If something awful or wonderful happened in your life, how did it, or would it, affect your musicality?

[xilddx]

Did it, or would it, change your musicality for better or worse, and how?

[witterth]

When something awful happened to me, (my Dad passing, he was my best ever friend as well as me Dad) music stopped as well cos it felt "stupid and trivial". a lot of the stuff we both enjoyed used to simply upset me (ho Hum) but and as they say I got to live with those feelings given time.But it took a lot of time and still some music chokes me still after two bars but, I got on the provebial bike. and often think he'd say "dont be so soft!"
took up playing again around the time I joined BC and allthough I'll never be the "Pino P" I wanted to be in 1983, playing bass makes me smile again,gets me out earns some cash, and gives me sommat else to think about other tha the day job,...so thats good innit?
god what a morose sentimental twat

[xilddx]

That's a really lovely answer. I'm so glad you got something positive, musically, from your tragedy. I hope he is proud of you mate. x

[Dad3353]

[quote name='witterth' timestamp='1323386130' post='1462929']...
god what a morose sentimental twat
[/quote]
I think the word you were looking for was 'human'..?

[witterth]

Hope your Ok btw Silddx
hope the rough time you have had over very recent (well, months really that you have shared here) hasnt worn you down too much.
"may the road rise to meet you.As our friends are at peace" as my old friend from Donegal still says!
Take care, Xmas holidays have "funny" effect dont they?, youll be fine, mate
W

[xilddx]

Hey I'm cool Witterth! Thanks I think his death had a softening effect but also made me a bit more daring and risky. He had no fear of music, I do. We are doing a gig of his music and posthumously releasing his album at it on 28th Dec at his favourite pub. Should be fun and a great celebration of his life.
Thanks again mate, hope you're ok too.

[Mr. Foxen]

If nothing crap has happened to me or falling out on me from it happening to someone close to me, music doesn't really happen for me. Horrible things are bound up in the Caricatures album. Everything is going smooth for me at the moment, so I'm being extraordinarily uncreative, and working on my technique and gear, ready for when it does come. Mostly other peoples gear, my gear rules. Recent stuff I've been playing is arrangements of stuff I wrote when things were crap.

[icastle]

I'm going to be the odd one out here.

I segregate my life to prevent 'bad' things from crossing over into 'good' things.
Work, home, unpleasant activities and music are all treated as seperate entities and I don't let them get anywhere near each other.

[xilddx]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1323389613' post='1462958']
If nothing crap has happened to me or falling out on me from it happening to someone close to me, music doesn't really happen for me. Horrible things are bound up in the Caricatures album. Everything is going smooth for me at the moment, so I'm being extraordinarily uncreative, and working on my technique and gear, ready for when it does come. Mostly other peoples gear, my gear rules. Recent stuff I've been playing is arrangements of stuff I wrote when things were crap.
[/quote]
I totally know where you're coming from. When I was writing that's exactly what it was like, music and lyrics. But I agree with k d lang when she said you don't have to be miserable to write songs.

My guitar used to be my best friend, every emotion would get transferred through it. Not so much now, but I still do it from time to time.

[charic]

I tend to play more when I'm stressed as I find it's a great stress reliever.

I like to focus on stuff in rough times

[xilddx]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1323417174' post='1463022']
I'm going to be the odd one out here.

I segregate my life to prevent 'bad' things from crossing over into 'good' things.
Work, home, unpleasant activities and music are all treated as seperate entities and I don't let them get anywhere near each other.
[/quote]
That's hard to do. I'm over-emotional and far too sensitive to be able to do that with any success. I always found playing a bass or guitar comforting if I'm feeling crap, trying to express my feelings on an instrument has been really good for me, for my mind and as a player.

[louisthebass]

I've lost both my parents (within 10 years of each other) in the time I've been playing bass & to be honest, the instrument didn't get touched for months afterwards. After those months had passed, I realised that life has to go on, so I went back to playing again, because neither of them would have wanted me to stop.

[BigRedX]

Until I know what the awful or wonderful thing is, it's difficult to say how it would affect me and my musical activities.

However because for me music is the best and most important thing in my life I would do my best to ensure it wasn't adversely affected.

[jakenewmanbass]

I lost my Mum when I was 15 and my Dad 3 months ago, music has always been a refuge and outlet for the pain associated with life difficulties, but is also represents, in me at least, outpourings of joy, like the birth of my kids. When you get my music, you are getting me.

[thisnameistaken]

I don't have an answer to this specific question but yeah I play more when I'm upset or angry and I like what I play more at those times.

About ten years ago I went through a weird period of having panic attacks and struggled to cope with them - they'd come and go but while they were happening they were horrible. I found out that if I picked up my bass (a 6-string Corvette Proline at the time) and noodled on it, the panic attack would go away. Weird. Music therapy? I think it was because it was the one thing I could do without consciously thinking about it, and it was a big distraction.

[SebCarr]

I write more music when I'm sad, and at the time I'm convinced it's good. It's probably not. It's probably awfully whingey! But I feel like I have something to say. When I'm happy I have less to say.

Something awful happened to my brother. He had a stroke at 28, and lost a lot of fine motor control, and a lot of movement in the right side of his body, and had trouble with speech. As a very keen guitarist obviously this was pretty devastating to his musical ability. But the thing is, music became a path to recovery. You have to use and rebuild the neural pathways to recover properly, and learning to play guitar again became a really good way of doing that. And being self taught, he'd learnt in a fairly haphazard manner, with subsequent gaps and weaknesses in his technique. Starting from scratch meant he got to rebuild his technique from the ground up.

Sometimes when he's tired or overwhelmed you can still see notice the damage caused by the stroke, but he's made a really good recovery and is a better guitarist than ever (and he was [i]really[/i] good before the stroke). I think his love for music was a great motivator, and instrumental(!) in his recovery.

Edited December 9, 2011 by SebCarr

[icastle]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1323421296' post='1463058']
That's hard to do. I'm over-emotional and far too sensitive to be able to do that with any success. I always found playing a bass or guitar comforting if I'm feeling crap, trying to express my feelings on an instrument has been really good for me, for my mind and as a player.
[/quote]

No it's not easy to do and in truth I'm not even sure it's a particularly good way of dealing with the trials and tribulations that life throws at all of us from time to time.

I guess the only saving grace that rigid compartmentalising has is that, if I'm feeling sensitive or emotional about something, I can put myself 'somewhere else' and come back to whatever made me want to retreat at a later time when it's less disturbing.

It also wrecks relationships, not sure if that's a plus or a minus...

[xilddx]

[quote name='SebCarr' timestamp='1323423840' post='1463090']
I write more music when I'm sad, and at the time I'm convinced it's good. It's probably not. It's probably awfully whingey! But I feel like I have something to say. When I'm happy I have less to say.

Something awful happened to my brother. He had a stroke at 28, and lost a lot of fine motor control, and a lot of movement in the right side of his body, and had trouble with speech. As a very keen guitarist obviously this was pretty devastating to his musical ability. But the thing is, music became a path to recovery. You have to use and rebuild the neural pathways to recover properly, and learning to play guitar again became a really good way of doing that. And being self taught, he'd learnt in a fairly haphazard manner, with subsequent gaps and weaknesses in his technique. Starting from scratch meant he got to rebuild his technique from the ground up.

Sometimes when he's tired or overwhelmed you can still see notice the damage caused by the stroke, but he's made a really good recovery and is a better guitarist than ever (and he was [i]really[/i] good before the stroke). I think his love for music was a great motivator, and instrumental(!) in his recovery.
[/quote]

What a great story! Thanks

[xilddx]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1323424718' post='1463116']
No it's not easy to do and in truth I'm not even sure it's a particularly good way of dealing with the trials and tribulations that life throws at all of us from time to time.

I guess the only saving grace that rigid compartmentalising has is that, if I'm feeling sensitive or emotional about something, I can put myself 'somewhere else' and come back to whatever made me want to retreat at a later time when it's less disturbing.

It also wrecks relationships, not sure if that's a plus or a minus...
[/quote]
I believe compartmentalisation is a coping tactic. It may work, but for me, I want to be whole and hopefully greater than the sum of my parts.

I do agree it can help deal with a lot of unpleasant things, I don't think it's possible for me to do though.

[xilddx]

[quote name='jakesbass' timestamp='1323422559' post='1463074']
I lost my Mum when I was 15 and my Dad 3 months ago, music has always been a refuge and outlet for the pain associated with life difficulties, but is also represents, in me at least, outpourings of joy, like the birth of my kids. [b]When you get my music, you are getting me.[/b]
[/quote]

So sorry to hear about your dad, and your mum of course, Jake I hope you're ok.

But I really like your last sentence, that should be the goal of any artist. There are many out there where [b]When you get my music, you are getting Jaco [/b]seems more appropriate.

[Chlo_treacher]

My dad commited suicide in march, music was pretty much the only thing thats gotten me through. He was also an amazing musician, although classical and I owe almost everything to him. He was the one who made sure we always had the rolling stones or the who or bob dylan blaring out as kids. My whole family are pro musicians too, but he was the one totally in love with the pop side and from the day I announced all I wanted to do is play bass and be a rockstar he did everything in his power to help me get there. The funny thing is, despite having an amazing few years getting my career finally going, its only actually really picked up after he died. Like from the week after it happened. It hurts I can't ring him up to tell him but you know I have a sneaky feeling he already knows....x

[Lfalex v1.1]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1323422461' post='1463071']
Until I know what the awful or wonderful thing is, it's difficult to say how it would affect me and my musical activities.

However because for me music is the best and most important thing in my life I would do my best to ensure it wasn't adversely affected.
[/quote]

I'd really struggle without both of my hands....

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1323421094' post='1463055']
But I agree with k d lang when she said you don't have to be miserable to write songs.
[/quote]

If I wrote music being a smug a-hole about how awesome stuff is going for me, full of widdly bits, disco and pinch harmonics, people would get angrier than a Slayer concert.

[mrdreadful]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1323389613' post='1462958']
If nothing crap has happened to me or falling out on me from it happening to someone close to me, music doesn't really happen for me.[/quote]

If it'll help you get in a creative mood I can come and steal a load of your gear...

Turns out I'm equally uncreative no matter what's going on in my life. Right now things are awesome but the only difference between how I play now and how I play when things are crap (the fact I'm taking lessons notwithstanding) is that I use a bit less fuzz.

[xilddx]

[quote name='Chlo_treacher' timestamp='1323434496' post='1463303']
My dad commited suicide in march, music was pretty much the only thing thats gotten me through. He was also an amazing musician, although classical and I owe almost everything to him. He was the one who made sure we always had the rolling stones or the who or bob dylan blaring out as kids. My whole family are pro musicians too, but he was the one totally in love with the pop side and from the day I announced all I wanted to do is play bass and be a rockstar he did everything in his power to help me get there. The funny thing is, despite having an amazing few years getting my career finally going, its only actually really picked up after he died. Like from the week after it happened. It hurts I can't ring him up to tell him but you know I have a sneaky feeling he already knows....x
[/quote]

Christ Chlo, that's an awful thing to happen. I'm glad you are living the dream you both had though, no better way to honour his memory. Best wishes.