Funky Fingerstyle Guitar
He showed up for his first music lesson with the master, with his saxophone case in hand.
As they chatted for the first time, he told the teacher “I think I am one of the best sax players in town.”
The teacher answered “It would be nice if someone else thought that as well.”
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That’s a true story that one of my teachers, Mike Longo told me. It just goes to show, that when we are in our own little world, we think we’re pretty good.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 60,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Hey gang, greets from a jet lagged fingerpicker. I just got back from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur – what a delightful tour it was!
I had the pleasure to meet some excellent young guitar players – and the bizarro moment happened. Kids who were inspired by Sungha Jung playing my arrangements are playing their little butts off! Wow…
I was really surprised to see some super talents who’ve been playing only 3 or 4 years. I met about 3 or 4 young guitar pickers like this and I am sure Asia has a few more than that 🙂
[Read more…] about The Pitfalls of Learning Guitar from Youtube
Greetings from Amtrak. Current location – Syracuse NY, in the dining car!
Recently I re-read a short book I bought in my college years called “Basic Principles in Piano Playing” by Josef Levine. Levine was one of the great pianists and conductors of the 20th century.
Whenever I feel that it’s time to focus on playing and improve, I play Bach – sometimes on guitar, sometimes on piano.
Bach is pretty unforgiving…he wrote what he wrote, and the player has to find a solution. It’s not based on “comfy” positions on an instrument. It presents lots of technical challenges.
[Read more…] about What You Can Learn About Practicing Guitar from a Classical Pianist
Hi Gang! I am back in NYC for a short breather between tours…
On the road recently someone came up to me and said “man, I worked on your version of Superstition for like 5 months and still couldn’t get it perfect.”
My reply was “only 5 months?”
I explained to him that he needs to dive in with a full ongoing commitment and not watch the clock or calendar.
Like this:
I’m gonna play this arrangement no matter how long it takes to learn and practice. If I can play one note, then I can play two. I’ll play those 2 until they sound good, then I’ll add note 3.
I’ll do a little every day and it will surely build. I’ll sand the edges, work on the groove, listen hard, and allow improvements to reveal themselves with time.
I’ll be mindful that my hands feel good and my whole body feels the groove as I play. One day it will sound good.
I’ve been “hammering” at all my guitar arrangements for the past 6 years – and there’s no end in sight.
The real issue is not about guitar….it’s about “commitment” vs “flirtation”.
I can feel in me when I “flirt” with something vs when I totally “commit.”
Things like playing chess, fooling around with electric bass or drums – and even figuring out other guitarists riffs – these are fun things that add richness to my life – but it’s flirtation.
Playing slow scales, practicing my arrangements (and now learning easy Bach Preludes on the piano) and 30 minutes a day of meditation are “commitments”.
Because they are “commitments” I can relax and breathe as I do the work.
I don’t try to practice everything in a day. I am mindful of relaxation in my hands, neck, shoulders and I don’t “overdo”. The fact that I plan to spend the rest of my life on this stuff helps me chill out!
(Please note – I am not saying you have to be a pro and spend hours a day. You can be a hobby player and commit to practicing a piece of music in the way that I am saying.)
Only after a good long period of time do results show. There’s a sweetness to knowing and feeling that I’ve (you’ve) accomplished just a little something by coming back to it again and again.
The moral of the story is….hobbies are ok, flirtation with stuff is fun and ok – but committing is also ok too.
The opposite of immediate gratification is one of the sweetest satisfactions in life! Don’t miss out.
Know where you stand – and if there something you early really want, put it in your focus and never look away! The “out projecting” of your vision will in fact, create the “thing” or experience in real life.