Musical changes over your lifetime !!
 

To those of us with a few years (or decades) under their belts..........

what has changed over your musical journey as time went by? I have 47 playing years and counting.

I have a few:

1) I went from 95% electric to 100% acoustic

2) I was finally able to afford the guitars I have loved all my life, Martins

3) Small but actually significant to me, pick thickness increased over time from .6-7 as a rocker to 1.4 (Blue Chip and Wegan Bluegrass) and higher as an acoustic player

4) Most important to me, I went strictly original solo singer/songwriter, for better or worse, my music is my music

5) My love of music if anything continues to get stronger with time, after family and friends (and dogs) music is one of the great joys of this lifetime!

How about you..................... ;)

Inexpensive starter guitars are actually playable

More choices in good guitars than just Martin and Gibson

Tony Rice

Martins are actually good guitars now

Acoustic pickups now sound sorta like an acoustic guitar

Humidity control, who knew?

Explosion of TAB for everything

Home recording on something other than an Emerson tape recorder

One word:

Internet.

The quality of inexpensive guitars has increased substantially.

Still struggling to integrate rap into my acoustic finger-style playing.

- electronic clip on tuners - fantastic!
- the internet makes music and information more easily available
- the range of smaller bodied guitars is much greater at all price points
- my own budget has grown substantially
- I've moved from focussing more on mandolin to focussing more on guitar
- I've learned to sing
- I'm starting to understand more theory than I once did!
- I'm enjoying the journey a lot more

Fliss

Grew up in India listening to the Beatles,Simon&Garfunkel,The Shadows,Ventures and so on besides Indian music,both traditional and Popular music in several languages.
Moved here and learned to love the blues,Jazz,country,folk and bluegrass.
Took up the guitar again and also delved into electronic music with samplers synthesizers etc.Slowly learned to appreciate acoustic music,pure and simple!
Full circle?

Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.

Be valorous!

Lately I'm surprised by my love of simplicity.

It can be electric, symphonic, jazz or a finger style player where I will respect their skill but I loose interest fast. I know we have some great finger style players here and I mean no disrespect but I can't listen to a whole album of that or several other other styles I've liked in the past but I can keep listening longer if it's something with nice chords and simple melody.

I guess it's what is described as the less is more thing with playing or making music. It may be a phase but this struck me as I looked at most of my music purchases in the past 2 years and some play lists.

This could sort of demonstrate what I'm trying to describe - real people giving much justice to 3 chords and simple rhythm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZXl5tgMi0

One other change is about 5 years of listening to and appreciating genres I hated or passed by earlier in life.

This simplicity kick has me enjoying some real old country, R&B, gospel and hardest to believe would be a few disco era artists.

A Sunday Morning Response
 

When I first started playing, it was all about learning to play the songs that I loved. Simple!

In my late teens and early 20s, I became exposed to more styles and really began a musical journey. I began writing and performing my own songs, as well. This was a time that was, for me, truly about the love of music.

As the bands I was in began to meet with some small measure of success, I lost my focus. I became far more interested in "making it" and in the peripheries of being in a popular rock band.

That didn't last long! Once I knew my race for fame was over, I actually just stopped playing for about 10 years. Of course, there were other things in my life with which I was dealing at that time, too.

I started playing acoustic guitar again when I became a teacher back in the early 90s. Then, about 10 years ago, I suddenly became very serious about music and guitar again. I bought a nice little Taylor, and I began to write new songs.

Now, music is, once again, an integral part of who I am as a person. I write and I play for my own satisfaction. Sure, I play the guitar just about every day at school, but most of my playing is done sitting at home. I admit to feeling the desire to make music with others, and to share the songs I've written, too. But, for now, music is back to being about joy, comfort, self-exploration and self-expression. I'm more than satisfied with that; I am deeply grateful!

1974 to 1976, long sabbatical, 2004 to now.

1. Always acoustic (Steel and Classical)
2. Ditto, though different make.
3. Finger style from day one, fingernails and thumb pick.
4. Always solo, prefer to compose.
5. Ditto, but I'm the only animal.

Wow...there are dozens of learnings and gleanings...
 

...but here are a few:

• There are notes to be played above the third fret.
  
• There are tunings beyond EADGBE that can unlock a creative block.
  
• A steady Travis picked song is a universal crowd pleaser.
  
• There is no Swiss army knife of guitars, amps, or effects...each piece of equipment has it's function.
  
• A Martin HD-28 is the one guitar to have if I am only to have one.
  
• Looping and multitrack recording can bend time.
  
• A small Fender tube amp beats a stack of Marshalls.
  
• I have no use for a Floyd Rose locking tremolo, a Les Paul, or a Flying V.

(All of the above subject to to change).

I started playing years before I had internet access so you can assume that there have been some radical changes since then. Especially in the access to information. As imwjl stated I have also become enamoured by simplicity. I started out determined to master the classical guitar as an exercise in complexity, fine motor skills, and determination. Now I strum and pick to accompany my singing. I went from 100% hardcore classical to becoming a vocalist who just so happens to play guitar. Actually I like guitars more than that but singing is where my heart is now. For the first 40 years of my life I was too shy to sing, but not now.

After hearing the song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins as a preteen, I learned how to spell it under 5 seconds. I don't do that kind of stuff anymore.

(And for those really interested, I typed it in 9 seconds after all these years).

geokie8