Fenriswolf
Well-Known Member
I figured as long as I've been playing I would be somewhat close to good by now.
Most annoying part of being a musician?
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That I'm not in a gigging band, or any band anymore.
That I can afford professional quality gear much easier now that I'm not a professional musician anymore.
Societies that devalue art in general, including music, and think musicians, and other artists, aren't entitled to a living wage.
..... You.
That I can afford professional quality gear much easier now that I'm not a professional musician anymore.
Societies that devalue art in general, including music, and think musicians, and other artists, aren't entitled to a living wage.
..... You.
Alex Kenivel
Stunt Guitar
I disagree with the common "its not about the money" to a point.
I think that if making money is your sole means of making music, you're killing it for the rest of the people who pour their hearts out and deserve to eat from what they could possibly make from their music.
That goes for all types of art.
Those who are brilliant at what they do deserve more IMO, but it never works like that.
Thank you.
I think that if making money is your sole means of making music, you're killing it for the rest of the people who pour their hearts out and deserve to eat from what they could possibly make from their music.
That goes for all types of art.
Those who are brilliant at what they do deserve more IMO, but it never works like that.
Thank you.
mike0
Well-Known Member
answering the question: "what kind of music do you play?"
especially with older folks/people who just listen to what's on the radio. it's a lose/lose question in most cases. say too little and they think you're being short with them and stand-offish, say too much and you come off as pretentious or alienate them by the music you just described that's not very "normal"
how the conversation normally goes:
me: "heavier stuff, metal" sparing them the ludicrous details about subgenres they don't care about, or bands that have a similar sound that they've never heard of
them: "oh, like metallica?"
me: "yeah, kind of"
it's small talk, it's meaningless, so i just bite the bullet and keep it as vague as possible because i know they truly don't really care, it's just something to talk about. now for those who are actually genuine with the question, i elaborate as necessary. but it can be a conundrum because who the hell knows which people are seriously interested?
that and pretentiousness among musicians. when i go to shows or play one, i do meet a lot of very nice people, but there's always too many with that smug look on their face who look down on you like they're gods, only to later play a set comprised entirely of deathcore/breakdowns/brees that's indistinguishable from the previous five bands that played. why so smug? be humble and kind, no matter the music, and maybe someone will stick around for your set besides your girlfriends who don't even look happy to be there.
especially with older folks/people who just listen to what's on the radio. it's a lose/lose question in most cases. say too little and they think you're being short with them and stand-offish, say too much and you come off as pretentious or alienate them by the music you just described that's not very "normal"
how the conversation normally goes:
me: "heavier stuff, metal" sparing them the ludicrous details about subgenres they don't care about, or bands that have a similar sound that they've never heard of
them: "oh, like metallica?"
me: "yeah, kind of"
it's small talk, it's meaningless, so i just bite the bullet and keep it as vague as possible because i know they truly don't really care, it's just something to talk about. now for those who are actually genuine with the question, i elaborate as necessary. but it can be a conundrum because who the hell knows which people are seriously interested?
that and pretentiousness among musicians. when i go to shows or play one, i do meet a lot of very nice people, but there's always too many with that smug look on their face who look down on you like they're gods, only to later play a set comprised entirely of deathcore/breakdowns/brees that's indistinguishable from the previous five bands that played. why so smug? be humble and kind, no matter the music, and maybe someone will stick around for your set besides your girlfriends who don't even look happy to be there.
Slunk Dragon
Gear Nerder
Seeing as how this is a vent thread,
I have been trying for ....ing years to get ANYBODY to jam with. I've only achieved this ONCE, and even then one of the guys couldn't make it. (so it was just me, and a bassist and drummer who were in a league beyond mine)
I have gone through calls, emails, and messages galore, and every ....ing musician I run into suddenly drops off of the face of the Earth, so here I am with a bevvy of ideas, but no one to run them across to tell me how I'm doing that might understand what I'm trying to accomplish.
And I am not ....ing moving to NYC or LA, talk about needle in a haystack there.
I have been trying for ....ing years to get ANYBODY to jam with. I've only achieved this ONCE, and even then one of the guys couldn't make it. (so it was just me, and a bassist and drummer who were in a league beyond mine)
I have gone through calls, emails, and messages galore, and every ....ing musician I run into suddenly drops off of the face of the Earth, so here I am with a bevvy of ideas, but no one to run them across to tell me how I'm doing that might understand what I'm trying to accomplish.
And I am not ....ing moving to NYC or LA, talk about needle in a haystack there.
So much of this...
When I was playing shows multiple times a week, before I had a career, I often wondered how the fvck I was going to afford rent. Now I wish I could just find the people (and more importantly, the time) to be in a band again.
broj15
Well-Known Member
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I'll agree, finding a (house broken) drummer is the biggest pain in the ass. At this point I'd be fine with finding someone who could just keep time as long as they're open minded about what they're keeping time to. Also, writers block and the inevitable break that comes with it is the worst.
Necris
Bonitis.
answering the question: "what kind of music do you play?"
especially with older folks/people who just listen to what's on the radio. it's a lose/lose question in most cases. say too little and they think you're being short with them and stand-offish, say too much and you come off as pretentious or alienate them by the music you just described that's not very "normal"
how the conversation normally goes:
me: "heavier stuff, metal" sparing them the ludicrous details about subgenres they don't care about, or bands that have a similar sound that they've never heard of
them: "oh, like metallica?"
me: "yeah, kind of"
^ "Oh, like Metallica?" is a godsend in those situations, in my opinion. At least you have some frame of reference.
"Yeah, like kind of like Metallica but a lot faster and with deeper sounding guitars and deep growly vocals rather than melodic singing."
Boom, you've just described Death Metal.
"Like Metallica but with ________" is an easy way to explain your genre to someone who doesn't really listen to metal but knows Metallica (or another big name band), even if it hurts your ego.
At least you don't come away looking like a dismissive ass, which many, many musicians do once they realize a person doesn't really have any familiarity with their genre, regardless of what genre they primarily play.
groverj3
Bioinformagician
The idea that you need to be "well rounded" in the sense that you can't just play what you like. You MUST play shit that you don't like, too. Which is obvious utter nonsense.
A classically trained pianist isn't REQUIRED to play jazz. However, if I don't dig playing the blues I "play with no emotion" am not "well rounded enough" etc. I take pride in developing vibrato, expressive phrasing, and all that. I just do it in my own context.
A classically trained pianist isn't REQUIRED to play jazz. However, if I don't dig playing the blues I "play with no emotion" am not "well rounded enough" etc. I take pride in developing vibrato, expressive phrasing, and all that. I just do it in my own context.
If you go into ANYTHING purely to make money then I feel a bit sorry for you. If you don't enjoy your job then that just sucks. But...
I think there's nothing wrong with musicians complaining about the money we make. Well, I mean we bring a lot of that on ourselves and it's in large part our own faults, but I still think it's fair that we say we need to get paid more. It's ....ing hard to make money as a musician. And you know what? A lot of us on here are damn good at it, and we deserve to get paid for our hard work.
I can name hundreds of steady paying jobs that you can get just for going to school for 4 years. I'm just finishing up my four years, plus I've spent thousands upon thousands of hours practicing my craft outside of that. And once school is done, I don't just stop learning and start doing, I keep practicing. How many of those employees in those other jobs come home after work and KEEP WORKING?
I think that if you work hard to deliver a service to other people then you deserve to get paid for your work. I hate it when people brush it off and say "That's different though, because you enjoy it."
What the f*ck? So a plumber hates his job and works at it less, so he should get paid more, but because I enjoy my job I shouldn't make a decent amount of money off of it despite the fact that I've put in thousands of hours more work, and actually CARE about my work? Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
I think there's nothing wrong with musicians complaining about the money we make. Well, I mean we bring a lot of that on ourselves and it's in large part our own faults, but I still think it's fair that we say we need to get paid more. It's ....ing hard to make money as a musician. And you know what? A lot of us on here are damn good at it, and we deserve to get paid for our hard work.
I can name hundreds of steady paying jobs that you can get just for going to school for 4 years. I'm just finishing up my four years, plus I've spent thousands upon thousands of hours practicing my craft outside of that. And once school is done, I don't just stop learning and start doing, I keep practicing. How many of those employees in those other jobs come home after work and KEEP WORKING?
I think that if you work hard to deliver a service to other people then you deserve to get paid for your work. I hate it when people brush it off and say "That's different though, because you enjoy it."
What the f*ck? So a plumber hates his job and works at it less, so he should get paid more, but because I enjoy my job I shouldn't make a decent amount of money off of it despite the fact that I've put in thousands of hours more work, and actually CARE about my work? Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
AliceLG
\m/^_^\m/
Mmmmmmmmmm venting ...
Where are all the fvcking bassists hiding?
I've been writing and recording original material with my band for 2 years now, we have enough for an album, or at least a quite decent EP. But in those 2 years we've auditioned only 3 bassists. 2 sucked right out of the box and were never contacted again. The other one came to ONE rehearsal after his audition and then he never had time. FVCK!
Also, GAS sucks a lot if you ask me.
Where are all the fvcking bassists hiding? I've been writing and recording original material with my band for 2 years now, we have enough for an album, or at least a quite decent EP. But in those 2 years we've auditioned only 3 bassists. 2 sucked right out of the box and were never contacted again. The other one came to ONE rehearsal after his audition and then he never had time. FVCK!
Also, GAS sucks a lot if you ask me.
Lol, this. Especially when I go to sleep. So many cool ideas are spinning in my head as I try to fall asleep, and I can't remember any of them on the morning after
Preacher
Lord of Beer
Meeting someone new and interesting who *ACTUALLY PLAYS AN INTSTRUMENT* and hearing the phrase "we should jam sometime". Then seeing them again a month later and hearing the same phrase. I tried contacting you over 10 times you SOB, its not my fault if you can't be bothered to pick up the phone/reply to an email.
That and you know, finding someone in my town that isn't a guitarist that only plays Indie on an acoustic to attract dubiously young teenage girls. I kid you not there is one busker who managed to drag out an REM song for an HOUR (couldn't even sing he sort of spoken worded it) and he had a bunch of people enthralled. It was bizarre, but then I suppose more power to him and I'm a jealous douche because I can't get people to be that interested in the noise I make.
I have seriously considered getting a full bass rig and a 7 string bass and just treating it like an ERG so I have more people to jam with
That and you know, finding someone in my town that isn't a guitarist that only plays Indie on an acoustic to attract dubiously young teenage girls. I kid you not there is one busker who managed to drag out an REM song for an HOUR (couldn't even sing he sort of spoken worded it) and he had a bunch of people enthralled. It was bizarre, but then I suppose more power to him and I'm a jealous douche because I can't get people to be that interested in the noise I make.
Mmmmmmmmmm venting ...
I've been writing and recording original material with my band for 2 years now, we have enough for an album, or at least a quite decent EP. But in those 2 years we've auditioned only 3 bassists. 2 sucked right out of the box and were never contacted again. The other one came to ONE rehearsal after his audition and then he never had time. FVCK!
Also, GAS sucks a lot if you ask me.
I have seriously considered getting a full bass rig and a 7 string bass and just treating it like an ERG so I have more people to jam with
So you took my first post wrong. Just agree wholehearteadly with me
You have to twist my post very hard to took it that way..... I never said people shouldn't get paid for the effort they put (in music and basicaly every other effort you can think about). But dont expect to get paid just because of the effort. You gonna get paid IF people pay for it. Too easy!! Tomorow I leave my job and make "music" 8h a day. 8h of effort per day. Nao give me the money!!!
Lol
Too many people thinks about money before thinking about their music. If the money is your goal, then go gnam gnam style or pre chewed pop specialy crafted to please the mass.
TedEH
Cromulent
I have seriously considered getting a full bass rig and a 7 string bass and just treating it like an ERG so I have more people to jam with
Honestly, most of the best bassists I know in person were originally guitarists who needed a bassist and couldn't find one. I'm also one of those people, and bass is now my main instrument.
WhoThenNow7
Well-Known Member
Being in a shitty area for music and not being able to find members. Seriously is it that hard to find a bass player!? I can put up all the ads, register in band finding sites, and nothing gets replied. No one wants to put in work anymore.
rectifryer
Banned
My best friend is my bass player and I am lucky it turned out that way. It's hard to find level headed people, much less musicians, much less good musicians, much less good musicians that like what you like lololol.
Old mom saying "but you're not a musician" - 'course I'm not seen on the popular channels, and have no official education in music; just played since around 10, but that doesn't count.
Nope, don't need a shrink, she can't help it, preferring Deutche Schlager Paraden..
Nope, don't need a shrink, she can't help it, preferring Deutche Schlager Paraden..
brutalwizard
Pretty Your Petunia
Sobriety?
