He's really good. http://sivers.org/mp3/DEREK_SIVERS-Ready_to_Live-1997-01.mp3
He definitely has the technical fundamentals down, no argument there. Nevertheless, his vocal timbre and overall style don't appeal to me; he sounds exactly like what he says he is: somebody with an average voice who learned to sing well. I can think of a half dozen really jaw-dropping vocalists--the people who make me rue my mediocre singing genes--who I am certain did not work nearly as hard or as long to get where…
After 15 years of practice..
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Re: After 15 years of practice..
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#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, he is 6'6" which I'm sure is in the 99th percentile.
Google says 6'2"
Re: After 15 years of practice..
#96Re: After 15 years of practice..
#97Three points 1) This sounds a lot like the "Deliberate Practice" espoused by the (imho excellent) Study hacks blog http://calnewport.com/blog/?s=deliberate+practice 2) Also similar to Steve Yegge's recommended approach to learning to type. (another great read) 3) Is it just me or is the silvers.org site a gold mine of great ideas? Like this, for example: My vision of the road to mastery: - start with the fundamentals…
Thanks! That bit you quoted is from the book "The Art of Learning" by Josh Waitzkin, so I can't take credit for it. Great book. Really inspiring. http://sivers.org/book/ArtOfLearning Writing good essays/articles is something else I really aspire to, and definitely put a lot of work into. I've been studying my favorite essays by Paul Graham, Harry Beckwith, Seth Godin, and even Robert Fulghum. Those are the tops I've…
Re: After 15 years of practice..
#98But this is a really bad example. I promise i'm not trolling. I actually went to his archives and listened to his music. I hate to say this, but the guy can't sing. On top of that, the improvement from as he says his "early days" to the latest stuff (1999), is marginal.
I think his point still stands. He just uses a bad example.
Re: After 15 years of practice..
#99I've long been fascinated with why people decide to do their 10,000 hours of practice. Many people I know have talked the talk but then never really had the motivation to walk the walk and put in the effort. Any ideas on what gives people the internal motivation and strength to follow through with practice in the first place?
Can't say it wasn't fun, and it definitely pays the bills now. But I would trade it all to be in a mediocre rock band that plays crappy hole-in-the-wall clubs in tiny godforsaken midwest US towns on Tuesday with a midnight time slot. But I was never good at guitar.