ChrisDowning
9 posts
Jun 21, 2008
4:07 AM
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Something is happening to all the players out there - where are they? This board was always a lively set of posts and quite a lot of people using it to teach and communicate almost every day.
Am I missing something here? Should we all start up some new threads or something? Does this board need more structure or more 'departments' to focus discussion into streams?
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Eric E
13 posts
Jul 08, 2008
11:02 AM
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Hey Chris,
Yeah, I've been engrossed in a bunch of home improvement projects around the house, so I've been oof-line for a few weeks. I'm finally getting a few minutes to enjoy the posts and write some myself.
--Eric E
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ChrisDowning
11 posts
Jul 10, 2008
11:05 AM
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Yep me too Eric. It's funny how even though I work for myself it can be so hard to find time to do the things you really what to do. I have a bad habit of saying yes, when I should be saying no.
Added to all that work - mostly paid actually so I'm not complaining - in the midst of it all I had what you could only describe as a crisis of faith. Those who are Christian know what I mean - but this was all about playing, teaching and generally keeping or relating to what I though were my musical friends.
In any job I suppose you have times when things don't seem to be going smoothly, but when you work for yourself and your only support group are people you think are good friends its comes hard that they aren’t there when you need someone to talk to. Since I came back to playing and teaching full time back in 2002, I don’t have long standing colleagues from the industry. Those I thought I had were pretty recent acquaintances. So when the music teaching staff had some teaching problems at the school where I teach in the day – well nobody to talk to. Bummer.
But as they say “What doesn’t kill you strengthens you” and I’ve come out the other end a wiser and a tougher person. For now anyway.
Lessons learnt:
1. The only person really interested in you is you (or your close family and your real friends).
2. There are a lot of socially dysfunctional musicians out there. Some of them are pretty bad players but being dysfunctional they can’t see it and don’t start another career. Don’t let them mess up yours.
3. Don’t rely on agreements you thought everyone understood – get it in writing
4. Make sure you get paid – if you don’t, you don’t get respect and you probably don’t respect yourself either.
5. Don’t give things away too easily – if it’s your best effort, and assuming you don’t fit point 2, its worth getting paid in some way.
6. Don’t behave like an amateur when you’re actually a pro.
7. If you are not the person in point 2, start behaving like you are the really good, well paid and respected musician you believe you are. Even then, you are probably better than you think.
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SteveS
1 post
Jul 18, 2008
11:14 AM
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Gents,
I'm glad to see the discussion board up again. After owning a rebuilt ES-175 for 25 years I purchased a Hofner Vice President from Rich (which sounded great, clear tone), but ended up selling it to buy a Jazzica from Rich, which I love(woody tone). I have made four modifications for under $100 total I'd like to pass on. 1st, I replaced the ebony top bridge section (leaving the base alone) with a tune-omatic bridge I bought from Stewart Macdonld ( no mods necessary). 2nd & 3rd I replaced the 250k pots with 500k pots, the volume being a push pull pot wired to bypass the volume and tone pots in the up position. 4th, I bought a do it yourself low capacitance guitar cable kit from Bill Lawrence. I have an old polytone amp, but the difference is better with my Fender Acoustic Amp. All these mods allow me to play jazz but opens up the acoustic fingerpicking capabilities as well. By the way, my Jazzica came with a French Polish, which allows the wood to breath, and it sounds better and better each day acoustically, especially for Django type music.
Steve
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ResidentRenzo
4 posts
Oct 12, 2008
6:51 PM
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Chris -
Thanks for sharing those hard earned lessons with us - lots of wisdom in those seven rules. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've often ignored 4 and 6...
Peace,
Renzo.
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LoPeZjaZZ
Guest
Nov 21, 2008
5:11 PM
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Hey,
I am on old student of GC getting ready to lease my first c, It is jazz and all stuff that I wrote. It would have worldwide appeal since it is all instrumental.
Hoping maybe you can give me some advice.
PS
I own alot of my playing to Rich. I really learned to play his courses. I completed 7 of them.
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ChrisDowning
23 posts
Nov 25, 2008
12:03 PM
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Hi there - you'll find that if you go out gigging that a lot of the audience will actually appreciate you having some CDs to sell them - so long as they are not expensive. You should be able to get your CDs copied at less than $2 each, so selling them for $8 is a huge margin. (BTW, I hope you've sorted out any copyright on the tracks you've recorded.) Another way you can sell CDs is through CD Baby. It's been going for years now and is pretty well know by buyers who want something that's non main-stream. They'll charge you a fee for each CD sold - but they do all the work - you get the money. You will have in invest in sending them stock though. But you could start with say 12 CDs and top it up as you sell them. Lastly you can sell them through other people's websites - so if you have a network of like minded poeple they could feature your CDs. Suggest you set up a PayPal account which is a cheaper way to trade than a merchat account with a major credit card company.
The bottom line though is that you need to develop a network of friends and fans - they are your best source of sales and word of mouth recommendation to their friends in turn. There's so much stuff out there in the market that the key to success is route to market - identifying the people most likely to want to hear you and then getting your playing in front of them on a CD. So your first task is - who are the must have buyers and how do I persuade them?
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Eric E
Moderator
64 posts
May 22, 2010
6:41 PM
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Yeah. I wish he was posting guitars for sale. How come none of the spam says "Great deals on Les Pauls!" or something like that.
I do wish there was a way to keep the spammers from posting. I'm deleting his posts.
--Eric E
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ChrisDowning
84 posts
May 28, 2010
3:45 PM
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Me too - just did another.
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stang
10 posts
May 28, 2010
7:17 PM
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I don't have alot of time for the computer anymore my job as cable tech has long hours . But when I want to know anything about music this is where I come.
you've helped me and al and eric and it was always right thanks guys.
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ChrisDowning
86 posts
Jun 04, 2010
1:12 AM
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Thanks Stang. I think everyone here has always tried to make this site as useful to guitar players as they can. Even if that means sending you off to another source of material, I think the integrity of the site is paramount. I've always taken the approach here, and on my own site, that I'm telling you what I'd tell any of my friends or close relatives - it's not about getting you to spend a lot, but guiding you to the best, most effective, and most useable materials. You know, in the end, when you are up there playing in front of an audience, they are only interested in how it sounds, how entertaining you are. That's the focus.
Really happy that you like the materials and the approach here at GC.
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