Pole dancing is not something I ever thought would be this big a part of my life. I remember being appalled at the idea of having a pole in my home. Then I remember knowing that I had to get a pole. For me after a little research it was really easy to decide because at the time Xpose sold their own brass pole that is the closest to the poles we use at the studio. I bought one of those poles but because it was a static pole I knew I would have to get another one eventually and would at some point find myself in the same position as someone who needs to buy a pole and doesn’t know exactly what to get.
In high school my music theory teacher would stand in front of the class and tell us that writing music is 90% perspiration and only 10% inspiration. Obviously he was quoting Thomas Edison’s famous quote on the recipe for general success. While I do not argue that formula I must point out that he failed to mentioned the importance of that 10% of inspiration.
I took music theory class in a desperate attempt to better understand music and learn how to play an instrument. I had an electric Yamaha guitar and after two years of weekly guitar lessons I still did not feel like I could play a whole song or even learn a song with out sheet music. I knew music fit together like pieces of a puzzle and there was a lot of repetition. I hoped that by learning all I could about how music worked it would help me learn how to play songs by ear and know that I had the correct chords and notes. It didn’t. I never learned to play the guitar to a point where I could confidently play with others or play for a crowd.
As much as I wanted to play the guitar well and be able to play with others I hated practicing. Not because of the calluses, it was never a physical issue. Here I was plugging away in theory class working my butt off to not just get decent grades but to learn actually learn what was being taught. I was sweating my butt off but going no where. I could not apply what I was learning in theory class about chord progression to my guitar. It never sounded like it did in the song that was supposedly I IV V chord progression. (For those who have absolutely no idea what a I IV V chord progression is, in music it is supposedly the most common progression in rock and some major percentage of music can be figured out using the first fourth and fifth chords of a key.) I never heard anything good out of that guitar. I had absolutely no inspiration. The inspiration is your gas, it’s what engages the clutch and flywheel and makes the vehicle go. If you have no inspiration your engine is revving but you’re just spinning your wheels.
I learned much later that there is something defective with the guitar. It physically cannot be tuned. You can tune each string but when you go to put your fingers down to make a chord and strum it doesn’t play in tune. I don’t know if that’s function of the neck itself or the fret placements on the neck and I don’t care. I had learned it wasn’t me, my ear wasn’t so off, but by this point I had become obsessed with poling and had moved on from the old childhood fantasy.
I get my pole inspiration from my successes. I will never forget the day I got the Superman hold. After that it was on! There was so much more to learn and I bought my own stationary 2” brass pole (that my employer used to sell) to learn it all. If I had bought a pole with a different grip and had say, more accidents than the very few that I have had I may not be as inspired. I would imagine it would become quite discouraging to work with a pole that you cannot grip successfully. I recently borrowed and then inherited a friend’s chrome pole. I cannot get a good grip on it unless I am freshly showered and the pole is completely cleaned off. Grip aids don’t seem to help and there is certainly no ‘put on lotion 8 hours before and still be able to pole’ on chrome. Brass, maybe if the rest of the conditions are right. That is my personal experience with pole. Yours may be that brass is horrible grip and chrome is the best grip you’ve ever worked on. I can only imagine that body chemistry would be the reason for that but it doesn’t really matter as I am not making an argument for one metal over an other or for one brand over an other. After all, one would think Yamaha would not put their name on a guitar that couldn’t be tuned but they did. Do not fall for the hype of one brand or another (I used to be anti one particular brand but have been working on it a lot lately through a strange twist of fate and I am coming around on this particular pole) do your research and pick what you think will be the best pole for you. If it turns out you are wrong, invest in another, different pole and sell your other one to make up the cost. Get a pole that you feel safe on. Get a pole you see improvement and goals being met on. Get a pole that helps inspire you.
Until next time, thanks for reading. Feedback is always welcome.
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