Originally Posted By: jazzmammal
To get back to Billy's original post and considering this is PG's forum, the answer to him is whatever makes you happy is good. The point is to still make/play/listen to music. I've been on this forum for over 20 years and most here are hobbyists just having some fun. There are a few true pro's but most are just messing around having some fun.

At age 76, the worst thing I see with an old person who's still pretty healthy is they get bored. They never developed any worthwhile hobbies, never developed their minds in anything. They never had a real career, just worked regular jobs because they needed to live but the jobs never meant anything to them. Now they're retired with nothing to do but watch reruns of Oprah or something. This is why when I retired from the CPA firm almost 5 years ago now I agreed to still work part time for them as a remote consultant. It's why I still gig every chance I get, like I basically froze my butt off doing two outdoor gigs for Presidents Day in Avalon on Catalina Island. I had to play bass because our bass player was sick so I needed to work up some songs that I already know well but never paid much attention to the bass lines. In addition to that I'm a high tech geek and I watch a ton of YT vids about all kinds of stuff. I have a very curious mind and can find tons of things that interest me. The internet is the best library ever created in the history of the human race.

I say this to not brag, far from it. I know there a lot of elderly people on these forums. If you're retired and do not stay active to the best of your ability both physically and mentally, you're just going to waste away. I try to, gently of course, tell people this both in person and online.

All the toys we all have are all good. If you need to get rid of some of it to make space, that's sensible just don't quit making music. There is no downside to this, music improves the mind because of how it all works. I get Eddies point about somebody using a demo song and saying he wrote it and that somehow offends him. Fine, but the person who did that and posted it is probably older and is simply keeping themselves active by doing that and I say good for them. They're not trying to go to Sony and tell them Hey, listen to this new song I just wrote! Discussions like this always revert to the musical world in general, I'm trying to keep it real, here, on these forums.

Keep it up, don't give it up. If all you can do is a rewrite of Mary Had a Little Lamb using a Biab demo song, great I'd love to hear it and good for you. It's better than watching 30 year old reruns and drinking beer on your couch.

Bob


As this thread has turned out to be about everything other than the question I ask I will at least respond to what Bob has said.

I am 76 and I can assure you I am defiantly not bored. Turned on BIAB two or three times in the last two weeks. Played two of the three pianos I have here. Canceled my subscription to Auto-Tune Played two of the dozens of guitars I own. Oh, and my wife did dust off a few of the custom amps. Started another war protest song, then decided to put all my guns in good condition as better use of my time. Went to the gun range to see if I could still make a 1200 yard kill shot with my 300 Winchester Mag sniper rifle. Ordered another 4000 rounds of NATO 5.56X45mm Stocked up on 4000 gallons of diesel fuel for the ranch before the price went. Ordered twice the usual amount of fertilizer because the prices are going up. Got all my employees the third booster shot.

I may stockpile a lot of stuff but I can assure you I don't have a storage shed that I have been paying $150 a month for full of crap I have not looked at in three years that I just can't bear to part with.

The comment about excessive amounts of musical equipment was a much more far-reaching question.

Billy

“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”