Motivation

Recently, I've been going though a very hard time in my musical career. I'm hoping this blog post will either act as a vent so I can think things through clearly, or maybe give direction to anyone who reads this.

For the last few months, I've felt like I should just quit while I'm ahead. I've done my time at college, I've played in bands, I've learnt more guitar theory than I know what to do with, so what else is there? We all know that the chances of getting a good standing in the music industry are few and far between, so why am I putting in all this effort for it to just never work out? 

It's a very pessemistic thought, and I've never been a 'glass half empty' kind of guy, but that's where I'm at right now. After having the idea of playing jazz guitar on a cruise ship, I studied for days on end all about jazz theory, jazz chords, everything jazz. I then put it into practice, managed to have a pretty decent backing of theory and technique (nowhere near where I want to be though) so I began to contact cruise companies. Every single one of them came back and effectively said 'Jog on, mate'. It was a real kick in the teeth, and since then it just feels like it's all for nothing.

As I metioned in a previous post, I could quite easily walk into a covers/tribute band and play 2 gigs a week and be able to afford to live. But then it just feels like I'm selling out. I want to play original songs I've co-written, or written myself. I want people to be singing MY lyrics, not me singing other peoples. 

On the other hand, would selling out be so bad? I'd get to perform a lot, I'd meet loads of fun people, I'd be making a good income, it sounds ideal right? I'd be gigging everywhere and all the time, it would be perfect in a way. I might try to contact some people in covers or tribute bands, and see what it's like from someone who has experienced it. 

I'm already in an originals band, and that's doing well. So I could put my eggs in different baskets and audition for a covers and tribute bands. I'll see what's out there, and see if it's something I'd be into. As for the cruise ships, I've given up on that now. Although, it did motivate me to learn a lot of jazz theory in a very small amount of time, and that's never a bad thing!

This blog post may just seem like a huge ramble to anyone who reads it, and it's in no way related to my college course, but this is really the only place I can post things like this. It's kind of helped being able to write it out too, and maybe if someone stumbles across this in the future, it could help them.