Which are you? And which would you rather be?
Lately I am finding that i can do a great many things but question whether or not i am great at any of them.
Jack of all trades or master of one?
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- KVRAF
- 1818 posts since 5 Apr, 2002 from Seattle, WA, USA
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- Banned
- 6127 posts since 1 Apr, 2004 from Et in Arcadia Ego
I'm a guitarist. In the end, I always return to that as I am returning now. It's been fun learning all these new instruments, but my greatest satisfaction is from playing guitar.
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- KVRAF
- 12977 posts since 29 Sep, 2003 from Ottawa, Canada
Jack of all trades, barely a journeyman at most. 
Like Sickle, I'm a guitarist. Other than that, the only thing I'm even close to being considered an "expert" in is English language and literature. The Jack of All Trades thing extends into other areas, too. I'm a decent enough watercolour painter (as well as being handy with pencil sketches), sufficiently athletic (cycled 1,610 km last summer), formerly technologically savvy (I'm losing it with time... but I was once a computer tech when PIIIs were shit-hot).
There's more, but nobody asked for a resume.
Point being, Jack of all Trades. And that's definitely the way I prefer it, even though I realize that very few "Jacks of All Trades" are sufficient masters in any one discipline to make a memorable and lasting impact on the world. There ARE a few, though. Who knows, maybe I'll write a beautiful novel some day.
Greg
Like Sickle, I'm a guitarist. Other than that, the only thing I'm even close to being considered an "expert" in is English language and literature. The Jack of All Trades thing extends into other areas, too. I'm a decent enough watercolour painter (as well as being handy with pencil sketches), sufficiently athletic (cycled 1,610 km last summer), formerly technologically savvy (I'm losing it with time... but I was once a computer tech when PIIIs were shit-hot).
There's more, but nobody asked for a resume.
Point being, Jack of all Trades. And that's definitely the way I prefer it, even though I realize that very few "Jacks of All Trades" are sufficient masters in any one discipline to make a memorable and lasting impact on the world. There ARE a few, though. Who knows, maybe I'll write a beautiful novel some day.
Greg
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- KVRAF
- 10597 posts since 13 Jun, 2004 from Alberto Balsam
I drum, play piano/keyboard, and produce, but I'd say im better at spinning. I wish i was better at producing.
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- Rad Grandad
- 38041 posts since 6 Sep, 2003 from Downeast Maine
ditto, but about a year ago I was playin my keyboard and suddenly it hit me...I can play keyboards...sickle666 wrote:I'm a guitarist. In the end, I always return to that as I am returning now. It's been fun learning all these new instruments, but my greatest satisfaction is from playing guitar.
But I really consider myself a recording artist, recording music is my chosen artform... The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1818 posts since 5 Apr, 2002 from Seattle, WA, USA
People are telling me what I've always believed in my soul. That I should scale back and focus more on one or two things and let others do the rest.
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- Boss Lovin' DR
- 14312 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
Heeh, i can take the piss of most, but only some I find enough interest to take seriously meself. Not to say the other generes are no good, but....one song is enough for me. 
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- KVRAF
- 10597 posts since 13 Jun, 2004 from Alberto Balsam
I consider myself a great artist (mostly pastels and painting), and i simply rule the pogo stick, so i guess im a jack.
I don't think it should in this case. i think she meant in reference to music.Lunch Money wrote:The Jack of All Trades thing extends into other areas, too.
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- KVRian
- 1219 posts since 12 Aug, 2002
Jack of all trades, without question. I think versatility *can* be very good thing in this industry...but there is a dark side to all this.
As a musician my instrument is piano and synthesizer mostly, but things went every which way from there because I wanted to be a well rounded artist and I was not comfortable being too ignorant of things related the the process of making records.
I got into engineering because I wanted to experience things on the other side of the glass, believing that it would make me a better musician. But at the same time I had to learn, the hard way, that there are only so many irons you can comfortably have in the fire before things go right off.
Technology is a very facinating thing...it has that strange "come hither" allure that can really toss you off the beaten path and put you completly at odds with why you exist as an artist in the first place. Instead of freeing you...it can become an encumberance. Your brain can only be so many "places" at once before your direction founders and is lost.
Up shot is, you have to be really honest with yourself just how much versatility you can sustain before it starts to work against you.
As a musician my instrument is piano and synthesizer mostly, but things went every which way from there because I wanted to be a well rounded artist and I was not comfortable being too ignorant of things related the the process of making records.
I got into engineering because I wanted to experience things on the other side of the glass, believing that it would make me a better musician. But at the same time I had to learn, the hard way, that there are only so many irons you can comfortably have in the fire before things go right off.
Technology is a very facinating thing...it has that strange "come hither" allure that can really toss you off the beaten path and put you completly at odds with why you exist as an artist in the first place. Instead of freeing you...it can become an encumberance. Your brain can only be so many "places" at once before your direction founders and is lost.
Up shot is, you have to be really honest with yourself just how much versatility you can sustain before it starts to work against you.
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders - Lao Tzu
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- KVRAF
- 12977 posts since 29 Sep, 2003 from Ottawa, Canada
<shrug> Could be. The question's more interesting on a broader scale.Chase wrote:I don't think it should in this case. i think she meant in reference to music.Lunch Money wrote:The Jack of All Trades thing extends into other areas, too.
Greg
Last edited by Lunch Money on Mon Aug 30, 2004 5:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- addled muppet weed
- 111293 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
sadly neither,just someone who enjoys it.
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- KVRAF
- 7316 posts since 7 Mar, 2003
I dunno... I'd prefer other people to decide on that for me. Isn't that sometimes what being an artist is about, letting people critque your very abilities?
My Youtube Channel - Wires Dream Disasters
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- KVRAF
- 7672 posts since 9 Nov, 2003 from Netherlands
I guess a jack of trades, though with a strong point to programming sounds. Letting the instruments do the work for me 
And often I listen to other peoples songs and I just feel little in what I do and achieve music-wise. Just scratching the surface.
And often I listen to other peoples songs and I just feel little in what I do and achieve music-wise. Just scratching the surface.
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- KVRAF
- 1981 posts since 26 Oct, 2003 from Toronto
I hear you on this Lady J. I'm so sick of trying to be a all out entity for some 2 bit wag label or publisher from the get go. I'd like to think I can do 'everything' - but you know, I just want someone to harness my potential is all. I can come up with the ideas, the know how to orchestrate them, to produce them, to package them, to understand the market, to take risks and challenge listeners...
Only to be told 'I'm not good enough', 'I'm too new', 'I'm not focused', 'I'm too conceptual'
As Lou Reed said on Metal Machine Music "One of your years is equal to one of my weeks" and I firmly believe that as a modern day songwriter. You and me and all the other songwriters here are so much more than the two bit supposed sales talent that try to milk 2 cents out of us. At worst, we make noise. At best, we make ALOT of noise. With feeling, purpose, and packaging - be it a cassette with a handmade cover, to a glass master CD with a 8 panel insert and stickers... We will do what we have to, to show that we are the legitimate product. If labels, publishers, agents want more - they aren't even worth half of our talent to begin with. They sit behind a desk. We sit in front of art waiting to be created.
Do what you have to Lady J. Because those that are going to sell it never can.
Only to be told 'I'm not good enough', 'I'm too new', 'I'm not focused', 'I'm too conceptual'
As Lou Reed said on Metal Machine Music "One of your years is equal to one of my weeks" and I firmly believe that as a modern day songwriter. You and me and all the other songwriters here are so much more than the two bit supposed sales talent that try to milk 2 cents out of us. At worst, we make noise. At best, we make ALOT of noise. With feeling, purpose, and packaging - be it a cassette with a handmade cover, to a glass master CD with a 8 panel insert and stickers... We will do what we have to, to show that we are the legitimate product. If labels, publishers, agents want more - they aren't even worth half of our talent to begin with. They sit behind a desk. We sit in front of art waiting to be created.
Do what you have to Lady J. Because those that are going to sell it never can.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1818 posts since 5 Apr, 2002 from Seattle, WA, USA
Yes and no. You are not a jukebox.Amberience wrote:I dunno... I'd prefer other people to decide on that for me. Isn't that sometimes what being an artist is about, letting people critque your very abilities?