Thanks man
yea man its hard going from playing in a huge church to playing in a 10x12 room. what you think is quiet isnt that quiet to people who are used to that kind of environment. now sometimes they do be goin overboard with the "your too loud" but it is an art to be able to play both quiet and loud and not lose any intensity, chops, or musicality.
nah man. i call very few people in this world a beast and it makes some people mad when i tell them i dont consider them a beast. because to me a beast is someone that plays EVERY style on level 10 fluently. not someone who can blaze gospel but cant swing. or someone who can play latin/afro-cuban but cant lay down a rock groove. not only with the grooves but the chops as well, to know that your little off beat latin fill will not work in a Rock song. or your Gospel lick will not work in a country tune. im still striving hard to be able to play every style like its supposed to sound and be able to do them ALL above average. when someone gets there is when i consider them a beast. but in regards to the musicality im waiting on a copy of the DVD and i'll see what i can do for ya'll.
To be honest and i tell it to everyone. Berklee has done nothing really but given me an opportunity to sit down and truly shed out some stuff. yea some teachers may give you insight in certain things but i was kind of spoiled before i came to school and i was taught how to "fish" before i came here. so alot of the stuff i have developed came from just truly shedding. sitting down and listening to myself and such. realizing what works and what doesnt. thats what berklee has done for me. not everyone though. some people come here and they have to get taught how to be the fisherman instead of the buyer. i was blessed to have a teacher that taught me how to fish. i wont tell you that i learned nothing though. i learned a great deal about music as a whole. as far as writing, producing, arranging, etc. but playing wise i feel as though God pulled me away just for me to sit my butt down and shed it out.
No im not telling people to not go to Berklee. Berklee is a great learning environment and i have learned more from watching/listning to other players than my private teachers in some regards and just being under the tutelage of some good musicians. not all the teachers at berklee are good to be under but there are a few who will tell you like it is and thats kinda what i needed. i was getting it at home but only in regards to one genre i learned it now from a variety of sources.
i could go on all day about what Berklee does and doesnt do but thats not the point of this thread. lol the point of it is to tell me what you think i did wrong so i can go fix it lol
thanks for all the support guys
I don't use that word often, and I have had people to get upset with because my criteria was a lot different than their own.
My criteria is a bit different, however. I'm not so much interested in how many genre's someone can play fluently, as I am interested in how well they play what they do play. Because of how deep this music goes, you can spend a life-time not only learning to play a genre authentically, but discovering ways to enhance what has already been done, or to take the genre to places it has yet to go. Because of that, I can respect someone who can only play one genre EXTREMELY well. That may sound like a limited musician, but I think each and every genre is a vast musical universe waiting to be explored. Gospel hasn't stopped evolving, and it will continue to evolve past our lifetimes.
Now, I do think if you're going to branch off into other genres, then you should respect that genre enough to learn to play it fluently, otherwise....yeah.
Now, as for the my definition of a beast...
...when I think of a beast, I think of a ferocious animal, possessing beyond what it is believed humans are capable of possessing. So, whether it's creativity, speed, musicality, work-ethic or what have you...
....anyone that possess these qualities to a point that it is considered so-called 'superhuman', that is what I consider a beast. Of course, it is all relative ... because a beast to a 10 year-old, in his parents basement, may very well not be a beast to ...say... Chris Coleman. I saw Thomas Lang play ten pedals on some website...
...my brotha, that is beastly. Ten pedals? That is very far from what most anyone would consider normal or possible. Back when I used to like to freestyle, their was this guy from NY that could flow from the top for hours upon hours. That ... is beastly.
So, yeah ... you get my point. However, because I so rarely hear anyone say they don't use that word freely, I had to comment.
That suggests to me that you have high expectations for yourself, as well.
