20 Comments
User's avatar
Jonny Loa's avatar

Love this. And I agree, the best way to combat the manufactured essence of AI is for artists who take their craft seriously to continue persevering in creating beautiful art, regardless of what the machine is spitting out. I’m learning more and more that real people want real music, and there are more of us out there than the media outlets might want us to believe. To me that’s a comforting thought.

Expand full comment
Charlie Peacock's avatar

Well said Jonny! Yes, time to get to work doing our best work. Peace.

Expand full comment
Dave Dampier's avatar

Solid Article, Charlie. I agree across the board.

One exception I think of to the virtuoso teenage, female bass players (well, just became a teenager) is Ellen Alaverdyan. You're probably familiar. She's been wowing folks, along with her mistakes, for a few years now under the guidance and teaching of her guitar shredder father. This kid is the real deal; genuine and obviously working hard using her talents to strengthen her skills into a powerhouse musician. She inspires me and gives me hope for the future of music.

Expand full comment
Charlie Peacock's avatar

Yes indeed!

Expand full comment
henry utter's avatar

A breath of fresh air. Thank you!

Expand full comment
Charlie Peacock's avatar

You're welcome. Thank you for the comment!

Expand full comment
Christa Hardin | E + M's avatar

This is so good. I read 1, 2, and 3 aloud to all three of my musician teens. Thank you for this gold!

Expand full comment
Charlie Peacock's avatar

Christa, I love this! Even though I'm retired from music education, you're still putting me in the classroom. Honored. Peace.

Expand full comment
Christa Hardin | E + M's avatar

Yes! Love that you’re getting to use this wonderful gift! They appreciated it and one of them joined worship team this week!

Expand full comment
Kari Campbell's avatar

So good. Practice. Practice. Henry Drummond wrote, “Character is developed in the stream of life, talent is developed in solitude.” So many aren’t willing to be alone with their craft, making mistakes and learning from them. They need an audience to validate their not so hard earned passable riffs, all you need is a 15 second reel. Maybe I cling too fiercely to my roots, my mom made me practice Hanon 45 minutes before I was allowed to crack open the Mozart, Debussy, or other composers I was impatient to master.

Thank you, Charlie, for being a voice of caution and encouragement all at once.

Expand full comment
Charlie Peacock's avatar

Ha! I still do Hanon exercises on the table top in a restaurant!

Expand full comment
Kari Campbell's avatar

Yes! Anywhere, anytime! 😂

Expand full comment
Mark Daniels's avatar

I think Beato sort of missed the point. The problem isn't that the musician in question was, perhaps, using pre-recorded music on his videos, but that he was selling other people's work as his own. Or did I miss something?

Expand full comment
Charlie Peacock's avatar

You didn't miss anything. He was just trying to keep it related to his own experience. You can imagine with the size of his audience he has to be cautious about wading into someone else's potential legal issues. Though, you have grasped the point for sure. Thanks for commenting!

Expand full comment
The Howlin Embers's avatar

Wonderful and well said. Refreshing words in an age when so many want instant gratification and the first question asked about a new project is “how many followers do you have?”

Expand full comment
Charlie Peacock's avatar

Ugh. Yes. Let's turn the cosmic page, please. Enough about metrics. Thank you for your comment. Peace.

Expand full comment
mr monk's avatar

well said, friend.

Expand full comment
Charlie Peacock's avatar

Thank you. I hope you're making some amazing music! Peace.

Expand full comment
Volman777's avatar

Great article Charlie.

A few years ago, Billy Smilley posted on social media, that most of today's worship songs were rip offs from U2. That the dong writers should be giving credit to Bono and Edge.

My response, which made him mad, was "This may be true, but you may not be the person to make this point. After Convertibles and Jerusalem, I'm not sure anyone from that era of Whiteheart should."

He didn't like this to say the least.

Interesting- if you watched Dann Huff on YouTube go over his guitar solos, he gives credit for the inspiration for each one.

Expand full comment
Charlie Peacock's avatar

Ha! That was a bold comeback! And yes, Dann Huff is a Giant of a musician and a gentleman.

Expand full comment