Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
URGENT: I am planning to travel to London within 3 weeks for a short visit. Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm interested in places to stay, places to visit, and people to meet. For suggestions or questions, please mail me at fffoma@gmail.com
5 - 1
Today, I made a huge leap out of my comfort zone and in two 3-hour sessions recorded a huge live interview/masterclass about Mark Knopfler's music for one of the biggest and best Russian guitar stores. It was conducted in my mother tongue, and I had never spoken about this music in my native language before. I must admit, I fell in love with this music once again and as I was recording this, often I was unable to find words even in my own language.
I didn't need much preparation as I already covered the good 100 MK songs that I can approximate even in my sleep, and we chose a lot of obscured and not overly played acoustic songs. I was talking about songs like Sailing To Philadelphia, Baloney Again, Done With Bonaparte, Speedway At Nazareth, Marbletown, Privateering, RĆ¼diger and more that I already recorded for my channel in the last 8 years.
On a separate note, Iām so fed up with all the Baloney Sandwich that is going on in the world that I donāt care anymore. Iām here for the music, and I donāt care where, when and in which language it is being performed, discussed or loved. As I see music bringing happiness to people, when I witness the pure joy of people learning something new, Iām sorry, but I just stop to care. You donāt have lines on planet Earth. If you donāt believe me, ask the astronauts.
102 - 20
A decade on YouTube. About two months ago it was exactly 10 years since my very first āseriousā, properly prepared, recorded and edited YouTube video upload, which was the recreation of the āIāll See You in My Dreamsā as played by Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler and not so long ago shared on Markās page.
I often think about it and return to those innocent times, when I edited my first videos on a borrowed laptop in 2014. How I borrowed a guitar, camera and lights as well. How I uploaded the first video talking in English in 2016, climbing Everest of my self-deprecation, language barrier and lack of skill.
How by sheer miracle I came up with the idea of discussing Markās songs, barely knowing how to play just a few of them and having only one guitar. How I realised I could record everything on the cheapest guitar in 2022, cause like in English, itās information that matters. Nobody cares about your accent or voice, nobody cares how expensive or cheap your gear is.
All this while working on jobs that were anything but music, trying to overcome yet another major obstacle. Usually, the best channels on YouTube come from professionals sharing their experiences. I still donāt have any experience in music, so I learn in real-time, and with tools everybody has, thatās why I grew to only 25,000 subscribers in 10 years.
Imagine having a medical science channel without any experience working in the field. Well, thatās me. Probably my main secret is that Iām an average, run-of-the-mill person who happens to be able to play some music and loves to share it, who also loves to sit in the kitchen, listen to good music, and eat good food. Iām Robert Frank from āThe Ragpickerās Dreamā album cover photo.
Iām happy Iāve been active all these years, never really stopped or ever wanted to stop. My favourite part about this, apart from all the hurdles I faced and needed to defeat, would be getting inspired by something, knowing what result I want to achieve, having a picture of a video in my head and making it happen.
No real message here, I said enough in 10 years I think, but if you ask me what my channelās purpose is, I would say ā to celebrate the magic of song.
229 - 57
Live Stream alert! Iām planning to go live tomorrow, on Sunday, 20:00 Moscow time, 5 pm London time or 10 am Pacific time. Anyhow, if you canāt attend it, leave your questions anywhere, here in the comments, on YouTube or email me, and Iāll see it. Ask me anything about playing guitar, Mark Knopfler or teaching. Iāll try not to touch politics too much in this one. Peace!
39 - 4
"Sanctions". So my BuyMeACoffee account is no more, and I'm one step closer to be closed from the world. Don't know what to do yet, let's see.
33 - 21
All songwriters in the world get asked the same question at some point. What comes first, music or words? And itās quite interesting that most have a clear answer describing such a vague creative undertaking. I remember having this romantic idea of how it should always be music first. Songs getting to you in dreams Paul McCartney style. He famously wrote only a few songs where the words came first, one of them was āAll My Lovingā.
However, I found out that I prefer to listen to and study songwriters who write lyrics first and songs where words take precedence over music. I think songs like this have more room for being well-crafted and thought over, especially if you have to deal with some fine poetry. In this case, music is supposed to silently flow around words, getting into all the gaps and becoming unnoticed. Sting is more on the music side. Rodgers & Hammerstein II worked with lyrics first most of the time.
Because any poetry by definition has rhythm built into it and is beautiful on its own, the goal of a songwriter is to craft a song like Michelangelo discovering a statue in every block of stone. And since I always talk about Mark Knopflerās music here, in a 2012 interview he admitted that yes, for him itās more lyrics first. You can tell by studying his songs, and his craft is of a very high calibre. I wish I could be a songwriter myself, but my role is that of an observer.
48 - 5
5 million views on the channel ā just passed this milestone. Thatās incredible! Not bad for a bedroom guitar player. You know I have really bad relationships with numbers. None of my videos is viral, I never bought a single view or like, and if you divide it by the number of uploads, you get approximately 25,000 views on average for every single video, and my earnings from the channel are minuscule. But consistency is worth every treasure on Earth and I wouldnāt trade it to anything. Pavel.
93 - 20
The third promotion on Mark Knopflerās social media went surprisingly well, and I received overwhelming support, as well as some substantial criticism. I want to thank a little army behind my back, this support really breaks my heart. I could never have imagined my work getting support from Mark himself and from so many genuine people around the world. Itās too much attention for a poor Russian boy, so I feel overloaded with information a little bit. Iāll continue to work hard doing what I love, so stay tuned. Pavel.
175 - 22
Man, the more I work on "Telegraph Road", the more I'm positive it's the best song written by a human being. There are many great lengthy songs out there, but none are as perfect as this one. Each microscopic sound is there for a reason, the soundscape is perfect, and each verse and word has its place. The folky resonator guitar part perfectly balances the electric guitar part, the song doesnāt feel like a combination of multiple songs put together, which is often the case with longer songs. Itās a straight-up classical music level of craftsmanship from Mark. I feel like a video about this song might be a good contender for the song #100 in MKSB. Pavel.
209 - 21
Patreon update: I want to welcome people who joined after Mark's post recommending my channel. Thank you for your support! I'm a slow learner, so coming up with proper Patreon tiers was always a problem for me, but I think I figured it out. I think what I'll do with this page is I'm going to upload Video TABs here ā the video with tablature with the original song playing in the background, as well as slowed-down versions, and sometimes with my playing also. I can't upload it on YouTube anyway because I don't want to upload raw original music and get demonetized and possibly blocked, but it's perfect for Patreon, and I hope to test it soon. I think it's the best way to learn something if you're a beginner: an EXPLAINED well-written tablature, video, and slowed-down version. Can't get any better than this. Pavel.
94 - 6