It's just about enjoyment. Innit?

One day, decades ago, when I was a teenager I was moping around because I wasn't the best at anything I did. I always had a friend who could play basketball better, or surf better, or guitar, etc. I proceeded to name my friends who were better than me. My Mom suggested I mix up what I did with what friends. I looked at her and said that person doesn't do that, or this person can't this. She then said, Well then just be thankful you are able to do a lot of things well enough to enjoy them. I have carried that advice my whole life. So I play my ukulele like I do everything else... well enough to enjoy it.

John
 
This topic,for me, is all about Grace Vanderwaal. All of us are better musicians than she is, but she's the millionaire; she's the one playing stadiums. Why? Because she takes the remedial I-IV-V progression and dumbs it down,and then totally commits to it. She is living in the moment and having fun. Everyone else should do the same thing.
 
I don't see a reason to denigrate Grace for her success. I think she's a good musician, creative and shows how much fun playing a ukulele is, not "remedial" or "dumb it down" at all.

8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/videos
 
When I first moved to where I now live, there was a fella who was a regular in the local pub, and he played guitar and sang - let's call him Max. He was, by amateur standards, very good. The landlord kept a guitar behind the bar, and Max would play a few songs almost every night.

The pub was closed for major renovation, which took a couple of years. When it re-opened it was a different sort of place altogether, and I lost touch with Max and the other regulars.

A few years later I bumped into Max and asked him about his playing. He told me he didn't play, or sing, any more. He explained that since he discovered the internet, and youtube, he had realised that there are thousands of amateur players who are much better than he was, and he found it dispiriting. He felt as though anyone listening to him would be comparing him, unfavourably, with some earnest spotty youth they had seen online.

I found that so sad.

John Colter.
 
S11LKO said:
I've spent a lazy morning looking at guitar & uke videos on YouTube with my brother in law.
He's non-musical and doesn't play ANY instrument at all.

He commented about the MANY 'unsigned but brilliant' players around the world and the fact that the vast majority played both instruments FAR better than I do or probably ever will be able to do.

He asked me if I found that frustrating.

I answered:
'Only in the way that I would LOVE to be able to do what they can do. But then there are many that have said to me that they'd love to be able
to play like *I* can. It's all a matter of perspective. It doesn't matter if you are a virtuoso or can just knock out a few basic chords. The main thing is that we love making music - to whatever our level of play - and that we ENJOY doing it and it gives us pleasure and that watching those more proficient inspires us on to keep practicing and becoming better ourselves.'

And enjoying listening to and playing our music is the most important thing. Innit?

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Sometimes the folk that question our values do so because they have none of their own to guide them. Of course questions are good, they enable us to check that what we do is giving the intended results and they also enable us to give guiding answers. Perhaps your Brother-in-Law might hear something that causes him to (if only slightly) question himself and then learn something.
 
"No ke aloha i ka mele"
When I busk I put up a sign with that phrase, which - as far as I could work out without having access to a native speaker, means "for the love of song" (If anyone can finesse my Hawaiian, please do)
I fell in love with song as a kid. I remember loving Bee Gees songs, and Jose Feliciano's "Listen to the Falling Rain" on the radio; anything with a beautiful melody and a story that moves me. In fact songs are a great way to tell a story.
I've been in bands, led choirs, worked as a music therapist, performed solo etc, but I think it all started with a love of song. Playing songs is another way of appreciating them - from the inside out.
I play pretty well but there will always be people who are faster and more knowledgeable. I have been in many situations where playing less - or nothing at all is the more musical option. If you are having your own authentic relationship with music that's all that counts.
I must also throw in that I have always been on a journey of finding fine instruments to play - which is somehow related to the love of music, not entirely self-indulgence... I think!
 
Again, this has proven to be an interesting and informative thread, and I continue to thank all those who have responded thus far; I never expected such a response.
I'm so glad to find a MAJOR theme running throughout which is common to all of us - our love of doing it - and may that love never evaporate.
Music is a natural thing found in nearly all countries and cultures the world over, and always has been, and the world without music is a world - in MY humble view - that would probably be no fun to live in at all!
Long may we all continue to live to play, sing and enjoy each other's love of what we do.
 
Thank you bill1
I suppose I'm lucky in that I love all genres of music. Only just discovered the uke but I love it and am trying to improve day by day, I've played most kinds of music on my acoustic guitars on and off (mostly off due to commitments), and now get together with friends and our electrics/bass/drums to play rock covers. As with all I do, I'm not brilliant, but I enjoy myself doing it.
Re BIL: I certainly will take your advice on board and see if I can (eventually lol) win him over!
 
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It's interesting that some people have this preconception that musicians play instruments for showing and impressing other people.
Certainly, performance is one part of music. But it's not the only thing, nor the main thing.

As an amateur, my philosophy is this.
I play for my own enjoyment and development. If I share the music, and others happen to like it, that's awesome!
But I'm not their employee obligated to play what they want or meet certain standards. It's just my own little dabbles at this and that.
 
Certainly, performance is one part of music. But it's not the only thing, nor the main thing.[/QUOTE]

I cannot agree with this point enough, especially coming from a professional background. I see so many people put themselves down because they've never performed and it gets me down.

To stand upon a church pulpit with thousands looking up at you expectantly is never easy, no matter how many times you do it. I'd take the simple joy of tinkering away and singing my favourite songs terribly over taking that stage again any day.

I have anxiety issues so please take this with a pinch of salt and take it for what it is: a stressed out girls' opinion. Maybe some day I'll overcome my issues and come rant and rave here about how I was stupid and the limelight is top but until then ��

Just remember that no matter where you make it, how you make it or who you make it for that your music is a miracle. Each note echoes back through thousands of years to join a faint chorus that our ancestors probably started by drilling a few holes in a stick. When you look at where music comes from and where it is now it blows your freaking mind!

(again, just an opinion ��)
 
And a great opinion it is laelia.
Music is so vast and encompassing that we can each take from and give to it exactly as suits us at any given time.
I think it differs a little if someone is a 'professional performer' because if you're being paid you need to give your audience what they expect to hear. Most good pub bands know that in particular.
Having said that, some of the best loved and enduring performers made their mark by playing what they themselves love to play (and in most cases it's been original stuff) - songs which in the fullness of time became accepted classics.
Again, so many perspectives...
 
Never be great either. I think I am about a one blade knife with a corkscrew. I enjoy the challenge of a new song, and the enjoyment when it sounds decent. I also sometimes sit an play the ones I have "mastered" and say to myself, I am really doing this. It is all very cool.
 
As a professional drummer from the time I was 15 to the time I was 34, I always had to keep my chops up and be better than the next guy in order to get the "good" gigs. Ultimately, I began to hate music, and in my mid-thirties, I completely walked away and never touched a drum again.

About ten years later, I discovered the uke and thought about buying one just to let the some of the music still wiggling inside me out. The one condition I gave myself was that I would never, EVER let myself get to the point where making music with it was painful or laborious, and I have held myself to this for the past ten years. I find that, now that I am not in competition with every single musician I see, whether in concert or on YouTube, I am enjoying music SO MUCH MORE THAN EVER! To watch Jake, George Formby, James Hill, or any of the virtuoso players I learn about through these forums is such a pleasure, especially knowing that I don't ever have to worry about being as good as any of them!
 
I suppose we each have to follow our own path with regards to our music, and it's quite obvious from what you say that you made the right decision for YOU, and that's fantastic!
Our lives are far too short to waste time doing things we're not enjoying, and you were wise enough to walk away when you found that happening.
But so great to hear you've found a way to enjoy your music again.
 
Papa Tom said:
As a professional drummer from the time I was 15 to the time I was 34, I always had to keep my chops up and be better than the next guy in order to get the "good" gigs. Ultimately, I began to hate music, and in my mid-thirties, I completely walked away and never touched a drum again.
Click to expand...

From my little overlap with those who have performed professionally my suspicion is that yours is a frighteningly well worn path and that you did well to survive until your mid-thirties. Believing it to be an exceedingly difficult path in life I generally discourage people from a career in music performance, relative to the amount of highly talented players that there are ‘out there’ there are way too few jobs.

IMHO music is best viewed as a hobby first and then, if you enjoy teaching, possibly a way of earning something by helping others to enjoy the joy of making music. If you play well enough to be paid to play then that’s great, we’ll providing that you’re not dependant on that income stream and are playing music that you enjoy and in a way that you enjoy. If someone can be paid reasonably for just doing what they already enjoy doing then good luck to them, but it’s all a complex balance so as they say ‘don’t give up the day job’ - earn the bulk of your income from something more reliable and treat any money from music as a bonus.
 
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The only way anyone would pay ME in music is to bribe me to 'go forth and multiply' and disappear far enough away that they could no longer hear me!! lol
 
I've played for 6 years now and I'm still trying to find my own "voice". I'll pick up a song sheet and try to make it sound like the original. That sense of making it mine is hard to learn. It's all music. But when will it become my music?
 
For me it's a matter of enjoyment versus progress, or maybe enjoyment and progress. I just finished 2 1/2 years of taking lessons and while the main reason is that my second teacher was moving onto other things we both knew it was time. Not because I didn't enjoy it but because in order to make progress I need to put in my ten thousand hours as they say. That is, the musical knowledge is there now but it wil take a ton of practicing to get it to the point where it does me any good even if it's not as fun. I get more enjoyment out of just playing a solo along with a standard on iReal Pro than I do working on a solo with guide tones but I see it as a short term pain for long term gain. I'll never be a great player, but I can be better then I am now. If it gets to the point where it feels too much like a chore I'll just come back and read this thread and remember it's just a part of the journey. And then I'll play Maggott Brain and forget all about appegiated solos for awhile.

John
 
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