Adam Rafferty’s Blog – Guitar and Spirit

Cohesion, Life Force and Music

Funny, over the last few years making music got more easy, more fun, and my fans like what I am putting out there more than ever. What the heck happened?

I couldn’t put my finger on whatever I had realized and still can’t fully do so, but I saw a youtube vid the other day that may help explain it.

The video was called “where mind meets matter” by Dr. Bruce Lipton. It is a 17 part vid that everyone should watch (yep, a long playlist) but the crux of what he talks about is that Newtons “mechanistic” model of the universe is not 100% on the money.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB81L9zGLjE&hl=en&fs=1]

What is the mechanistic view, and what does it have to do with music?

Well, there came this old notion that the universe and our bodies are like watches or machines, that can be taken apart, the gears & springs can be looked at, replaced, repaired and put back together.

Well, life is not that simple we are finding. Spirit defies that in certain ways. The magic of the parts blending and springing forth from source is something far more utterly complex than an “assemblage of separate parts” working like a machine. Modern day medicine and new ideas of healing are on a more quantum level than a mechanistic level.

I always wondered as a music student about melodies written by master composers. One note, two notes, three notes – and bang! It could be Mozart without a doubt. Something invisible, some binding force behind the notes is evident in the spirit behind the music. Take the notes apart and you can’t find the spirit – much like a human body.

Here are some ways I have discovered this recently in music:

– Recording my new CD. One or two (or three) songs were heavily edited, several takes pasted together (I am sorry to say). While they are correct and beautiful, they do not possess the “life” of a take played straight through with some rough edges made smooth. Different feeling altogether, at least for me.

– I’d always feel out of whack musically if I practiced just technique or just scales or just one aspect of music in a disconnected way. Any technique or idea MUST be practiced in conjunction with the “life force” and joy (groove) in the music otherwise it doesn’t apply in real music

– Techniques fall into place if you make the life force the primary objective! (Beauty, groove, melody)

Music reflects life and life reflects music. Now I see why my greatest teachers (and Bach by the way) insisted on musical, loving, spiritual solutions to problems. Mike Longo my teacher would tell me “your answer is technically correct, but not spiritually correct”. He’d show me musical things that would make me laugh from deep in my belly and tickle my intuition! 🙂

Of course intelligence and technique must be learned, but in the right way – in a way that connects to spirit!

The Secret to Improving Your Guitar Skills and Battling Frustration

By Adam Rafferty 47 Comments

I got an email yesterday from a YOUTUBE fan that prompted me to write him a response at 2 am. He’s actually in New York City as well and came to my house once for a private lesson.

He expressed his overwhelming frustration with trying to improve his guitar skills. The ups, the downs – one day it feels good, the next day it doesn’t, he feels “stuck” and so on. He feels that he has hit a wall.

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The Ever Clever Litte Ego

By Adam Rafferty 3 Comments

Many teachers declare that the moment you become aware, the moment you wake up “from sleep” you are then awake.

=–=-=

Last night I saw one of my absolute favorite guitarists on the planet, and as I arrived noticed strange, uncomfortable feelings inside. I saw that I wanted to be the guy who was noticed, I longed for better gigs, more attention, and was chomping at the bit to start a conversation with someone about “me and my playing” even though I was an audience member at someone’s gig!

Ahh! Sounds like the ego to me…

Couldn’t I just for once sit and appreciate someone else? Couldn’t I let them be appreciated and enjoy what they were offering? Couldn’t I be thankful that they were just excellent? “What the heck is going on here?” I thought.

On my last European tour – I took stock of my inner feelings when people complimented me after a gig. I asked myself “so this is what I am yearning for so badly?”

So – I internally asked myself “What do I do?”, as I anticipated the first song and chatted with people at the table where I was sitting. Then I got very quiet. I listened more than I spoke to the other concert goers, and noticed the involuntary nature of this little screaming impulse inside. I observed the guts churning.

And then I reflected on everyone else walking through life getting these little surges of anxiety, or a need to “prove”, to “show everyone”, and to “be special” – just like what I was feeling. The impulse of the ego comes in different packages with different scenarios, but this behavior of the human character and psyche just leads to unhappiness and is basically a flawed way of looking from the inside out.

Here was the lesson, special delivery. The Universe brought me right to my weak point, right to the thing I need to learn. Not intellectually, but through a gripping feeling.

When I saw this impulse, this ego wanting love and approval, to be the best, to be noticed, and ultimately to survive – I sat still, breathed slowly, watched and listened – and allowed the feeling to be there. I said “thank you” for the awareness to allow and see the impulse and not “run with the feeling” and think more, more more.

Presence arrived.

Listening

By Adam Rafferty 2 Comments

Listening

A few days ago I found myself asking someone in my life to listen to me better. I felt as though I was being interrupted, misunderstood, and all around felt uncomfortable and dissatisfied. Not a nice feeling!

I found a wonderful article on listening, and sent this person the link I highly recommend it! You’ll love it:

https://traubman.igc.org/listenof.htm

I also reflected on how as a musician my experience playing is radically altered if I have an audience that is listening. Some magic happens, and there is this wonderful space in which the one who is speaking or playing can hear themselves through the “ears” of the listener. Attentiveness and attention are present.

What then happens is the conversation (or music) unfolds based on the listening. Awareness and present moment deliciousness are the fabric upon which the words or notes are woven.

Interruption is resistance against the present moment, essentially. Interruption can also mean “zoning out” in a conversation – turning one’s attention elsewhere as a form of resistance against the moment. The person who is allegedly the listener is saying “no, I resist this moment and what it is offering”.

Here’s the clincher though. In all my personal dissatisfaction, irritation and anger that arises when I feel that I am not listened to, I must ask “where is this anger?”. In me of course, so I must take responsibility and look deeper.

I then took stock of several people who I felt were not listening to me well and noticed that I had built resistance against them, and did not listen well to them.

I found that when they spoke to me, t was a feeling I had of “oh they’re just saying the same old thing” or “here they go again” or if it were directed at them as a verbal interruption I’d say “wait – I know the answer and I just don’t have the time to listen to the end of your sentence!”

Feeling these feelings is ok. But having the inner space around these feelings, to see them arise and not necessarily react by zoning out or interrupting, is what makes all the difference. So, in spite of wanting to resist the moment somehow, could I see my feeling, allow the feeling to be, and redirect attention to the speaker?

So has this just been projection on my part? Maybe I have not been listening so well!

I decided to listen to them, for myself and for the relationships. I decided that I’d hold myself to my standard – tuning out and interruptions were and are not allowed. It became my vow to give full attentiveness to them.

Yes, and just as you probably thought I’d say – the dynamic changed completely. They didn’t know what hit ’em. Peace and presence arrived not just for me, but for us all.

Change yourself and the world changes. It never fails.

Even cooler than that, I found myself walking alone down my street the other day lost in thought and drama. I then wondered, “Can I listen even when there is no one talking? Can I simply engage in the act of listening, all by myself?”

So there alone, I started to listen to the wind, the street, and the silence – and my world transformed on the spot.

Shhh….Listen to the sound around you right now as you finish reading this.

Here you are.

The Gimme Trap

By Adam Rafferty 1 Comment

Greetings friends.It is 7 am in NYC and I have just emerged from my morning meditation. No it was not mellow, it was a distracted mind, but I sat there anyway!

Late last night I listened to one of my favorite “modern day” spiritual teachers – Marianne Williamson, and was reminded of a simple but important message.

The more “wanting” and “gimme” you have in your attitude – the more of that you experience in life – and you feel like the world is saying “gimme” to you. The more “abundance”, “having” and “gratitude” you have the more you experience and the more you feel as though the world is giving to you.

A wanting state implies that “I lack” or I don’t have. I think this is what one of my favorite teachers, Lester Levenson actually meant when he said “want equals lack”.

At first it is counter-intuitive, but through insight you can see that our psycho-spiritual “mechanism” operates this way.

Deep, huh? 🙂

Seriously though, as a musician freelancer there is always a dialogue inside me of how I want more, how can I get more? How can I get more gigs? How can I sell more CDs, more books? What tunes can I learn and re-arrange to get more of an audience? What instructional videos would sell…and so on. I need to be extremely careful regarding this dialogue.

While this kind of mentality is praised and honored as industrious and clever, it is not a very “high up there” kind of mind.

I tell you – the most blissful, most sweet, most delectable experiences and states I have had in recent years were in the writing of the music for “Gratitude”. I remember sitting and “receiving” tunes and melodies from “source” or God or whatever you want to call it – and literally being brought to tears by the sheer beauty.

That’s right – no cleverness, no “how can I get ahead”, none of that crap. The gift was given to me, and I made a commitment to give it back to listeners and the utter joy, through and though was unreal.

I am very thankful for having experienced this good that life has to offer, and I am thankful to see when I have steered in a wrong direction.

And now as I leave you to go about my week I ask the question, “what can I give?” and from there I will practice music, email people and act.

Keep Swingin’

Adam