Dig if you will the picture, of me sitting here alternating between same lame-o bass Acid Pro loop I just made and class cuts from Parliaments Osmium album, 'My Automobile', sure I could make something like that! Hell, the guys even show me how it's done at the start! (you with me?). I look at the clock and it's gone 11pm. By chance my cursor strays to the task bar, revealing an open Power Point file. It then occurs to me that for some reason The priorities of my Master Plan have taken a detour. You see, there's this place I go to everyday for satisfaction (primarily of wallet). Now I remember that some guys at this place I go to have asked me to present to them what I've been doing there for the last five months.

How do I stop myself from just turning up tomorrow with a CD player?

So far I've written a title, but the dilemma is that the bass loop still sounds a bit too crap.

Is it possible to balance vocation with recreation?

I have 10 hours to find the answer.

Do you relate?

Dude I so totally relate.

In the workplace, my day balances somewhere between 30/70 to 10/90. Like today. I've had a simple thing to do, and DAMN if I'm not debating the value of a CD from 71 or 86.

Music is starting to take over way too much of my time, for just being an amateur... well. these days, sure, semi-pro, unfortunately, I don't have the time to be semi-pro. At some point (and probably soon) I'm going to have to either walk away from this budding guitar career and go back to being a woulda-been, OR, go to my day-boss and say, "daddy needs a sabbatical".

Cuz, yeah, my wife would TOTALLY understand that...

otan said:

Tsss. Chicks.

Mines 800 miles away, so no ear bending for me. Damn that's what I need right now is just a part-time honey just to keep me on the straight and narrow. Maybe we could like, get it on now and again (just for the dirty stuff). Oh yeah, I have work to do...

Hey Otan (Beau?) from the sounds of it what with the LA gig you may be in with a lucky break! I can only imagine how hard it might be to make that kind of decision when you're faced with it. There's me fiddling with my first ever real composition, in exchange for ridicule tomorrow morning!

c'est la vie

Well, my home life, I would say probably 50 percent of it, which should be less, but with my need to record and make music, it is around that percentage. Work, I would say about 15% of it, because I dedicate down time to either being on here or typing ideas on wordpad, or writing down lyrics on scrap paper. The NFO thing and being here at the org has been most of the work stuff.


Peace,
JD

I can relate on some level to this. Work, freelance work and working on my house all have to take a back seat to the music. Sometimes, I've got to give 150% (even if that means less sleep) to work.

I'm living that right now but I can't help but post once in a while here. My friends are sending me MP3's and talking about what they just learned in Sonar. I'm aching to play and record but gotta pay the bills first.

I spend every monday night working on 2funkE stuff at my friends place and one or two nights each week working at home on my own stuff (using Reason software).

The rest of my spare time I spend downloading and listening to music and having fun with my 3 year old daughter. My obession with music is one of the reasons my girlfriend broke up with me, so I guess music has taken over my life a little too much...

Wow.

And I was crappin' myself about a stupid morning deadline getting in the way of a productive Acidpro session!

To have your woman split is such a diss, especially over something as silly as music. I'm assuming we all play good music to our partners. When I first met my girlfriend she liked new age music, and used to buy all the related magazines, until my boss and I (I used to work with her) ridiculed her so much that she's now learnt the errors of her ways. She even has her own copy of Maggot Brain now. Problem is as some kind of revenge she now loves to embarrass me in front of complete strangers by telling them I'm totally obsessed with music (or even worse, Prince!), and how the only real purpose she serves is to prevent my spuds from burning while I'm supposed to be cooking dinner and simultaneously busting a groove on the guitar. She may be hundreds of miles away now, but thanks to the marvels of webcam/audio capabilities of Messenger v6, the ol' six strings still manage to piss her off now and again!

There's nothing wrong with New Age music. Well, except Yanni...


Music is always in the back of my mind. When I'm at work, I'm the multi-tasking queen, trying to keep up with everyone here and at the nfo board. Sometimes it really interferes with my work, because ultimately I care about this more. BUT, I gotta pay my bills. At home I spend more time than I should, because I DO need sleep... But F*ck it, I went through so many years of creative blocks... So now's the time, I guess...

VinaBlue said:

No offence meant Vina!... all music has its place in the world. Once upon time I actually fancied Enya. And some people label Tubular Bells as new age - I don't care, I think it's great and everyone should have a copy (that of '73).

i dont take TOO much time on the funk cuz if u lose it, ya just cant groove it...no mo. But it is good sometime 2 comback 2 a song and fix sum thangz.

Music is about 80% of my life.

I always played lots of hours every day, but since I sold my guitar to pick the other i play very rarely, i am on vacation of music. i rarely pick a instrument to play, but i am hearing lots of stuff, like jannes addiction, faith no more, and old red hot chilli peppers albums. :p next month i will be an obsessed again, but i thought that i needed this time without playing and dedicating my time to my parents, my girl, and my friends.

I agree with PaisleyPark4 on the comment about "not losing the funk". Being critical is cool, and knowing what you can change about music is coo, but really, there isn't much time to go back and redo a song, especially if you have a 45 hour a week regular job. If music was my JOB, I would be putting out pristine music with great equipment and awesome sound mixing, and I would be doing it as prolific as I do now plus more. But, since I'm not independently wealthy, (and most of us aren't on here), we are gonna have faults and imperfections. So, if you lose your feel on a song by going back and rearranging it, then you just defeated the purpose of being a musician. Funk is that little funky 45 second urge that you turn into a dope bassline and then loop on a kick drum. So, whatever you do, just try not to get caught up in the technicalities. Most of the time I spend on music is messing with the recording equipment, not doing the song. The songs usually only take about 10 minutes to record and maybe 15 minutes tops to write, but the recording process is the long part (by recording process, I mean the noise reduction, the manual volume control that I have to monitor with my own hands on the slides, the analog inputs and having to make sure that there is no sound pops, the mic positioning so that there is no crackles, etc.).

Peace,
JD

ain't it funny how it is so hard 2 balance homelife/work/ and the old dreaded enemy 2 mankind(womankind) MUSIC. I have an annual fight with my wife about how I love music and she CLAIMS not to interfere with my musical pursuits.Where would we as musicians be if we were like Music 100%. We would be like Prince. It is a sacrifice 2 be "normal". Musicians are artists. Artists are NOT normal. Normal people do not understand what makes a musician tick. Music is my first love. It is the only thing that satisfies me without any let down.March on fellow musicians against all odds.Don't give up the funk for no one...

talmuzic said:

I totally recognize myself in this story, LOL!!!

talmuzic said:

...who, in fact, has no life. But if it keeps the choons flowing, then allow him this legacy. I reckon you have to be unbelievably creative if you are to survive a life of 100% musicianship. I for one get bored far too easily and my concerntration span is of a retarded goldfish. It is for this reason that I believe that if I were to dedicate 100%, there would still not be enough hours in the day for me to be satisfied, and my life would seem to go far too quickly. I guess I meander with song writing for four main reasons - a drive to be creative and original, a need for self expression, a belief that I actually have a talent (or at least, happy enough that my results satisfy the first two points proudly), and to get the chicks.

I've only performed in front of friends, so I've tasted the blood of stardom in the slightest way possible, but enough so to understand that the performance side of things could provide enough endorphines to warrant a junky. I'm luck in that I can tap into that by just watching Jimi on DVD or a good live band. So far, the need to masterbate in front of an audience of complete strangers is still a distant dream that at this stage still requires band members with bigger cocks than me.
[This message was edited Fri Sep 19 3:05:39 PDT 2003 by MaggotBrain]

MaggotBrain said:

So what are you trying to say?

I'm feeling you completely. I am that junky, I am he who needs to masterbate in front of an audience of complete strangers (regardless of cock size) just because I have to.

Keep up the inspirational words MaggotBrain, we all (as musicians) need that once in a while. Your fire for art is what I'm feeling.

Slave2daGroove said:

Hey Slave2daGroove I hope you didn't grab the wrong end of my euphamistic stick...as it were


I'm glad you have no qualms about the size of band 'members'! I'm actually trying to set up one (a band) at some point soon but according to the peeps I've met so far, the funk is dry here...everyone wants to play jazz or blues. Never played properly in a band before so it's all a new experience for me, hence the need for a lot of big, fat, meaty stuff supporting my ass. As it were. Ok I'll drop that metaphore for now... 'Till the band, I'm happy to plug away at the home recording when I get the time. Hopefully I'll be dedicating this weekend to laying down a weapon of mass destruction and getting it online so you guys can decide whether or not I should be allowed near a guitar again.

Now slightly more on topic... I'm actually at work, so I guess I best get somin proper done today! Oh pooh, but it's ten minutes past home time already.