by P. Brisdaine

Created on: November 14, 2008

Let's start with my 'qualifications' on this topic. I have performed in over a dozen bands in my career, some professionally. I have played guitar for about 35 years and performed live for about 31 years. I've traveled through many states and even a few countries over those same years. Why am I mentioning this? Because i'm going to try and put all my experiences on this topic in one post. It will be a challenge but I truely want to encourage others to pursue their happiness if they have the means or not.

First, let's differentiate the difference between technicians versus explorers. My belief is that this relates to the musician that studies music (technicians) versus the non studied musician that often plays by ear or with tablature versus reading music (explorers).

Technicians : On the positive side of this you often have very educated musicians. Someone who can and often writes technically by law of the music they've studied. Including symphonies and classical music. These type of musicians can be very intimidating with their abilities and speed on an instrument. They learn music by instruction. Not by ear. They often have disciplined training. Something that they are often very proud of. And they should be. They spend many years and sometimes decades learning and honing their musical craft. These type of musicians can often play multiple instruments. Their writing often takes much longer. They typically write the music for all their instruments over many days, weeks, years, even decades for larger symphonies.

Technicians : On the negative side of this you find these type of musicians often can not 'wing it'. Meaning they can and typically learn a song exactly as it was recorded or written. However, when playing a performance and a guitar string breaks, my experience is that these type of musicians panic. I've even witnessed them walk off stage and get another guitar or even replace their string(s) before completing the song live. My experience is that the panic comes from them not so much feeling the music but knowing the music. They can read and write different parts for the band they are in. But, if something malfunctions during a performance, panic will ensue. It's usually not a good thing to witness. I always feel badly for them. This would be the most obvious and crucial difference between the trained and the untrained musician. The untrained musician feels the music, the groove and it's not if something happens onstage it's often 'when' will it happen.

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