thoughts: book smart/street smart

a couple of days ago i had a serious talk with wilson regarding...the future. it wasn't like any other conversation topics that both he and i usually talk about. and that midnight thinking has gotten serious. we were talking bout business. doing business that is. he went for a drink with the head of gsc i think. some big shot guy in gsc and he asked, so "mr. XXX how did you start out this franchise cinema company at first when there are some competitors that are bigger than you are?" and mr. XXX replied "wilson.....in this world is whether you have the balls to fail or not" or in cantonese because thats what he said (tai lei shi hmm shi tak hei mou) and suddenly i had an awakening. i opened my eyes.

i told wilson, not many people in the business course will actually want to start up a company. i don't know whats the reason but i guess maybe the depth of our studies has actually frighten us to even go through all these lengthy process to set up one. but i also have to bear in mind, everything starts small. and i've been actually thinking bout it even before he and i had this talk. and after the "talk", i've decided to offer my services of teaching guitar to high school kids when my holidays takes off.

i think if you relate guitar to business in terms of the debate of book smarts or street smarts, its pretty similar. you have one guy who has no formal working experience who just graduated from college with a business degree. he knows WHY things are run this way and that way. he got the theory goin on for him. he has that educational guidance and benefit. he doesn't need to learn things fully the hard way as he went through 4 years of theoretical understanding when it comes to opening a business. but he don't know HOW things are run. thats his flaws eventhough he will learn and pick things fast.

and then you got the other guy who has no formal tertiary education background but started working as soon as he comes out of high school. and he either climb his way to the ladder in a company, or he opens up a business himself. he knows HOW things are run after being in the field for quite a while and he probably need to learn it the hard way. with no guidance and only the internet and his friends to rely on. or even cheap seminars. his mistakes give him harder remembrance as lessons learned compared to reading why companies failed in books. but he might not necessarily know WHY things are run. he might know one aspect is done like this but he might not know the other aspects that can be linked to higher success.

now if you relate this to guitar....personally yea, i still suck a lot in guitar, in trying to be a shredder. but i'm also a pretty alright as a mediocre guitarist that can help new guitarist to pass my standards. i know nothing bout music theory and everything all these time signature or etc etc. i don't know. but if there's one thing i know , i learned and i experienced in guitar is that, i self learned it and with the help of some of my friends like chun kiat, randall, wei loong and others(i think thats it)i think i'm doin pretty fine. i've got my hard lessons learned that is in my brain. and personally in terms of guitar, i'm a street smart. still a learning street smart and this is what i'll be teaching to people who wants to play guitar but only songs they like and not musical theories.

i tried taking up lessons when i was 14, classical guitar lessons and frankly it was horrible and it was boring. it was nothing that i wanted to play and it is not even a fraction of what i love at all. i like electric but all i have was a classical that time. so after a month i quit guitar until 6 years later or so when i was reintroduce to guitar through chun kiat. and i was learning it the hard way but its what i love doing. i like practicing the enter sandman riffs or the seven nation army solo....everything is what i like playing. and yea there are some pros and cons towards my approach of teching people this way. like some will say its not the proper way of learning guitar. but i would firmly believe that its easier to learn theory when you got the skills to play it. also, your playing what you love. nothing beats that.