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I haven’t seen a ton of this guy’s vids because my GuitarYouTube is pretty well stocked as it is, but this video came up on auto play while I was cleaning up and I found myself agreeing with everything the guy was saying.
I’ve gotten into heated discussions in regards to “natural talent”, which I fully believe misdirects many people due to the definitions of both those words, especially when they’re stuck together. IMO/personal history; drive + effort + perspective = talent.
Think of *EVERY* challenging thing you’ve ever learned how to play that you couldn’t play at the very start; what changed the most? Personally, it’s always my perspective on how something is being played. Sometimes I don’t hear a grouping of notes the way it’s being played within a measure the way it’s actually being played, as my perspective is off, and only until that perspective changes, whether by hearing an isolated track or slowing the part down to understand what’s actually happening, that I can get where I want to go. Sometimes it’s the way I’m picking and while I think I can do something one way, I have to do it a different way….because my perspective is off.
I had my first lesson with this with drums; I was trying to play the drum beat from Faith No More’s “The Real Thing” (the song itself). I was all over the place when my buddy, an amazing drummer, tapped with his hands while he said “bop bada bop bop” and I immediately understood it. It’s dead simple, but my perspective wasn’t aligned properly. Playing the same thing on just the snare sounds basic and like a lame rudiment, split between the hi-hat/snare, it created the groove of the song.
Or the 20 year singing journey I went on blowing my throat out to the point I couldn’t sing for 2 years straight, only to re-learn everything from an entirely different perception and my range opened up ridiculously when I learned the ‘smoke and mirrors’ aspect of mic gain/compression and it’s importance within a mix and how it can make vocals sound like they’re being belted out at extreme volumes when they’re not at all done that way. Layne Staley, Scott Weiland and Geoff Tate had this down cold; they’re rarely getting above speaking volume with their voices, even when they’re belting. The right attitude/phrasing + mic/compression and it sounds like these dudes are soaring at high volumes when it’s not the case. If it were, Layne wouldn’t have been nailing the “Man In The Box” chorus night after night, even at his worst health at his last show. Tate wouldn’t have survived Ryche’s first tour, never mind over a decade of touring and whooping ass every night. And Scott wouldn’t have pulled off what he did, especially in the health that dude was in for a majority of his career.
I think people take offense to this as a “Well, I tried, I didn’t get there, I can’t do it so you’re wrong and f*ck you for assuming everyone is built the same” when the biggest falter point lies within that statement itself, “I can’t do it”. I believe the second that thought is introduced, one is shooting themselves in the foot. I never once allowed myself to think that, even when I’d spend months or years trying to accomplish something. I was a HORRIBLE f*cking singer, H O R R I B L E, for over a decade!!! Playing show after show, out of key and just sounding terrible. But I refused to believe I couldn’t do it. Regardless of how many people were willing to tell me I couldn’t. (There were plenty!!) Hell, my father has told me practically since day one that I essentially suck. That didn’t stop until the last year, it’s been 30 years of the one dude I once “needed” assurance from busting my balls about how I should focus on other stuff, underhanded insults and a general sense of “I can’t do that so you shouldn’t be able to either, despite the fact I’m hearing you do it”
He once challenged me to learn a Hellecasters song when I was 14, he said if I did it, he’d give me $700 towards a new amp. In ‘96, that was a lot of money! So I busted ass and learned it and then he had to tell me he doubted I was going to pull it off and he realistically could not afford the money. Still didn’t stop him from sh*tting on me for 25 more years! (Sorry, parental rant over!)
I’m going to cut this off now as I’ve written a book, but I’m interested in hearing your thoughts after watching the vid!
I’ve gotten into heated discussions in regards to “natural talent”, which I fully believe misdirects many people due to the definitions of both those words, especially when they’re stuck together. IMO/personal history; drive + effort + perspective = talent.
Think of *EVERY* challenging thing you’ve ever learned how to play that you couldn’t play at the very start; what changed the most? Personally, it’s always my perspective on how something is being played. Sometimes I don’t hear a grouping of notes the way it’s being played within a measure the way it’s actually being played, as my perspective is off, and only until that perspective changes, whether by hearing an isolated track or slowing the part down to understand what’s actually happening, that I can get where I want to go. Sometimes it’s the way I’m picking and while I think I can do something one way, I have to do it a different way….because my perspective is off.
I had my first lesson with this with drums; I was trying to play the drum beat from Faith No More’s “The Real Thing” (the song itself). I was all over the place when my buddy, an amazing drummer, tapped with his hands while he said “bop bada bop bop” and I immediately understood it. It’s dead simple, but my perspective wasn’t aligned properly. Playing the same thing on just the snare sounds basic and like a lame rudiment, split between the hi-hat/snare, it created the groove of the song.
Or the 20 year singing journey I went on blowing my throat out to the point I couldn’t sing for 2 years straight, only to re-learn everything from an entirely different perception and my range opened up ridiculously when I learned the ‘smoke and mirrors’ aspect of mic gain/compression and it’s importance within a mix and how it can make vocals sound like they’re being belted out at extreme volumes when they’re not at all done that way. Layne Staley, Scott Weiland and Geoff Tate had this down cold; they’re rarely getting above speaking volume with their voices, even when they’re belting. The right attitude/phrasing + mic/compression and it sounds like these dudes are soaring at high volumes when it’s not the case. If it were, Layne wouldn’t have been nailing the “Man In The Box” chorus night after night, even at his worst health at his last show. Tate wouldn’t have survived Ryche’s first tour, never mind over a decade of touring and whooping ass every night. And Scott wouldn’t have pulled off what he did, especially in the health that dude was in for a majority of his career.
I think people take offense to this as a “Well, I tried, I didn’t get there, I can’t do it so you’re wrong and f*ck you for assuming everyone is built the same” when the biggest falter point lies within that statement itself, “I can’t do it”. I believe the second that thought is introduced, one is shooting themselves in the foot. I never once allowed myself to think that, even when I’d spend months or years trying to accomplish something. I was a HORRIBLE f*cking singer, H O R R I B L E, for over a decade!!! Playing show after show, out of key and just sounding terrible. But I refused to believe I couldn’t do it. Regardless of how many people were willing to tell me I couldn’t. (There were plenty!!) Hell, my father has told me practically since day one that I essentially suck. That didn’t stop until the last year, it’s been 30 years of the one dude I once “needed” assurance from busting my balls about how I should focus on other stuff, underhanded insults and a general sense of “I can’t do that so you shouldn’t be able to either, despite the fact I’m hearing you do it”
He once challenged me to learn a Hellecasters song when I was 14, he said if I did it, he’d give me $700 towards a new amp. In ‘96, that was a lot of money! So I busted ass and learned it and then he had to tell me he doubted I was going to pull it off and he realistically could not afford the money. Still didn’t stop him from sh*tting on me for 25 more years! (Sorry, parental rant over!)I’m going to cut this off now as I’ve written a book, but I’m interested in hearing your thoughts after watching the vid!
