The one theme I have seen over and over again in my 50 years of playing music is the lack of being oneself. Most players are thinking all the time even when they think they aren't. Concerns with what others think, wanting to fit in, fears of mistakes, inferiority fears, fears of losing the audience, tend to be what I see and hear when I watch most musicians play. It is like a huge wall that disconnects ones soul from the world. One needs to watch little children play and learn from them. They are the masters and we smash it out of them to be good assembly line worker musicians/artists. Very few survive the smashing phase which is a near 100% necessity to being accepted as a "real artist". Learn to let your soul shine unfiltered. Life is too short to do anything different. I was looking through my videos and found this one that I am most proud of for my soul shined clear with no thoughts only joy. 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 in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Great advice Walter! Hope all is well! K.C. love the video and the leg kick! For myself and I've been told, that its obvious, when my leg kicks; I most lost in the moment, music and time!!!
And I Thank You !! KCz Backwoodz Bluz
Last Edited by KC69 on Apr 19, 2015 5:40 AM
"Most players are thinking all the time even when they think they aren't. Concerns with what others think, wanting to fit in, fears of mistakes, inferiority fears, fears of losing the audience . . ."
Good thoughts Walter . . . and applicable to most facets of life. Just substitute the word "people" for "players." We're conditioned at a very early age as to how we should comport ourselves in ways that are diametrically opposed to our own distinct personalities/souls. Assimilation to the status quo seems to always take precedence over individuality.
Many years ago - back when I was still doing newspaper columns - I wrote something to the effect of "the hardest thing in the world is being yourself . . . mostly because people invariably wish you to be something else. There's no greater challenge than living up to the maxim of "to thine own self be true."
Thanks, as always, for providing food for thought. ---------- Marr's Guitars
Offering custom-built Cigar Box Guitars for the discriminating player of obscure musical unstruments
Last Edited by Rontana on Apr 19, 2015 5:40 AM
As long as I've worked "in the field", playing out at joints and on the street, there is still a part of me that watches what the audience is doing and worries what they might be thinking. This becomes a distraction and my playing actually suffers. Sometimes I get down on myself, knowing what a mess I'm making, only to have someone hit me on a break and praise what's coming out the speakers!
Last eve, we played a place and I plugged the harp amp into the guitar and vice versa. The harp amp is more beat and gives off more distortion where the guitar amp is cleaner and clearer, although both are the same amp. This move was not a good thing as Jolene was trying to get her guitar changes right but with too much breakup she got lost a few times. On break we went out front and talked about what the issue was and I swapped the amps around. Meanwhile a gal from Missouri and her husband made a point to tell us how much they dug what we were doing and how great we sounded! Compliments were scarce last night at that place, who knows why since last time there we bowled them all over!
One night we were playing in Clarksdale MS, at the old train station, a joint named the Depot was open there at the time, now long gone. Nearly no crowd, the place is out of downtown and it just was not a popular venue, who knows why. As a duo we were pretty new, rarely playing outside the home area here in Arkansas, but we'd boldly booked this gig and showed up to play, with all our fears in tow. First set, not bad. Second set, ok. At break between 2nd and 3rd sets we worried about how we were coming off. I remember thinking F%&K it, we're DOING THIS and it's going to be KILLER. We took the stage for set 3 and turned to each other, and just busted loose with everything we had! Considering this was where a lot of the old blues folks had walked across that very floor on their way to St. Louis, Memphis, Chicago, wherever else back in the day, there HAD to be some mojo left. I thought of all the people who informed my love of blues, who had been in that very room during their lives and careers as blues musicians.
We found it that set. We knocked the owner back a ways. When we were done he paid us DOUBLE and told us we were better than a lot of high dollar bands he'd hired in the past year. Why? What did we do different? We LET GO. We did what was in us and did not care about anything but that moment. We used all our skills and heart and soul, and laid the real deal out there.
So I have to totally back Walter on this. If you can let go of the small concerns and play like a 5 year old, you can break on through. Welcome to the ZONE. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
Excellent, Excellent, discussion going on here. All I can say is I am the same and agree compleatly. Just forget everything and let it go. Get on the edge and play your ass of!!!
Telling yourself to forget everything means you are thinking. No mind is something the western world is not very tuned into and we often think we are there when we are not. The best no mind example most people have is daydreaming. By this I mean when you zone out while awake. Our upbringing jolts us out of that asap because it is viewed as not a good thing and I have noted most musicians get high to get to this place. That is sad because that is a false no mind. It is much more powerful when you are straight. Remembering words to songs, following set lists, how long a solo goes for, all are thinking. I am not meaning to put anyone down just pointing out how much our artistic world is based in thinking and has redefinded that to not thinking........... when I do a gig it will go as long as it goes with no idea what words or music will transpire. People have to accept that or I won't play. I am addicted to no mind and to box it in ruins it instantly. 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 in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Walter, I've also had the other side of the problem.. where I'm so engrossed in listening to what the band's doing - and how I'm fitting in - that I forget that I'm also a showman who can present a more animated appearance, or smile at the crowd and my bandmates when I'm not playing. We've probably all had the experience where one of our bandmates, or a listener, says "I loved what you did on that one tune", and you can't recollect having done it.
LittleBubba: I have had lots of people tell me how great I sounded while I felt on the verge of committing suicide and conversely I have felt a pure channeling of music and no one applauded and or the patrons walked out. It all goes to show that you never know what people will think of your music and that is why I profess to do what moves you and forget what you think it should be. My current songs get simpler and simpler but I find them to be more deep and refreshing than my earlier days of busy flash stuff. My music has weeded out notes that are of no interest to me and I find just a few are all I need to be satisfied without distraction, thought, or clutter. I play music to find peace and balance so I can continue to hold hope in this world. 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 in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
