7. pages. of. this. nonsense. at least with all that typing your callouses will be in shape for when you actually pick up a guitar.

on-topic, yep makes a very good point - if you don't make time for something now, doing it full time probably isn't the answer. i skimmed over that part originally but one can hardly expect to go from occasional hobby to pro musician. at least make it a serious hobby first...

ORIGINAL: yep
I think the people who are destined to really "make it" in the world of music are exactly the kind of people who can't NOT do it, they can't HELP doing it.

I think I have posted this before but this notion puts me in mind of an essay that was quite encouraging to me a while back and I figured I'd repost the link as food for thought:

Creation: A Culture of Gift

There is a seminar presentation on his site that has some interesting tidbits that apply to arts in general:

Triggers & Practice: How Extremes in Writing Relate to Creativity and Learning

A little more for the OP:

In spite of what you think, quitting your job is likely to exacerbate your sense of failure regarding music. In six months when you've got three half-finished songs all of which are flawed you're going to feel worse than you do now.

Do you know any professional musicians? This is a very serious question.

Two pieces of generic advice:

1. Often far more crippling than the fear of failure is the fear of mediocrity. A great many talented people are held back by the fear of finding out that they are only pretty good. Do not be one of those people. Embrace where you are and what you are doing now.

2. One of the worst mistakes people make in life is to make big life choices walking backwards. By this I mean that they focus on what they are moving away from instead of what they are getting into. These people frequently end up in a lifelong string of bad choices and bad relationships and bad situations, and never reach anything close to their potential. Your statement: "I will never be happy making my living doing a "regular" job for the rest of my life" is a dead giveaway that this is what you are doing. You're looking at your job and not liking it and *backing* out. Wherever you go and whatever you do, face forward.

Asking "should I quit my job to focus on music" is like asking "should I quit washing my hands to focus on lawn care." The two have nothing to do with each other.

Should you focus on music? Yes.

Should you quit your job? No. You should start doing what you are dedicated to and continue to do what you have to and ought to. You will find that a lot of things that you worry about will take care of themselves.

Cheers.

If you've ever had someone poke their head over your cubicle wall and say something like, "If you tap that pencil one more time, I'm going to kill you with this stapler", then you may be a good candidate.

ORIGINAL: droddey

If you've ever had someone poke their head over your cubicle wall and say something like, "If you tap that pencil one more time, I'm going to kill you with this stapler", then you may be a good candidate.

On the contrary, if you've ever been tapping your pencil and the guy in the next cubicle starts clapping in time or shouts "WHOO-HOO!" after a cool fill, then you should maybe think about music as a career.

Which brings me to some advice on this thread I disagree with-- post your music if you want, but don't trust the opinions of musicians to tell you how good you are. Most musicians hate a lot of the music on the radio and think it's crap. If Madonna or U2 came in here and posted their next single anonymously asking for advice they'd probably have it completely mangled with "music" advice.

Get out and play, and play in front of real, regular, everyday people whenever possible. Ifstrangers cover their ears and are straining to hold a conversation during your set that's a clue.

Cheers.

Who cares where you're from, Joe?

I don't remember mentioning it, but whatever….

Your credentials don't exist.

I've given you every hint you should need to figure things out, and revealed as much as I'm going to on a public message board. If you don't get it by now you're not very bright. And there are at least two people at this board who know exactly what I'm talking about. Kudos to them for keeping their mouths shut, and for ignoring you. Oh, and I noticed that your band is so good there aren't even any samples at your site. Class act there. Buy before you try.

Let's see, my tunes are no good; my webpage is apparently not to your liking. Got anything to say about my dead mother's corpse before I hang-up? Again, class act. That's going to win you a lot of friends I'm sure.

We're done.

Joe, what you lack in people skills, you more than make up for with your humongous ego. Your narcissism throughout this thread has been most entertaining. Thanks for the laughs.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uMXpokrfblM

Your credentials don't exist.

I've given you every hint you should need to figure things out, and revealed as much as I'm going to on a public message board. If you don't get it by now you're not very bright. And there are at least two people at this board who know exactly what I'm talking about. Kudos to them for keeping their mouths shut, and for ignoring you.

dance dance dance, bro. You still got nothing tangible. Hint at whatever you like, you opinion is null until you establish some REAL credentials, man.


"Oh, and I noticed that your band is so good there aren't even any samples at your site. Class act there. Buy before you try."

Funny, not even sure how you found a site, since I've yet to mention my band's name. However, much like my post history, and your google searches of Berklee, it's just another example of your inability to work the interweb. If you'd like sound samples, maybe you could try myspace? http://www.myspace.com/pilloryhmmmm... Don't bother though, I really, REALLY doubt you'll enjoy or appreciate any of it, and I'd hate to waste your time.

As for the main website, they took the sound clips down right after I quit the band. Their new stuff with Adam is going to be very different, so why keep cycling the old material?

I definitely don't believe in "buy before you try". In honesty, I've probably given away dozens and dozens of copies of the CD to people, just to see if they dug it. I'm not in this for $$, I just want to find people that like it, and do whatever I can to get it into their hands so they can enjoy it.



"Let's see, my tunes are no good; my webpage is apparently not to your liking. Got anything to say about my dead mother's corpse before I hang-up? Again, class act. That's going to win you a lot of friends I'm sure.
"


1) You misunderstand what is sarcasm, and what is not. I MEANT it when I said I dug your tunes, and I meant it when I said I like your guitars. What I said was that you don't have the chops you think you do. Otherwise, I can actually get into at least 70% of the tunes on your CD. However, there's a lot of metal players you could never even HOPE to keep up with. And I NEVER implied I was one of them.

2) again, I actually liked your webpage. Clean, simple, and a solid design. My implication is that hocking CD's on the interweb does not make you an industry pro.

3) I have nothing to say about your dead, living, or any other type mother. However, I will most likely at some point take another jab at that horrible, horrible mustache. Such a pretty guitar, but it's like there's a monster lurking right behind it. You look like maurice, the cab driver from the old Sesame Street show.

4) I'm not trying to win friends on the interweb, Joe. I came here to read about and interact with other musicians. Unfortunately, this time around I came across you. I don't like being poked, Joe, and you tried way too damned hard. The whole reason I came here, the other threads, it all became secondary. It seems like you need this, to have someone actually call you on your ****. If I were some scared 25 year old kid, playing metal, I'd have seen your initial advice and never even given it a shot. Douchbags like you know a LITTLE about a LOT, and **** their way through the parts they don't know. There was even some small bit of truth to what you had to say. As I said, you know a little about a lot. However, to outright bash a style of music and a group of musicians you know nothing about is rude and unjustifiable.




We're done.

Not even started, Joe.

You've finally run in to an ego every bit as large as your own, and I'm not planning on going anywhere.


yep said:"I hope this thread has been a valuable lesson in what happens to people who take music too seriously. "

Not so much that. I mean, I take music seriously, but I take it ALL seriously. It's just the idea that I come here and listen to everything, and enjoy so many different styles from religious choiral techno whatever to jazz to guitar rock to folk. Some is good, some is bad. But I give it all a shot, because I know whatever I get - someone put a lot of heart into it.

Anyone bashing the kind of stuff I do, without even giving it the same shot I would give their own, is ignorant.

And anyone trying to pretend they're my daddy, well, ... I'm going to slap them. I'm coming here into your turf, your own community. I try to behave. However, where I'm from, we do things a little different. If you try to play "pick on the tourist", the tourist is likely to tear off your arm. Metaphorically. I don't think I could actually tear off an arm, there's ligaments and stuff.

But nonetheless, a metaphorical (metaphysical?) arm SHALL be torn.

Don't poke me.