cared.
He might have been upset from a sales point of view ( I doubt it ) but I doubt it botherd him from any other point, he made a song, he liked it, he played nearly all of it and it was liked by some people but not all.
It also switched some new disco fans onto him enough to chance buying a more Oldfieldy record such as Ommadawn and really like it…….
So to you my stuck in a rut musical compadre, my advice is simple….never ever give up your music, fact is you have talent a lot of people would love to hear and would kill to be able to do wether it’s programming dance tracks on Reason or playing real instruments into a multi tracker…they may not like it, they may think it sucks , they may think you are a tone deaf nutter, but there may be someone standin next to them who think’s its great, makes them happy/ sad, wants to hear more, appreciates the groove/ vibe and thinks you’re a very clever, talented individual.
So keep composing.
I had a classic email the other day about one of the tracks on my site, along the lines of them liking some of the guitar tracks and not liking the drum loops etc and that I was a long way from sounding like Mike Oldfield….turns out the two tracks they were listening to used the drum loops from Angelique and Our Father from Light and Shade, in fact the track Apaches Rule Their World features not only Mikes drum loops but some keyboards, vocal chants, SFX and bass work, all taken out of the Umyx facility , redited and stripped down, leaving me room for my own guitar work, keyboards and piano phrases….and the laugh was that the two Oldfield fans liked my own stuff and didn’t like the stuff that was actually 50% Mike!??…..so you really can’t please some people!!…
(to be fair, if I was Mike, I guess that probably would piss me off a little, but not much)
End of the day, I’ve got really cheap gear as my web site shows, I can’t read or write music and I don’t have any samplers or flash PC recording gear, it’s all done on three cheap guitars, a £400 second hand multi tracker and a £35 microphone and a £300 10 yr old synth, it makes me happy, I’m proud of it when I listen to it and every once in a while a mate or work colleague will hear a track and like it/ not believe it’s me they are listening to…..and that, apart from not being able to NOT do it , is why I do it.
So, fret ye not, keep composing, keep recording and keep the faith, write for your self, sod everyone else… let ‘em buy Girls Aloud or flippin’ Toto…
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la musica me es pero mis ninos son mi vida
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I 'm afraid I'm not included there... what a relief! 