Latest / RealTalkwithMikeD / Episode 55 - Why I love playing Metal Guitar, Even if I am not Great!

Transcript

Episode 55 - Why I love playing Metal Guitar, Even if I am not Great! · RealTalkwithMikeD

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Real Talk with Mike D. Alright, welcome back
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to Real Talk with Mike D. I am the one,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the only, and the original Mike D. Ladies and gentlemen,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: today we're talking about something that I absolutely love. Something
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: that makes me feel good. Something that gives me an outlet.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Something that, honestly, I don't care if I'm great at
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: or not. I'm talking about playing guitar, specifically talking about
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: playing metal guitar. And let me get something straight right
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: from the beginning. I'm not going to sit here and
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: tell you that I'm some incredible guitar player. That's ridiculous.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to pretend that I can play every
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: solo perfectly. That as well is ridiculous. I'm not going
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: to tell you that I can pick up a guitar
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: and immediately sound like my guitar heroes. Eddie Van Halen,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Randy Rhoades, Dimebag Darrell, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Zach Wilde,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: or any of the other incredible guitar players who have
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: influenced metal and who have influenced me. I can't. But
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: you know what? I don't give a damn. Because when
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I pick up that guitar, something happens. For a little while,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: the rest of the world disappears. And that is what
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I love about it. There's something about plugging in a guitar.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: turning up the amp, putting your fingers on the strings,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: and hitting that first heavy chord. You feel it. You
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: don't just hear it. You feel it. That low-end rumble,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: that distortion, that crunch, that feedback, that big wall of
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: sound coming out of the speaker. And suddenly, whatever was
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: bothering you five minutes ago doesn't seem quite as important.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Maybe you've had a bad day. Maybe you're stressed out.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Maybe you're frustrated. Maybe work has kicked you in the ass.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Maybe life has kicked you in the ass. Or maybe
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: you're just mentally exhausted. That is when you pick up
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: your guitar. And for a little while, it's just you
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and the music. And I love that. Now I've learned
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: something as I've gotten older. You can spend your entire
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: life worrying about whether you're good enough. Are you good
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: enough at your job? Are you good enough as a parent?
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Are you good enough as a friend? Or are you
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: good enough financially? Are you good enough at whatever it
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: is you're trying to accomplish? Sometimes you carry that feeling
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: into your hobbies as well. You start thinking, I'm not
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: good enough. I'm not as good as that guy. I'll
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: never play like that. What's the point? Here's the thing.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: The point is, is that I enjoy it. That is
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the point. I don't need to be the greatest guitar
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: player in the world to enjoy playing guitar. I don't
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: need a record deal. I don't need a million followers.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: I don't need people standing in front of a stage
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: screaming my name. I don't need somebody telling me I'm
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: the next guitar legend. I just need my guitar, a
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: little time, and that is enough. And for me, there's
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: something special about metal guitar. Metal isn't always pretty. It's
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: not always clean. It's not always polished. It's aggressive. It's dark,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: it's angry, it's emotional, and it's just loud as hell.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: And that's exactly what I love about it. Because life
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: isn't always pretty. Sometimes it's messy. Sometimes you're pissed off.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you're frustrated. Sometimes you don't know what you're feeling.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: And sometimes you just need to turn an amplifier up
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: and let a giant distorted guitar chord say why words can't.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: That is one of the things music does. It gives
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: emotion somewhere to go. And metal guitar gives me that outlet. Now,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: if you're a guitar player, you can definitely relate to this.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: You know, we all make mistakes. I made them. I've
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: hit the wrong string. I've screwed up chords. I've messed
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: up riffs. I've completely destroyed parts of songs. And sometimes
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: I'll be playing something and think, damn, that sounded terrible.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: But you know what? I laughed. Then I tried again.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: And sometimes I mess it up again. And again. And again.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: But eventually I get it. Maybe not perfectly. Maybe not
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: exactly like the original recording. But I get it. And
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: that little moment, that's satisfying because I know where I started.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I know what I couldn't play before. And now I
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: can play it. That's progress. And progress doesn't have to
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: be perfect. Now, Let's move on to social media because
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: social media can make this difficult. You go online, you
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: see somebody playing guitar like they're possessed. Their fingers are
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: flying all over the fretboard. They're playing ridiculously complicated solos.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: They're shredding. They're bending notes. They're tapping. They're playing things
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: that make you sit there and think, what in the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: hell am I doing with my guitar? I've been there.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: But I've had to remind myself that's their journey, not mine.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I'm on my own journey. I don't know how many
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: years they've been playing. I don't know how many hours
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: they've practiced. I don't know how many mistakes they've made
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: before they've got that good. And honestly, I don't need
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: to know that because I'm not competing with them. I'm
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: competing with the guy I was yesterday. If yesterday I
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: couldn't play something and today I can, that's a win.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: And you know, There are days when I pick up
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the guitar and everything sounds good. However, there are other
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: days nothing sounds good. You know those days. You play
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: something and think, what the hell happened to me? Your
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: fingers don't cooperate. Your timing is off. You forget something
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: you've played a hundred times. And you're sitting there thinking,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: did I suddenly forget how to play guitar? But you haven't.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: You're just having an off day and that's okay. That's
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: another thing guitar has taught me. You don't have to
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: be perfect every day. Some days you play great. Some
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: days you don't. But you keep going. And honestly, that
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: lesson applies to life. Now there are times when I
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: need an escape. Not from my responsibilities. Not from people
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I love. Just from the noise in my head. Because
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: sometimes your brain does not shut up. You've got bills.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: You've got work. You've got responsibilities. You've got things you're
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: worried about. You've got things you wish you could change.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: You've got things from the past that still bother you.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: And sometimes you just need something that takes you somewhere else.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: For me, that is the guitar. I can sit down,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: plug in, and start playing. For that period of time,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: I'm not thinking about anything else. I'm thinking about the strings.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking about the riff. I'm thinking about my hands
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: and my tone. I'm feeling the music. And that is enough.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: That is enough. Now, let's talk about the sound. Because
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: if you've never played electric guitar through an amplifier with
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: some distortion, you don't know what you're missing. There's something
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: about that sound. You hit a power chord, boom, you
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: hit it again, boom, and suddenly you're sitting there thinking, yeah, yep,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: that's it. And sometimes you don't even need to play
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: anything complicated. Give me a few power chords, give me
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: a nasty riff, give me some distortion, and I'm happy.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: You don't have to play 500 notes a second to
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: make something sound powerful. Sometimes one chord at the right
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: time can hit harder than 100 notes. And that's what
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: I love about metal. It's a feeling. It's an energy.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: It's an attitude. You know, every guitarist has those bands
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: and guitar players that make them want to pick up
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: an instrument. You hear something and think, holy shit, I
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: want to do that. Maybe it's a riff. Maybe it's
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: a guitar solo. Maybe it's the tone. Maybe it's the
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: entire attitude of the song. You hear it. Something clicks
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: inside you. That's what music can do. And I think
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: that's one of the greatest things about being a music fan.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Eventually you stop being satisfied with just listening. You want
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: to participate. You want to pick up that guitar. You
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: want to learn the riff. You want to make that
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: sound yourself. And maybe you don't sound exactly like the record,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: and that's okay. You're still making music. And here's something
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: else I've realized. I'm not trying to prove anything. I'm
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: not trying to convince anybody that I'm a great guitarist.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I'm not trying to impress professional musicians. I'm not trying
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: to win a competition. I'm playing because I love it.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: That's it. And I think there's something really freeing about that.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: When you stop worrying about whether other people think you're
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: good enough, you start enjoying the thing you're doing. Maybe
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: that's something we all need to remember. Do something because
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: you love it. Not because someone else is going to approve.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Not because someone else is going to give you a trophy.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Not because someone else is going to tell you, man,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: you're talented. Do it because it makes you happy. I'm
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: going to leave you with this. If you're listening to this,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: and there's something you've always wanted to do, but you've
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: been telling yourself, I'm not good enough. I want you
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: to think about that. Because maybe you don't have to
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: be good enough. Maybe you just have to start. And
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: believe me, when you start, you're going to suck at first.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: And that's okay. Everybody sucks at something before they get better.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: You want to learn guitar? Pick one up. You want
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: to paint? Get some paint. You want to write? Start writing.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: You want to start a podcast? Start talking. You want
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to chase a dream? Take the first step. You don't
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: need to know exactly where the road is going. You
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: just have to get moving. You just have to start
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: and see where it takes you. That's exactly how this
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: podcast started. I think I've talked about this in one
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: of my previous podcasts. I had a lot of things
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: to say. Good, bad, funny, and ugly. So I just started.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: And my first couple podcasts were terrible. Hell, maybe this
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: one's terrible. I don't know. But I think they sound
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: a lot better. And I'm hoping you are enjoying them
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: as much as I love creating them. I absolutely love
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: making podcasts. I absolutely love telling my story. I absolutely
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: love trying to inspire people. And I absolutely love all
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: of you for listening. Ladies and gentlemen, that is going
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: to do it for today's podcast. If you've always wanted
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: to try something, but you thought you weren't good enough, well,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: now's the time. Do it. Start it. Suck at it
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: at first. Eventually, you're going to get better. Just do it.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you being here. I appreciate you listening.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: And I'll see you all on the next episode.