Hey everyone!
So I've come to realize that most of the things I do as a musician and composer are separate (at least the way I looked at it they were).
Because of that I started to re examine all the things I do with music. This includes things like this blog, composing for production libraries, writing band songs, playing live, etc.
But the thing is all of those things can work together. Heck the probably should if I want to really make a long form career out of this music thing!
You see I've been trying to write different kinds of music for different purposes. But the truth is that there are one or two avenues of music creation that I am particularly good at. The main one is an electronic/cinematic rock sound. Basically think Evanescence, and bands that utilize multiple methods of making music in a hard rock context. I had been trying to write very specific things that are not in my wheelhouse for different end goals. This was really scattering my focus.
Being able to solidly produce a body of work that is in my main genre will probably not net me a lot of cash up front, but I feel like it will make for a better long term, and more emotionally fulfilling career ultimately.
You may or may not have noticed on my main Google + account, and my YouTube channel that's attached to it have been renamed from my actual name to "Adore the Red". This is because I intend on actually creating something with that name.
The name is something I've tooled around with for a while now, and my intention was to have a touring band by that name. Unfortunately I've not yet found a group of musicians that fit in well with that idea just yet, I'm still hoping it will happen someday though.
However Adore the Red is ultimately the pen name for all my Electronic Rock work. Whether that be placed in media, touring, YouTube videos, Websites, etc. This is the name I'm going with.
Adore the Red actually stands for something with me.
Red represents: fire, passion, humanity, blood, and life.
All those things that may or may not be readily apparent but are immediately recognizable as amazing things that we can and in my opinion should chase after.
Hence Adoring it.
I also really like writing fictional stories and building fictional worlds. It's my hope that full albums whether vocal, or instrumental will have an overarching story built into a fictional cinematic world. Obviously I am unable to immediately realize this goal. But to put it bluntly, I would like each album to eventually accompany a 3d film with each song representing some part of the stories.
These of course are long term goals that I would like to see happen someday. However if those things don't come to pass I hope that everyone can still enjoy the music I'll be making under this name.
As always I hope all is well and God Bless!
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Martial Art and Music...
Picture it, a seasoned martial artist. He's training, going through his forms slow and steady, there's silence all around.
You could hear a feather drop it's so quiet in there. He's so focused and in the moment that the entire world melts away and it's just him, and his training.
That's how we picture traditional martial arts masters along with the long grey beard, and the huge bushy eyebrows.
What if I told you, music should be practiced the same way?
You're probably looking at me write now laughing.
"But Josh! You can't shred going slow, it makes no sense!"
True, a quarter note solo at 30 bpm would be painfully boring.
But here's the trick. How do you think Vai, Satriani, Johnson, and everyone else that can play at warp speed got that way?
They train slowly. Just like those old martial arts masters. There's an old saying my Kung Fu teacher kept pounding into my head (literally sometimes lol); "If you can't do it correctly slow, then you can't do it at all."
This is certainly true for music too. I remember when I was a teenager and I had written a slow ballad chord progression. It was really simple, 4/4 time, single key, in E Minor. I shown it to a bass player and drummer I knew from church and they liked it. Granted I wasn't much of a guitar player at the time but it was one of the few things I could play well at the time.
So the bassist found out what chords I was playing and we started working on it. Then something happened, the drummer couldn't drum to it.
I couldn't understand this at the time, because he was a talented drummer and specialized in punk which required the drummers to play blisteringly fast.
Well it turns out he had never practiced anything slowly to a metronome before, so he had no idea how to create drum beats that slow. It's been a long time since I've jammed with that particular musician, and I'm almost certain he could do it now if he's still playing. But that nicely demonstrates my point.
If you start practicing your technique slow and focused, making sure everything sounds perfect at a slow and steady click. You can get it up to warp speed and maintain clarity, articulation, rhythm, timing and all the other fun stuff.
I prescribe getting a metronome app on your phone, turning off distortion all together. Practice your scales, licks, patterns, progressions, all of it at a slow tempo when you're first learning something. Make sure you can play it slowly. Then ramp up the speed over time.
By the time you get up to the tempo you want to get at, you'll be shocked how much better you sound!
And always remember,
"If you can't do it correctly slow, then you can't do it at all."
You could hear a feather drop it's so quiet in there. He's so focused and in the moment that the entire world melts away and it's just him, and his training.
That's how we picture traditional martial arts masters along with the long grey beard, and the huge bushy eyebrows.
What if I told you, music should be practiced the same way?
You're probably looking at me write now laughing.
"But Josh! You can't shred going slow, it makes no sense!"
True, a quarter note solo at 30 bpm would be painfully boring.
But here's the trick. How do you think Vai, Satriani, Johnson, and everyone else that can play at warp speed got that way?
They train slowly. Just like those old martial arts masters. There's an old saying my Kung Fu teacher kept pounding into my head (literally sometimes lol); "If you can't do it correctly slow, then you can't do it at all."
This is certainly true for music too. I remember when I was a teenager and I had written a slow ballad chord progression. It was really simple, 4/4 time, single key, in E Minor. I shown it to a bass player and drummer I knew from church and they liked it. Granted I wasn't much of a guitar player at the time but it was one of the few things I could play well at the time.
So the bassist found out what chords I was playing and we started working on it. Then something happened, the drummer couldn't drum to it.
I couldn't understand this at the time, because he was a talented drummer and specialized in punk which required the drummers to play blisteringly fast.
Well it turns out he had never practiced anything slowly to a metronome before, so he had no idea how to create drum beats that slow. It's been a long time since I've jammed with that particular musician, and I'm almost certain he could do it now if he's still playing. But that nicely demonstrates my point.
If you start practicing your technique slow and focused, making sure everything sounds perfect at a slow and steady click. You can get it up to warp speed and maintain clarity, articulation, rhythm, timing and all the other fun stuff.
I prescribe getting a metronome app on your phone, turning off distortion all together. Practice your scales, licks, patterns, progressions, all of it at a slow tempo when you're first learning something. Make sure you can play it slowly. Then ramp up the speed over time.
By the time you get up to the tempo you want to get at, you'll be shocked how much better you sound!
And always remember,
"If you can't do it correctly slow, then you can't do it at all."
Monday, November 14, 2016
Melody Writing (and the Bane of one Rhythm Guitarist)
Melodies.
Ugh.
or YAYYYYY!
That all really depends on how you look at things I suppose. Since moving my primary focus from guitarist to composer a few years back, I've used my long (ish) history as a rhythm guitarist to leverage a sort of niche in my writing. Probably the main thing that got me through college honestly.
But after a while you learn that as a non musician the listener generally hears the sum of the whole, but remembers the melody.
This dramatically shifted my point of view from writing guitar riffs with relative ease, to trying really hard (in vain) to write catchy melodies. Of course being a musician means I'm generally my worst critic and due to this an my newness in melody writing I immediately thought I was a doomed failure, typical right?
I was scrolling through YouTube procrastinating (as is my right dang it!) and I stumbled onto an amazing guitar channel.
It's run by a guy named David Wallimann. Since he's probably never heard of me and chances are never will I'm certainly not getting paid to promote his page but he had videos that really helped me as a writer. I'll leave a link to his channel on this post so that you guys can check him out. Great stuff.
However back to this video I stumbled onto....
It was based on how to write effect melodies and guitar solos. At some point in the video he said something that clicked. You see I had heard all the typical "how to write a melody" Stuff in college. If you're not familiar I'll write it below.
1. Write an interesting rhythm before adding notes
2. Write based on the chord notes
3. Write in non chord tones for tension, and spice
4. ????????
5. PROFIT!
See I was missing something and what Mr. Wallimann said in this video seemed to be the key.
He said that as a composer you are the instrument, not your guitar.
He even told people when writing melodies to not have their instrument in hand. But to instead hum, sing, or otherwise make noises to develop the idea before taking it to your instrument.
THIS WAS IT! If any of the people that know me intimately view this blog, they will recognize that I'm CONSTANTLY doing things like this. Humming melodies, drumming with pencil's on drinking glasses, I'm constantly "composing" without realizing it...
But the missing link as it were, was for me to take those odd musical ramblings that I generally attribute to an acute case of ADHD, and flesh them out into musical works.
That's the secret I've been looking for all these years!
You see as a musician I'm very unstructured. Yes I've learned loads of theory over the years, and as a guitarist, I can come up with multi time signature based riffs on the fly, and so on and so on.
However just about everything I've done has been improvised in some sort or fashion. Which can be a great thing, but in my case over the years it has lead to many an unfinished song, or even music that sounds like a near carbon copy of each other.
As a professional procrastinator, I realized that putting those things to use requires a ton of work to sit down and focus. (GAHHHHH)
So I honestly found it easiest to sit down with a score writing program for an hour or so, and shut off the internet for at least a while. Shutting off data on my phone, and just going at it helped a lot. Knowing that I wouldn't be writing with an instrument in hand made it easier to sit down and either remember melodies and rhythms I came up with goofing off, or to start the process of melodic composition in the truest sense of the word.
Remember, you are the composer, the instrument is a tool. The music has to come from your mind, heart, and your body.
Hashtag Musicalzen.... (hehehe see I can make cheesy jokes too!)
Annnnd as promised a link to that amazing channel!
https://www.youtube.com/user/Wallimann
Ugh.
or YAYYYYY!
That all really depends on how you look at things I suppose. Since moving my primary focus from guitarist to composer a few years back, I've used my long (ish) history as a rhythm guitarist to leverage a sort of niche in my writing. Probably the main thing that got me through college honestly.
But after a while you learn that as a non musician the listener generally hears the sum of the whole, but remembers the melody.
This dramatically shifted my point of view from writing guitar riffs with relative ease, to trying really hard (in vain) to write catchy melodies. Of course being a musician means I'm generally my worst critic and due to this an my newness in melody writing I immediately thought I was a doomed failure, typical right?
I was scrolling through YouTube procrastinating (as is my right dang it!) and I stumbled onto an amazing guitar channel.
It's run by a guy named David Wallimann. Since he's probably never heard of me and chances are never will I'm certainly not getting paid to promote his page but he had videos that really helped me as a writer. I'll leave a link to his channel on this post so that you guys can check him out. Great stuff.
However back to this video I stumbled onto....
It was based on how to write effect melodies and guitar solos. At some point in the video he said something that clicked. You see I had heard all the typical "how to write a melody" Stuff in college. If you're not familiar I'll write it below.
1. Write an interesting rhythm before adding notes
2. Write based on the chord notes
3. Write in non chord tones for tension, and spice
4. ????????
5. PROFIT!
See I was missing something and what Mr. Wallimann said in this video seemed to be the key.
He said that as a composer you are the instrument, not your guitar.
He even told people when writing melodies to not have their instrument in hand. But to instead hum, sing, or otherwise make noises to develop the idea before taking it to your instrument.
THIS WAS IT! If any of the people that know me intimately view this blog, they will recognize that I'm CONSTANTLY doing things like this. Humming melodies, drumming with pencil's on drinking glasses, I'm constantly "composing" without realizing it...
But the missing link as it were, was for me to take those odd musical ramblings that I generally attribute to an acute case of ADHD, and flesh them out into musical works.
That's the secret I've been looking for all these years!
You see as a musician I'm very unstructured. Yes I've learned loads of theory over the years, and as a guitarist, I can come up with multi time signature based riffs on the fly, and so on and so on.
However just about everything I've done has been improvised in some sort or fashion. Which can be a great thing, but in my case over the years it has lead to many an unfinished song, or even music that sounds like a near carbon copy of each other.
As a professional procrastinator, I realized that putting those things to use requires a ton of work to sit down and focus. (GAHHHHH)
So I honestly found it easiest to sit down with a score writing program for an hour or so, and shut off the internet for at least a while. Shutting off data on my phone, and just going at it helped a lot. Knowing that I wouldn't be writing with an instrument in hand made it easier to sit down and either remember melodies and rhythms I came up with goofing off, or to start the process of melodic composition in the truest sense of the word.
Remember, you are the composer, the instrument is a tool. The music has to come from your mind, heart, and your body.
Hashtag Musicalzen.... (hehehe see I can make cheesy jokes too!)
Annnnd as promised a link to that amazing channel!
https://www.youtube.com/user/Wallimann
Sunday, November 13, 2016
What I've been up to (and what I've learned over the past two years)
Hey folks,
I really need to start posting on here more often....
My generalized laziness aside, these past couple of years have been pretty crazy! I've been in a touring band, gotten my first commissioned works, started the process of doing music as a career instead of a hobby, and started a few new projects as well!
First and most important I'm in a band called "The Fringe." It's an acoustic originated project that is surprisingly relevant even in this day and age of DJ based music monetization.
I work with one other person by the name of Erik Flesher who sings, and runs our sound system at the same time. (talk about multitasking!)
As you can already tell this project has a very grassroots oriented approach. We went into this thinking "If we have only 3 or 4 people who really get it, we'll consider ourselves blessed"
Well needless to say it was pretty rough starting out. Our first show was opening for a much more established local act and we were given an hour slot. I hadn't played in a band since my high school years playing in a semi traveling worship team. This was a completely different world to what I was used to. I was incredibly nervous, and I didn't think I could get through that short show. Fast forward to our last show, and we have played a festival, a few benefits concerts, and several local gigs. Our last show being what amounted to 6 hours of a show. 5 hours on stage and 1 hour set up and tear down. Not bad for a couple music nerds who have no social skills!
Goofing aside this has been and continues to be an incredible experience and I absolutely love our new friends and fans. Being able to connect with people at our shows in a communal way, sharing something so powerful, there's nothing quite like that moment when you hear the crowd singing over the crazy loud speakers.
Another thing that is incredible about this project I would have to place blame on Erik for. Every place we played (save for one country and western bar in central Illinois) has invited us back for multiple shows. That in itself is incredible and it shows just how much you guys understand what we do. I can't thank everyone enough for things like that.
Other than my band, I'm still pursuing my career as a composer, songwriter, and producer. When I first got into composing it was an incredible feeling. But it was completely daunting. You see modern composers write music, record the audio (or midi), mix, master, and find commissions all on their own.
It's taken a lot of time, and even more schooling. But over the last year I've started networking more and more. Meeting new people, and finding opportunities for work.
And as a result I received my first commission last Winter! In the process of learning more and more about the business side of composition, I've discovered a few more avenues in which to turn my passion into a bit of cash.
Between writing for production libraries, creating sample packs, and stock audio, I'm finding that my door into a full career of work may be in Indie Gaming.
Growing up with an Atari 2600 and the Original Nintendo, I was pretty intimate with games throughout most of my life and was easily able to recognize their value as a method of telling deep and powerful stories.
And now that love for games and the stories they tell may be my path in life. My career folding hand in hand with my favorite modern storytelling medium.
Though it is true I supplement my income currently with commissioned writing assignments, I'm happy to say that for the most part of two years, I've been a "professional" musician.
It's not at all what I thought it would be. But I absolutely love it!
I do hope the fact that someone as goofy and uncoordinated as myself being able to pursue my dreams and make headway towards building a legacy inspires anyone that might read this and have a dream of their own.
Don't give up, keep working, and don't settle!
I really need to start posting on here more often....
My generalized laziness aside, these past couple of years have been pretty crazy! I've been in a touring band, gotten my first commissioned works, started the process of doing music as a career instead of a hobby, and started a few new projects as well!
First and most important I'm in a band called "The Fringe." It's an acoustic originated project that is surprisingly relevant even in this day and age of DJ based music monetization.
I work with one other person by the name of Erik Flesher who sings, and runs our sound system at the same time. (talk about multitasking!)
As you can already tell this project has a very grassroots oriented approach. We went into this thinking "If we have only 3 or 4 people who really get it, we'll consider ourselves blessed"
Well needless to say it was pretty rough starting out. Our first show was opening for a much more established local act and we were given an hour slot. I hadn't played in a band since my high school years playing in a semi traveling worship team. This was a completely different world to what I was used to. I was incredibly nervous, and I didn't think I could get through that short show. Fast forward to our last show, and we have played a festival, a few benefits concerts, and several local gigs. Our last show being what amounted to 6 hours of a show. 5 hours on stage and 1 hour set up and tear down. Not bad for a couple music nerds who have no social skills!
Goofing aside this has been and continues to be an incredible experience and I absolutely love our new friends and fans. Being able to connect with people at our shows in a communal way, sharing something so powerful, there's nothing quite like that moment when you hear the crowd singing over the crazy loud speakers.
Another thing that is incredible about this project I would have to place blame on Erik for. Every place we played (save for one country and western bar in central Illinois) has invited us back for multiple shows. That in itself is incredible and it shows just how much you guys understand what we do. I can't thank everyone enough for things like that.
Other than my band, I'm still pursuing my career as a composer, songwriter, and producer. When I first got into composing it was an incredible feeling. But it was completely daunting. You see modern composers write music, record the audio (or midi), mix, master, and find commissions all on their own.
It's taken a lot of time, and even more schooling. But over the last year I've started networking more and more. Meeting new people, and finding opportunities for work.
And as a result I received my first commission last Winter! In the process of learning more and more about the business side of composition, I've discovered a few more avenues in which to turn my passion into a bit of cash.
Between writing for production libraries, creating sample packs, and stock audio, I'm finding that my door into a full career of work may be in Indie Gaming.
Growing up with an Atari 2600 and the Original Nintendo, I was pretty intimate with games throughout most of my life and was easily able to recognize their value as a method of telling deep and powerful stories.
And now that love for games and the stories they tell may be my path in life. My career folding hand in hand with my favorite modern storytelling medium.
Though it is true I supplement my income currently with commissioned writing assignments, I'm happy to say that for the most part of two years, I've been a "professional" musician.
It's not at all what I thought it would be. But I absolutely love it!
I do hope the fact that someone as goofy and uncoordinated as myself being able to pursue my dreams and make headway towards building a legacy inspires anyone that might read this and have a dream of their own.
Don't give up, keep working, and don't settle!
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Music as a Job
Hi folks,
There's something I've been wondering about for a long time. A stigma exists when it comes to creative jobs. I live in the Midwest and the lifestyle in my neck of the woods for people around my age is usually: Get up, go to work, get off, go to the bar, go home, repeat. Which is fine and all but what if you work as a musician?
Well then that's when things start to change.
For one working as a local musician means you work AT the bar. For some musicians this means an easy way to get free drinks. For others it means hanging out with friends easier after work ends. For people like me it's slightly awkward. I'm a very non judgmental person be nature. Some would even describe some of my personal life as rather libertine and free roaming in nature. That being said I also grew up in martial arts so I have a high value for being in complete control of my body. As such I generally avoid drinking and drugs as both a health and fitness choice as well as a self control point. I don't mind if others do it, just not my thing.
But because of that I never really had a chance to get comfortable in crowds especially at a bar. So playing at bars is actually work for someone like me. But we get paid half decent for the work and it's nice to be able to put smiles on people's faces for a living. I'm very passionate about making people happy and because of that I love my job.
The question tonight is about whether being a musician (or any other creative professional) is really work.
Here in the Midwest a job seems to be defined as "clock in, clock out, go home." Anything other than that is relatively considered a hobby or playing some sort of games.
Now we know in this society you can make a living doing just about anything, look at people who play video games on youtube for a living as a prime example. This is a great thing, because whatever you love can be your livelihood and anyone can truly have a career in anything if they work hard enough for it.
So if you only define "working" as clock in, clock out, go home; then you're really limiting yourself to the possibilities that exist. However among this kind of mindset is a very dangerous concept of "oh you play guitar, you must be broke" or "you're unemployed then?"
Well both of those things can be true but for a surprising amount of us that's not true.
The basic mindset seems to be that if you're not on tv then you aren't working.
I'd like to try and dispel that notion if I may.
Firstly creative people work mostly off the clock. Look at the singer who spends all their free time learning songs, practicing technique and getting ready for a 3 hour show.
Also look how many years it takes a musician (generally) to get to the level required to play full time? For me it took 15 years of consistent work on my instrument. No not all songs that I play require all that practice, but there's always that song that you HAVE to learn where you thank God for that time you spent running scales and learning theory. We train our skill sets for years before we can even start to get a paycheck.
I don't know any "normal job" that requires that much patience and stamina.
Not only that, but just to get to that first gig (and subsequent paychecks) is a barrage of cold calling, demo recording, auditioning, etc. You have to work the business side just as much if not more than the creative side.
Then once you finally get that coveted paid gig, you have to make sure you have all the equipment (your tools) ready in working condition, and that you perform like the employee of the month so that you can come back to work another day. Our work is the only one where our performance EVERY DAY is the decisive factor for future work.
You see we can't have an off day, and just coast through work like a regular job, we can't call in sick if we're not famous, we have to work our tails off and work like our lives depend on it each and every time we go on. You don't do that at a regular job.
Yes we are our own bosses but that means we have the responsibility of an entire company on our shoulders, we are responsible for the branding, the work scheduling, the materials, the tools, the transportation, and we have to hope we'll get paid the full amount our time was worth in the first place.
Most of all in a regular job, you have your schedule set up for you. We don't have that luxury. We have to claw tooth and nail to find our first set of working days, and after all that. After that heart attack inducing amount of work that we put in for YEARS just to get started, we have to make sure to keep going.
I think most folks around here are right, I don't have a job.
I have a career.
A career I've worked half of the entirety of my life to achieve.
And I'm humbled to have that opportunity, and damn proud to be a part of a select group of people willing to stray from the heard.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
On Nerves, Precision, Guitar, and Super Mario 64
Hello Again,
I was watching some video game videos on Youtube with my Nephew earlier today. One of thing many things we watched was a Speed Run of Super Mario 64. If you don't know what a speed run is, it's basically people competing to complete a game under certain conditions as fast as possible.
Well we were watching a person beat the game in 5 minutes!
After my entire childhood was ruined by that experience it got me thinking about how precise the player must have been in his performance of the video presented.
And of course since I'm plagued with the sweet joys of ADHD, I immediately translated that to music performance.
It got me thinking about how different it is to perform in rehearsal or writing vs what it's like to perform music live.
I've been playing guitar for roughly 15 years no and every day that I play I'm more and more enamored with both the complexity and the inherent simplicity of music.
It's astonishing just how precise a person even at my mediocre level can get during songwriting. But even with that I've noticed a drastic change in my precision when writing when compared to what I play like live.
After a lot of thought and experimentation I've determined that the more nervous I am my playing precision is negatively effected.
I figure a lot of this is due to the fact I haven't been a live player for probably about 10 years or so. When I first started playing guitar I did nothing but play in front of people. However after high school graduation I spent a lot of years indoors practicing as well as learning a trade as a composer. So that meant I didn't get out on the road much.
Now that I'm out on the road more than not, I'm finding the concept of nerves an intriguing new experience.
What are your thoughts? Do nerves affect you positively, negatively, or not at all?
And if nerves have been an issue for you in the past as a live player what have you done to fix the issue?
I was watching some video game videos on Youtube with my Nephew earlier today. One of thing many things we watched was a Speed Run of Super Mario 64. If you don't know what a speed run is, it's basically people competing to complete a game under certain conditions as fast as possible.
Well we were watching a person beat the game in 5 minutes!
After my entire childhood was ruined by that experience it got me thinking about how precise the player must have been in his performance of the video presented.
And of course since I'm plagued with the sweet joys of ADHD, I immediately translated that to music performance.
It got me thinking about how different it is to perform in rehearsal or writing vs what it's like to perform music live.
I've been playing guitar for roughly 15 years no and every day that I play I'm more and more enamored with both the complexity and the inherent simplicity of music.
It's astonishing just how precise a person even at my mediocre level can get during songwriting. But even with that I've noticed a drastic change in my precision when writing when compared to what I play like live.
After a lot of thought and experimentation I've determined that the more nervous I am my playing precision is negatively effected.
I figure a lot of this is due to the fact I haven't been a live player for probably about 10 years or so. When I first started playing guitar I did nothing but play in front of people. However after high school graduation I spent a lot of years indoors practicing as well as learning a trade as a composer. So that meant I didn't get out on the road much.
Now that I'm out on the road more than not, I'm finding the concept of nerves an intriguing new experience.
What are your thoughts? Do nerves affect you positively, negatively, or not at all?
And if nerves have been an issue for you in the past as a live player what have you done to fix the issue?
Monday, July 27, 2015
Thank you, all of you.
To Whom it May Concern,
It's kind of strange when I think about the last few years. I've been away with this and that regarding that or this.
However I can safely report that sometimes life doesn't always seem to work out the way you would expect.
There's a lot to be said for willpower. There's also a lot to be said for malarkey as well. But one of my goals as a person was to be my own boss doing something I love.
Well as of right now I'm an entertainer. For the longest time I wanted to be a composer for orchestral works and various other things. However by happenstance I spent a few years without focus on that goal.
Because of that I felt I learned a lot of things about myself and about the world around me in that time. You see a few years back I was put in charge of a friend who was terminally ill. Over the few months my younger brother and I cared for this man I got my first tattoo, got engaged, broke it off, experimented with being a photographer and many other things in the course of knowing that man who I now call a friend and a surrogate brother. Sadly as we knew his life was cut off too early. But while I got a chance to know him he changed my life and my perspective on many things, God, joy, peace, selflessness, and yes even music.
Over the next year my Dad went through cancer and beat it. Soon after we moved to another town while Dad recovered, unfortunately while in that new (albeit smaller) town he gained a much faster acting cancer and a week after being diagnosed he passed away.
I'm generally a calloused person by nature, it's not necessarily a bad thing as I try to be kind to everyone I meet but that experience ripped the callouses off my heart and exposed a lot of mixed emotions I was unaware I was capable of. I stopped writing music again for a long time because of that.
However once I became engrossed in it again I felt like I had begun a new relationship with a first love.
I fell in love with guitar again and over the course of the next couple of years while taking care of another friend who happened to be very ill, I realized my potential as a guitarist and an entertainer was kind of shocking.
I never felt like I was particularly talented at one thing or the other, and even though my Father made me promise to never quit making music, I was at the time considering a job in health care considering I was growing rather used to being in a home care type of situation and I enjoyed the work.
It took a lot of people who gave a ton of concentrated effort to make me realize how much potential I have on a single instrument.
Thanks to that encouragement I've been working in a band called The Fringe now for a few months with an old friend who is an extremely talented singer and songwriter.
I've gotten to know and become friends with several of the most talented people in the areas where I work, and surprisingly enough I found a community of people where I fit in.
I'm extremely grateful to be a part of this community of extremely talented and creative people, as well as the fact I can play music and put smiles on people's faces as a career.
It's strange I initially wanted to make this post just to mention my band and say a quick thanks to the people that made it a reality.
But the truth is between God, a supportive family, and a great group of friends: I find myself extremely blessed to be a part of a local industry that is not only surviving but thriving regardless of billboard charts, record labels, and other things that aren't necessary.
There's nothing wrong with those things, but when I see so many talented people achieving a dream of making a living doing what you love, just because you love doing it; I'm in awe every day when I see astonishing things like this on a regular basis.
We're not billionaires, we don't drive Phantom's, but we do what we love, because we love it, and it pays the bills. That's my version of the American Dream, and I'm dang impressed by all the people that do it every day.
Of course I want to give credit where it's due, but thank you to all the people that believed in me once upon a time and still support me to this day.
Thank you, All of You,
Joshua Smith
Guitarist, The Fringe
It's kind of strange when I think about the last few years. I've been away with this and that regarding that or this.
However I can safely report that sometimes life doesn't always seem to work out the way you would expect.
There's a lot to be said for willpower. There's also a lot to be said for malarkey as well. But one of my goals as a person was to be my own boss doing something I love.
Well as of right now I'm an entertainer. For the longest time I wanted to be a composer for orchestral works and various other things. However by happenstance I spent a few years without focus on that goal.
Because of that I felt I learned a lot of things about myself and about the world around me in that time. You see a few years back I was put in charge of a friend who was terminally ill. Over the few months my younger brother and I cared for this man I got my first tattoo, got engaged, broke it off, experimented with being a photographer and many other things in the course of knowing that man who I now call a friend and a surrogate brother. Sadly as we knew his life was cut off too early. But while I got a chance to know him he changed my life and my perspective on many things, God, joy, peace, selflessness, and yes even music.
Over the next year my Dad went through cancer and beat it. Soon after we moved to another town while Dad recovered, unfortunately while in that new (albeit smaller) town he gained a much faster acting cancer and a week after being diagnosed he passed away.
I'm generally a calloused person by nature, it's not necessarily a bad thing as I try to be kind to everyone I meet but that experience ripped the callouses off my heart and exposed a lot of mixed emotions I was unaware I was capable of. I stopped writing music again for a long time because of that.
However once I became engrossed in it again I felt like I had begun a new relationship with a first love.
I fell in love with guitar again and over the course of the next couple of years while taking care of another friend who happened to be very ill, I realized my potential as a guitarist and an entertainer was kind of shocking.
I never felt like I was particularly talented at one thing or the other, and even though my Father made me promise to never quit making music, I was at the time considering a job in health care considering I was growing rather used to being in a home care type of situation and I enjoyed the work.
It took a lot of people who gave a ton of concentrated effort to make me realize how much potential I have on a single instrument.
Thanks to that encouragement I've been working in a band called The Fringe now for a few months with an old friend who is an extremely talented singer and songwriter.
I've gotten to know and become friends with several of the most talented people in the areas where I work, and surprisingly enough I found a community of people where I fit in.
I'm extremely grateful to be a part of this community of extremely talented and creative people, as well as the fact I can play music and put smiles on people's faces as a career.
It's strange I initially wanted to make this post just to mention my band and say a quick thanks to the people that made it a reality.
But the truth is between God, a supportive family, and a great group of friends: I find myself extremely blessed to be a part of a local industry that is not only surviving but thriving regardless of billboard charts, record labels, and other things that aren't necessary.
There's nothing wrong with those things, but when I see so many talented people achieving a dream of making a living doing what you love, just because you love doing it; I'm in awe every day when I see astonishing things like this on a regular basis.
We're not billionaires, we don't drive Phantom's, but we do what we love, because we love it, and it pays the bills. That's my version of the American Dream, and I'm dang impressed by all the people that do it every day.
Of course I want to give credit where it's due, but thank you to all the people that believed in me once upon a time and still support me to this day.
Thank you, All of You,
Joshua Smith
Guitarist, The Fringe
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