Starting out I was the closest I ever was to this goal without realizing it. I didn't know how to play anything so I played next to nothing and enjoyed it to death. To feel my fingers on a guitar or lips on a harp and to have any sound come out made my soul giggle.
As time went on I got off on getting fancy and impressing people. I think this is pretty much a natural progression with the learning curve. Now I am finding myself playing slower, and less and less fancy. The space and tone of the song is the what it is becoming more and more about. I remember reading about Picasso in his later years trying to capture the childlike perspective with his art. I saw some of these paintings and was sort of like - hum they do nothing for me. I am going to have to revist that era of his art because I am feeling the same journey and for me, it is about pleasing myself. Others may not be able to relate to this stuff but for me, the depth is there. Here is a song about this journey. It is great being finacially stable without music income and most importantly, not concerned if my music ever lands me in front of an audience again. I can drift into my dreams that often only happened when I was alone in parking garages, stairways, and late night alone after gigs. People expect a high energy upbeat show. That was fun for many years and I still enjoy it when the feeling hits, but to be doing it most of the time sounds of no fun. To someday just be able to sit in front of an audience and not play or sing a thing and touch their souls sounds like the end of my musical journey. This song describes what I am saying better than I can type. Walter
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Walter, that is food for thought. Thanks. I've been listening to some of the blues elders, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Son House, keeping it raw, elemental, emotional. Fred McDowell liked to break off his lyrics and just fill in the words with his guitar. I also find Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night", with no lyrics, per se, is one of the most evocative blues tunes I've heard. It's hard to get more elemental than that song, but it touches a lot of people.
I love your image of a swimming pool, closed for winter, still retaining the spirit of summer. ----------
Very insightful. Many musicians fall into the trap of playing for other musicians rather than a general audience. I used to master pieces on the trombone just to impress other trombone players with what I could do. I catch myself falling into the same trap with the harp and have to remind myself that "it doesn't have to be hard to be cool." Many times less is more. I've watched James Cotton play a slow blues solo and make strategic and effective long pauses in his playing while he lets the music move around him. There's also one where he wallows in a 2-hole bend for....it seems like ten seconds. Anyway, I enjoyed the song. Thank you.
thanks. Being flashy, cool, whatever, as long as one is thinking it, it is the ego at work. I am convinced thinking is the work of the ego. That is the beauty of my studio. It is a great place, like a gym, to work out the kinks of the ego without the temptations to impress others. Even in their by myself the temptation comes to "show what I know" instead of just letting the music flow out of me.
Here are few from this afternoon. I have more to mix later:
do it baby rich minus is a friend of mine she knows and I know as we grow older link to the songs ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
hi gene: I would sadly say very little. Very few musicians know how to let it out uncensored. they are programed to fit the mold. They are so programmed that they think they are letting it out uncensored but if they were to go back and anyalize how they play they would most likely discover how much thinking goes on in regards to their music. Simple tests of thinking are: did you think what key to play the song in because of your voice to notes you are going to sing/play? Did you avoid things that you percieve as your weaknesses? Did you think to do songs/beats that showcase what you percieve as your strenghts? Did you think what beat the song would have? Were you aware of how long a solo was going? Were you concerned with an upcoming passage or note? Did you discuss in any way how the song will go? Did you discuss/signal breaks and or chord changes before or during the performance? Did you discuss dynamics, tones, amp set ups prior to performing? These things are so common place that most think they are not thinking when doing this. To truly embrace playing without thinking one has to relearn via tapping into the little child they once were. You have to go back to a point where things were done out of pure self joy with no concern with what the world thinks of it. It is like changing a lifestyle and for most the longer one is in a certain lifestyle the harder it is to leave it.
It is similar to stress. Most people are not aware of how much stress they carry in their every waking moment. It often takes an outsider to bring it to their attention, reading a chart on warning signs, or an event in their life for them to realize the load they have been carrying around.
I have been around lots of musicians and in lots of recording studios as a player and observer with amatuer bands up to grammy winners. Most on this forum would be amazed at how scripted even a loose recording session generally is with the entire spectrum of talent. I mean no disrespect/right/wrong with these comments. They are just observations I have noted over the years. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
the wall every addict faces I'm a loner and thats ok who will untie your shoes tonight the little freckle faced girl cried ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
here are some from tonights set. I normally record with 6 mics- 1 on vocals/harp, one on the snare, one on the ride cymbal, one on the room, one on the guitar amp, an one about 3 feet off the guitar amp. Tonight I decided to cut the room and mic far off the guitar amp and go back to a basic 4 track set up. I forgot to turn on the phantom power for the ride cymbal. So I ended up with a 3 track recording- 1 on the vocal/harp, one on the snare(a brush instead a stick tonight), and one on the guitar amp. I kind of like the result and learned a lot about mixing in the cymbal too much in the future. Walter
help me spend this dough a day and a night without a worried mind the autumn of our life count me out this morning divorce is everywhere
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Walter they all ready have a artist that has songs that everybody likes with ,out you playing or singing a thing ,There called Juke Boxes,Man you need to have some fun with your music,You seem like me with frustrations with music except,Im trying to learn all the stuff you want to unlearn.And its driving me crazy ,I thought about my anger towards music im having just earlier today,Trying to get that Tone that sound feel and vibe,that you say is a bad thing,So as a great thinker once said Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein So I think im going Insane;-)(Hobostubs)
But your song sounded good,I like the small touches to it,the barely hitting the harp on attack but so exact,and right on,I try my hardest and can only play simpler type stuff with what ever I try and play,But because im struuggling to do it,it sounds like im barely staying afloat,I hate that to,But you have the ability to do so much but have the enlightenment to stay simple at times,And it sounds so good like You make easy sound hard or hard sound easy,but you definetly sound like you know what your doing ;-) ---------- Hobostubs
Hobostubs: I agree with Einstein. I see our culture as basically insane. We pollute the water/air/soil until it is not healthy to use, alter climates/landscapes with our lifestyles, and raise our kids into such a world. What better way to destroy our planet and species?
Back to music- I started out trying to be way ahead of where I was ability wise. I think that is human nature- to be not in the moment. Luckily I usually came back to where I was and honestly enjoying the simple sounds I was making. Thanks for the compliments on my playing. Playing loud, fast, fancy, never held my attention for long. I have always been attracted to the simple players like lightning hopkins, jimmy reed, etc. the flash guys impress the masses so I know when a guy like you digs my sounds I am still following my dreams. Enjoy your journey. Take joy in the sounds that come out of you. If you take away all the static/chatter the mind creates, I bet you find yourself digging your stuff just as it is. I always say one should feel themself the greatest musician they have ever heard let them be a rank beginner or seasoned player. Why? Because they are making music that is unique to their person. I am my favorite artist. I like lots of other players but when it comes down to whose music I could take to a desert island it would be mine. This isn't bragging or ego boasting. It is enjoying ones own unique sound without any head trips derailing you. the blues greats I saw oozed this energy when they were on. they weren't bragging, just enjoying the sounds that came out of them. This only happens when the mind chatter is turned off.
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
I work on an ambulance. Usually with partners in their 20's. I am almost 70. One of my partners was trying to answer the question: what lies beyond the edges of our universe? I told him space. He had difficulty accepting its infinity. I pointed out that space was nothing - not a 'thing' - and therefore has no boundaries, no limits. It seemed to startle him, so I explained how the mind generates the concept of a separate thing, an object, when it gives whatever a name. The idea of space falls prey to that misconception. One of the first things children learn in coping with the environment outside the womb is 'object permanence'. Things don't cease to exist when we're not sensing them. Then we generalize, and become enamored of things. Things symbolize survival. Things hypnotize us into the common culture, make us slaves to convention and fads and wealth and the accoutrements of fame. The music industry, the entertainment industry in general, indeed the whole economic struggle, worships that golden calf. We strive to satisfy its demands, practice all sorts of nonsense, in hopes it will bestow some reward, some more survival.
There's a tradition in India for elder men to cast away all belongings and survive by the generosity of other people.
With age and weariness comes recognition that we need to escape the cage of things, find meaning closer to the source, hear the silent notes, and recognize God.
Everything arises from nothing, and evolves because it is impermanent. Music is like that.
Walter, you are unique and you can probably help us all learn something about ourselves.
On thinking and music: I love some of my favorite activities - especially music and sports - because they stop me from thinking. I spend so much of my time thinking that I get great pleasure from any activity that forces me to clear my mind.
When I'm having a good time with music, it's when I'm not thinking. I can't tell you much about what or how I played. I wasn't thinking about it, I was just listening and playing. Just feeling the groove and riding along.
jdblues: I am always hopefull to meet others that spontaneously make up all their words and music whenever they play music. Are you a fellow one?
Here are some from todays session. I am listening to the bells of joy gospel group's yet to be released cd as my songs are encoding to mp3's. My good friend plays with the legendary austin and recorded this session recently. He sent me an mp3 album tonight. I think it will be released soon. It is great old time gospel- harmonies, repetitive, and very meditative. I love this kind of music.
future generation what are you going to do wall street and the american dream still following my dreams lost in the crowd I want that house on the hill put down them video games got to face my heart prepare for your last breath everyday one day and one night without a worried mind
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Here are some from tonights session. I am dealing with my parents growing close to death and they are not dealing with it very well. Much about that in tonights songs. Walter
life is a bitch most of the time such a world always an outsider lord help me find my way home the old man wants me to hold his hand till that sad feeling leaves walking down that death road ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
sammy harp: Thanks for posting that. It shows how powerful silence is and how forgien it is to most people. If one can relax with it, vivid pictures get painted in our minds. I always found what the blues greats didn't do created the most excitement for me because it allowed my imagination to create something in my mind with the space. I have been in noisy bars where people are not listening. Most performers will try to outvolume the crowd to get their attention. I learned early on to just stand there and stare into the audience and playing/saying nothing. It would quiet them down quickly because they were conditioned into the band playing loud over them. Then I would say hello very quietly, and wait a bit longer with silence. Just before they would get uncomfortabale to the point of doing something stupid, I would kick in with a easy groove. It often got them into the beat and for the rest of the night we had a good time. One of the reasons I don't go out to clubs anymore is because of sheer volume that is there with the performers, crowd, and jukebox. It kills my imagination. When I do a gig I insist on no fill in music between sets or before I start. It is all about saturation. Drunken minds like to get saturated with volume it seems but if you don't do it, they will dig it all the more. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Last Edited by on Nov 15, 2011 11:33 AM