Jack of all trades, master of none

"Jack of all trades, master of none"

How often do you get to hear this phrase? More importantly, does anyone you know apply it to you?

It's amazing how little this phrase has been thrown around in our generation. The intent of focus in American society has really been to find that one area of mediocrity to improve on to become successful.

So, basically:

Can you play some chords on a guitar and become famous? YEA YOU CAN! Just spend all your time learning about the guitar and lay down some mad licks and then BOOM! a record deal comes your way.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

OR!!!!!

Are you good at basketball or football? Get a full-ride scholarship to a college or university, do poorly in your classes but somehow still pass, and then after two (or maybe even ONE, HOW EXCITINGGGGGGG) years of feeling like you REALLY put in your dues, get drafted so you can sit on a bench for about two more years until you are ready to get rid of some of that ego and maybe play like a team player.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Everybody has got to get paid.

Do I sound bitter about this? Nah...not at all. I just find that talents, the things that are somehow so divinely given to us, are wasted on the extreme push for money. American wants money. That is nothing new. Boy, now I do understand wanting to get paid. Money is money. It keeps us going and keeps us from ultimately just destroying each other (although it also has been helping us TRY to destroy each other)

But really. Let me just set my personal expertise on this for you.

I come from a musical family, that even at least 15 years prior to MY birth, they traveled and cut records. My grandma on piano, my dad on bass, everyone else singing. Ah...the "Buckler Family Singers." Now, they weren't famous. But everyone knew them. And everyone knew how each were talented at their own part in the band/group/whatever.

Then David Wayne Buckler II (me) came into this world. Interestingly enough, my family didn't push music onto me. Instead, they let the music kind of come to me. So, at ten years old, I pushed to get my own drumset. My dad very happily complied. Soon, I was in the mix of the gospel music scene. I played at churches for years it seemed, and well I got a lot of experience.

There I was, focusing on one instrument, starting a couple of bands and having a blast.

That all soon changed.

I found other instruments. Banjo, mandolin, bass, guitar, accordion, lap steel, and my main being ukulele (all thanks to this, which was originally written on ukulele). Now, that's a pretty extreme list of instruments. Extreme meaning that my attention span led me to learn more how the instruments worked more so than actually playing them well.

Of course this led to quite a disappointment for my family.

I went to school for history, instead of music like my sister. Fine, whatever. I started another band without being involved with the drums.

Then they said it. Quite a bit too. "Oh, you were so good at the drums, why couldn't you ever stick to that?" "When will you be playing drums again?"

"You know, are a jack of many trades, but a master of none."

It got under my skin, left me feeling like a little bit of a failure. And sometimes, I feel as though they make it a point to tell me this.

But what of all of this?

Is it actually a bad thing to be a "jack of all trades?"

It makes me think of those in ancient Greece or Rome who had a vast amount of knowledge on everything. It was expected of them, for it was not to make money out of it, but instead to do their duty to their civilization.

I'm not saying that focusing on one thing is all necessarily a bad thing. I have great respect for those who can sit down and become so good at their instrument that they don't need anything else.

But maybe those who want to dabble in everything want to do their part, be a little more well rounded than others.

So, let's look at this phrase one more time:

"Jack of all trades, master of none."

Interestingly enough, that is not the whole complete quote:

"Jack of all trades, master of none,
though ofttimes better than master of one."

-bigdave