WAS YOUR LIFE PERMANENTLY EFFECTED BY WANTING TO BE COOL?
Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:14 pmWAS YOUR LIFE PERMANENTLY EFFECTED BY WANTING TO BE COOL?
OK, since I got such a good response from my last philosophical question, both here and on the “Chet Board”, here is another one. This is actually related more to fans of Chet Atkins.
Everyone trying to learn and play Chet’s music has to deal with a steep learning curve, which is steeper for some than it is for others. Some never really get the hang of it and others go far with it because it comes much easier to them.
Since he was never mainstream, you would have been surrounded by people who preferred the popular music of the time. This is about their effect upon you?
I’m imagining 4 groups of people:
1) Those who never really caught on to how to play Chet’s music or style and eventually moved on to something else.
Did you truly believe that you’d never be able to learn his style anyway? Have you lived with regret and have wondered if you might have gone further if you had stuck with it?
2) Those who never really caught on but were hopeful and stuck with it anyway because they loved it enough and managed to eventually be able to play a few of his more basic tunes.
During your learning process, did you ever feel like just giving up and switching to something more popular and easier to play in order to feel more like you fit in?
3) Those who caught on quickly and easily but for some reason never stuck with it due to circumstances and moved on and left it behind.
Are you haunted with the thought of how good you could have been if you had stayed with it?
4) Those who caught on quickly and easily and were passionate and always excited to learn the next song and have reached a high level of expertise.
Did your passion and excitement of learning a new Chet tune keep you focused on continuing to learn more of them, at the expense of never being part of the “cool group”, because you simply weren’t attracted to the popular music?
So I guess I’m asking if your decision to continue or to give up trying to learn to play Chet’s music was ever influenced by the preferences in the music that most of your friends and family were into?
I can tell you that I was so excited to the point of tears every time I heard and learned a new Chet tune that NOTHING was ever going to get in my way! So I knew that most people weren’t into it and I always envied the guys who played their single string rock music with a flat pick and were seen as being the “cool guys” but I never once thought I’d go that direction just to gain their level of popularity.
The result is that these days, my biggest “fans” are other guitarists and musicians who understand what’s involved and the general public will always look elsewhere, which is fine because I never aspired to become a “star” anyway but have only wanted to get as good as I could!
OK, since I got such a good response from my last philosophical question, both here and on the “Chet Board”, here is another one. This is actually related more to fans of Chet Atkins.
Everyone trying to learn and play Chet’s music has to deal with a steep learning curve, which is steeper for some than it is for others. Some never really get the hang of it and others go far with it because it comes much easier to them.
Since he was never mainstream, you would have been surrounded by people who preferred the popular music of the time. This is about their effect upon you?
I’m imagining 4 groups of people:
1) Those who never really caught on to how to play Chet’s music or style and eventually moved on to something else.
Did you truly believe that you’d never be able to learn his style anyway? Have you lived with regret and have wondered if you might have gone further if you had stuck with it?
2) Those who never really caught on but were hopeful and stuck with it anyway because they loved it enough and managed to eventually be able to play a few of his more basic tunes.
During your learning process, did you ever feel like just giving up and switching to something more popular and easier to play in order to feel more like you fit in?
3) Those who caught on quickly and easily but for some reason never stuck with it due to circumstances and moved on and left it behind.
Are you haunted with the thought of how good you could have been if you had stayed with it?
4) Those who caught on quickly and easily and were passionate and always excited to learn the next song and have reached a high level of expertise.
Did your passion and excitement of learning a new Chet tune keep you focused on continuing to learn more of them, at the expense of never being part of the “cool group”, because you simply weren’t attracted to the popular music?
So I guess I’m asking if your decision to continue or to give up trying to learn to play Chet’s music was ever influenced by the preferences in the music that most of your friends and family were into?
I can tell you that I was so excited to the point of tears every time I heard and learned a new Chet tune that NOTHING was ever going to get in my way! So I knew that most people weren’t into it and I always envied the guys who played their single string rock music with a flat pick and were seen as being the “cool guys” but I never once thought I’d go that direction just to gain their level of popularity.
The result is that these days, my biggest “fans” are other guitarists and musicians who understand what’s involved and the general public will always look elsewhere, which is fine because I never aspired to become a “star” anyway but have only wanted to get as good as I could!