Music life sucks.... (Page 1 of 2)

Control your own destiny and play solo. I play 90% of my gigs solo. It's much easier to organize practice sessions and decide on which songs to play......

Yeah, I was thinking that way too. I play to get a Boss RC-2 and just create my own drums and rhythm section and just play with myself.
(Musically, not physically)

I'm so tired of searching for someone to play music with.

Dm

Thank you so much. I desperately needed that encouragement.
I see you've had the run-around with bands too. I don't want to get into that again anytime soon I don't think. People are just too finicky over the most ridiculous things when you don't really know them.

I'm going to write down that quote and tape it to my guitar.

Thank you,
Dm

Bands that have been together for awhile are pretty picky.  I have seen a lot of single guitar players and singers doing their own thing on small stages and they were wonderful.  The more people in the band, the more people you have to please.  All bets are against you.  Keep going bud.

Form your own band.

If you are putting it together you call the shots.

Where are you at, man?  I'll jam with you.

Oh...My...gosh...

I get that every-bloody-day at work. My co-workers constantly talk about how they play drums and guitar but never want to play.
It's ridiculous. Sometimes I just want to tell them to shut up...but that would be mean....so I don't.
I, too, wind up shaking my head a lot. My boss even plays. And the thing is that he can sing his tail off!! I know that he can play very well but he just never seems to want to jam. I got him to jam with me one time after work but of course I had to head home and get ready for bible study that evening. Since then he hasn't really been playing any of his 4 guitars at work very much.

Though he did mention that he was buying wall-hangers for his office so that he could decorate his office.... (rolleyes)

My one co-worker that is also in a band (off and on) plays bass and guitar but she only seems to want to play MY guitar as soon as I pick it up to practice on my lunchbreak. I don't try to be mean to her but I have to tell her "NO, I'm playing my guitar now. Show me whatever you are thinking about later when I'm done on your guitar or play with me." Of course, she never plays with me.

Well, there is one silver lining to this dark cloud of my life. And that is my friend Jamaica. She is the only friend I've had that is always down to Jam.
She is literally, the only person that I know that plays as much as she talks about it...and that is just awesome. Sadly, she won't be playing as much as before cause she is pregnant now.
If you're wondering why I don't play with her as much as I used to its because I work and live about 70 miles from her and I'm married and I have a kid so no time for much traveling to the other side of the state....lol.

=/
Dm

Only 1/2 hour drive from me, though.  My resume is pretty freakin' weak.  A quick summary: I suck at singing (but do it anyway, often loudly).  I play out-of-practice blues bass poorly, out-of-practice-and-never-that-good-to-start-with country and folk harmonica, and sissified-70's-folk/pop acoustic strumming with a little fingerpick I make up on the spot (but without the neat little whiznits or any sort of recognizable melody that make the songs actually sound good).  Not too appealing.  But if you can put up with me, I'll put up with you.  At least for an hour or two until we're tired of each other.   I won't even charge you to teach me.  No need to thank me.  That's just the generous kind of guy I am.  And I'll probably bring beer.  It makes me sound better when you drink it.   

Sounds like we could at least have a good time telling stories. 

You can check out my songbooks on the public songbook section.  Search using "Zurf".  I can't play everything in them.  A lot of the songs are stretch songs.  But what the heck.  Let's stretch. 

As far as printouts, I've got the "Jesus Songs" and the "Not Jesus Songs" songbooks.  If you're into Christian music and don't mind getting into some Country Gospel, I've been working on a song a buddy of mine wrote.  He's got a fantastic deep and resounding bass that my reedy nasal voice does nothing for, but the words are powerful.  It's about generations and Jesus and demonstrations of faith.  I do a fingerpick rhythm treatment on it and it sure could use a few nice lead licks. 

- Zurf

Hey Detman,
I run in to the same problem. The people I find to play with either dont like the music I play or are so egotistical that I dont want to play with them. I think Southpaw is right, best to just play by your self. I find its easier and alot less of a hassel

True true, but if things work out and I get to play guitar with Zurf and a few others from here, I get the feeling all this suffering will have a silver lining.

Hallelujah!
Dm

Nice RavenLady.  I wish I could get my wife to play or sing along.  She's got a beautiful singing voice and has a seamingly innate sense for music.  She had two years of piano lessons she didn't want when she was a very young lady, but the lessons of timbre and pitch and rhythm have lasted all these years.  Sometimes when she's had a couple glasses  of wine and the friends are around the campfire in the back yard, she'll sing along.  I love that.  My little girls have started to sing along.  I love that too.  They ask for the same lullaby every night -"Featherbed" by John McCutcheon.  I must have sung that song 10,000 times now.  Each of them asks for it every night.  They've been memorizing it, and now they sing it with me.  With the eldest, I've started taking in my guitar and accompanying.  It's awful to hear from the perspective of anyone outside the room, but the two of us in there think it's the sweetest music ever made. 

Detman - I hope I can live up to your expectations.  I approach music as a fun hobby.  I'm not a serious player, but I do love getting together with other musicians and seeing what we can do.  My acoustic doesn't have a pickup, so if we're going to record anything we'll need some mics, which is something I haven't got.  Even for our own benefit, I think playing back what we did for the purpose of critique-ing ourselves would be an exceptional learning opportunity.   

I'll send you an e-mail.  I've got a young family myself, so my time is not my own, but with adequate planning I'd like to think we can get together soon.  I'm about to start lessons later this month after three years of teaching myself bad habits and letting myself off the hook from good practice technique.  Goodness knows where that will lead. 

I'm more likely to be able to help you with your bass playing than your guitar playing.  There was a time when I was actually half-decent on the bass.  That time has passed with my concentration on the guitar.  While my execution is rusty, my knowledge is still in there somewhere and I'd be happy to share.  If you were playing weekly in a band for four months, I'd guess that you got pretty good. 

- Zurf