Re: Friendly Solo Contest 2
Now this I agree with ALMOST entirely.
A few (hopefully motivational) notes:
You will not believe how self-conscious about my own playing I was before joining these particular forums and more particularly before taking part in this little solo contest. But I cannot tell you by just how much my outlook has changed and my confidence has been boosted as a result of both. Not a big deal to some I'm sure. And probably quite a few that will have listened to my contribution and be saying "well you should still be self-conscious about your playing". But be that as it may: in my head and when joining these forums I had the notion that everybody of these forums must be experienced, gigging, accomplished guitarists. Well that's not the case. So far as I can tell: I'm slightly more accomplished than some and a whole lot worse than others. But how else to learn and improve??? I cannot think of a better way. Not for me anyway. And I shudder to think how many fantastic and accomplished guitarists there may be out there but that simply don't have self confidence and it's holding them back.
Personally (and this may be a bit of a slippery slope): I think it'd be even more beneficial for people to be able to pass comment on the contributions as long as such comments are constructive and not defamatory. I may think that what I've done sounds absolutely wonderful but meanwhile I'm real bad and it sounds abhorrent. How else am I going to be able to improve??? Spend the next two years doing stuff, thinking to myself how wonderful it is, only to find it's rubbish, and thus waste another two years. See my point??? Rather tell me now: "dude: that's crap BUT here's an idea how to improve it".
Also been wanting to mention this business of making excuses for everything. Oh I do it. But to a FAR lesser degree than I used to. And it's because of a dude named Andrew Scheps. Look him up. One hell of a decent guy (even answered some recording and mixing and mastering queries I had directly). For those of you who don't know: he's produced and mixed stuff like Sabbath and Metallica. But he has a mantra and it goes something like this: "the only thing that matters is what comes out of the speakers". Search for that on YouTube and watch and absorb. I know I'm very guilty of berating myself for imperfections and always making excuses for the sound or for my playing and whatever else. And it has held me back. His point is: nobody cares what compressor you used or how you mixed this or recorded that. At the end of the day: all that matters is what the listener or audience hears. His mantra has also helped me tremendously.
You know: there was a song that I've been trying to recall for an absolute age and it's been at the back of my mind since this little contest was started. The guy talks through the whole song and it's a story about a persons life as it passes by. Seem to remember something about "sunscreen"??? And something about "you're not as ugly as you thought you were in seventh grade" (probably way off of the mark of course but I have a point here). Just try. And you will probably find that what you thought was inadequate or below par isn't actually the case at all especially if/when you revisit it at some time in the future.
So there you go. My (hopefully motivational) notes. I hope they help (even one person will do). And it'd sure be nice to get some more submissions here.
Originally posted by Demanic
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A few (hopefully motivational) notes:
You will not believe how self-conscious about my own playing I was before joining these particular forums and more particularly before taking part in this little solo contest. But I cannot tell you by just how much my outlook has changed and my confidence has been boosted as a result of both. Not a big deal to some I'm sure. And probably quite a few that will have listened to my contribution and be saying "well you should still be self-conscious about your playing". But be that as it may: in my head and when joining these forums I had the notion that everybody of these forums must be experienced, gigging, accomplished guitarists. Well that's not the case. So far as I can tell: I'm slightly more accomplished than some and a whole lot worse than others. But how else to learn and improve??? I cannot think of a better way. Not for me anyway. And I shudder to think how many fantastic and accomplished guitarists there may be out there but that simply don't have self confidence and it's holding them back.
Personally (and this may be a bit of a slippery slope): I think it'd be even more beneficial for people to be able to pass comment on the contributions as long as such comments are constructive and not defamatory. I may think that what I've done sounds absolutely wonderful but meanwhile I'm real bad and it sounds abhorrent. How else am I going to be able to improve??? Spend the next two years doing stuff, thinking to myself how wonderful it is, only to find it's rubbish, and thus waste another two years. See my point??? Rather tell me now: "dude: that's crap BUT here's an idea how to improve it".
Also been wanting to mention this business of making excuses for everything. Oh I do it. But to a FAR lesser degree than I used to. And it's because of a dude named Andrew Scheps. Look him up. One hell of a decent guy (even answered some recording and mixing and mastering queries I had directly). For those of you who don't know: he's produced and mixed stuff like Sabbath and Metallica. But he has a mantra and it goes something like this: "the only thing that matters is what comes out of the speakers". Search for that on YouTube and watch and absorb. I know I'm very guilty of berating myself for imperfections and always making excuses for the sound or for my playing and whatever else. And it has held me back. His point is: nobody cares what compressor you used or how you mixed this or recorded that. At the end of the day: all that matters is what the listener or audience hears. His mantra has also helped me tremendously.
You know: there was a song that I've been trying to recall for an absolute age and it's been at the back of my mind since this little contest was started. The guy talks through the whole song and it's a story about a persons life as it passes by. Seem to remember something about "sunscreen"??? And something about "you're not as ugly as you thought you were in seventh grade" (probably way off of the mark of course but I have a point here). Just try. And you will probably find that what you thought was inadequate or below par isn't actually the case at all especially if/when you revisit it at some time in the future.
So there you go. My (hopefully motivational) notes. I hope they help (even one person will do). And it'd sure be nice to get some more submissions here.
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