Why a multi-instrumentalist?

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A lot of people ask me why do I play all the instruments I play and so often they say things like “Are you trying to show off? Who are you trying to impress?”

All my journey to be in the place I am right now started just for the contact of a very young Elio with the music. As a child I didn’t need any encouragement from anyone to make me play and practice, it was all I wanted to do, I can’t tell you why but that was my reality, I just wanted to play. My mum had to take the instrument off me to make me finish my school work saying “if you don’t finish your homework you won’t play” and there was me, rushing to finish my homework to be able to play a bit more. 

Playing instruments was just a fun experience for me and that makes me want to play more and more and experiment with new instruments not knowing at that point music will be my future. 

But being able to play many instruments becomes something else, it gave me more listening skills. Listening sounds like something basic all musicians do, which is true, but when you play different instruments you can understand more deeply what is happening around you and instead of playing with people you start playing for the music. 

But what is playing for the music? Well, we love to be the soloist, the important part of the band, the leader and when you have to play something repetitive like a groove or a riff that repeats a lot in the song a lot of musicians would say that is “boring” not taking in consideration the impact that the repetitive phrase has in the overall song, that is what I call play for the music, playing whatever the music requires more than just play to be a soloist. 

Another positive thing to add from being a multi-instrumentalist is that you will put into your playing elements of the instruments you play, rhythm ideas, techniques, etc, as well as being able to help the other members of your band to improve and understand what is happening.

I think every musician should have good knowledge and experience on a rhythmic instrument, a melodic instrument and a harmonic instrument, one of these three being the main instrument. For example if you play the flute you will never be able to play two notes at the same time with your instrument, would be good for you to play a bit of piano, guitar or any other harmonic instrument and believe me, it will help you to improve your playing and the way you visualise chords. You should get a percussive instrument as well, rhythm and independence will give you a lot of good tools to improve the musicality on your main instrument. And this apply for all the instruments. 

Working in a studio environment is very useful as you can imagine, being able to record a line needed for a song without having to call and wait. In a live setting having a multi-instrumentalist is very handy as in some concerts you will need one instrument for one song and having someone that is already playing more instruments save the band some problems and in cases some money as well. 

In my case, I’m very fortunate of being able to record a whole production on my own, and, all along my career I have being very useful for many people and different bands playing and recording.

But everything has a downside. To play very well one instrument is already hard, imagine trying keeping up with 10 -total madness. Being a multi-instrumentalist is not about being a specialist in all the instruments or being able to show off, it is more about to do what the music and the moment requires, is understanding to play to make music more than show how talented you are and this part is hard for a lot of other people to understand. 

I hope these humble lines can help you to see another side of someone like me. No matter if you are a musician or you just like to read these lines, understanding is a powerful tool and it helps you to value the effort of others.

Have a wonderful day.

Fast Food Times…

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There is a lot of things I love to do in life, some of them are play my instruments, ride my motorbike or cook and eat nice meals.

I have to say; I do enjoy cooking as much as I enjoy eating, from the moment I am buying the ingredients until I am getting the benefits of the meal I just made, it is a pleasure. It comes with a price, TIME. If you want to get all the flavours well mixed you have to give to all the ingredients “Time” to cook together and you will have the best experience.

But we are living in a society going too fast, everything should be quick and easy, if I am hungry just grab something from a shop and eat it quick to carry on running around like a chicken with no head, if I am learning something it has to get into my brain and my system fast, if it doesn’t happen, I better stop doing it because is too difficult or too long.

“Unfortunately” or “Fortunately” this culture of “The Fast Food” it doesn’t apply to everything in life and the music is one of those activities like cooking a nice meal…It needs time, love, dedication and consistency.

I see all over social media, YouTube and many other platforms all kind of offer like “Learn to play a song in 2 weeks”, “Get the perfect body in one month”…you know what I’m talking about.

It really makes me feel sad reading all this because these people offering this “Fast Food Method” are putting down their own effort and the love on these activities, and I can tell you, is not true, it doesn’t work like that and I’m sure they didn’t learn or achieve what they are offering in that way.

As you can see here in my website I can play several instruments, not perfect but good enough to tell you that it takes time, dedication and a bit of obsession I would say to get a decent level of doing any activity. If you do something repetitively everyday you’ll end up being good at it even if you don’t want to.

Let me tell you a couple of experiences. When I was living in Tenerife, one year I was looking to start a new hobby, something that I could enjoy doing and was related with the place I was living, the sea, the sunshine, etc. It was my birthday and I got myself a present…a surfing lesson. I couldn’t even stand once on the board by the end of the session but I had a great time. I understood It wasn’t for me, not because I failed on the first day but because I realised it will need more time and dedication I could not give to it.

In 2018 I had a couple of life changing events, I was 94 kilos (14.80 ST) and I “Decided” to do something about it. I took me “2 Years” but today I can say proudly I’m 72 kilos (11.33 ST) and I feel great thanks to the time, dedication and that bit of obsession I put into doing what in other circumstances I wouldn’t. It wasn’t easy but my determination was stronger than the difficulties.

If you are thinking on starting anything in your life by the time you are reading these humble lines, it could be starting to learn a new skill, changing your diet, doing exercise, anything you are taking on, I hope my experience and this reading can help you to have another view and make you “Decide” how much time you will be willing to give to this activity you are taking on, and I suggest to find the joy of doing it even when you feel you are failing at it, because failure is just another way to learn.

Remember, time is a gift, a very precious one. We all have the same time and is 24 hours a day, what we do with that time is our “Decision”.

Have a nice day…

YouTube my teacher?

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YouTube is one of the best things could ever happen to all of us. It is amazing how much information you can find about pretty much everything, and concerning the music, well, we have millions of tutorials for songs, techniques, etc. but, can YouTube be your only teacher for what you want to achieve?

In my opinion a video is an amazing tool we definitely must be able to use, but a video will never be able to correct you or make you aware that there is something wrong with whatever is you are trying to learn, it won’t help you to understand where is the mistake and it wont work with you to create the right strategy to solve the problem.

In other words, a video will never be a substitute of a good teacher, someone who inspire you, encourage you to keep working and helping you to get the best version of yourself, making you understand your mistakes and working with you to sorter them out because if you don’t understand where is your mistake you can’t correct it.

Looking for a good teacher is not always easy. We want to believe that an amazing player will be the best teacher, but this is not a rule to follow. I have meet many amazing teachers that are not a great players but what it makes them good teachers is the way they can make YOU a better player and understand your way to learn because everyone has their own way to understand and a good teacher will get to you and make you understand using all the tools and tricks he knows.

Using the tools we have to learn is very wise, of course it is, but I will suggest to anyone, no matter which level you are, look for a good teacher and combine the lessons with the videos, let your teacher to guide you and help you to use the tools correctly to maximise your investment and you efforts.