Musical Mistakes U made or What U would do different...

[gjm]

I know this will be very 'individual', but I am interested in the honest mistakes you made. What I mean by 'honest' are things you did with the best of intentions. Things like perhaps selling your hardware synths when you really should not have, or buying a controller that sat unused. Maybe it was ending a creative partnership too early or not early enough. Maybe an interface that just did not work, or software that emotionally drained you rather than inspired you. What about being taken advantage of when it comes to your skills or music? Subscriptions? What things, actions or decisions, musically speaking, would take back now your are older and wiser?

For me
1. Taking the advice of school/career councilors when they said I would never make a living at art or music so don't waste your school years on it. Choose practical course subjects. If only I followed my young and naive dreams.
2. Buying Line6 gear for the guitar sounds. I like garage bands guitars better.
3. Spreading myself too thin musically. I should have focused on just 1 instrumental skill and plumbed the depths.
4. Not holding on to an old Roland mono hardware synth my mum bought me in 1981. She gave it away (with my permission) when I was tripping overseas.

Just to name a few.

Please indulge me. Cheers.

[Pitch Black]

I started out playing in covers bands when I was 18. Bands that had enough pub/wedding/corporate gigs to do it fulltime. I did this till I was about 23. I was totally happy playing other peoples tunes and being a performer/getting pissed/sometimes getting laid because of this. It enabled me to buy good gear and learn about synthesis/sound design/musicianship/live performing. But I do regret not having the confidence to put my own music out there sooner, or to have been hanging out with musicians who were into writing their own music. Still, I was happy doing what I was doing, but in retrospect could have had a few more years up in the "real" music industry.

[Angstrom]

Firstly - not taking piano lessons when I was 11 years old, because they were "gay"

Secondly - not starting a school band with my mates. We had a group of weird primitive electro perverts but we couldn't see that our wikiwiki scratching, loop tape effects, primitive drum machines and my Apple II sampler actually qualified us as a BAND rather than a collection of bleeping geeks. So, sadly we never made the logical leap to band-itude. There was no musical subculture where I lived and the internet had not been invented. It was 1984. It was shit, despite what revisionists would have you believe.

third : My worst technological mistake was in 1997 trying to retire our (actual touring) bands AtariST for a 266mhz PC with an Emagic AudioWerk 8 and Logic, and take that on the road like we had with the Atari. That was a really horrible year. The year of massive lag, when midi jitter was measured in seconds.

I have other regrets, but I'm still not sure how I could have rectified them as the tide was against me.

[DJDJ]

1. Copying other people's styles and sounds hoping that I could make them my own-- I though this was a good idea. I was wrong. Sounding like a 2nd rate someone else is embarrassing.

2. Being Lazy about putting the time in to get good-- I thought if I just did enough, I'd get good. Wrong.

3. Making music that is more complex that my skills allow me to make well-- although it helped me to grow, it often overwhelmed me and shut me down and stopped my from being musical. So much so that I lost the desire to make music. Not cool. Learning to do more with less is way more interesting than managing a million sounds in a track.

4. Stopping studying theory. Bad Idea.

5. Worrying about what other people think of my music, whether they are peers, friends, or family. This held me back and effectively froze my creativity on multiple occasions. Don't do it. Just believe in yourself, and keep rocking your style til you get good.

6. Made the mistake of thinking technical ability would make my music cool. WRONG. --Though technical ability helps convey your message clearly, vibe trumps technique every time. I wish I had focused on writing good music sooner.


All of the above may seem obvious, but were major personal hurdles/setbacks I've had to overcome to be where I want to be with my music. Oddly enough, ten years have gone by, many of my friends are famous, and I'm just now getting sorted out.
Learn from these mistakes, kiddies!

[SubFunk]

not playing drums for longer / more intense when i was young...

and not learning properly the piano.

but those are actually not really mistakes nor regrets.

[leisuremuffin]

never abbreviate the word you with the letter U.

never ask for or take anyone's advice on the philosophy of making music.
the first step to becoming a genius, or at least an asshole, is realizing that everyone else is fucking stupid.
believe me, more great musicians are assholes than not.
you'll make more music (and therefore get better at it) if you spend your time doing it, not thinking about it.





.lm.

[DJDJ]

well that was a turd in the coffee!

[thefinger]

i definitely regret selling some gear. an old virus b and original machinedrum being the most regrettable. experiencewise i have no regrets, though.

[UKRuss]

I have no regrets.

Other than reading The Alchemist which was utter shite.

[rbmonosylabik]

Getting into the guitar mentality bandwagon of "either you are a virtuoso or you are shit". What I got to show for it? a bad right shoulder.

[nowtime]

Not being informed enough in 1994 to buy an MPC when I knew I wanted a "sampler." Got an Emu instead.

Not yet having studied the physics of sound design and synthesis and engineering. Too big of a rockstar (in my head).

Not yet having dedicated an hour a day for each of my 2 main instruments - keyboards and hand drums - during the last years and decade. I could be a master instead of a jack.

Getting Roland instead of Yamaha when I got my first groovebox in 2004.

[gjm]

well that was a turd in the coffee!

Mmmmm. Not sure how to respond. Not sure if being an asshole is a prerequisite for being a 'great' musician. How do you become a genius? You either are or you aren't, right? I have always thought that the quickest way to learning anything was doing something while being mindful of others mistakes, or regrets, trying things on until you get the right fit, sorta. Anyways, all good responses so far.

But I do regret not having the confidence to put my own music out there sooner...

In the light of this I gots me a soundcloud acc today.

I have other regrets, but I'm still not sure how I could have rectified them as the tide was against me

Yeah, the feeling you were being swept along somewhere and having to just roll with the punches. I wasn't thinking about the word 'regret' but you are right in choosing it. Thanks for your input.

@ DJDJ. Big stuff... cloning, laziness, disregarding simplicity, being above theory, and processing opinions correctly. Whoa. Mine field for anyone.

[gjm]

.... I could be a master instead of a jack.

This is a big one for me. I am not sure I could be a master, but being a jack of all trades (so to speak) means I often get shuffled around as a stop gap, then quickly replaced. I am changing this as we 'speak.'

[georgeblunt]

Selling my Amiga500 when I was joung and stupid.
I'd LOVE to use some original dmusic4 sounds now.

An emulator is not the same for me in this case.
I'd love the feeling of using the actual piece of hardware.

[OvertoneZero]

I allowed a series of group-related failures sap my motivation and drive to keep pushing myself.

I agree with LM, if you want to take it out, you may find yourself having to do so almost 'in spite' of everyone / your surroundings / yourself..