Conference napalm::guitar

    The key thing is that talent alone doesn't necessarily do it.  One
    could even argue that talent isn't strictly a requirement.
    
    By observation, I surmise that there are two ways to make it big,
    and they work only if you're music is something folks want:
    
    			Exposure  and    Luck
    
    These are not mutually exclusive.
    
    Being that we can't change our luck (theoretically), the best thing
    one can do is get exposure (gigs, musical contacts, followings,
    etc.)
    
    Most of the artists/bands I've seen go from small-time to big-time
    developed a fairly devoted and substantial local following.  They
    were the bands that sold out bars even on "off" nights.
    
    I suppose there are some otherways (connections, etc.), but really
    the only way for the unconnected and unlucky seems to be get "known"
    any way you can.
    
    I don't go to clubs much these days, but back in the days I did, there
    were TONS of guys who really blew me away but were relatively unknown
    and unsigned.  Thus, your experience with your teacher is probably
    far from unusual.
    
    	db
    
    p.s.  Part of the reason I didn't go into music full-time was because
    	  I saw so many great bands go nowhere and so many nowhere bands
    	  going somewhere.
    
    	  I remember seeing Twisted Sister warming up for someone on a
    	  Monday night and thinking they were the among the most devoid
    	  of talent of any band I had ever seen.
    
    	  Now, their lead guitar has a regular column in several guitar
    	  publications.   

I think Buck knows Nuno Bettencourt.  My WTB knew him when he went to Hudson
High I guess.  There's a local boy makes good story in here someplace.

jc (Who thinks Nuno is an awesome guit player)

    I knew Nuno Bettencourt from the days when we were 'cutting heads' at
    someone's barn in Berlin...Nuno was good, but I never thought he would
    'make it'...(well, at least with that band Sinful he was with... they
    shoulda named it "Cliche'")
    
    I also knew Al Pitrelli...the new (hot shot) for Alice Cooper.  Al will
    go on to BIGGER and BETTER things...he's a MONSTER.  Al should have got
    the DLR gig IMHO...Al will be the next Vai/Satriani!
    
    I know some otehr dudes from Berzerklee that have gone on to fame...
    you know who they are...they've already got the chops and know
    how...they're just waiting to happen, ya know?
    
    Buck, who'll never 'happen'

    Plus there's a lot of talent out there that could make it happen, but
    have no interest in doing so.
    
    Then there are the types that pursue non-mainstream, unpopular musical
    styles.
    
    Mike

	First I saw Bill S. he was playing bass for Talas at a dance
	at St. Joe's High on Kenmore Ave in Buffalo. This was in `74/`75.
	He was awesome then, playing precision into a pile of SVTs in
	a gym!

	Very few Buffalo dudes gone anywhere. Marc Levinthal who played
	guitar in the band I was in went on to write soundtrack for
	"Revenge of the Nerds" and "Valley Girls" and now works a band
	called "Green Jello" that warms up the audience for GWAR on
	swings thru So. Cal.

	

While the guitarist in .0 is a very good player he's nowhere near as good
as anyone I've heard break through in the blues genre...

FWIW

dbii

    I agree with Mike in note .4...
    
    The Lead guitar player that I work with opened for Hendrix in 69 in
    Lewiston Maine (my home town). This guy Terry has been playing Lead in
    bands since he was 13, now 39 and IMHO can play with the best of them. 
    His attitude has always been "Making it is a matter of opinion and I
    don't want to live on the road." When ever we get together and he
    grabs hold of his LP or Strat and tucks it under that well earned
    beer_belly, we (the rest of the band) know just what to expect. He just
    starts grinning and a playing and just a flowing with that oh sweet
    sound of music...At that point that vintage Marshall of his is dancing
    on the floor. So I say, "Making it is dependant on what you want."
    
    Rj 

    How many good musicians flunk 'cause their material is cr@p?
    
    The answer to this is why my main target isn't becoming a great
    musician.  I just wanna be OK, but with good material and a good show.
    
    
    matty (coming up 20)

    
    	I remember seeing Billy Sheehan in Buffalo, I think Talas was
    the very first thing I saw when I arrived for school in '75. The
    student union at SUNYAB - oh boy, a band! - and there he was. Later,
    my friends back home would comment "you should've seen this guy
    - he plays "lead bass"! ". They saw Talas in a local dive...
    
    	And what was the name of the band that did all that King Crimson?
    
    	WJB, I dont know why you say that. Often, when I'm listening
    to 'AAF, I'll say to myself "this guy reminds me of Bill Buckley".
    	
    	Joe Jasniewski

    >WJB, I dont know why you say that. Often, when I'm listening
    >to 'AAF, I'll say to myself "this guy reminds me of Bill Buckley".
    
    Oh my gawd, I've gone AOR!
    ;^)

    > Talas was the very first thing I saw when I arrived for school in 75
    
    Morse was the very first thing I saw when I arrived at school in 75.
    
    At the time I was thinking "well, I'll take Comp Sci courses cause
    I like it, but I'll get as much music as possible because I think
    that's what I want to do".
    
    So my first day on campus, I go see this band w. Morse and think
    "Shit, if that is a typical dedicated music major I ain't got now
    hope of making it in music - I'll stick to Comp Sci."
    
    	db

> Oh my gawd, I've gone AOR!

Now if you could just get in on the profits...

	from Buffalo did King Crimson covers. They also did some Greenslade
	and Genesis & some original stuff.

	Charlie_former_Pegasus_junkie

    
    
    
    RE: .7
    
    
    	No s**t!!!   I was AT that concert!!!  This is freakin' me out
    maaaaaaan!   Not only was I at the concert, but I think I can remember
    the band's name... was it "White Fluff"???    Not only those two only's
    but my roommate at UMO was a guy named Bob Pelletier... you ain't
    him are you RJ???   Ole pepsi wasn't a musician, at least I didn't
    think he was, but he was one really cool guy... let me borrow his
    shirts and everything
    
    Steve

    
    			<<<White Fluff>>>
    
    			   its  was
    
    I'm not Pepsi though but I do know him. I myself missed the concert
    since I was over seas playing to a different tune...Terry and I are
    still working together on tunes...
    
    This IS strange...
    
    I should be coming up to Augusta the end of this week or next week 
    sometime for an interview. Give me a location and I'll come look you
    up. I usually stop by and visit dbii when I go north.
    
    
    Rj
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    -1
    
    Hey Rj, bring your axe and check out dbii's Kitties...

    
    
    .15
    
    
    	Yep, I'm down the hall from dbii and have a big red key hanging
    over my office, not to mention the sword!!!
    
    
    Steve

    Ok, Steve... when I get up there I'll be stopping in...
    
    Let me see, BIG red Key, Sword!!! Is this the key to slicing in those
    chops?
    
    Whoa k'mon frieday
    
    Rj

    
    When I was in college I met a guitarist whose younger brother played
    bass.  These guys were strictly into heavy British rock and at the time
    I was playing in a bluegrass band.  We jammed a few times but nothing
    much happened.
    
    About six years later I was playing with a drummer who had a rockabilly
    band on the side.  One day the guitarist showed up, and says' "Wow, hi,
    how ya doing" and I'm looking at this greaser and wondering if I should
    know him or not....turns out it's the guy from school.  
    
    A few months later, one of the drummer's *other* bands (he was a busy
    guy) lost their washtub bassist and were looking to get in an upright
    player.  I went down for an audition, but Mike, the kid brother
    bassist, was up there thumping away and I knew right then he would get
    the gig.
    
    A year later he left Boston to go to Austin, TX and play for Anson
    Funderburgh and the Rockets, a hot Texas blues outfit, who had just won
    a W.C. Handy Blues award and had a few albums out on Black Top records.
    Mike lasted about six months on the road, and got onto two live LPs
    released by Black Top before he rolled home to MA and got out of the
    full-time music biz.
    
    His big surprises:  He was making *more money per gig* playing in bars in
    Boston than he was going on the road.  He also tired of lousy food,
    sleeping in cars next to guys who smelled of beer and cigarettes and in
    general living a very weird life.  Since he got back, he's playing GB.
    
    Another guy who's subbed in my band on tenor sax a few times was with
    us one Sunday night and mentioned how he was going on the road the next
    day.  Seems he got hired by Buckwheat Zydeco (a big cajun/zydeco act)
    and was going to open for Eric Clapton's world tour...he just wanted to
    get another "fun" gig in while he was still in town.
    
    
    							Brian