Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The atomic weight of AWESOME


Getting There - Part I

Last night during Tyler's live YouTube stream, where he played a few previews of music from his new album and answered questions sent-in online, the question came up again: "Do you have any advice for an up-and-coming musician?" Looking to capitalize and perhaps expand a bit on Tyler's answer, I present the following post.

Now, before we get too far into this, I want to say that at times, it does feel weird to answer this question for people. Realizing that I can't speak for everyone else in the crew, I will admit that I feel like I both have and haven't "made it". On the one hand, I am living my dream of playing music and touring the world in order to perform. On the other, most of us still haven't gotten to that level where we feel like we've really locked a long-term career into place. So, of course, it seems that there are different degrees of making it, so take my advice from that proper perspective. That being said...

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Werk.



Obsession is the enemy of balance; balance is the soulmate of meaning; meaning is the progenitor of joy. Let's not take this graphic too literally.
That being said...

_ Nothing replaces elbow grease. Nothing. Even geniuses work their butts off.
_ If you don't love the practice room, you'll never fully appreciate the stage.
_ If something is important, do it every day.
_ Do the work, enjoy the results; it's fun to be good.
_ Entitlement never achieves.
_ Sometimes it's not about the destination, it's about the journey.
_ Nothing worth having is easy to obtain.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Dream Teams

If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand.

_ Steven Tyler, Eddie Van Halen, Billy Sheehan, Gregg Bissonette.

_ Peter Gabriel, Steve Lukather, Jaco Pastorius, Vinnie Colaiuta.

_ Sting, Bruce Hornsby, Michael Landau, Steve Gadd.

_ Sammy Hagar, Jeff Beck, Tony Levin, Simon Phillips.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Best Music You Haven't Heard (Yet) - Steve Lukather

This post has been bouncing around in my head for awhile. Reason being that it's sort of like trying to buy a Christmas present for a millionaire: what exactly would you get them that they don't already have? Similarly, what in the world can I say about Steve Lukather that hasn't already been said?

I could go on and on about the accolades, the hits, or the thousands of albums he's been a part of (including the most successful record release in all of music history). But plenty of people have already been over all of that stuff time and again, and I'd rather spend my time convincing you to listen to one of the most underrated masters in all of music.

To say that Luke is a great guitar player is sort of like saying Notre Dame is an impressive piece of architecture. To say that Luke is one of the greatest rock guitar players ever to live is probably a little bit more on point. But what separates him from the rest of the pack is his stature as a complete artist - guitarist, songwriter, singer, band member - and not just a one-note banjo. There are quite a few guitar hero types running around these days, and just about all of them are worthy of the reputations they've constructed over the years. Lukather, however, to me, stands in a category all his own due to his ability to make music, and not just Guitarmaggeddon.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Rejected

So, today I experienced that old familiar feeling. I was officially rebuffed in my first attempt to attain a professional endorsement.

Interestingly enough, on the exact same day, a great friend of mine asked me if I had any advice on how to deal with criticism and someone else's negative opinions.

Great. Time to walk the talk now, Joel.

As a struggling musician, rejection is not a new concept for me. I've played to completely (and by "completely", I mean "completely") empty rooms, been passed-up in battle-of-the-bands competitions, been ridiculed for dropping out of college to pursue my dream, been fired from a band, and had guys quit on my own group. And I can honestly say that I don't think any of them were easy to deal with.

There are people who naturally handle this kind of thing really well. For me, it's been more of a process (a very humbling process, at that) of learning that other people's negative stuff doesn't need to drag me down - I have deeper hopes than this and just because I failed in the here and now doesn't mean that I've failed completely. It could come around in the future, and many times, it has. My biggest problem is in second-guessing myself: Did I do something wrong? Did I send them the right kind of material? Should I have been more flashy and less musical? Do I need to play the game more?

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