Adam Rafferty’s Blog – Guitar and Spirit

Adam Rafferty @ 169 Bar 10/19/07 – Concert Review

In the honor of Stewart Copeland reviewing The Police reunion gig which he played on, I figured I’d give you an unbiased review of the recent solo gig (10/19/07).

Unbiased, yeah right.

Thank you so much to all of you who came!!! And special thanks to those who were there in spirit…my friends in California, new friends in Japan (you know who you are)…and everywhere else!

This gig was at 169 Bar on NYC’s lower east side. A typical rock place, one must round up their following and get friends and family to cough up $10 to come in. Performer keeps 40% of what the door takes. Whatever…I was able to take Jeff & my girlfriend Jill out to Korean food and take a cab home. Hey, I’m thankful.

A semi-hard pill to swallow for the old ego, as I have done so many high profile gigs & background music gigs where I just get payed well without having to do leg work. But aaahhh – this is a new “in the trenches scenario”, where I am performing some “main event – in your face” kind of music, so there is a different set of dues to be paid. Seems like that never ends! Thats ok…

=-=-=-=-

Setup: Taylor 314ce Guitar (2006 es system) into my trusty BOSS ME-50 pedal board. I recently picked up the LR Baggs para acoustic DI, and actually used the effects loop feature. Went out of the DI into the PA, and into my little Roland AC-60 amp for onstage as well. Didn’t know what I’d be getting into with monitors.

This was one of these scenarios where the minute I got signal, I was “on”. No soundcheck! I guess that all the experience I have had on gigs really helped with thiis aspect – being able to adjust and accept what was going on soundwise.

The evening’s bloodshed started with “Machine Gun”, opening fire on an unsuspecting herd of audience members. I had originally intended to start with something more groovy, but a split second descision to hit people over the head and grab their attention prevailed. I love that tune…it’s my “Dukes of Hazzard meets Van Halen” number.

Since I was in a weird tuning (D G D G B E), I figured I’d stay there and follow up with “Simplicity”. My best bud Christian Urich (lead singer & drummer for Tortured Soul) told me that this could have been improved. Not the tune itself but the pacing; it was this high intensity from the first tune, way on down to a folky ballad – maybe a smoother more gradual raising or lowering of intensity would have been better. Food for thought…food…I’m hungry.

Next came the Stevie Wonder medley “Superstition, Sir Duke, I Wish”. These are always good for the recognizability factor, bluesiness and groove. I always wince a little at covers, but the tradeoff is that it gives people something to hook onto so they don’t feel as if they are being left out in the cold. Paul Beaudry, one of my favorite NY bass players who was there noticed that I made a facial expression occasionally on botched notes. He reminded me – don’t make a face, ’cause no one heard it! Good advice!

Time to bring the intensity down a bit I played “Shelter Island”, a finger picked ditty in D, a la “Mother Nature’s Son” by the Beatles. This is a nice filler tune, and it has been my daily “etude” to get my fingers used to picking on steel strings. If I play this about 1000 times, I start to feel in control of my “touch”. These midway tunes are good to break up the high and low intesity tunes.

“Vitamin E Blues” closed the set. It’s a boogie-woogie E blues with a few chorusues of ideas and ends with guitar body percussion and a big loud bang at the end – a good set closer.

=-=-=-

COMMENTS: I got several comments that the high energy of Machine Gun was more needed at other points in the set as well. By severral ladies, actually! It has that “strumming” over the top energy like flamenco, and I will keep in mind that this kind of material is a grabber.

PROS / GOOD POINTS:
The audience was riveted – I had their attention and support. It felt so great to be performing instead of playing background music!! YAY. All in all, this was a success,no question. The energy was good, and people had a good time. It did kick butt (at least for me!)

CONS / CRITIQUES / TO THINK ABOUT:
It was a bit rushed, as it was only a 30 minute set, and I felt under the gun. I would have loved a soundcheck…my Taylor guitar with the ES system is a bit bright, a soundcheck would have been nice.

Most importantly, it will take some time to get my own concept for “the show”. Right now I am feeding off the energy of Tommy Emmmanuel, as a model sort of – as he’s really inspired me. My bud Christian encouraged me to explore more of my jazz & harmonic background, my hip hop, and more – and incorporate that too. That will simply come with time and experience, and will be the unique Rafferty fingerprint.

Tuning, or staying in tune in a live setting is tricky. It can stop the flow of the show, and on YOUTUBE I saw how Leo Kottke could talk and tune simultaneously.
On acoustic, I don’t want to stop a piece if the axe is out of tune, which means constant checking in between tunes.

I’ll surely need a second guitar. What if the Taylor self-destructed, a pickup came loose, string broke, or how about a nice cracke somewhere…or if..? So I get to buy another axe!! Yeah that’ll make 13 guitars in my NY studio apartment!

Once again, thanks all for coming!!!

Next gig – 10/27/07 @ Rockwood Music Hall, NYC 6pm.

Practicing is Just Watching, That’s All

By Adam Rafferty 1 Comment

When I was a kid I loved to draw. I think I was probably into drawing and coloring before I was into music.

I noticed that I could just sit, pay attention and the drawing would draw itself. I know, this probably sounds as if I am telling you that I was a little Zen master – but I am being quite serious. There was not a notion of me doing it….honestly.

Over the last few years with my on and off relationship with web design, it has been the same…pay attention…make jillions of split second decisions and bang…creation has happened.

Lately I have been practicing the tune “Mas Que Nada” and it has also been the same – and so much fun. I will record this one for sure, and probably debut it on my gig in a few days.

I guess I am writing this to tell you what practice is and what it isn’t, at least for me.

It all started with a vision and then followed sort of like this, over the course of a few weeks:

=-=-=-=-

Wow this tune could be groovy!
I could imagine that people may want to sing along.
I want them to feel that easy Brazillian groove too, so they enjoy themselves.
Wouldn’t it be cool if I could get people dancing with just a guitar?
Hmm, what key might be good? E- will work, lots of open strings.
Let me listen to get the chords right. Ahh, it’s a little different than what I thought.
What’s the melody exactly?
The phrasing is kinda freaky – they are singing in Portugese!
I really want to get this tune so it is comfortable and I don’t have to think.
Wow, I need to separate my right hand fingers musically so the “a/ring” finger brings out the melody.
If I keep the bass rhythm consistent with my thumb, it makes this whole thing groove like a little machine.
That was what I needed to lock the groove in…cool!
I think I’ll play this until it feels really good.
Man, there is so much E-…a modulation would be nice…maybe I’ll do the 2nd verse in A-.
That sounds good, it breaks up the repetition.
After 2 times through I need a break of some sort…rhythmic, maybe use a loop pedal…hmm not sure.
Oh wow, a good ending would just be a really obvious “Ba Ba Ba!”
I’ll just practice this first in my routine every day for a week and make sure it feels good.

=-=-=-

So there it is. It just takes the patience to watch and wait. The world out there changes when we look at it, it’s not just a one way street of the solid world coming into our heads. “Out there” changes when “in here” changes. Pretty amazing. In fact, out there and in here are one thing, we just tend to split it in two!

The feeling of coming up with this arrangement was totally natural, not stiff. And it’s subject to change at anytime.

Now this arrangement can be anything in life, can’t it? A house, car, family, carreer, relationship…that’s what amazes me. Music is but a microcosm.

How much can I create just by envisioning & watching, and allowing things to come together – rather than forcing, being exasperated at results not showing up (which creates more of the feeling of no results) and all that.

Can I remove drama and let things be, and know that they will formulate? That’s the challenge. More to come….

The Butt Technique

By Adam Rafferty 2 Comments

Greetings friends! I am so happy….Fall finally feels like Fall here in NY.

I can’t say what an exciting time this is in my life….we truly do go through cycles. And I am actually very excited about how I am able to reach so any new fans & friends via onlie efforts (blog, youtube, etc).

I had an interesting conversation last night with a new friend “Ian” at my best friends birthday gathering…of course it was interesting to me becasue he is a new fan of my music 🙂 Seriously though, it brought up some interesting points that I’d like to share with you.

But first…..

As you know I am a fan of the Release Technique / Sedona Method and refer to it when I need to. (There are so many great personal developement aproaches out there, I find it hard to stick with one and exclude others).

You may never have heard of it – and I am not here to preach or sell anything. It’s all about letting go of limitations and allowing oneself to be, do or have anything.

I can give you an example. For years I thought it was wrong and unjazzlike to use effects pedals. Me, “Mr. Jazzboy” – with archtop endorsements, using pedals? How could I? Worse off – I imagined the double scoops of dissaproval I’d get from peers, jazz icons of yester-year, my teacher and how I’d be undoing the career I’d spent years paving.

Pretty dramatic, huh?

This may seem trivial – but at the time was my reality. (Take a second to appreciate that many of us do this all the time – maybe even you!) One day, (actually it took a lot of gumption) I got the effects out and started playing. People loved it and saw I was having fun. It just felt real,honest and fun – as if a tightness in my chest was let go.

The long and short of it was this – I dropped the limitation. Get it?

It involved “letting go” or “releasing” on the need for anyone’s approval. And, releasing on the “survival” aspect of my career.

Ironically, organist Dr. Lonnnie Smith loves what I do with the pedals. Who would have thought? Releasing actually led to one of the hippest gigs I’ve done.

I hate to use such a trite example, but can you see that our lives, our worlds are constructed out of these psychological houses of cards? It’s insane!!!!

Lester Levenson, the spiritual genius that taught many about this “letting go” concept, (Sedona & Release Technique) said that the highest level of achieving anything is “releasing” the limitations. I love this – he calls it the butt technique. Sit on your butt, release, and watch it come to you.

Whoa! Sounds good, but it is a little hard to believe!

=-=-=-=-=-=-

Back to the conversation I had at the party.

Ian, my bud, loved the new acoustic tracks and vids on you tube that I had put up and is also a Tommy Emmanuel fan (my new favorite guitarist, and the worlds fave as well).

He kept asking me “so you are here and Tommy is there. What are you going to do to get over there where he is?”

It sounded to me as if he was asking, “what will you do” or “what’s the plan” or “who will you call” to get from where I am to where I want to be.

I started to give an answer like, “well I hope I get there someday maybe people will check out the CD…” but he persisted, which I thank him for.

Finally I said to him “It’s not any one thing I need to do, as much as it is a place I need to be in my psyche and soul. When I am in that place, good things happen – people will like the music, doors will open unexpectedly.”

“And whether the doors open or not, the money and recognition comes or not – the being in that special place where the music lives, where I communicate to others, where I am free of hangups, – that is the place of spiritual success before outer success comes…that’s the place.”

“Oh and by the way – you can’t be in that place becasue you want the success. It is truly the zone of ‘the destination is the journey itself.'”

“So, if I want to be ‘there’ where he is – guess what – there is no ‘there’ where he is and ‘here’ where I am. The place to be is the zone of enjoyment and thanks, and then one is like a magnet puling in all good things.”

“I need do nothing except be in that place.” And then I realized – the butt technique was what I was describing.

And then Ian said “that was the answer I wanted to hear”.

Gratitude is the Present

By Adam Rafferty Leave a Comment

Last night as I was meditating before bed I encountered a fierce ego struggle. Here I was, alone with some incense burning – and all I could think of was the lack of what I had. I had everything needed on the outside for serenity, but oh boy – the insides were ready for a good fight!

Why? I had seen someone’s tour schedule online and the feeling of “not having any gigs” overtook me.

“Having enough gigs” or “not having as many gigs as so-and-so” is a terrible trap that I and probably many musicians fall into. It’s the “am I good enough, worthy enough, will people love me – and if I was good enough I would have as many gigs as so and so” and “I need gigs to survive…without them I will vanish”.

I think that many people go through the same feeling, with a different script. Comparing their cars, bodies, homes, belongings, children, achievements, their position at work and more. I mean – the hell we see celebrities go through is the worst ego hell I can imagine.

The ego. The clever little ego. Just when we have peace, it says “don’t forget about me” and conjures up some clever painful little thoughts.

What could I sit and do? In my meditation I had involuntary thoughts of who to contact, who to email, gigs to book – disappointment in myself, what if I am not good enough. It was inner hell!

Do you ever feel like this? Proud? Embarrased? Worried? Cocky? It is the ego.

The pain was so bad – I felt like a 500 pound gorilla was sitting on my chest.

Then I thought – be here. Breathe. Even if all I can do is concentrate on this one breath in, I will. Okay, breathe out. Hey – I felt a little relief….not so bad.

Now, who is this who is feeling so bad? Can I look at this gripping bad feeling like one would look at a tornado from the outside, rather than as one from the inside sees it?

Where did this pain come from?

Is it really so bad being right here?

Gee I have a lot to be thankful for.

Enough chatter…breathe in. Breathe out. That feels good. Breathe in….breathe out.

So and so does have a lot of gigs….don’t forget.

Oh there that goes again…that’s okay, it’s mind chatter. Breathe in…..breathe out.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

This morning I felt better as I meditated and a feeling of gratitude and forgiveness came up naturally in me.

The emotional state of gratitude is a “present tense” emotion. “Wanting more” is a dissatisfaction of the present and a reaching toward the future. It’s one thing to say “be present” but getting there through the mind is the problem.

Going for a feeling is closer to the essence of being present, at least for me. There are many ways in to “the present”, but gratitude for everything around and saying YES to what is brings me here.

We can look at a situation and paint it with many different emotional shadings. We can hold grudges or forgive, swim against the current or with it, say YES or say NO.

I saw that any struggle I am temporarily experiencing is like a purifying fire. Struggle is good. It is teaching me so much about myself and my inner life that whether or not anything manifests on the outside, I learn more here, sitting, than any school or person could teach me. I learn that I create the struggle, the fight – and I can choose not to as well.

When we resist, we get resistance and when we peacefully and lovingly accept we get peace.

The fabric of life is this feeling in us – our peace or our resistance – not the outer manifestations! So, why not choose better feelings and let yourself out of the hell of the ego?

=-=-=-=-=-=-

I am happy being right here right now. My outer world is a reflection of my inner world. I am hopeful, joyously anticipating new experiences, and I know that I can create a happy life. I deliciously enjoy what is around me and I know everything changes constantly, arising and falling.

There is no rush, nothing to achieve, no one to impress. I am at peace.

Forget Time and Be Here Now

By Adam Rafferty Leave a Comment

I am going through “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle for the second
time. I believe that he is a living example of that which he talks about,
and is a great spiritual teacher.

Thank you for providing a wonderful example such as Mr. Tolle.

Get ready for what will seem to not make sense at all. It is an
experience.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Our linear concept of time does not serve us well in many ways, but
I suppose there is a wisdom and safety in starting out with it. There is nothing
but a big fat now. I have always felt this, and when I read books with any cosmic
truth, especially lately, the resonance in me
is clear.

Ever since I was a little child I saw this problem with the clock.
Right now it is 6:19:40. Right now it is 6:19:55. Right now it is
6:20:15. And now I am proofreading at 6:56:45 am. NOW.

The right now is never the problem. It’s the projection forward or backwards.
I saw – the old ‘right now’ no longer exists, because all that could possibly
be is this ‘right now’. The old right now is an idea. And now becomes the old
“right now” if we think this way. Really it’s just now.

Now, the ‘right’ now has everything in it all at once. The mental boundaries
of past-present-future are fabricated, unreal, imaginary. Just the same way
a curled up rope can be taken for a snake.

Equate everything that you have, are and ever will experience to “white light”.
All the colors of the spectrum are contained within white light. If a
prism were held up to that, you experience “refractions” of that which seem
like different “now” points, or colors. A “now” point is simply a refraction
of the all-that-is “white light”.

This defies how we think. We think the past had to be back then, but it
is right now. The future is right now. The only place that time is a
linear series – is in our minds.

Imagine life as a huge infinite FM radio station. Any frequency can be dialed
in, and all are available to us at anytime.

Imagine the following scenarios as “stations”, for example:

Walking in the mountains
Sending Email
Eating pizza for lunch
Buying shoes
Meditating
Playing Guitar

Each has a certain vibe and feeling. When we experience these, it is that
we have “tuned in” to that station, so to speak. That “frequency” has
become active. A frequency is either active or dormant.

All things are rising and falling, active and dormant.

So when I hike in the mountains, I don’t perceive the string of time that
got me there, or the events that happened in between now and the last time
I did this activity. I simply perceive the feeling that I know to be the
mountains to be currrently active. I am tuned into the “mountains” radio
station. I feel like I am “back” at the mountain vibe.

How many times have you said “I can remember it just like yesterday”. Well,
“years ago” is closer than you think. Yesterday, years ago, now, and the future
are all right now. Only as humans, we see through the prism and can only
see the so-called “present” moment. To see further than the string of time, an
inner vision must awaken.

Have you ever worked somewhere, gone on vacation, and come back only to
feel that you “never left”? Here’s why: you are actually “tuned in” to the
“station” of your workplace again. Forget the line of time – think “radio
stations”.

How does the ocean feel about time?

If you run your hand under the water faucet and feel the flow, just think of
how many millions of past-present-futures are happening at once in the now.

Is the first word of this sentence in your past or present?

Is the next sentence in your future or present? How long will it take for
the next sentence to be in your past?

How does my grandmother, who died, feel about time right now?
Where did she go? Where was she before she was born?

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Aren’t you starting to see that the rationality of time – past, present
future is just another delusion?

This is evident in music. Go dancing and see what reigns supreme – the high
feeling from being in a groove, or did you count how many bars of music went by?

Stop counting, beats, seconds, minutes, days, years. Be here now.

Defy your own rationality, you’ll be happy you did.