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"Turn It Up!" Or, "Turn It Down!" I Am Content...
By joseexist in Musings On Muses
May 25, 2011

Image The music I create is not for everyone. I’ve never entertained the idea that it would be universally accepted by the world. It’s my psyche in the raw. It’s my heart and soul on my sleeve. I do it for the enjoyment and critical responses to it are things I take in stride.

My mother has always told me to turn the guitars down. I’ve been dealing with that from various people from day one. My refusal to do so is an integral part of my louder is better mentality. When the hair on my neck and arms is vibrating in the sonic winds from a stack of large speakers I am at home, in my element. It’s not just that a lot of the guitar tricks I do require the resonance of an exploding room, I just love it LOUD!

I tell stories with music. My stories might be realities or fantasies. Either way I have fun doing so. Every artist does so with whatever medium(s) they work in. Grating microscopic inspection comes with the territory. I don’t mind having what I do dissected by people. If they like it, I’m content. I might offer them a free disc. (Yes, I give away far more than I have ever sold.) If they hate it I’m content. I’m thankful for their honesty. Whether they take in the complete track, all the way down to the last fading notes, or shut it off rapidly before the first note decays, I am still content.

I have an old guitar lick I wrote years ago. It felt right to play it. It used a small selection of ‘tricks’ from my bag and I was proud of the little instrumental I turned it into. It has an odd time signature, a rolling set of hammered on notes and progressions of intervals over a chugging “A” pedal for its first section. Then, power chords and the same pedal form the second section. There’s a reprise/bridge of section two and a metal lead with a Latin flair. When I first performed it for Legasys the bass player did not like it. He was of course musically trained and I was not. I shoved it onto a far back burner. I can only play it well on a couple of guitars for some reason. I’m sure it’s because I’m not that good of a guitar player. I think I’ll record it finally, one of these days. The singer and I actually turned it into a song about a girl on roller-skates. It was a hormone fueled innuendo called “Girl on Wheels”.

Not getting positive feedback is always a good thing no matter how bad it feels. I can bend in the wind and do so at my own pace. Jumping on trends to try and keep up with popular music is not something I care to do. If I were a business I’d think differently. Being the individual hobbyist I am, Happiness is in the creating, not the selling of what I do.

The one I bend for the most these days is Glenda. I try to write songs from time to time just for her. I’m not always successful but one hit with her more than makes up for a lack of wider acceptance in the world.