Do you consider yourself still a beginner? Do you think you're at your prime? Do you think you're going to continue to get better and better with age?

Just curious. No ulterior motive, just curious.

I'd say I've hit my prime and this is as good as it's going to get... I'm now noticing that ALL my music is great, as long as you like 80's prince/dance music. I don't think I'll improve. Don't think I'm BAD, just, I guess at this point, when I'm 80, I'll look back and say, yeah, that was pretty good.

Do you think you'll look back at today and say "I was JUST beginning", or "it didn't get no better"?

i think i'm getting better and better. i'm constantly looking for new ways to reinvent the wheel. no offense to you otan, but i think when you admit to yourself "yep, this is it, not going to get any better than this", you subconsiously start to spin your wheels, y'know? if you have the desire to get better or move forward, you will.

$.02.

going back into 'lurk' mode in this forum now.

--gm--

uh,

thinking of scratching the surface?

Yeah, that's it. That's where I'm at.

Im a begginer but at 19 what else could I be.

Kinda goes like this at the mo --> --> --> --> --> --> -->

thecloud9mission said:

Well - that's close to where I am.

I'm not saying I'm never going to write something better than what I've written as of today. I'm saying that, style, ability-wise, I don't see myself growing like I used to.

Being self-taught, my education comes in leaps and crawls. Until something else comes along that just blows my mind, the way FUNK did back in 1977, and BLUES back in 1997, I think this is pretty much it, as far as what I'm capable of doing.

I'll take what I know, re-work it into a different song, use a different subject for the song, write different lyrics, but, well, let me put it this way; I'll NEVER write/record a rap song. NEVER write/record a grindcore song, NEVER write/record a jazz-Norah Jones type song. It's just not in me.

So, with that, I was wondering about the rest of youse. Do you think your musical diversity, as it pertains to your songwriting/performing/recording, is continuing to grow? or do you think you're funk, through and through?

I mean, yes, I could WRITE a rap song. But it would be just an experiment, AT BEST.

Like a child unto God. I picked up drumsticks last night for the first time in a really, really, really, reeally long time. I was at a prayer meeting at a local church and I just started playing drums to some old time hymns- I was actually not too bad! I am always wanting to learn new instruments. All of the drum programming and synth loops have made me all but forget some of the true fun you can have just playing the music live.


Peace,
JD

I don't think that I can develop anymore musically. Mainly because my influences are so great, I think that anyone who listens to my music would have to pick and choose what they like. I haven't attempted every style of music that I would like to but I know that it's in me to create it. Therefore, I just have to kick back and wait for inspiration. But I don't think it can no betta! Like James and the JBs said "What it is is what it is"

otan said:

I feel I am a beginner, going on intermediate. I can sense a change coming. The new ideas I've been receiving have given me a glimpse of what's to come. It's very exciting to me. As soon as I get my recording problems worked out, I feel a floodgate is about to open.

I just wish I had a collaborator/ producer/ engineer type person to take care of the recording aspect for me. Right now I feel there are so many things I want to do, and I'm hitting a wall at every turn.


I feel like there is so much more to explore, and I really feel that my signature sound is just beginning to emerge, both musically and vocally. I'm going to start incorporating more live instruments into my music and experiment with interesting combinations. But it wont be forced experimenting, I've always naturally leaned toward certain things. I love strings and harpsichord and I used to play in an african percussion group in college, and I've always thought it would be neat to compose something using harpsichord and african percussion together.

I don't want to copy anyone, but I hope to be in the same caliber as Bjork someday, at least musically. I don't think I could ever have a voice like her. She's amazing.

My musical development is on ice.

VinaBlue said:[quote]

otan said:

I just wish I had a collaborator/ producer/ engineer type person to take care of the recording aspect for me. Right now I feel there are so many things I want to do, and I'm hitting a wall at every turn.


quote]


I would gladly produce some work with you!

Maybe you should back everything UP a notch, drop out of the high-tech world, and try using a piano and a tape recorder. A friend of mine wanted to start writing songs - he had lots of lyrics, and notes about the songs, and he bought cakewalk, with NO knowledge of keys, drums, nothing... I kept telling him, go buy a $20 mini recorder, and just HUM the ideas, and then sing over that to see how it fits.

The drive to use the best tools for the job can overwhelm when you haven't used the most basic tools first... like my marriage for instance: I had to use primitive wives first, before being able to work with the sophisticated one I have now.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 11 8:24:02 PDT 2003 by otan]

Im trying 2 re work old songs i made up as a kid on old tapes from like 1990 and stuff.


Musically, I somewhat have withdrawn from the Dance tunes a bit like I used 2, and started generating more in2 Hip-Hop Funk R&B sounds. I guess because Im stuck in listening 2 Parliafunkadelicmentship at this time...

Learning the Synth & keyboard more, learning vocal decoding more and more, and mixing alot better.

I made a couple of them "Just Balze" "Kayne West" kind of instrumentals (the sounds that Jay Z b havin all the time) but i just stopped Beat Bitin after a while, just testin myself...works pretty good.

otan said:

I used to do that, but you can't layer ideas doing it that way.

Been there, done that. I've taken piano lessons and I can play and record the midi stuff fine. What I'm having problems with is Audio recording. I took two semesters of Recording Techniques years ago and don't remember much of that. Obviously digital recording is based on the theories of analog recording, which I have very little understanding of. That, coupled with my slow computer is making my life crazy right now. I've recorded audio, but I've never had 3 tracks of audio going through my computer, so I think I need a faster one.

Yeah, I used to hum ideas into tape recorders, lyrics with melodies, keyboard parts. So I didn't get Cakewalk without any knowledge of songwriting. I've been doing midi for (gasp) over 10 years. I bought cakewalk to learn digital audio. The demos on my website were created on an old Mac playing my keyboard going into two tracks of a 4-track and my vocals going into the other two tracks.


Glad you upgraded your wife. I'm sure you needed a little tweakin' too, lol.

BigThing said:

Ooooh, a proposal. I wonder how we can do this? Where are you on this planet and what software do you use?

i am just begining to discover my reproductive organs

thecloud9mission said:

Beginner my ass, this is coming from some1 who teaches!

:I: would like 2 paraphrase Sting in regards 2 my position..
"The more :I: learn, the more there is 2 learn"...

thus :I: will B 4ever expanding my arsenal. :I: have thought about giving it all up though...

'dre

DreZone said:

Ain't it the truth.

At the very early beginning!

DreZone said:[quote]

thecloud9mission said:

True.

I did my 8th & highest grade on drumkit when I was 16 & have been teaching at a professional music school since I was 17. Its unusual for someone my age but there aint many people my age that have been playing since they were 3.

People have always told me that Im gonna be amazing when Im 30ish so untill then Im a begginer. But seriously I learn more everyday on my other instruments which are not quite so good as the drums but I think I have a lot to learn on drums too as I realised when I had a lesson with my drum teacher last week. I realised that this guy will always have something thats hard for me to play. We were doing left hand demi semi quaver syncopations at 150bmp last week - ouch!

I have a lot to learn but Ive learned a lot is the way I'd put it

thecloud9mission said:

Isn't that just another way of saying

The more learn, the more there is 2 learn"...

'dre

DreZone said:

I have thought about giving up the music before also, because of all the crap you have to go through to get the message and music across to people. Then, I found the Org, and I realized that there are ways for people without the glamour to get together and buck back at the system a little bit at a time- even if we don't accomplish big things on a major scale, we can still say that we have found places where we could at least try!


Peace,
JD

I am a beginner but I'am no fool.
I already had a punk rock, a grunge and a hard rock band. But now i wanna do my own songs, and i'll see what I can come up with. I always did songs, but not with other guys, like now, with arrangements and everything, so this is very new for me.

I'm just dreamin' about playing on a real piano.

I have no training or education, but i manage to put together stuff that people think sounds really professional, and i get paid sometimes too!

got two songs in the festival cut of this little indie film: sexless

www.sexlessthemovie.com

otan said:

Sorry, but how can you say that? A true musician constantly evolves. How can you say you can't get any better? It just depends on what you are willing to learn. If it's music you are talking about than of course you still have stuff to learn. Are you saying you know every scale and every lick that has ever been created? No. You merely know enough to create the music you want. But that sure don't mean you can't improve. You may as well give up now if that is the case.

Nuff sed

P.s. very nice web site...

Here's my opinion on this.

I'm intermediate sometimes but others make me feel like a beginner. I will always be a student of music. I play guitar mainly but I'm a decent drummer and pretty good on bass.

Overall musically I'm a beginner but what is playing in my head is advanced. I will always learn something but that applies to music and life. When I'm not learning anything and think that I know it all, I'll be dead.

Cakewalk, sound engineering and mixing is overwhelming me right now. My Zoom box is letting me get ideas down but now I need some song structure (which is what I'm working on).

Then don't get me started on singing because I'm also working on that.

Influences will always be heard but it's where you take it, that speaks your voice.
[This message was edited Mon Apr 21 13:50:42 PDT 2003 by Slave2daGroove]

I have been playing for a long time and feel that I am very good at what I do, But I know there is always someone better, and that I have a long long way to go.

Well sure, there's always someone better. I'm trying not to look at who's kicking my ass talent-wise, or else I'd throw in the towel and go play some Tomb Raider.

By saying I'm as good as I'll get - I mean, I can maintain this level for a good long time, but I think I've hit my full potential, creatively. I'll always be "almost good" - my originals will always be really good for somebody who doesn't have a record deal, but I just can't hear anything that I do and go "yeah, that should be on mainstream radio" ... Ain't saying I'll never keep striving to be better, through lessons, expansion of horizons, etc, but, I dont know, something inside just says "your best songs exist already, and anything else you write will be AS good, but don't search for a breakthrough that takes you from this level on UP to something AMAZING"

examples of amazing songwriting? David Ryan Harris, Prince, John Lennon, Hendrix... lyrically, chords, whatever it is, I WISH I could write stuff like that, but I KNOW, I won't.

I can continue to hone my craft, but creatively, I wonder, is there a limit? We are each creative to a certain level, and then that's it? Some are amazingly innovative and creative, and others are creative, but not on that level... it's hard to explain.

Of course, I'm feelin down still from the loss and all that - maybe I'll clear my head and move on up to another level if I keep on trying.

Sorry for the long rant here. Just thinking out loud.

YOU GUYS ROCK!