#254

If I haven’t used something in a while, I first judge whether or not I could buy it again if I sell it. As time goes on, I’m finding more things are hard to get or not made anymore. It also helps to think about whether or not you had to wait to get it in the first place. Usually I’ve been fine with my decisions, but there have been a few times I’ve regretted it.

1 Like
#256

I‘ve had such thoughts quite frequently. As with anything, see whether it‘s a one-time thing or whether it persists. I always used to get that feeling whenever I could not get to where I wanted to go, sound or composition-wise, so it was really just my lack of practice and experience. If you start to feel that way often, then yeah, maybe it‘s a good idea to sell stuff. Do you feel like selling because you just don‘t want to use it or because you‘re frustrated with it?

1 Like
#257

I am in the process of selling everything and moving specifically to a setup that consists of a stage piano and Ableton for sequencing/effects. I’ve played guitar for almost 10 years but never put in the time to really learn any music theory. I just would do the loop pedal, stack a lot of reverb and noodle around sort of thing, a la “ambient soundscapes”. In my grad school program I did a lot of stuff with MaxMSP and building my own instrument building as well. This summer with extra time due to Covid and having a MFA in Covid economy I started taking Jazz Piano Lessons.

It’s absolutely blown my mind to start this journey after playing music for almost 16 years. I started music with the Cello and played classically for 8 years and you can get pretty far as a classical musician(at least at my level as a competitive teenage scene) by just memorizing the songs and practice without understanding why things are written the way they are or how composition actually works. Now i’ve been playing Piano and taking lessons for almost 4 months and it’s completely changed the way I look at music. I feel like I have the ability to have so much more Intention than I ever had before in my music.

I will always love noodling around with soundscapes but getting into music theory and jazz performance has really allowed my creativity to blossom. I’ve sold almost all my expensive boutique pedals which allowed me to buy a Roland RD88 Stage Piano. This thing itself is a workhorse that has a ton of capability with layering,effects and roland cloud capability. There has been something really rewarding in giving away or selling all my pedals and starting fresh, starting new.

It’s hard to battle the feelings and shame around “why didn’t I do this earlier?” . Or the shame of how much money my Gear Acquisition Syndrome made me spend when I could’ve used that time and money to actually get better at my instrument. But at 27 I’m really excited to be on this new journey with Piano. I am trying to get to a place where I can have a stage setup/Sound similar to Taylor Mcferrin and by getting rid of a lot of my extra gear and doing the simplest thing of focusing on my craft of being a musician I feel like I’m finally moving towards that goal.

15 Likes
#258

I’m finding your story very compelling. Especially as someone who has done a whole lot of Music things - but has no formal keyboard training.

Just curious about your jazz piano lessons: were these in person or remote?

2 Likes
#259

Hey @MtL I’m glad to hear you could relate to my story. So I found my teacher because one of the indie musicians I’m a fan of posted on his Instagram saying he was giving lessons and just messaged him about it. We do one hour over Skype each week and honestly Skype Piano lessons are way better then I would have expected. He has a piano in front of him to show me stuff and I have my webcam pointed at my keys. He also lives in a different city and I would’ve never gotten to have him as a teacher if it wasn’t for him doing the remote lessons.

3 Likes