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Early this week I was invited to a jam session at a very high-end studio that is owned by the guys who got me started in commercial audio. (I worked at thier previous facility for several years and most of the players invited were regulars who came through back in the day) I haven't seen most of them in 15 years or more, so the whole thing was sort of like a high school reunion. It's an incredible facility too, with 6 AV post production suites and two complete (and seperate) Studios with sound stages, so there were actually two jams going on throughout the visit and everybody drifted from room to room some.
Anyway... We all had a blast, but I realized that most of them (about 15 players or so) hadn't improved one bit over the years. Don't get me wrong - they were all good even 15 years ago (some great), but it was like being transported back in time. The same licks - The melodic ones were still melodic, the speed demons were still fast, but they were all pretty much the same players. A few were rusty, (as in worse - not better) but the cats who had stayed in it - were still at a similar level. I realized (or re-realized) as I picked up a guitar, that I was no different. My sax playing was much improved, but I rarely played sax - even back then, and there was a trumpet player who had switched to bass that was incredible, but that was pretty much it.
The whole experience set me to thinking about ability vs. practice. Truth be told - some of the old recordings they played during lunch (we were also in a band together in the early 80's and recorded an album and a CD together) had guitar work I'd done that rivaled anything I can do today, and I've been working steadily at it since. Now that's close to 30 years ago. You would think I'd have improved in 30 years. Sure, I'm comfortable with a few new chords, and have some new licks, but I'm not much better of a player. I had a similar experience reuniting with an old keyboard player in a corporate band - he hasn't changed a bit either.
So...I've decided that once you have reached a certian level, no amount of practice is going to take you to the next level. It's a bit depressing. It's also probably why I'm digging the whole sax thing so much - Being relatively new to playing sax seriously - I can hear myself improve almost from day to day. The downside is that the speedy improvement has begun to taper off now that I've been playing for a few years. I hear players who are so much better and wonder if I'll plateau before I get to that level. I know it happened with guitar. I wanted Stevie Ray speed, phrasing, and precision, but never got past the Eric Clapton - "Slow Hand" era. Good - but not what I wanted. Now when I play guitar - it's just to track some recordings, or to back up my wife as she sings. Ho-Hum. I've still got a bunch of licks I can learn on the sax though, and I know I can improve my precision, but my speed may be all it will ever be. I'm pretty comfortable that I'll still be diggin' it for a few years but I can see that wall coming...
I've been sort of aware of this in the back of my mind for a while but this "reunion" added a bit of clarity to what bugs me about the whole thing. There's a part of me that want's to believe that with practice I can play like (insert your favorite sax players name here), but I'm pretty sure now that's not the case. And it's a terrible thing to have to admit.
I know this is a long post -but damn. It's also an important issue to me. At this moment I firmly believe Everybody has limits that no amount of practice will overcome. We are all blessed with a finite limit of talent. Anybody care to offer up a "Silver bullet" to kill this beast? Anybody else feel the same?
Anyway... We all had a blast, but I realized that most of them (about 15 players or so) hadn't improved one bit over the years. Don't get me wrong - they were all good even 15 years ago (some great), but it was like being transported back in time. The same licks - The melodic ones were still melodic, the speed demons were still fast, but they were all pretty much the same players. A few were rusty, (as in worse - not better) but the cats who had stayed in it - were still at a similar level. I realized (or re-realized) as I picked up a guitar, that I was no different. My sax playing was much improved, but I rarely played sax - even back then, and there was a trumpet player who had switched to bass that was incredible, but that was pretty much it.
The whole experience set me to thinking about ability vs. practice. Truth be told - some of the old recordings they played during lunch (we were also in a band together in the early 80's and recorded an album and a CD together) had guitar work I'd done that rivaled anything I can do today, and I've been working steadily at it since. Now that's close to 30 years ago. You would think I'd have improved in 30 years. Sure, I'm comfortable with a few new chords, and have some new licks, but I'm not much better of a player. I had a similar experience reuniting with an old keyboard player in a corporate band - he hasn't changed a bit either.
So...I've decided that once you have reached a certian level, no amount of practice is going to take you to the next level. It's a bit depressing. It's also probably why I'm digging the whole sax thing so much - Being relatively new to playing sax seriously - I can hear myself improve almost from day to day. The downside is that the speedy improvement has begun to taper off now that I've been playing for a few years. I hear players who are so much better and wonder if I'll plateau before I get to that level. I know it happened with guitar. I wanted Stevie Ray speed, phrasing, and precision, but never got past the Eric Clapton - "Slow Hand" era. Good - but not what I wanted. Now when I play guitar - it's just to track some recordings, or to back up my wife as she sings. Ho-Hum. I've still got a bunch of licks I can learn on the sax though, and I know I can improve my precision, but my speed may be all it will ever be. I'm pretty comfortable that I'll still be diggin' it for a few years but I can see that wall coming...
I've been sort of aware of this in the back of my mind for a while but this "reunion" added a bit of clarity to what bugs me about the whole thing. There's a part of me that want's to believe that with practice I can play like (insert your favorite sax players name here), but I'm pretty sure now that's not the case. And it's a terrible thing to have to admit.
I know this is a long post -but damn. It's also an important issue to me. At this moment I firmly believe Everybody has limits that no amount of practice will overcome. We are all blessed with a finite limit of talent. Anybody care to offer up a "Silver bullet" to kill this beast? Anybody else feel the same?