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This question cuts straight to the heart of Life… and this series of messages goes, perhaps, as DEEP and Intelligently as possible into the Experience of Life and offers PROFOUND insight gained from a journey that has been EPIC in worldly terms, but is also littered with catastrophic losses almost unimaginable. Set in an array of settings ranging from intimate talks in the Awakened Forest to national conferences, concerts, broadcasts and various public events over the years, Andrew shares a challenges people to learn to truly live, and even embrace the struggles and heartaches along the way…and somehow reconcile and integrate the Day and Night, Pleasure and Suffering…
Andrew Reed is a True Outlier…
Andrew has gone about as DEEP as possible, through personal will, as well as through “events” into the PROFOUND of the Experience of Life. He has accomplished much in worldly terms and in a number of fields, including music, the arts, healthcare, business, wilderness adventurer, scientific research, Alaskan commercial fishermen, consultant/teacher to over 10,000 CEOs and executives, etc. But his life is also littered with almost every catastrophic loss imaginable from the loss of 2 children in accidents, loss of health, loss of a few fortunes, loss of wives & loves, and loss through natural disasters of hurricanes and forest fires. Add in - bear attacks, gunshot fragments in his head, being swept overboard a few times nearly drowning, escaping from fires nearly killing him, having multiple breakdowns and such add to the color to the philosophical topics and practical, pragmatic advice shared…
He has been described as a creative rarely seen, with accomplishments in music and the arts as well as being an expert on creating and operating World-Class organizations. He is also a songwriter and super guitarist under Universal/Virgin Music Groups and WorldSound with an international fanbase accounting for 90% outside of the US. He is the principal of Multi-View Incorporated family of companies which benchmarks and consults with over 1,300 companies, primarily in the United States.
What are you willing to throw your life away on? With Andrew Reed and The Liberation. It's a serious question, one worth pondering. Am I living the life I want, an intelligent life, or something else? How can I have a better experience of life?
Speaker 1:These are some of the questions explored in this series of messages without the brag and the advertisement. Getting beyond even human institutions and society into the wilderness, nature, the reality of how life actually operates on this planet. These messages range from intimate recordings from the awakened forest to concerts, national conferences, and broadcasts on a wide array of philosophical topics.
Speaker 2:Good morning. And it is a good morning. Every morning can be good if we want to. And here we are talking guitars in the garden of guitars, which it seems if you were to look at my cabin, where I isolate so much, to find myself. And you find yourself perhaps every day.
Speaker 2:Right? If we're truthful, if we're a growing person, you never know quite who's gonna even wake up. And our guitar skills obviously grow like that too. And I'm always amazed how something one day can be very difficult to play on the guitar or you find that you struggle with to some degree, and the next day, boom, there it is, and you can play it. So talking guitars.
Speaker 2:Again, one of the big human problems is mistakes or perceived mistakes, and I question whether there really are mistakes in life, even with all the tragedies and the loss of, you know, a couple, you know, children through, you know, catastrophic accidents and wipeouts or hand issues from accidents and physician errors, as I alluded to in another video. But accidents, mistakes, misfortune are somehow needed. And it's just like with the guitar, so much about playing guitar is muscle memory, you know. You you get your runs, you get your licks down, you settle into a rhythm with with it. And and so, you know, you play along in the flow of it, you know.
Speaker 2:And then you hit the odd note. And so often, these are spectacular accidents. And you go, woah, what was that? But you're usually doing something that doesn't feel that natural in the moment. I mean, it's not a natural movement.
Speaker 2:And, I think it's the element of surprise that we like. And, it really has a relationship with risk. Because if a person's going to have good rewards in life, what I've found at least, or at least what I can attribute to myself, yeah, I will take risks. I mean, I'm not reckless in my consideration of whatever I'm going to risk, but I definitely risk. I mean, I will put it on the line, your belief in yourself.
Speaker 2:And, of course, when you're playing music, taking risks, yes, you could have a disaster. It might not turn out very well. But to not do that is, again, to not fully extend your arc to find out what you're capable of. Right? And I think a lot of it has to do with we we like to be surprised.
Speaker 2:I mean, you don't wanna play the same thing every day. Like my practice set, I will have a practice set that I'll wake up every morning and go through for my voice as as much as playing because a voice is is a muscle that has to be exercised if you're gonna hit the high notes. And that practice set changes or evolves or should, and just to keep it interesting. That's where a lot of me musicians, you think, well, jeez, I'd love to have a song that's playing on the radio or or do well or whatever. But then every time you go out, guess what?
Speaker 2:Songs you gotta play. You gotta play those songs. Why? Because you probably built an organization. You probably have a payroll to support, and you'll spend much of your life doing that.
Speaker 2:Again, I refuse to do that. I I that would be nonsense for me. I mean, I life is much more than that. Life is about growth, and I don't wanna sing the same songs over and over. Then I gotta be torture.
Speaker 2:And I know that for a lot of people, they like that. But even the life on the road is is is a rough life. And God knows I've been in front of people, it seems, most of my life. And I think I would almost been have been destined to be in front of people. I don't know why in any occupation they're gonna put Andrew out on the road.
Speaker 2:But, again, you're a growing person. You don't wanna play that same list over and over. I admire, you know, artists that that poke around. Now with that said, I'm no different than anyone else. I wanna hear that great song too.
Speaker 2:And so if the artist, you know, changes the style in which it's communicated or performed, you know, that's fine. So, the accidents. And what I'm suggesting about that is so much of it has to do with our attitudes, just like life. Our an attitude could be referred to as the lens of the world, and you can detect someone's attitude by saying, how is the world treating you? As in and then you get whether it's hostile or it's eating me up or it's out to get me or whatever, or if it's benevolent, that it is a condition for success and that all the world is working with me as a partnership of sorts and an overall momentum upward.
Speaker 2:But to have a lighter approach to soloing, to to to playing, I think is a very healthy thing to take those chances. And it's a sign of health on some level. So yeah. So it's going against muscle memory. It's trying things.
Speaker 2:Slide. I like this sometimes the slide that goes, you know, like, one fret short or one fret too long. As long as you're kinda in the general area, you know, a good player will self correct, and and that becomes the cool factor in that movement. So, again, we're talking guitars. Here's a crazy guitar.
Speaker 2:Isn't that a b? You will not find many of these. And as I've indicated, I I lost, like, 60 guitars in in the fire. This the Black Cove Fires. It it had, like, 13 buildings that went up.
Speaker 2:A few homes that, like, recording artists that would stay, and all these famous artists that would sign the walls when they came to record at the Mountaintop Studio at Sedgwick, and of course that's gone. And I hope to get it back when the insurance lawsuits and stuff are are all done, because there was some fairly shady dealings, not on our part. I mean, we've been paying for twenty years. But the point is it'll be reconstituted and all that. But all this was going.
Speaker 2:I lost all these guitars. I had to buy new guitars. And, again, as I've indicated under other videos, you know, you form a relationship between this piece of wood and electronics. In case of an acoustic guitar, of course, not so much about electronics, but a relationship. And, you know, sometimes you're gonna have good ones, and time sometimes you're gonna have bad ones.
Speaker 2:Again, this crazy guitar, I remember at first I didn't like it. And and it seems to play pretty good right now. And so we're getting along. You know? So it's great.
Speaker 2:And and it's not about even the cost of a guitar. I think a lot of people get hung up on that. I used to be a guitar snob. I thought if I never walked out as if I'm doing acoustic thing, and I've done tons of acoustic things with my Martins, that, you know, if I had a Gibson, oh, I I couldn't do that. Not that I mean, that's an expensive guitar too or some other brand.
Speaker 2:And and now I don't care. In fact, a lot of times, the cheaper guitar or lesser expensive guitar, if it plays well, I get more satisfaction from that. Like, let's just grab a few guitars from this guitar farm a little bit, and I'll try to. I can't even hardly set them down because they knock against each other. But, yeah, you get like a three three nine here, and it's probably out of tune.
Speaker 2:Gibson. Oh. I played this one on a lot of records. You know, great guitar. Love the weight.
Speaker 2:And that's that's one thing I probably don't mention, I mean, that enough is that, obviously, the the neck is my first thing. Again, the fretboard doesn't play well. And then a lot of times and people are just horrified that I'll take a nice guitar, perfectly well executed guitar put together. And, of course, I'll shave the neck, and we've talked about that. I'll replace pickups.
Speaker 2:It needs a little more shine or a different color, yeah, I'll get up the spray paint and kinda Eddie Van Halenize the instrument because, again, I want to play. I want to make music. So to me, taking the liberty to It's just part of it. A little out of tune there. But but, you know, again, expensive guitars and there's a certain satisfaction of knowing of, you know, knowing what you have there.
Speaker 2:And then you get a $100 guitar that oh, is out of tune. I usually capo this one up, but that plays great, and it has that lightweight aspect that I I just love. I can just grab this thing like this. Because God knows, my first thousand performances, you know, growing up, I played a 1977 Gibson Les Paul custom, you know, tobacco finish, And that was the heaviest guitar I've ever seen still if you put it on a scale. And so, you know, I blame some of my hunch guitar player hunch on that because if you play a lot, you end up your body actually starts to form because it's protoplasm around your guitar or at least the way that you play it.
Speaker 2:And and then I had a Stratocaster, 1977 anniversary model, and and burn up in the fire. They have probably the heaviest strat ever, whereas this is like, woah. Nothing to it. It's probably balls of wood. And some people, guitar snobs, go, oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:But it probably doesn't sustain that well. Well, I think it sustains fine, and it was probably less than a $100. So again, just enjoy whatever instruments and again, each instrument pulls out like this is obviously, it's a near SG. It's actually vintage brand, and I love it. It just is one of my favorites.
Speaker 2:Again, not an expensive guitar at all. So, you know, having the different guitars brings out different inspiration because that's really what so much of music and life itself probably should be about, necessarily the correlation between life and music. And then, obviously, different songs dictate different guitars. Right? Even though you may have originated the song on, you know, piano or some other instruments, you know, the point where you have to record it, you know, then the question is what guitar?
Speaker 2:And people go into the studio, and they have they're hypnotized by a production or productivity mindset. I'm paying all these people. We need to get x amount of songs done in x time. And the song never gets a chance to maybe be what it really could have been. Because there isn't the time to experiment.
Speaker 2:So let me say this. Each song demands a guitar that likes that song, And the reverse of that probably is equally true, that every guitar likes certain songs, if that makes sense. And if you have some time, you get a chance to experiment and, you know, to put gaps between your recording, I think, is a very wise thing. I mean, spread your plan where you know, your recording process out where, you know, you can think about it, listen to it, form a plan, or an improved plan, and and go in and execute. And there's a lot to be said for that.
Speaker 2:And of course, yes, I realize that I've had the advantage and still have one studio that's functioning. I just lost because we had two, but we lost the mountaintop one. The one that brought in so many, you know, famous musicians, people that play with Taylor Swift and widespread panic people and just all these great Southern Rocks musicians from the Tears for Fears folks, Leonard Skynyrd, and it goes on. And sometimes I don't do a good job of paying attention of some of the the newer acts that came through. A lot of the trucks people.
Speaker 2:That is a great place, and hopefully, will be reconstituted. But, you know, so, you know, all these different guitars. And then you just find your your go tos, and I I I just here. Let me grab a couple others. This one's an interesting one.
Speaker 2:This is an Elektra, and I started out playing Elektra. It's actually a good good tune. Again, incredible neck. And I will say this about the necks again, just to keep going on about the necks. It really you know, I can get fenders that have fatty necks, I can get Gibsons that have fatty necks that just just don't work.
Speaker 2:Again, these are my hands. And, you know, you do what you you do, and that's that. The other thing, again, last time I pointed out my appendages, these acrylic nails that I use, and I don't use a pick really that much. But I do use a pick when it's dictated. And years ago, there's a revelation that was pointed out by Aaron Price.
Speaker 2:Aaron Price, one of the most talented musicians I've ever met. The musicality that comes out of this guy and his technical ability, off the charts. So if you listen to dominance and control like Pulsar, the crazy gothic piano coming into that epic. And that whole thing well, that's that's Aaron. He's all over my records and just, you know, colors it.
Speaker 2:And he's a great guitar player too. He's so he's a multi instrumental person. But he said, Andrew, you know, try using a very light pick, paper thin. And I gotta say that, yeah, at first, I was using heavy at that time, and it's a sonic heavy gauge. And but, do I like Now, of course, certain things because, you know, you get that plucky.
Speaker 2:But then and this is a cat tongue or cool cat tongue, technically, and here's different, you know, gauges, light, and and, you know, cascades to, you know, fairly heavy. And the heavy still have a a place, you know, like in the song Smile and, know, where I kinda do my typical stuff. And you can do those Barry Bailey pinches. You can Barry Bailey of Atlantic and a rhythm section. Where it's harder to do that with the lighter pick, or at least it's different.
Speaker 2:And, of course, with fingers, it's much harder. Oh, can't even hardly do it. So so that's that's one aspect, I think, as as our playing evolves again, the the the pick choices. And I use Kool's cat tongue, so when you get sweaty, they're still there. And I'm going to regret telling you about these, because I won't be able to find them anymore, because sometimes they're kind of hard to find.
Speaker 2:And then the other thing is that, as we talked about next, the different capos even, different capos sound differently. I just, you know, you can have a big ass one, you know, like this, or little ones, or whatever, And and I I find I really like using cables on a lot of things. Obviously, it it it changes things up, and sometimes it helps with tuning issues. Right? Let's see how this one's doing today.
Speaker 2:This one's one of my favorites. It is what I call the hot rod. Nice weight. All that. And, again, it just plays well, you know, right out of the box almost.
Speaker 2:And but, yeah, you you play different. Okay. I was talking about recording before and how an artist needs to give songs or recordings time to breathe so that you can reevaluate them, formulate better plans, go into the studio, experiment, you know, all that. But then anytime you make a statement of certainty or great proclamation, again, it's the morning. Of course, you're gonna be wrong because there's always exceptions to everything, just like there the Japanese say that, you know, there's a crack in every pot.
Speaker 2:So you're gonna have the recording that comes off great, where you record the whole album in eight hours and everything is perfect. And an example of that for me is, obviously, lots of solos I end up getting on the first take, probably because I don't know what in the heck I'm doing. And I'm gonna say, well, you know, you have the a section, the b section, this cycle, and then there's a kind of a solo here. Goes, It's gonna go something like this, and then you play it, and there it is. It's done.
Speaker 2:But that doesn't happen. Sometimes it's 50 takes later. But when we were recording Opium Den, Demarcation, which the music executives at Universal and Virgin and all that said, no. That's not a very good name. And then Evil versus Good, and then now it's under Andrew Eden Liberation.
Speaker 2:But the album's called Demarcation, and that was done really in just one evening. And you'll notice there's this incredible flow feel as the sun's going down. We're playing into the night at on the 3rd Level of the recording studio looking at the mountains. So it's just epically beautiful. But I was playing a trick on all the guys.
Speaker 2:So please forgive me, Jim, Aaron, Rob, Tom. Is we had a JV, a joint venture with these audio technologies that changed the firing of the synapses in the brain via these tones. And we because we did a lot of this science type work at the studio too. That's why you have a joint venture with another company to experiment with these things and under test conditions, all wired up and all this to see the impact on the brain. Well, I had this going in the background.
Speaker 2:No one knew it because I wanted people to go into a more lucid state, very highly creative state. And it worked. And people I remember Jim saying, I can't even remember that session. So there's something even to to that, experimenting with that. And we've done similar things, just I haven't done it with a whole band like that before.
Speaker 2:But I'll use things, even conventions like that, using audio technologies to get my energy, my creativity, almost a self manipulation of sorts, you know, into a certain space of playing. And probably not different than or unlike an athlete getting ready for the big game or anything like that. But I will say these. I will say these. I will say this.
Speaker 2:Going into these altered states, having these visions and stuff, I have accounted for a huge amount of my achievements. And if you wanna put it like that, and I'm not trying to be mister Big or anything like that. Or but I can attribute a whole bunch of success, even building the studios. I came out of a vision when I wasn't in a particularly good financial spot at the time, and and I just saw what could be created in in almost not in language, but it said, do this. It will be successful.
Speaker 2:You will have people come from all over the world to record there. You will also be able to do all these intellectual pursuits, you know, conferences and things like that. And by golly, that did it. And lo and behold, here we pay for a multimillion dollar studio in one year. But I use this all over the place.
Speaker 2:And because when the concrete mind is working, a lot of times, it'll shut down some of your best creativity. But when you're in that lucid state, especially upon waking up first thing in the morning just like this, it's probably my favorite time of the day, you're free. And the problem that was so big the night before is somehow solved. But I think that one of the greatest things you can do is before you go to bed, whether it's a guitar thing you're figuring out or a song thing or a business thing or a life thing, is to write down that problem. And that last thing that's on your mind goes into the mind, and it's a problem solving machine.
Speaker 2:It's what the brain does. And there could be some divine activity going on. All I know is I've had so many of the true breakthroughs in my life come out of these very open states. And, of course, then it takes, what, courage to actually act upon them. Risk, as we've talked about in this message already.
Speaker 2:And the world does not reward people that don't take risks. Again, not reckless risks. Well calculated, thought out. But probably the most important thing is having that grit or the determination to to push through, whether it's, you know, again, your music career or getting certain musical products out or, you know, other attainments, you might say. I mean, what do you want to do with your life?
Speaker 2:What is worth your life? Anyway, enough of my ramblings. The sun is coming further up. The birds are chipping. The fish are jumping.
Speaker 2:The deer are wrestling around. It's going to be a good day, and I hope you that you have a great day. In fact, maybe the best day of your life. Boy, do I look like morning this morning.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening. If you need anything further, just go to mvi.life.