I could have retired at age 35....wait..does retired mean ..do what you want, when you want?...I think I have been retired a long time now...

Well, let's put it this way, Kingfrog... I am showing you exactly the same respect I get from you. I have played with players you can only buy their CD's (you can't afford to hire them). I have recorded in some of the top studios in the country. Played major venues, MD'd for major label artists, record with young players on the current Billboard Top Ten. But my experience and knowledge seems to have as much sway with you as yours does with me.

Difference is, I'm still doing it, not working in a music store...

Kingfrog great post, love your work & the stage pictures are awesome.

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 06-01-2009).]

I hadn't read this thread until today. All I can say is when the xxxx are you guys going to grow up?

And I CHOSE to get off the road..and still perform at MY lesuire for stupid money. I work becasue I Choose to work in a music store. Again big difference.

Choices....a good thing.


You turn your nose up at Karaoke AND music stores ...jeeeze whats next...The Audya??? LOL

The Podium?

Kingfrog at least you wake up and do what you enjoy everyday & that is the key to happiness....you have made music your choice in life as have I. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Good luck

And I owe it all to Karaoke.........LOL
and isn't that what retirement is for most people? The Time in a day that belongs to them and then only to spend how and when they choose,. not owned by an employer,not chained by "Golden Handcuffs" to a debt filled existance?

And without having to learn how to read the bass clef...or practice one Hanon excersize....... play without eyes....

My only "formal" keyboard instruction was by a piano player/teacher who taught me to play as if I was blind....Use my ears as eyes, I sometimes regret not having learned to read music well but have learned to play through hearing intervals rather than reading them....He told me "keys were not important just play and if you hit a bad note remember that the right note is always on either side of it!! LOl But there are no bad notes depending on what you do with the notes...

Just wondering, but why is it anyone assumes that it is any different for those that CAN play? I wake up happy every day, owe no-one anything, and thank the Lord He was good enough to bless me with my life's joy, that of playing music. I go to the gig every day happy that I can be creative.

I never got my knuckles rapped at practice, got a teacher who appreciated ear skills and playing by ear as well as reading, and concentrated very little on Hanon and rote learning skills. You guys make it sound as Hanon was the ONLY path to musical fluency. Trust me, it isn't...

Perhaps, instead of getting bitter at the thought of full musical education, you had simply got another teacher, found someone that recognized that Hanon wasn't the be all and end all, you might now be appreciating what you CAN do with decent playing skills, instead of denigrating them as irrelevant in today's market. Trust me, they are only irrelevant if you can't DO them...

I'd say you did good for sure & did it your way.. keep it up & enjoy!!