Funk Radio

To be noticed, you have to do something different. Be the same as everyone else and no one cares. There are already a plethora of singer/songwriters out there, tons of rock bands, and a God-awful number of country singers in the world. If you fall into a category like that, why do we need you? You can be good, but you have to be great to stick out. Those that stick out get word-of-mouth and hopefully can break into some new markets that way. If I see someone that blows me away or hear something that puts me in a daze, I talk about them. It’ll either be through this blog or simply word-of-mouth. Not that you necessarily want me promoting your music, but you want to have this effect on at least someone.

Now as I’m sure I’ve posted before, I am an avid climber. I prefer climbing outdoors, but since Reading Rocks is on my way home from work, I have a membership there and frequent their climbing gym. It’s a great place.

One of the few things that bug me about it is the music selection. It’s all the same. It’s either a top 40 station or a classic rock station. I’ve heard all of it a thousand times. And if, by chance, it’s something I haven’t heard before, then it sounds like everything else. There is nothing exciting or noteworthy of this.

And not that there is anything noteworthy of most radio stations, but Tuesday night was a bit different. After things cleared out to just be regulars, someone decided to change the station – a welcome change. Now I know that some of the kids there are into rap and a few are into hardcore, so I thought I had an idea of what may come next. Something generic (sorry, I don’t value too many people’s musical opinions).

False. Not generic. Not ordinary. Instead of monotony, the next two hours were…

Funk.

A funk station? I’m not sure, but at the very least it was a funk themed show. Now I can’t say that the songs played weren’t generic funk because I don’t listen to funk. What it was for me, was something completely different; something completely refreshing.

There were funk jams and hip-hop infused vocals and the instrumentation and the spontaneity and the dynamic and the... and the… and the…

It was music. It had depth and feeling. Unlike the formulated top 40, the energy in these cuts made you feel like you were there, not like you were listening to a recording. Recordings are stiff and regimented. People don’t open up in the studio like they do on a stage. The entirety of this funk show was wide open and in your face.

At one point, while trying to figure out what was going on, I asked what we were listening to, thinking it was an ipod gone mad. Kelly replied, “It sounds like something you would listen to.”

And it made me want to listen to more. It’s a strange feeling to be derived from the radio.

And I totally didn’t catch what station or whose show it was :facepalm:

Natural Disasters

So within one week, we've got an earthquake and a hurricane?? The biggest earthquake to hit the area in like 100 years, as well as a hurricane that's projected to be an effective "100 years storm." Bizarre.

As one of my friends mentioned the other day, “It’s been a great few days; just perfect out. And that’s why we had to have an earthquake.”

Things in life won’t go your way. You’ll meet sure successes with puzzling failure. You’ll have good days ruined and bad days made worse. It’s part of life. Whether you want to call it karma, bad mojo, or just rotten luck, these things happen. Natural disasters strike in many forms beyond just their typified weather patterns.

So I thought I’d give some insight into the top 5 things that I’ve run across in my music career that have acted as “natural disasters,” and maybe even give some ways to deal with them. It helps to know a little of what you can get yourself into and how you can deal with it. Sure there will always be idiots who will take shelter from storms under trees, but hopefully these stories and tips will help you to be better prepared for your gigs.

1. Children – They’re the effective twister of gigs. They’re unpredictable and reckless and you can’t do anything about it because discipline is “abuse.” I don’t care how cute you think they are they can still screw stuff up. Also, they really aren't all that cute. And they’re stuck with this level of deniability, too, that keeps their actions completely unchecked. Add the pandemic of bad parenting, and suddenly children are demon-possessed monsters.

I’ve had to deal with kids playing with my pedals and spare guitars during gigs and even had one throw a ball at me while I was playing. If you know me, you’re probably surprised that these children are still alive. Me too.

So how do you deal with them? Well, you can’t hit them. You can either ignore them or try to demoralize them. With one such pedal pesterer, after he/she/it(?) decided to turn a volume knob the whole way off, I simply stopped playing for a second, looked down and said, “Look what you’ve done,” and then fixed it and went on. True story. With kids like the one that threw the ball, you just pray that their parents take care of it. This is not to discount all children, however. Jeremy Bentley’s daughter danced around while I played and afterwards said, “Thank you for playing that song for me.” And other kids are just put into a trance and are mesmerized by the music.

2. Weather

Be it a tornado, hurricane, or even rain or snow, weather can be your gig’s natural disaster. If the weather doesn’t result in a cancellation, it can drastically impact the turnout. And it doesn’t have to just be “severe” weather, keeping people locked up in their homes. There are also days when people would rather take advantage of nice weather outside than sit and listen to music. That’s common in the spring and fall.

What do you do when the weather has sabotaged your gig? I’ve had gigs cancelled due to snow and have had gigs on nice days when no one wants to be inside. Those times are hard and I’ve suffered through many gigs like that, having the wrong attitude. It is important to remember, no matter how big or small your audience, that they are taking time out of their day to see you. That may mean that they survived a rainstorm to see you or that they are sacrificing a nice bike ride to be inside.

What made me realize this was what ended up being one of my favorite gigs. It was at Live @ The Hub, during severe thunderstorms (old blog post), complete with flooding and tornadoes. There may have only been 8 people there, but they were there having come through nasty storms and knowing that they would have to go out in them later. Even with knowledge of a tornado that had touched down near the venue, people stayed.

You can either look at it upset that you aren’t packing the venue, or you can look at the sacrifice that those who are there are making. The more that you appreciate people who see you, the more likely you are to make lasting fans.

3. Other Events – these are largely unforeseen. I’ve accidentally scheduled shows near school, not realizing that there were other events happening on campus. We ran into that with First Friday’s quite a few times this past year. I’ve had other gigs in towns where that I am less familiar with, but during times when a community fair or something of the like was happening. These things kill your potential draw.

It sucks. As a small act, competing with a well established event is near impossible. And it can be demoralizing thinking that everyone else is at a concert or party that you’d rather be at. My advice? Wear on. You’re there for 3 hours tops, so smile and just enjoy playing. I’ve used times like this to experiment with new material or to just practice improvising. And, of course, if there are any people there, make them feel like you are there playing just for them. Engage them in conversation and lighten the mood. If you’re in a bad mood, people will walk out. You don’t want that.

4. Forgetfulness – Let’s face it; if you blow off a gig because you’ve forgotten about it, you probably won’t be asked back. I’d recommend a calendar. However, there are plenty of other things that you can forget that will only trip you up a little bit if you are prepared for it.

Common things that can most easily be forgotten can be broken into three main categories: instruments, equipment, and merch. Forgetting any of these things can be devastating, depending on the specifics of your gig. Even merch, despite being insignificant for the performance, is extremely important for the people you are playing to.

I’ve approached combating forgetfulness from a few different directions.

1. Consistency. Have unique sets, but have them so drastically different from one another that you are constantly taking and leaving different gear. For a while I gigged with 3 guitars. At first, I would vary between 1, 2, and 3, so there were times when I would end up forgetting an extra guitar that I had meant to bring. Once I was in the habit of brining 3, I consistently had 3 at every show.
2. Organization. This is a good life skill, beyond the realm of music. Being organized and knowing exactly where your gear is will help you to not forget it. When I first moved up to Reading, one of the things I focused on was organizing my gear. Now that it's organized, everything I need to gig is in one place. Occasionally I'll forget something minor, but I haven't done anything really stupid.
3. Simplification. Do as I say, not as I do. The less stuff you take, the easier it will be to remember. It will also cut down on your setup time.
4. Have a backup plan. So you forgot a guitar? Who in the area do you know with a guitar? Forget your looping pedal? Have a backup set that doesn't use looping or alternate versions of your songs that don't use it. Forget your amp? Have a way to plug into the PA direct. Forget your merch? Have an online store and smart phone or, if you're local, hand out business cards and tell them where you'll be next or when you'll be at that venue next.

Forgetting stuff happens to everyone. Once, while recording at MR.STUDIO, I forget all of my pedals. It sucked, but I made the most of the day and got a few really great recordings out of it because I had an alternate plan. Be prepared.

5. Faulty Equipment




Sometimes it's just a broken string. Other times, it's malfunctioning electronics. And in a small percentage, there is actual damaged gear (broken headstock, neck, etc.). None of this is good. At all.

Like I mentioned earlier, it is best to have a backup plan. Bring a second guitar, have a set planned without effects, or be able to plug direct into a PA.

I had all of the electronics crap out on me in my Taylor at a gig once. I borrowed another persons guitar, but didn't have the money to get the Taylor fixed. I ended up taking a condenser mic I had laying around and rigging up an internal miking system. With the exception of loud places and boomy rooms, it worked great for about 6 months or so. Now I've got a backup acoustic and some nice new pickups in it. But for an economical fix, the innovation paid off.



No matter what your disaster is, you need to know how to combat it. Don't let anything screw with your gig. If your fans see that you're persevering through something, it will reflect well on you.

Good luck battling the hurricane this weekend!

Adamas 1881-NBBG 87

Adamas 1881-NBBG 87

I played an Adamas at Guitar Center a couple weeks ago. I wouldn’t have taken notice to it, but a few weeks prior I had done some research on Kaki King’s new signature Adamas. Considering she’s a percussive fingerstyle guitarist with hands that are probably the same size as mine, it seemed like it would be a good guitar to check out some day …when I have 2-3 grand just laying around.

So then I played the Adamas at GC. I had no clue what to expect. I don’t know anyone who owns an Adamas and I had no history of them. But I saw it there and saw a price tag on it: $1700.

Now you’ve gotta know something about Adamas to make that mean anything. Adamas is a branch of Ovation. And Ovation is notorious for making absolutely nothing special. Some people swear by them, but not many. Neat guitars, but more novelty to most. They’ve got this bizarre fiberglass bowl for a back rather than wooden sides/back and a lot of them also have weird soundholes. They also have a very distinguished headstock. Basically, they are extremely easy to spot.

At first they are intriguing, but after picking a few up, you’re not overly impressed. They generally don’t make anything above a low to mid ranged priced guitar. Not that price determines a lot, but when you’re looking at Taylors and Ayers, you the average Ovation does not catch your eye.

Naturally, when I saw what appeared to be an Ovation guitar with a $1700 price tag, I was rather befuddled. How? Why? Then I noticed the Adamas name. Sure, it was $1700, but a GC trip entitles you to play guitars out of your price range.

So I played the Adamas. It was great. Genuinely great. Then I left. The end?

Fast forward a couple weeks. I’m on Craigslist.

I’m rarely on because I want to buy something. Lately I have bought a lot off of it, but I’ve had a project of finishing my pedalboard and now that is done. Mostly though, CL is what keeps me informed on guitar equipment. Sure, it’s used stuff, but used gear has history. You find everything from vintage guitars that I’ve never heard of to boutique effect pedals that have a 12 month waiting list. It’s interesting to look around.

Then, around 2am, I see a post come up for an Adamas guitar. I look at it. Then look at the price (much less than the previous Adamas guitars mentioned). Then look at it again. Then look up Adamas guitars online to see some reviews/prices, etc.

I decide that I’ll check it out. If I buy it, I’ll sell some gear. The guitars stay, but other gear can be sold …mostly.

So I check it out the next day. Sure enough, it’s a winner.

Let’s go over some specifics:

The Neck:

There are a few different neck styles. The basics are your radius cuts (flat, thin profile), C shape (bulky and thick), V shape, and soft V shape. There are some variants of all of those, but that’s most of them. Of those, my guitars mostly resemble the radius cut necks. I don’t do bulky necks because my hands are small and the V shapes are just very uncommon.

The Adamas neck is an unfinished soft V. I’ve never played a soft V before. Since buying the guitar, I’ve compared it side by side to my Taylor. The Taylor has a nice thin neck with a satin finish. The two are as different as night and day. I’m very particular about the necks that I play (I won’t play Martins, Gibsons, Schecters, etc. because I don’t like the feel), but I have no preference one over the other with these two. Which is strange, because the Taylor neck is so amazingly smooth and fluid and the Adamas isn’t. But it feels so natural.

The Top:

There are many different types of materials that guitars can be made out of. Most of them are wood. Then you’ve got some electrics that have been made of acrylic and even a few made of aluminum. It’s only in the last few years that you’ve been able to easily find a guitar made of carbon fiber. They’ve been made for some 20 years, but have just been so rare that you never see them.

Yeah, this has a carbon fiber top.

Highly responsive and durable. It won’t break from any thumps, bumps, or nail hits. It has a very distinctly different sound from wood, but it still sounds good.

The Pickups:

I’m not sure whether it’s Ovation or Adamas specific, but they’ve got something wonderful going on inside of this. The pickup is actually the bridge, itself. The entire thing is a giant contact pickup. It’s interesting because of what the acoustic properties are like at that point. They should be tinny and shrill. However, they’ve got it balanced really well to give a nice full sound from each string.

Additionally, the previous owner did some experimentation with other pickups blended to give some more response from the body of the guitar. The ones in now are K&K piezo transducers. A LR Baggs Blender allows for blending the signal of the two different pickups to dial in on tone. I’m a fan.

As noted in my last post, this resulted in some damage to the bracing of the guitar. However, I’m going to fix it. The braces to repair it are in the mail right now. For FREE (see Customer Support (Ovation Guitars)). So the next 2 projects are pickups in the Taylor and braces for the Adamas. Busy week ahead.

Playing for the Blue Marsh Canteen Idol competition. I play in the final round October 5th.

EDIT-

The Taylor is done! Tonight I'll take the strings off of the Adamas to let the body adjust to the lack of tension, then I'll add in the new braces next week.

Review: Purple Door 2011

The smell of sun-scorched earth and sweat filled the air. Purple Door 2011; all was right with the world. This would mark my 4^th or 5^th Purple Door. It had been two years since I had been to the festival and months since I had seen a good show. Heck, I haven’t even played too much outside of open mics in ages.

When I got there, I headed to the main stage to find some friends. House of Heroes was on. I’m not a huge fan, so I lured them away. Looking at the schedule, I saw that Texas in July was soon on at another one of the stages, so we headed that way. Little did I know that I would be following them into an indoor warehouse-like venue.

Now you may not see the big deal in this, so let’s back up. This is PURPLE DOOR. Not only did the venue change from Ski Roundtop to some fairground in Lebanon, but to also find out that only one stage is outside?! Don’t get me wrong, being inside while it was raining was nice and dry, but Purple Door is as much music as it is the familiarity with the environment. Trying to escape the blistering sun or the soaking rain is part of what you come to know, expect, and love about Purple Door.

Needless to say, I was disappointed, but I wanted to make the most of it. TIJ did not help.

See, I’ve seen Texas in July before. Multiple times. They’re good. I bought or otherwise obtained one of their albums, which is on my iPod taking up precious memory. So I know what to expect.

And this? This was absolutely horrific. Of the 200+ shows that I’ve seen, this had the worst sound quality of all of them. Hands down. The mix was terrible. The acoustics, terrible. Worst sound ever. Period.

After that, I almost left. Actually, I almost left before they were done. But I stayed. The Chariot was up next. I don’t think I’ve listened to them or have seen them before. Though the sound wasn’t optimal, it was still decent and their energy was ridiculous. But about the sound, musically they were actually interesting. Something akin to the idea of organized chaos; beautifully dissonant.

Red finished off the evening, outdoors at the main stage. Mainstream hard rock. Gag me.

Saturday afternoon was very splintered. I saw a little bit of everything. I saw partial sets of As Hell Retreats, Showbread, and For Today. They were good and I wished I could have seen entire sets. However, instead I went to see some speakers.

Aaron Gillespie was the first of those. He talked a lot about his transition from being in the band, Underoath, to pursuing a more dedicated form of ministry with solo work focused around worship. It was really neat to hear about that transformation and to see where he was headed with it.

Andrew Schwab, the frontman for Project86 spoke next. He gave a seminar on Social Media and how it impacts us. Sure, it enables great things, but it’s also something that can be consuming. It was all stuff that’s been talked about for years by both the social media gurus as well as those in opposition; no new arguments, just some interesting perspectives and things to think about.

As the evening progressed, everyone patiently awaited the big shows. Project 86 and Underoath.

And then there was rain. Anyone remember this from years ago?

 

Wish I would’ve been there.

So that’s what I was expecting when the storms started to roll in. Maybe without tens of thousands of dollars of stage equipment ruined, but still with that energy.

Instead, they moved everything indoors. Super gay.

I was real worried that the sound would be terrible. I mean, it had been for the other bands in that space. Project 86 is somewhat magical, however.

The sound was near studio quality. It was exactly as I had remembered from their albums, but with 100x more energy and a lot of sweaty bodies everywhere. They’re hard rock, but with an unmatched edge that sets them apart both with their playing as well as the vocals. And the dynamic. Oh the dynamic… It’s cuts that stop an angry mob and drops that shake your chest and release chaos in the pit.

Speaking of the pit, I’m always disappointed with the security at Purple Door. Start a few pits where they don’t want them and suddenly you’ve got your own personal bouncer, ready to bounce you at the wave of a hand… But it was still fun.

Then came Underoath. I had never seen them. In 200+ concerts and probably 6-8 years of listening to them, I had never seen a live show. The suspense was killing me. A lot of why I went to Purple Door was to see them.

And then they rushed the soundcheck. I won’t even acknowledge any more of their set than to say that I walked out early. Wow. Just …wow.

Thankfully, the good stuff made the weekend well worth it.

Just remember, kids: don’t rush your soundcheck. Ever.

Customer Service (Ovation Guitars)

It seems as though when I deal with customer service with guitar equipment everyone is always extremely helpful. Customer service through a computer company, on the other hand, is notoriously bad. Everyone’s been there, talking to someone overseas who barely speaks English – it sucks.

A while back I wrote a blog about a situation where I landed a free guitar case through customer service at American Musical Supply. They were extremely helpful and went above and beyond what I expected.

Not long ago I had a run-in with Musicians Friend. There was a cello string that didn’t come and didn’t come. They were really easy to deal with, but it sounded like there could have been problems had there been a more expensive order in question. Regardless, I received the string in good time once I contacted them. In 10 or so orders from them, one mistake is permissible.

Today I had another run-in with customer service; Ovation guitars via KMC Music.

Why would I be dealing with them, you might ask? I mean, I don’t have any Ovation guitars. Well, that’s not entirely true. My 12 string is an Applause, a company that Ovation bought. It’s basically the Squier of the Ovation name.

So what do I need for my 12 string? Nothing. Because this isn’t for my 12 string.

It’s for my Adamas.

Yes, that would be #8. Going on the Fender analogy, Adamas guitars are the Fender Custom Shop of the Fender brand. They’re the top of the top, at the forefront of technology and performance. I’ll post on the actual guitar later.

So what do I need for my Adamas? Well, I bought it used. And the guy I bought it from is very hands on. In searching for some body sound, he decided to install some additional pickups. However, in doing this, he ripped out some of the fan-bracing :gasp: under the bridge.

Observe:

Was it a bad idea? Yes. Will it ruin the guitar? Most likely, it won’t. The top is carbon fiber. But, that still leaves me and my rather aggressive playing style to want to not take chances.

So I emailed Ovation (KMC Music) this afternoon, and explained my situation. Within half an hour I heard back from them. The guy asked for which braces I needed to fix and my address. He’s going to find some spares and send them and it sounds like it’ll be for free.

It’s not so much that I’m getting them for free. It’s more the fact that all I had to do was ask and they’re going out of their way to help me out with an odd request. And they have never seen a dime from me on any purchase. The mere fact that I now owned one was enough.

What does this do?

1. It endorses the brand. Regardless of whether I would blog about this or not, I’m more likely to get another Adamas down the road because of my positive experience with these guys.

2. It protects the brand. Adamas guitars sound great and look real cool too. If I saw a guitar in disarray or saw one “randomly” break, regardless of the brand, it would paint a bad image of the brand for me. Enabling users to take care of issues like this prevents that picture from ever being formed.

There will be more to come in the next few days, as I get to play the guitar more and eventually do a little write-up on it. Stay tuned!

Yngwie Malmsteen

What makes you good? Obviously, a lot of practice does. I’ve stressed that lately and have possibly begun to beat a dead horse. But beyond that, many people call many different things “good.”

For me, it’s something technically complex as well as musically interesting. Normal and accessible are not goals that I really ever have and are seldom things that I look for in other music. Bring on the dissidence and confusion!

For others, “good” means catchy and accessible, pleasing to the ear. I don’t understand these people and I never will. Unfortunately, that is most of the general public. Enough so that you can generalize to say ALL of them. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it goes.

Those are probably the two main categories. From there you’ll have people who want to be musical and accessible (orchestral scores), catchy and complex (The Fall of Troy), etc.

But for a select few, it’s about two things: speed and precision. You don’t see much of this. Even to look at speed metal, it’s not so much precision as it is speed. And that’s one of the big downfalls of the genre. There always seems to be a threshold with where speed dominates and precision takes a back seat… With speed AND precision, I’m immediately thinking bands like Dragonforce. Remember them? Through the Fire and Flames made it pretty big on Guitar Hero. Remember Guitar Hero? Ha, yeah, that’s for another blog… Really though, they do a good job at blazing fast leads over blazing fast everything else. And it maintains both precision and accuracy.

Illustrating this more than Dragonforce is Yngwie Malmsteen. Yngwie is a madman. Growing up, he equated speed and precision to skill. Coupled with classical music influences, notably Niccolo Paganini, he has pioneered neo-classical shred metal (or whatever they’re calling it these days). Since Tuesday was country day, I decided that Malmsteen was about as far from country as possible, and listened to him for a good part of the day.

So what did it take to get to where he is?

·         Practice. It’s hard to ignore this point. And it feels, again, like beating that poor dead horse. But Malmsteen did it differently. As a youngster, he would record himself EVERY DAY, often playing the same thing over and over again. His goal every day was to be faster than the previous day and to be more fluid. When you do this every day, of course you are going to become amazing. This eventually led to him excelling in sweep picking, combining precision and speed in one fluid motion.

·         Influences. Niccolo was a virtuoso. Most all of Yngwie’s main influences were. Some of these guys have been dead for like 200 years, but are still talked about. When that’s what you are listening to and exposing yourself to, that’s what you’ll try to emulate.

·         Vision. Before Malmsteen, neo-classical shred didn’t exist. He took his interests and combined them together, despite what was already going on in rock/metal at the time.

·         Innovation. Once upon a time, Malmsteen picked up a sitar. On a sitar, you don’t press against the fretboard; your fingers float on the strings. This allows for more control of the motion of the string. Naturally, Yngwie then proceeded to scallop his guitar neck. Playing on scalloped frets requires much more finesse, but allows the control of bends and vibrato to be unimpeded by the fretboard.

Granted, this is just how one guy did it. Sure, “Yngwie” isn’t a household name, but by his skills and abilities, he’s created something that will last.

This all being said, does anyone want to go see him either Thursday, October 13^th in NYC ($40) or Saturday, October 15^th in MD ($33)?? I’ve seen him before and it’s pretty freaking amazing…

10000 Hours

I’m sure that you’ve heard before that it takes 10000 hours of practice to really be good at something. At the very least, I’m pretty sure that I’ve brought that up in another blog post at some point. If you haven’t noticed, I’m big into practicing and working for your success rather than waiting for it to come to you. Because it won’t.

Basically, the idea is that it takes, on average, 10000 hours of practice before someone can say that they’ve “made it.” To put things into perspective, I’ve been playing guitar for about 10 years. I’ve had dry spells where I haven’t played much at all over a week or two, but I’ve also had days when I’ve played for 8 hours. So let’s assume an hour a day.

(1 hr/day) * (365 days/yr) * (10 yrs) = 3650 hours

Not enough. I know that I’ve played and practiced longer, but it’s still not 10000 hours. I shouldn’t expect success. And I don’t. Obviously “success” is relative, but in this case it’s along the lines of Andy McKee or Trace Bundy; the icons.

Sure, people will make it on less. There are always exceptions.

But why would you expect to be one of them? Music is within the arts, which everyone knows is a bit off, but it is still like any other career. You can’t jump into it and expect to be an overnight hit.

Looking at other careers, I’ll take a look at my own, the field of Mechanical Engineering:

There are different levels of being a Mechanical Engineer. To break it down into its simplest form, you begin as an Engineering student, become an Engineer in Training (EIT), and later can become a Professional Engineer (PE). Many choose to not pursue becoming a PE, but for many more, that is the end goal.

How do you get there?

Engineering student: 4-5 years of undergrad. In my case, I graduated with something like 150 credits. Though I came in with credits, that was about 18 credits per semester. A full semester, every semester. It is expected that you spend an hour out of class for every credit hour. That amounts to a 36 hour week (which is on the extreme low end for engineering).

(18 credit hrs) * 2 * (9 wks/semester) * (8 semesters) = 2592 hours

EIT: To become an EIT, you have to pass the FE test. It takes a while to study for. I think they recommend 10 hrs/wk for 2 months.  After you have become an EIT, you have to work for at least 4 years under a PE. Not counting the studying and assuming a 40 hour week (also unrealistic) at 50 weeks per year:

(40 hrs/wk) * (50 wk/yr) * (4 yr) = 8000 hours

Total: 2592 + 8000 = 10592 hours to become a professional engineer, over an 8+ year span. And that’s a very low estimate.

If you want to do music for the rest of your life, as a career, treat it like one.