What skills would you like to have?

[Barry]

As per the title

Me personally, I’d love to be able to balance twin carburettors. I can set up a 4 barrel on a V8 and make it run sweet but trying to balance twins melts my brain. I guess it’s a byproduct of being a child from the golden age of EFI. 

Another thing I would love to learn is automatic transmission work. I’m from a country where everything is manual and when I came here I got dropped off at the deep end. After some time, I can tell you it’s an electrical problem, your torque converter is faulty or your valve block is jammed etc but I couldn’t take your transmission apart and rebuild it. Seems to be a pretty specialist thing in uae with some people doing nothing all day long but fixing slushboxes.

[treks]

I cut my teeth on twin and quad carburetors, but sadly, that skill is no longer in demand. I used to also rebuild slushboxes as you call them, but I have not so much as touched a spanner in almost a year, and with some luck, I never will again.

However, as per your OP, I would dearly love to be able to compose music, and particularly guitar music- and off course being able to play the guitar like David Gilmour or Mark Knopfler. I even went for lessons once, but I just don't have what it takes. 

[Barry]

2 guitar greats and what makes them great is that they play from the heart rather than from a sheet. Gilmour is one of my favourite guitar players ever. There’s so much feeling in it. I’ve learned a few pink floyd songs, a few dire straits songs too, but sometimes it’s better to just listen to something and enjoy it rather than try to emulate it. I’m a massive bob Marley fan. I can listen to him all day, but I never want to play any of his songs because I feel that will take the magic away. Some things are just meant to be appreciated and not emulated.

I used to teach guitar. So many people thought they could buy a guitar and become Glenn Tipton from Judas Priest in 2 weeks then gave up. Guitar is a lifelong thing. If you want to be good you have to practice for years. If you want to be David Gilmour or Mark Knoplfer you have to have an amazing mind and do your own thing, bit stil practice is key.

[Frederic]

Same here. Have been a DJ all my life and always dreamed of having the patience to learn an actual instrument. Tried guitar but it ended up on the wall. Turntables however were one of my favorite instruments.

Gilmour is indeed one of the all-time greatest, there is no doubt about that. But i feel the same about Radiohead. The stuff Thom Yorke is able to create with the band is just out of this world. Have a look at their basement sessions of their album "In Rainbows". I've been a fan for years and they keep making amazing stuff.

I'm a pretty decent electrically skilled tech for the manufacturing industry, but the electronics in modern cars is still a bit of a mystery sometimes. 

Apart from that i'm pretty happy that i am a Jack of all Trades. I have a genuine hunger to learn stuff and grasp easily when it interests me. 

 

 

[treks]

11 hours ago, Barry said:

2 guitar greats and what makes them great is that they play from the heart rather than from a sheet. Gilmour is one of my favourite guitar players ever. There’s so much feeling in it. I’ve learned a few pink floyd songs, a few dire straits songs too, but sometimes it’s better to just listen to something and enjoy it rather than try to emulate it. I’m a massive bob Marley fan. I can listen to him all day, but I never want to play any of his songs because I feel that will take the magic away. Some things are just meant to be appreciated and not emulated.

I used to teach guitar. So many people thought they could buy a guitar and become Glenn Tipton from Judas Priest in 2 weeks then gave up. Guitar is a lifelong thing. If you want to be good you have to practice for years. If you want to be David Gilmour or Mark Knoplfer you have to have an amazing mind and do your own thing, bit stil practice is key.

 

I read an interview with Knopfler once where he said that he needed to practice for at least 4-5 hours every day just to keep his hand in. However, you can practice till your fingers fall off, but if you don't have an innate talent to augment your amazing mind, you are going nowhere, as I can attest to. However, I have accepted that I will never play the guitar, so now I just appreciate the lifetimes of practice the greats have put into making their guitars cry or sing, as Knopfler puts it. 

 

 

[desertdude]

Wish I could play by ear and sing. So I don't have to beg vocalists to be on my tracks and hunt down royalty free samples! 

Other than Ive been blessed, anything I really wanted to learn Ive been able to do it. Wanted to drive like a pro in thr desert, did that, taught my self how to play thr drums, learned how to compose, use a DAW professionally, learnt how to DJ, learnt how to mix and master professionally on headphones none the less. Good enough to get paid for all of the above

Learnt video editing and sfx too in Adobe premier pro, so at level to get paid for it.

And now learning well almost done how to fly commercial jet liners. Well virtually anyways using the same platforms used to teach real pilots. Can virtually fly a Boeing 777 and 737. Also Airbus 312 but not a fan of that. Oh when I mean learnt, I mean self taught. Unfortunately too expensive and long to get a real commercial pilots license otherwise that would have been my next career move.

Till date thats about it, but periodically I keep getting interested in new stuff so lets see what comes along next.