Feedback..How do you take it?

OK..I first found Wikiloops after taking up the sax after 40 years of not playing. Lots of new to me stuff. #1 Playing again after not playing for 40 years. #2. New technology..as in recording and mixing myself into tracks..#3. Never playing in a band after high school, or never playing with any vocalists. So here I find Wikiloops. Two years ago or so maybe, after I bought another alto sax and decided to start playing again.. I was looking for backing tracks to play along to..here we are. My first 200 or so uploads were akin to a bull in a China shop. But there was one guy here that did such good stuff that caught my attention..His name was Wade. Wade offered me alot of feedback behind the scenes. Yeah..I coulda thought he was full of it..but in my own mind.listening to myself and listening to what he did..I knew he was right in what he was saying..so I took his feedback in a positive manner. I am still working on myself. He has been invaluable to me in my quest to improve. So Right Now..A special Thanks to Wade for taking the time to listen to me, for taking the time to offer his input and being frank. I will never, EVER, forget what he has done. Nor..what Wikiloops has done by offering the opportunity for me to meet such outstanding musicians, and such great people. I just want to take a few minutes here to relay my thoughts here on this. I am so grateful for this site as someone that wants to be better than I am.

What else can I say?

Thank you Dick and your team.:D Mark

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Oh yes, Wade is very good in spot on, meaningful and sensitive comments giving!

Thanks for sharing this, fishin' Mark.

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I agree with you guys about Wade he does take the meaningful and sensitive side to comment giving and I also have taken his comments and put them to good use to my advantage as a player on the wikiloops.

Thanks for sharing this, fishin' Mark

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I am happy to say that we had dinner at Wade's place Sunday night. :)

We live 25Kms apart.

Wade introduced me to this place.

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Probably never will happen..but I'd love to meet Wade sometime. I owe him alot :)

Mark

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Hey there, who there, what's this all about?

All done freely in the spirit of this place. Also getting old and knowing that if one has something to give/offer it needs to happen before it's too late. Nice to know the information was useful and appreciated. Kind of strange though...like listening to one's eulogy...a taste of things to come?

Love and peace my friends.

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i had the privilege to have Wade at my place the week before the very first Urft meeting last year and i have to say he's as gentle and smart as he sounds online ... his sax was definitely a treat and we talked as much musically (jamming as a duo) as exchanging words and ideas (in fact i think we talked more than we played ...) ! i also must say here that Wade's cooking is a delish ! in addition to being a nice person, a very cool musician and an acomplished artist the man has also very good taste : i fed him with french gooey-smelly cheese and i have the nerve to believe he was not just being polite sayin ooohh aahhh ;)

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All that goes two ways. Mr OliVBee is a great conversationalist full of ideas and ideals. Imagine him having these intense conversations in a second language!! Our OliVBee is a gracious host and (as you all know) an amazing musician/composer....and has all that technical music engineering knowledge as well. Can you imagine he got somebody to lend him their Selmer Tenor sax for me to take to Germany and play!!!

Ah those cheeses! The nectar of life. I love them!!!! Very difficult to get outside of France. OliVBee also allowed me to cook. Now that takes a brave French person to even consider that anyone from the ass end of the world might know how to cook. Thank you OliVBee once again for opening your home, mind and heart to me....oh and I still dream of those cheeses....and did I mention how much I love those cheeses? I will return!!!!

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It's such a shame I won't get to meet you in Urft, Wade. Another time!

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No Doubt! I'm in Europe and England pretty regularly. Wife's family are from Marden down near Maidstone (about 1 hour by train from London). Daughter and her family live in Norway, so I make the rounds. Will be in Canada, USA and Mexico during Urft get together visiting brother, sisters and friends. Had this planned long before Urft date was settled. I'm much more of a live jammer than recording type...so very sorry that I'm missing out.

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4 me if its negative!!!....usually it means yer going in the right direction!. That is how I measure life....but here on da loops its not so!!!. I'm my hardest critic so! really i'm here just 2 cut a jam and not be 2 serious!. I ignore most things!...then I sort it!
I think most looper's are top people! period!... and bring a lot of personal sounds that you won't find main-stream..ect
Just my empath opinion on stuff! :D

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Lets assume you get some negative and non-constructive criticism (You suck!!)
Lets analyse this for a second.
1) The guy is an *** and wants to blow off steam. Ok, he is showing his personality in such a clear way so you can disregard any future comment from him
2) He really dislikes what you have done but lacks the ability to express that in a constructive way. In that case you will have to reflect on that and broaden your own perspective
3) You really suck. This leaves you two options:
A) You change your practicing to do more, harder, do it different, more variated, smarter, more effective or whatever
B) You do realize you want to put your efforts somewhere else.

Either way there is more to gain from this totally non-constructive negative criticism than from non-constructive positive one like "great!!"




[i]edit by dick: removed "bad language", no offense, not needed to stress the idea here[/i]

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I respectfully disagree with the conclusion. I would rather have a simple, polite acknowledgment for my effort than a nasty & potentially hurtful insult. One could just as easily take the "empty platitude" as encouragement to keep doing what they're doing which is playing (which is practice in and of itself).

Different approaches to life, I suppose.

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I struggle with feedback. When it's good I don't believe it. When it's bad I feel like a failure. To me the ultimate compliment is an add. It does seem like the same comments and responses appear on just about every track, and honestly, it does raise doubts about whether people are listening or not.

In my opinion people listen to no more than 30 seconds before saying "cool", which is sad because a lot of jams build up to a payoff which rarely even get heard.

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I kind of second Girard here. But I also think it somehow depends on what instrument do you play.

I may add a simple bassline to a solo drum and do seemingly poor, then someone adds guitar and it goes WOW - but that's what I have been waiting for :) .

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This is one reason why I use markers. I know people don't have time to listen to every song completely so I give them the opportunity to hop from section to section. It also helps those who are playing along, too. ;)

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this is from a blog I posted on another site years ago, but still relevant to this day....



Why Warm Fuzzies are bad for ya.......

just a few thoughts.....


Warm fuzzies are addictive and can lead to false self-opinion.......

Sometimes we all need an "attaboy" or a "cool tune" ......but I think those of us that want to hone our craft need solid reviews and critiques.....I left my old site because I felt a little restricted there in what you can say to people without...hurting their feelings....

When I get a review,(and I've gotten quite a few here so far which shows an active and involved membership)....most are positive with lots of back pats and very little substance, (not so good) and a few are reviews with good suggestions and actual critiques (a very good thing!) I then make a beeline to that persons page....not just to return the favor, but to see if their material represents that they know what they're talking about and their opinions can actually help me reach my musical goals.....so far I've only ran across a few like that. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are lots of great musos on the site that I have yet to stumble upon, and I do tend to stick with genres that I'm comfortable with, but I have detected a pattern.

Now I realize we are all at different skill levels here, and some of us don't have access to all the nifty bells and whistles that we salivate over in those new gear magazines.....heck I don't have a top of the line studio here, but I at least try to stick to a few personal standards and not release material that's just not ready......nor do I give the obligatory pat on the back that so many seem to want...lol...actually I don't review at all if I feel the person will become offended by constructive criticism ....which kinda defeats the whole idea of reviewing IMHO.

If we as artists are releasing the products of our craft into the realm of public opinion, then we have to realize an important truism....YOU CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE ALL THE TIME!!! There's bound to be someone that will think the mix is too bright, your song structure isn't cohesive, your chord structures and progressions are repetitive and lack direction....etc....etc. But these very same opinions are that which allow us to grow and evolve and become masters of our craft.
.....whew....got kinda long winded here...lol....guess I needed to vent....anyway, when you drop by my page and give a listen to my tracks......please only leave warm fuzzies that have been earned!
Peace!
Cee

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Great post Cee :) Well said. I am sometimes guilty of "One word" comments, mostly because of the limited time I have and my "less than adequate" knowledge of music technique and basics (if that makes sense). I also agree with Girard's post. Good reading here..thanks all for your replies :)

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Another sign of the times i guess

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If you've previously heard a song before and somene added a section, why listen to the entire song again? There are a lot of remixes added regularly; who can keep up? It's either that or I only get two to three listens per day. Perhaps that would be better but I like to give as good as I get.

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