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Mark's Diaries: The journey of becoming a pro player


markmcclelland
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Absolutely. Some silly errors in my playing as one or two have pointed out elsewhere but yes, an intense environment that you can only learn from. It was absolutely thrilling at the same time as being seriously challenging and, at times, chastening but that's all part of it. Elton John said he learnt the most from his early tours with hard bitten pros where you'd get, in his words, totally chewed out for tiniest mistake.

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[color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]This current story's causing quite the reaction. And now the craziness continues. And gets crazier. [/font][/color][color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Also believe me when I say I'm even leaving out some parts of all of this. I kind of felt I had to.[/font][/color]

[color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Although in some ways very promising, I can't help thinking that things are starting to go from bad to, er, more bad? If only there was a better word than that. Well maybe as well as apparently not being able to play music, I can't write now either.[/font][/color]
[color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,][url="https://marksdiaries.wordpress.com/2015/12/19/day-262/"]https://marksdiaries.../12/19/day-262/[/url][/font][/color]

Edited by markmcclelland
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Thankyou very much. I think I agree with you. It really is the case that me being in the middle of a s**tstorm makes for the best reading - see Day 13 of the Costa Blanca Diary, or Days 5 and 6 of it. Or the whole ordeal when it really hit the fan and I was homeless and jobless a few weeks after arriving all starry eyed in London. This is Paul's favourite passage - yes, that Paul.

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[color=#4B4F56][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]
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[font=inherit]I have just the most incredible and informative chat about tinnitus I've ever had as I get to see a specialist whose also worked with quite a few famous musicians[/font][/font][/font][/color][color=#4B4F56][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]
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[font=inherit]https://marksdiaries.wordpress.com/2015/12/19/day-265/[/font][/font][/font][/color]

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Glad you got something out of that. And yes, you do want to be careful about that. Maybe it's finally time for earplugs, or playing a little quieter. But even then, once you introduce a hard hitting drummer, you're never going to get below safe levels. I used to absolutely love that volume though. Like I could feel the music inside me. I took it to extremes though. I can't remember if this is in this last entry or not but it is in there somewhere, but there was a time when I thought that if I could hear someone screaming in my ear, it wasn't loud enough. It can't really be much of a surprise then that one day I came out of rehearsal and when the ringing came, it didn't stop.

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[color=#4B4F56][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]
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Quite an intense project comes to quite an intense end.[/font][/font][/color][color=#4B4F56][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]
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[font=inherit]A certain name may have been changed to protect the not so innocent. [/font][/font][/font][/color][color=#4B4F56][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]
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[font=inherit]https://marksdiaries.wordpress.com/2015/12/19/day-272/[/font][/font][/font][/color]

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[quote name='markmcclelland' timestamp='1474280456' post='3136687']
You're absolutely right mate. And keep an eye out for the coda which happened exactly a month later so it should pop up on Wordpress in a week or two. And believe me, this was a rare case of me leaving quite a lot out of the story. I could have gone quite a lot further in what I actually told but held back a little.
[/quote]


Ahhh shame. I like the juicy bits :lol:

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[quote name='Luulox' timestamp='1474295494' post='3136894']
Well he sounded a bit intense, who does he think he is? Robbie Williams??
I think you are best out of it Mark.
[/quote]

Cheers mate. I would say that's the general consensus but it's actually the only thing people have been saying. Took me by surprise a little because I thought there would have been some negative reaction - throwing away an opportunity or the like, especially after everything I'd done to get such an opportunity. But no. Been all positive and supportive and a lot have said they wouldn't have got that far.

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1474289698' post='3136823']
Ahhh shame. I like the juicy bits :lol:
[/quote]

Sorry. I do exercise discretion when talking about other people, especially things people tell me, and I had to respect that for John too. But I think everything I did write was fair game.

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[color=#1D2129][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]
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[font=inherit]So after that total fiasco, what's next? I have no idea. Meanwhile, off bass stuff continues and it's all happening.[/font][/font][/font][/color][color=#1D2129][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]
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[font=inherit]https://marksdiaries.wordpress.com/2015/12/19/day-278/[/font][/font][/font][/color]

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A happier ending would have been him deciding to be reasonable and us then conquering Bluesland London but I know what you mean and yes. Thankyou very much for the thoughts. I think I've had more reaction to this episode than any other. But keep your eyes open. There's a coda coming.

Edited by markmcclelland
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[color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]
I do a massive favour at work to earn the brownie points, hit a new jam session, have a very frustrating Omater rehearsal and Diary favourite Kevin turns up and with a nice and very practical surprise. All that and I discover why practice has been a little difficult lately - a cracked elbow bone.[/font][/color][color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]
https://marksdiaries.wordpress.com/2015/12/19/day-288/[/font][/color]

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