Date: 01-February-2008, 09:54 Subj: Prone Filter:    Public Tags: musing

Nice, fun, random thing about me is that I always say what I mean at the moment, based on my current accumulation of knowledge, and I always gather more knowledge which causes me to change my current position.

Saying things to me like, "But you said..."
Well, sure. My mind, it changes. My positions, they shift.
Ten years ago I called myself a deist (I think).
Ten years before that I wore the whole armor of an Evangelical Christian.

Bringing up a person's past seems useless to me, that was a snap shot of a person when it currently does not matter. "Two years ago, you stated that you believed..."

*blank stare*

I guess in the context of trying to make someone a liar that could be valid, but something like belief and value? Those aren't fucking constant, and if they are, you're the one losing out.

Say you feel strongly about [environmental issue of choice] does the fact that you drove a [pollution causing automobile] five years ago make you a lying two-faced jackal? And you felt passionately about both?

News flash, that's humanity and changing currents.

And if you've done and felt the same way your whole life, in my book, that makes you boring and uninteresting. Someone else might favor you; I won't. People who never change their minds, hearts, or attitudes spark no flames in me. Something should change, for better or worse, for wiser or more foolish.

I take a person on their current value system. I keep checking their 'temperature,' to keep up with them. Today's asshole can be tomorrow's guru. Yesterday's libertarian is today's communist. Ideals are fluid and do not make the person. The person, at his or her core will be the same libertarian even when they are a communist. Your personality isn't rooted in your beliefs.

So what have I changed?

I don't think being so focused on music theory and ear training lessons is the way to go. I want a more loose practice structure. More "fucking around" on my guitar and less, "trying to get it right."

I think learning too much music theory will make me less creative (but I still plan to learn it later). I think too much 'getting it right' will make the same beast out of me. I want to just go to 5 year old with a pot and spoon mentality.

Also, I'm killing the metronome. I think it might make me sound like a robot. I'll pick it up later, when 50 bpm isn't a challenging pace.

Yeah, all that above BS because I went from, "I want to learn music theory," to "Fuck music theory. Lets jam."

Check with me next week. I might have something new.

Fuck, by March, I might not even be playing guitar.
know thyself

That's me, and I love this bitch.

"There are different "stages" or "states" of mania. For example, a minor state may involve increased creativity, wit, gregariousness, and ambition."

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User: shaktiboi Date: 01-February-2008, 22:42 (UTC) Subj: (no subject)

Give yourself two years to sound like crap and to feel like you'll never, ever get the hang of playing the dang thing. Seriously, mentally steel yourself to take *that* long. If you stick with it for that long, I guarantee you'll come out the other end being able to play a small repetoire of stuff passably well, being able to hear a tune and quickly figure out how to play it (well, except for jazz stuff, lol), and you won't feel like a wannabe any more.

But it really does take that long for your first instrument. Dogged determination is the key if you're starting later than age 10, lol.

Given that, I'm convinced that anybody who really digs music can become a passable musician. If you love to hear it and you don't just hear the lyrics but hear the *music* itself, you can learn how to play any instrument.

I started at 18 (most considered that to be way too late). By 26 I had been writing songs and playing rhythm guitar semi-pro for a while. At 27 I switched to bass, learned to think like a bass player after about 3 years, and played semi-pro bass for 9 or 10 years. Then I switched to drums because we had a hard time finding/keeping good drummers. That took only a year to really get up to speed on and I played semi-pro drums for 6+ years. Now I'm learning keyboards and that's going pretty fast too.

Don't sweat the theory but don't ignore it either. Same for the metronome at first--you gotta train your inner clock or you'll never be able to play well with others. But don't stress on them either. Best advice is play for 30 minutes here or there.. no longer. Short frequent practice is much better than 1 long practice per day.

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