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The Mastermind Group

Hi friends…just wanted to let you know about a neat-o thing that I have started and you may want to think about it for yourselves.

A bass player friend of mine named Paul and I found ourselves driving home after many gigs and shooting ideas back and forth during the ride. Our ideas would gain so much momentum and creativity that we’d sit in the parked car outside my place and just go back and forth.

These ideas basically dealt with what is here on the blog – personal development, meditation, and how it relates to being better in business, in life and essentially having an integrated and happy experience with life, business and music.

The core idea is that what’s on the inside is also on the outside. The outside reflects the inside.

Anyhow, he has recommended a few great books by John Assaraf and Jack Canfield – to name a few. You might recognize their names from the hit movie “The Secret”.

All the success “gurus” recommend having what is called a “mastermind group” so my friend and I decided to make it official and meet once a week – rather than have an occasional shmooze – to have our mastermind session.

Napoleon Hill goes into great detail about a mastermind group – and how it is a channel for “divine knowledge and energy”. Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie, as well as all the names mentioned thus far – had mastermind groups.

Question: Why have a mastermind group?

1) Accountability; I have to go back to my meeting on a weekly basis and tell whether or not I met a goal over the week. Just knowing that I will be held accountable is in my mind all week and I have noticed already that I have taken action on issues where I previously felt stuck.

I haven’t had this type of accountability since I took music lessons!

2) Energy: Two heads are better than one. When ideas get going, it can get very creative. New ideas can come to the individuals during the meeting that might not have occurred individually. This is akin to a creative group having at a business meeting, but it is for the lives and business of the individuals in the group.

3) Knowledge: Each person has a wealth of experience and can enlighten the others. At our first session Paul recommended John Assaraf’s book “Having it All” – which is a powerful book. I have learned more about how the brain works from this incredible book. In turn, I “hipped” Paul to some direct marketing knowledge regarding headlines, structure of an ad (I know a bit, but it’s always advancing) and more.

4) Doing It! I know I’ve gotten books and read about a method and “nodded” in understanding but not applied the true practice. I was aware of this when I wrote my own “Virtuoso Guitar Technique” book – aware that buyiing this book is baby step #1. A few years of consistent practice of the material is the main thing – and a small percentage of my customers would actually do that.

The mastermind group is helping me apply the things I’d normally read about and maybe forget.

5) Beneficial Reminders: Delegate tasks and don’t work hard at something someone else “plays at”. Charge enough for your / my services. Don’t waste time with crap that does not matter – focus on what counts. Eat right, exercise, meditate. Do the most important thing in the day first. Stick to a schedule. Visualize what you / I want daily.

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In conclusion – well, it’s only going to be session #3 coming up next week. Paul and I hope to gauge our progress, see if goals have been met and see where we are at in 6 months and then a year.

If we meet and hopefully exceed our goals – we may put a method / seminar together to show other musicians how to truly empower themselves from the inside out.

I think that there is a big difference between teachers who “talk the talk” vs those who TRULY “walk the walk”. I vowed to never be a “talker who was not a walker” – but to guide others through my own real life example – whether it be musical, business,or personal. If we do come up with a study course it will be because we experienced real world results.

Stay tuned!

Human Beatbox and Guitar….Fun!

By Adam Rafferty Leave a Comment

Hey friends, well I finally did it…I figured out how to fuse my solo guitar act with the funkiness of my past (grew up and was involved with some hip-hop).

I had been fooling around with Herbie Hancock’s “The Chameleon” on solo guitar – a formidable fingering feat in and of itself.

Throughout most of the tune, there is a very funky bassline, and various melodies come in over that bassline. It is the melding of the two lines that gives this tune such a “baddd groove!”

I initially thought that the gem and interest of this song would be the seemingly impossible nature of playing thee 2 lines simultaneously. But……

1) Music has to tickle more than “the mind”….it had to really sound good!

2) It would be a matter of time before other guys could do it too…

3) Is the music to this song interesting enough with just the 2 lines? I was not sold 100% on it…

An idea is one thing, but music is physicis and physical. It had to be good WITHOUT an explanation.

At just about every soundcheck I do, when there is a live mic I do some human beat box, as a “joke”.

“No”, I say , “that’s not really me. I am a serious guitar player…that’s just the echo of adolescence within me….no, I play on chord changes now…sorry that is just for the soundcheck. But it’s fun, huh?”

But wait!!! What’s this “not me” and “yes it’s me” going on internally? So the first “hump” to get over creatively was to be open to thinking “outside the box”. Can you see how not doing human beatbox, to keep the respectable image is in fact “the ego trip”?

So, I decided to give it a try. What if I could actually play “The Chameleon” and beatbox at the same time? It would be cool!

Adam Rafferty: The Chameleon

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5uMEkKzOrs&rel=1]

Much practice had to ensue…like riding a bike, or juggling. First I had to just figure out where snare and bass drums would hit. Next I had to get physical endurance. And it is easy to sing along with the bass instead of really “hit” the bass drum. I am still working on the independence of the parts.

Perhaps the hardest part was figuring out the “form”. The original is like 15 minutes long, with sax & synth solos and added sections. I finally decided on changing the texture every 4 bars, and maybe even every 2. I can’t do improvised solos like on the record, because too much is going on in the bass and drum parts.

So, to hold people’s attention, I had to think about form for the element of interest.

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Let me start by saying that I am doing this because it’s fun and funky and from my heart! I want to reach people with my music, and intuition led me into this song.

But – from a promo / marketing standpoint it gives me a pretty cool unique selling proposition, too! (USP). I realized this in retrospect.

Instead of “Adam Rafferty is a really great guitar player” as verbiage to interest someone, you get “Adam is the freak who plays The Chameleon bassline and melody at the same time, AND Human Beatboxes while he plays both parts!”

A few years ago I went to go see a band once called “Mini Kiss” – midgets dressed up in all the makeup and garb of KISS. I was excited to see this!

Dissapointingly, all they did was lip sync to KISS cd’s and writhe around with all the outfits and makeup.

As a musician, I was let down – but I gotta give it up to them – they had their USP, and quite a following to boot! They packed NYC”s “Cuutting Room” just to lip sync!

What a great USP they had though.

Another was some lame singer on MTV who tried to do a sentimental guitar & vocal version of Sir Mix A Lot’s “I Love Big Butts”. Good idea, terrible product – the music sucked, but het, at least he went for a “twist” – macho sexist lyrics with a feminine, loving approach. Not really funny though.

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Anyhow as a wise man once said “I might be dumb, but I ain’t stupid”. Straight ahead!

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

By Adam Rafferty 3 Comments

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…

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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.

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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.

Rock vs. Jazz, Part 1

By Adam Rafferty 1 Comment

Rock and pop musicians can learn a lot from jazz musicians. Jazz musicians can learn a lot from rock musicians though – and this is what I find more interesting!

The rockers can learn about harmony, melody, rhythm, counterpoint, form, technique, practicing, swing, and great tunes of years past. I have taught many rock / blues / folk guitarists who soaked up this new knowledge and are amazed that it even exists.

Jazz musicians can learn about this though – that rock / pop musicians have to take responsibility for getting a following, having a mailing list and putting butts in the seats at gigs. Ok, the big jazz names like George Benson draw a crowd, but for the most part this is a foreign idea to jazzers.

What I am talking about is that even local rock bands & performers have to live with the reality of bringing an audience to a gig whereas jazz musicians usually don’t.

Many local jazz musicians are hired to play background music. Even if it is a jazz club, it is in a sense background music. Patrons go expecting to hear a great band, and maybe go because they are familiar with the band. Even at a jazz festival where bigger names play, the audience is built in, and attendance is not the performers problem. Big companies fund the festivals and record companies get their acts on as promo.

This situation allows many jazz performers to play music that may not be 100% appealing to people, since pleasing the audience is “not their problem” nor is a return crowd. They didn’t necesarily get the gig because of crowd appeal. There is the possibility for a disconnect here between “getting the gig”, “playing the gig” and “drawing / pleasing the audience”.

Ok – this is NOT true for all jazz performers. Some musicians learned in an environment where energy and entertainment value was supremely important.

What I am saying is this: for many jazz performers, even the highly entertaining ones, drawing an audience is an afterthought, whereas for a rock / pop musician it is everything.

It’s easy for a jazz musician to defend and say “my job is to play music – it’s the venue’s job to get the people”. And while I know nothing of promoters yet, I am talking about the nitty-gritty hands on, “getting people to a gig” work that musicians in other genres need to do.

I need to enter this realm of the butts in the seat being my responsibility. This is a rude awakening. Ouch. Is this fun? Am I looking forward to it? Is it my problem?

Frankly, I see this as a really cool challenge. Because once I have a following (in the acoustic world) nobody can take that away from me. I’m not thrilled with the busy work of mailing lists, phone calls and “it being my problem” – but in sheer dollars and cents, if I can draw a crowd – that makes me more desirable. Gigs can get bigger and better, and more people will want to hire me.

There is just a mercenary honesty to this that somehow appeals to me. An executive can’t flick an off switch and turn your following “off”.

When one considers the idea that CD’s are on the way out, (who knows what kind of pirating with Mp3’s will go on) – the concentration on live show, and the merchandise sold there is more important than ever.

Letting Go of Wanting

By Adam Rafferty 1 Comment

The past few days, I have been doing what many musicians do. Non-stop self promotion, in the form of re-designing and working / coding my new website. This stirs up a lot of feelings.

In the “Release Technique” course that I am always studying and referring to – the founder Lester Levenson describes that you can get anything you want in life by releasing, (i.e. releasing negative and positive emotions surrounding the issue).

I (and possibly you) have been taught that we need to “work hard” to achieve our goals. Also we’ve never been taught that “wanting” can be detrimental to one’s psyche, and the achieving of those goals. We’ve been taught to accept disappointment when we don’t get what we want – or bulldoze the other guy if we really want something really bad enough (even if it means ulcers, being miserable, or killing other people)

I am fascinated by the process of releasing the surrounding emotions so that a goal can manifest by itself, the way a cool breeze comes in the window, without effort.

Lester goes further to say that when we arrive at what is called the “hootless state” where we don’t give a hoot whether we get our goal or not, – we are well on our way to getting it.

So, in the midst of my PHP / HTML coding fury (and I am still not done) I asked myself – “can I let go of the feeling of wanting that all of this is bringing up? The wanting of career, gigs, a better career, tours and the like?”

The further inquiry was “has this ‘wanting’ feeling ever achieved anything?”. No, it has only made me stressed and unhappy.

Looking back to goals that I have achieved, I see that the needy, “gimme”, wanting approval, security and control feelings, and the resistance – all actually had very little to do with the actual manifestation of the goal. Much of it is, was and has been self induced drama. One could seriously make a TV show out of all of it.

The only process that has ever gotten the goal is –

1. Ask – which ultimately has to be envisioning it in the here and now.

2. It is Answered

3. It is Given – so get the “wanting” feelings out of the way, and relax.

It seems to simple in the abstract – as you read. But to really inquire when we are in a charged emotional state of this “wanting” – to catch ourselves and allow the wanting to fall away – is where the next level (at least for me) is.

When I did ask myself the question “can I let go of wanting this?” I realized I was no further away from my goal. I saw that I have in fact achieved everything I have wanted to, and that it was from a state of inner peace that answers, people, results and happiness came – without any effort on my behalf.

Ironically, when I ask myself “can I let go of wanting this”, I feet closer to the achievement of it. My whole body relaxes, and I experience the true fact that I am complete, happy, serene, and perfect right where I am right now. I am at peace.

Our mental states are like different “places” we can visit. The place of serenity, clarity, peace, love and timelessness is a great place to be. In that place, we can receive what we’ve asked for. It is devoid of the wanting, the neediness, the urge to control.

And as I let the feeling of wanting drop away…

I can taste it. I can feel it here and now. I can see it. Thank you. It is given unto me.