musicians - ever feel like giving up?

[slunken]

I'm glad I didn't give up.

I stuck with it and watched it grow.

[Elphenor]

Sometimes I feel like giving up because I can't imagine playing something that doesn't sound like a shitty version of a band that already exists.

[Elphenor]

But playing guitar and singing is super fun so whatever

[Sonic Johnny]

Fuck no. But I'm not under any illusions about it paying off in any way so I'm doing it for the love strictly at this point.

[22:7]

Only when I don't have enough money to pay my bills and I have to sell equipment to survive. Then it's tough. Luckily it's been a while since I've had to do that.

[bye june]

I give up every god damn day.

I get very manic and have all these big ideas...then I get depressed when I can't execute them the way I want. I have a hard time making up my mind and I change projects/goals/songs/styles/plans constantly. I don't record much anymore because I change my mind so much or lose interest. I always thought that if I had more free time I would be more productive musically...but having been without a job now for over three months I've accomplished little.

I have been working on songs and material with my brother for a while now but we need a full band to play the kind of music we make...and it's not easy finding people to jam with around here...especially someone who is serious about being dedicated to the band/project. Also everybody plays guitar now...can't find any bassists or drummers around here. So I'm playing drums now when we compose and it's cool but I'm not the drummer. We're kinda bored playing by ourselves at home all the time, we want to start playing live.

tldr: it's easy to take the fun out of music.

[bye june]

I really do enjoy singing, playing guitar and drums...I just obsess to much about playing live with a band and recording professionally.

[AveryLoren]

I came here to make a very similar thread as I am finding myself in the same position you were in. I just hit 28, and it’s finally starting to dawn on me that my dream will never come true. It’s caused me to become increasingly distant from writing and playing in general. Couple that with the fact that my guitar skills are just “good” despite years and years of constant playing. I feel like I tried too hard to be this multi-instrumentalist genius that I am just average to “good” on a few different instruments. I’ve hit this rut with recording, it’s like I can’t realize my ideas with real instruments. I’ve grown so increasingly obsessed with it over the years that I have pretty much mastered programming MIDI. I constantly want to give up and sell off all my gear, but when I come close I freak out. It’s so much a part of my identity that I feel like I won’t be myself anymore.

[Trotskilicious]

thing is you guys should still do it, just don't think you're gonna make it. i'm so envious of folks who can play instruments. you learned things. you're not going to make a career you realize now but isn't it enjoyable to play with people ?

[slunken]

My trouble lately is the fine line between a great feeling rough take vs a sterile edited recording. Im finding my recordings lose a bit of magic when i worry about numbers of bars and measures, as opposed to early versions where i mostly just feel it. Those are sometimes more boring at times but i think the payoff points and climaxes are better.

[Elphenor]

I just want to do live stuff. If I could be in a band that plays regularly at some place and has like 3 fans that would be enough.

[redbreegull]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

thing is you guys should still do it, just don't think you're gonna make it. i'm so envious of folks who can play instruments. you learned things. you're not going to make a career you realize now but isn't it enjoyable to play with people ?

this, basically.

[AveryLoren]

Originally Posted by Poots

It's sad that you do all this work and nobody ever listens to it

This is the story of my life. I have composed music for over seventeen years at a pretty substantial rate and it’s all on hard drives. I've had a few "fans" over the years. But it's always been predominately just me listening. Sometimes I am shocked at how much material I have amassed over the years that will never be heard. It’s almost like it became a sickness to write material. I think I was living a fantasy in my head that grew out of control. I’ve written entire albums with fake singles and their B-Sides. I fantasize that in the future someone will open my lock box of sheet music. They’ll just be amazed at how much material is there. It will become this big fascinating find and people will try to record it. Fans will emerge and feud over whose version is better… yeah I have problems.

[Trotskilicious]

throw it on soundcloud, man

basically just put it on the internet

not to the degree of that r-tard with the EDM factory but you know what i mean

[fuzzyroes]

Originally Posted by AveryLoren

This is the story of my life. I have composed music for over seventeen years at a pretty substantial rate and it’s all on hard drives. I've had a few "fans" over the years. But it's always been predominately just me listening. Sometimes I am shocked at how much material I have amassed over the years that will never be heard. It’s almost like it became a sickness to write material. I think I was living a fantasy in my head that grew out of control. I’ve written entire albums with fake singles and their B-Sides. I fantasize that in the future someone will open my lock box of sheet music. They’ll just be amazed at how much material is there. It will become this big fascinating find and people will try to record it. Fans will emerge and feud over whose version is better… yeah I have problems.

Yeah man throw the music up on a site. If it's any good it'll likely catch on to a least a modest amount of people.

I'm in the same boat as you. My whole life I had that dream and worked super hard, then I become an adult and the music industry died (just my luck) . No one buys records anymore so it's nearly impossible to catch "lightning in a bottle" like a lot of the great bands did back in the 90's and beyond.

But ultimately for me, it's fulfilling to just sit down with my nice acoustic to play my own riffs and peoples tunes, jam out random stuff with people, write my own tunes, rock out some random stuff to record and build upon it and such. Ultimately it just comes down to the love of the music. I've learned that it really is stupid and unrealistic to hope for some big monetary gains from it.

[fuzzyroes]

Originally Posted by Poots

Playing live is great but it is very fleeting. When you haven't played a gig in a month it feels like its been ten years and you feel like a worthless shitass. At least writing and recording is a sustainable way to creatively fulfill yourself.

Ehh playing lives cool when everyones into it and digging it and what not. I used to love playing live but now I'm older and it's like "what really is the point"? Am I trying to impress people with my music or something? Who gives a fuck. It's nice if people enjoy it , but it's more or less just a pain in the ass getting all the gear to a show, barely making any money (or no money at all) just to play in front of 20 people at some shitty bar.

[fuzzyroes]

Playing lives dope if you're like a teenager though. All the girls think you're all bad-ass if you can put a good band together and rock the "teen scene" haha

[Trotskilicious]

you should give up, though, fuzzy

[fuzzyroes]

Already have man. It's nothing more than a hobby for me. I haven't been in a steady band for years now. My old band did a few reunion gigs a while back but that's been basically it.

I've been writing tunes with a few buddies and stuff and recording my own jams though. I'll probably post some shit here when I have a big enough body of work. But I'm of no illusion that it's ever going to be some sort of source of income for me.

[Lucky Day Spa]

i've never "given up", but i do nothing for months at a time now

it used to be weeks

[smashingjj]

Being the talented professional musician that I am, I look down on all of you too much to participate seriously in this thread. Losers.

[bye june]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

thing is you guys should still do it, just don't think you're gonna make it. i'm so envious of folks who can play instruments. you learned things. you're not going to make a career you realize now but isn't it enjoyable to play with people ?

Yes I think I'm always going to play music, but playing live and recording professionally is all I want to do.

I feel like my brother and I are creating very interesting music that needs to be heard...we just don't have a full band to help us out and finding dedicated people to play with is very challenging where I live.

[soniclovenoize]

Then move.

[bye june]

Originally Posted by soniclovenoize

Then move.

I've got the perfect practice space/house. No noise restrictions, no bills, all I gotta do is mow the yards and it's right across the road from my house. Like where the fuck would I be able to move to that allows us to practice as loud as we want when we want?

[Trotskilicious]

austin texas possibly

[slunken]

Originally Posted by Lucky Day Spa

i've never "given up", but i do nothing for months at a time now

it used to be weeks

Been doing this. I went for a 2 month spell without playing recently. Now it seems like every other week.

I feel like I should be at least working on scales every day for an hour. Even if its on an acoustic. That way when I plug into the main instrument I can get down to work sooner.

My mind's been on getting a jamman solo to use in a practice chain to do some next level practice exercises on the fly without having to power on the main rig (susan).

Also I've been trying to digitally transcribe all of my song notes and charts into a digital program for the iPad. Not going as well as I thought it would. It's just painstaking. I think I might stick with the binder and having one song written over 3-5 pages with other ideas in between and pedal settings scribbled everywhere (most of them not the last one that i really liked and wanted to keep).

[Trotskilicious]

as a creative talent my calling is writing but i haven't written anything of substance in years. i think the closest I get to writing anything structured is when i feel the necessity to lay a smackdown in an argument on here

it's really sad, to be honest. it's basically block.

[slunken]

i can feel that. we should go to a poetry slam sometime.

[soniclovenoize]

Originally Posted by bye june

I've got the perfect practice space/house. No noise restrictions, no bills, all I gotta do is mow the yards and it's right across the road from my house. Like where the fuck would I be able to move to that allows us to practice as loud as we want when we want?

Sounds like a great tree falling in the woods.

[fuzzyroes]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

as a creative talent my calling is writing but i haven't written anything of substance in years. i think the closest I get to writing anything structured is when i feel the necessity to lay a smackdown in an argument on here

it's really sad, to be honest. it's basically block.

You should start up that blog you were considering. Maybe you could be a culture critic or something. Just tear stupid shit up that dumbasses like to pieces in your comedic fashion and it's bound to get some hits.