Age Vs Credibility

Soul Conspiracy

Soul Conspiracy

Member
Nov 29, 2001
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I'm nearly 26 and I still want to do all the band, touring, making metal albums and interviews shit. Only problem is I don't have a band and I'm not too good on guitar.

Is it time to give up? I notice that someone would get alot more respect if they were awesome on guitar and they were like 16. So is there a time when someone should just give up and resort to being a fan who just likes the music- say if you haven't made it big by 30 you probably never will even if you come up with something slightly original.

Also how important is being technically good if for some reason you came up with a unique style?

Any thoughts on this?:wave:
 
Just keep playing, you dont get good at guitar over night. Also, if you can become a nice solid solid rhythm player then youll still not have much trouble playing a band. Just practice a lot, try to learn new techniques, and make sure you master the basics. I wish i could be of more help but without knowing exactly where your skill level is. Its funny, there are a million and one kids around here that can play crazy solos out of their ass at any given time, but if you show them a rhythm part they are sloppy as all hell because they just tried to be the fastest soloer ever and not an actual good guitar player.
 
Soul Conspiracy said:
Is it time to give up?
Click to expand...

NEVER EVER!


yeah man, Amen to iAMtheblackwizards 's post !


no matter if yer 1, 26, or 100, just practice. I'm 15 and I'm not a guitar god (yet :p ) . my skill level is reasonable and i've been practicing everyfuckingday, fuck, i know I can and i fucking will dominate this damn kick ass instrument ;) practice and you'll find encouragement in yerself!
 
Soul Conspiracy said:
I'm nearly 26 and I still want to do all the band, touring, making metal albums and interviews shit. Only problem is I don't have a band and I'm not too good on guitar.

Is it time to give up? I notice that someone would get alot more respect if they were awesome on guitar and they were like 16. So is there a time when someone should just give up and resort to being a fan who just likes the music- say if you haven't made it big by 30 you probably never will even if you come up with something slightly original.

Also how important is being technically good if for some reason you came up with a unique style?

Any thoughts on this?:wave:
Click to expand...

Well, you need to put in the practice. I mean, I assume you have a job and plenty of other things that 16-year-old kids don't have to deal with, but you could surely find the time to sit down every day with your guitar for an hour or so of focussed practice and songwriting. If not after work, then before it, and certainly on weekends.

You will have certain advantages; at 26, you'll be more effectively self-critical than most 16-year-olds, and you'll almost certainly have heard much more music and gained knowledge of a wider variety of styles.

Being technically good...the only thing you need is this: to be able to play what you want to write. It makes no difference how many BPM you can do sweep-arpeggios at, if your favoured style is slow, crushing doom; and you can develop your skill with weird rhythms as highly as you like, but it's hardly worth the bother if 4/4 whiskey-rock is your bag.

After an initial period of getting the basics down, higher technical skills are best acquired on an as-and-when basis. If you have an idea but you can't play it, then you move to hardcore technical practice until you can; once the idea is actualised, you only do enough to keep your hand in.

There's never a time to give up; what there is, is a time to resign yourself to the fact that you no longer suffer from teen angst, and will have to try to find something else to write lyrics about. A lesson that some (32-year-old teenagers Fred Durst and Jonathan Davis, for example) refuse to learn.
 
I'm 24 and I dont have a band. I keep searching and all anyone around here wants to do is Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. I'd say I'm pretty good. I usually get a small crowd when I jam at Guitar Center. Being in a band is what I want most to. I dont want to be a huge star or anything. I just want to get a GOOD cd out and maybe do some gigs. That to me is my dream.
 
Iced In Flames said:
I'm 24 and I dont have a band. I keep searching and all anyone around here wants to do is Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. I'd say I'm pretty good. I usually get a small crowd when I jam at Guitar Center. Being in a band is what I want most to. I dont want to be a huge star or anything. I just want to get a GOOD cd out and maybe do some gigs. That to me is my dream.
Click to expand...

im 19 but other than that you pretty much hit my life dead on haha. However ive recently been messing around with recording software and stuff, so im just going to cut out the middle man and my friend and i (he sings) are going to record an entire album ourselves. Its too much of a pain in the ass to find a band, ive been in too many, only to be surrounded by retards and then break up for some stupid reason. Maybe ill be able to find legitimate people for a band once i have like 8 or 9 songs on tape, decent quality, all instruments and everything and then just be like 'Hey, play this".

Case and point: most people are idiots
 
Iced In Flames said:
If I can find someone to help me get some software and tell me how the hell to do compter recording I'd be all for that!!
Click to expand...

Finding and getting software isnt the problem really, its actually learning how to use it well thats a pain in the ass. YOu have to ghetto rig stuff if you dont want to buy musicians hardware (i.e. regular mic inputs for your computer), and that shit is expensive. Luckily i had a sound blaster audigy sound card with those inputs in the front, so i dont just have to use the 1/8 inch inputs in the back. There still isnt the best quality ever, and my monitor gives off a loud buzz on musical equipment (luckily i dont need it on once i hit the record button). But i also have figured out how to remove the hiss and buzz without losing any sound. You also do need a decent computer to pull this off. Since audio recording is very hardware intensive, if your computer isnt up to par, about halfway through the song the computer might lag slightly, and all the tracks will become off time (This is a recording problem, not a playback problem so if you are getting the off time lag then it happened in the recording and you will have to re-record the tracks).

The software i use though is that i use the cakewalk software for the recording, and Cool Edit for mixing (it has a ton more mixing abilities but its too hardware intensive for recording too, and cakewalk has a session drummer in it)
 
Thanks for the encouragement. A friend of mine wants to get an old band going again, but they play hardcore which isn't really my bag, but playing in a band is good fun regardless.

I also record my own stuff because no one around here is interested in doing melodic death. I use Cubase and record straight into the computer from my fx pedal and drum machine. The tracks come out lagged but you just have to line them up manually afterwards. Also you can use the eq's in cubase to bring the sound of the guitar out.
 
Yeah! You're not old. 26? That's like...not even middle age¬! Guitar wise if you get to be a good solid rhythm player as IATBWs said, you can prolly pick up a lead player if you need one! and any way, don't you think it would be so cool to be like 70 and be in a black or maybe speed metaL band? If you look at a lot of bands nowadays, they only seem to last maybe 10 years...and if you released an album when you are 30 then get huge and then retire when you're 40 that's not so bad >!!
Good luck,.
 
I'm 18 and I only picked up listening to metal 2 years ago!! I have a bass and a guitar and have been starting to song write over the past 6 months. To you guys that want to be in bands... make sure you have a group of dedicated people... doesn't matter their skill level. And make sure they like what you like musically and sonically!! I have tried the band thing... now is just me and an aspiring guitarist. He doesn't have the skills yet, but he works hard and is learning quickly. I have 'jammed' with a few people, and most of them just aren't what I am looking for. I try to stay around my age, people that don't drink/smoke (I don't, and I don't really want to be aroud people that do for the required time to make good music and have a good working relationship with) and LOOOVE metal.
I was recently introduced to powertab.. ( http://www.power-tab.net I believe): great tool for keeping track of your songs, time keeping and song writing.

Sorry this is so scatter-brained, I will watch this thread and maybe input more later...

Good luck to all you guys... don't settle for subpar music!

chris
 
and keep in mind that in some styles you can play with quite a modest skills... for example, playing rhythm guitars in symphonic doom metal band...
Click to expand...

I have to respectfully disagree with this. The symphonic doom bands (good ones anyway) tend to use a wider range of theory over say a shred band. Also, with the slower tempo emotion is more important to creating a good song than if you are playing 100 mph. Now just so you don't get all pissy, I'm not saying it requires more skill or less or whatever. I'm just saying different styles require different skills. I've ran into death metal musicians who didn't know what to do with an acoustic. Excellent death metal skills, but wouldn't not be able to play symphonic doom or anything slower requiring clean tones.

But don't worry about age. Most of the musicians in the bands on UM are much older than 26. And I also do the homerecording thing (also 26). In a small town such as the one I am in there is little to no chance of finding musicians who want to do what I want to.
 
Nah man... 26? com'on that aint shit! :)

Get this, my band found our drummer in a classified add magazine. Hes 31 years old and lives on a farm. Hes been in a dozen bands in his youth but nothing panned out. He hasnt been in a band since we came along for over 7 years. He never let the fire die out. and now were rocking out! He thinks its nuts that hes got nearly 10 years on all the rest of us. But hes tickled pink that hes finally got a band to play with. And he likes the music too. thats a bonus! :)

I wouldnt rule out hooking up with those teenagers and jamming either. Your age and better developed leadership skills could be just what a couple 18 year olds who have some talent and desire need to get there act together. Skill in my opinoin takes a backseat to desire and consistancy. I've known some guitar players who were incredible lead players. I'm talking "scary" good. But guess what. they dont work well with others and have bad attitudes. this makes them "Worthless" I'd take a 16 year old who's got no skill. Lots of desire and a great attitude over some over-controlling elitist snob who thinks hes god because he can spit out Vai solos while taking a nap.

/rant off

:p
 
There is no reason for you to give up yet mate...
Iam 18 and Ive been playing the guitar for about four years now, and Ive just recently gotten into playing in a band, I teamed up with a friend of mine who has some band experience from an earlier band, and we've gotten another friend of ours on the bass (he has some band experience as well).
I will be doing the rythm parts of the playing, and growling, while my friend will be playing the leads seeing that he has quite alot more of experience than I do.
I think its going to work out pretty well.

Anyway, what Im trying to say is...never give up, there is no agelimit for playing metal...
And if you can try to team up with someone who has some experience, and if you feel that doing the leads are more than you can handle just get him to do it ;)
If you cant find anyone to play with, going solo isnt a bad thing either, quite a few good bands have started out that way, just take Windir and Vintersorg.
 
I have been trying to get a band together for the past 3 years, but nothing has panned out. I play primarily rhythm guitar, and I am 31 years old. Nobody seems to want me because I am either too old, or don't play lead, or sing. I have been turned down so many times because of my age that I have lost count. Everyone out here seems to think they are on the virge of a multi-million dollar deal and they won't get it if their guitar player is old enough to buy beer and has to shave more than twice a week! I have thought of giving it up many times, but I still play all the time because the reason I started playing in the first place is still very important! I just wanted to make music! My family and career will prevent me from going on world tours, but the enjoyment will still be there. I doubt my little rant will have helped you very much, but I thought I would give my 2 cents anyway... :headbang:
 
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