if you're an amazing musician and no one listens, are you still amazing?
- Thread starter gsweet
- Start date
There is always some guy or girl that sits in his house and plays and plays and never thinks they are good enough. There is always someone that is better than you that never gets 'discovered'. They might be a virtuoso, and never realize it. Someone that can re-invent the way an instrument is played, but are too afraid to go out in public.
Luckily,we have had many musicians in our last couple of eras' that have. Ediie VanHalen 'stole' his hammering technique from Jimmy Page. He also built the worlds most famous guitar for $200. Pete Townsend 'stole' the windmill from Hendrix. Niel Peart was the second drummer for Rush, I think he was a freind of the original drummer - with whom he is still freinds with. I think they biked across Africa together. Nikki Sixx went in to a Seatlle music store to steal a guitar , and stole a bass by mistake. Tommy Lee marched drum corps, as did I. Les Claypool tried out for Metallica. Metallica MOVED to San Francisco to get Cliff Burton in the band. Gene Simmons was a teacher before KISS. PS 71, I think. Pat Benetar was a fledgeling opera singer. Wasn't Blondie a model before her group? John Lennon met Paul McCartney in art school, didn't he? Just think if those two neve met?
Back when Poison was doing their 'Flesh and Blood' tour, they kicked it off in Green Bay WI. A freind of mines' band got backstage, and invited them to his house for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner they all went to the basement and had a liitle jam session. Poison did 'Nothin but A Good Time' , (of course) and the members of the local band did ti again. The local band blew them away. Completely better than the band that did the song originally. Hank, the drummer for that band even got props from Rickky Rockett (or however you spell his name)! Not the greatest example of garage guys vs. real - umm - musicians, but you get the point.
The second guitar player that was in my band was another 'nobody' from Green Bay. We interviewed/auditioned this guy over the phone. He was playing Vai, Lynch, Eric Johnson, Impelitarry(?sp), etc, note for note. Just some guy that sat and played guitar in his room. We never did do any shows with him, but we did cut a demo tape. An extremly good player that didn't think he was any good.
A few years later; and another giutar player later, my band got to open for a 'signed' 'Queensryche' type band. Really technical type music. They made the mistake of giving us an hour to open for them. Most supporting acts on national tours get :30- :45 mins, and a lot of it is playing the crowd. 4-5 songs at the most.
We did 13 original songs in :54 mins. That's a double album worth. My band blew those guys off the stage. We didn't even play the same genre of music. We were a 'hair-metal' band.
It was the late 80's so don't give me too much grief about that.
Luckily,we have had many musicians in our last couple of eras' that have. Ediie VanHalen 'stole' his hammering technique from Jimmy Page. He also built the worlds most famous guitar for $200. Pete Townsend 'stole' the windmill from Hendrix. Niel Peart was the second drummer for Rush, I think he was a freind of the original drummer - with whom he is still freinds with. I think they biked across Africa together. Nikki Sixx went in to a Seatlle music store to steal a guitar , and stole a bass by mistake. Tommy Lee marched drum corps, as did I. Les Claypool tried out for Metallica. Metallica MOVED to San Francisco to get Cliff Burton in the band. Gene Simmons was a teacher before KISS. PS 71, I think. Pat Benetar was a fledgeling opera singer. Wasn't Blondie a model before her group? John Lennon met Paul McCartney in art school, didn't he? Just think if those two neve met?
Back when Poison was doing their 'Flesh and Blood' tour, they kicked it off in Green Bay WI. A freind of mines' band got backstage, and invited them to his house for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner they all went to the basement and had a liitle jam session. Poison did 'Nothin but A Good Time' , (of course) and the members of the local band did ti again. The local band blew them away. Completely better than the band that did the song originally. Hank, the drummer for that band even got props from Rickky Rockett (or however you spell his name)! Not the greatest example of garage guys vs. real - umm - musicians, but you get the point.
The second guitar player that was in my band was another 'nobody' from Green Bay. We interviewed/auditioned this guy over the phone. He was playing Vai, Lynch, Eric Johnson, Impelitarry(?sp), etc, note for note. Just some guy that sat and played guitar in his room. We never did do any shows with him, but we did cut a demo tape. An extremly good player that didn't think he was any good.
A few years later; and another giutar player later, my band got to open for a 'signed' 'Queensryche' type band. Really technical type music. They made the mistake of giving us an hour to open for them. Most supporting acts on national tours get :30- :45 mins, and a lot of it is playing the crowd. 4-5 songs at the most.
We did 13 original songs in :54 mins. That's a double album worth. My band blew those guys off the stage. We didn't even play the same genre of music. We were a 'hair-metal' band.
It was the late 80's so don't give me too much grief about that.