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You are here: Home / Archives for Tour Diary

Tour Diary

Planting Seeds in the Mind

By Adam Rafferty 1 Comment

Good Morning!

It’s 5:21 am here, Pacific time. Blackness outside as I listen to Oliver the cat crunch his dry food. Time to put some coffee up…it is peaceful right now.

Life is good. It’s just good. Always has been good, and now I feel it’s good!

I taught 3 private students yesterday. Much to my surprise, one walked in with a Gibson ES 175 guitar and wanted to pick my brain jazz wise. It’s been a while since I taught jazz guitar.

I showed him how to construct lines that fit over chord changes and walked him through an example. Then I realized it was an just an example and wanted to convey to him another level of the work that really has to be done in order to learn the language of jazz.

Learning an example is step one. Then at least the conscious mind is fooled into thinking it understands. It still does not mean there’s a deep knowing, but at least is encouraged. Examples are good, and offer a welcoming feeling and encourage deeper study.

What I then saw, in retrospect was how I learned much of what I learned in jazz. This could apply to anything – not just jazz. In fact, what I discovered was that I had applied the Law of Attraction to my musical studies without knowing it.

As a college student learning jazz I “transcribed” solos. That means that I’d find improvised solos on records (yes lp’s) that I liked, record them to cassette, and proceed to write them down on paper. Sometimes I would use a guitar or piano for help, but soon after the first few transcriptions I could start writing to the paper by ear with no instrument.

I’d never learn the solos on my instrument, but I’d have them kicking around in my mind. I remember going to jam with other musicians after doing this kind of work, and sensing an expanded sense of musical possibilities.

What I now realize is that I “planted seeds” in my mind that would grow for years to come. I’ have to focus so hard that I’d see, hear and envision the music – and that for years after, everything I’d practice would in fact make my “vision” come true and manifest. That’s why it’s so good to see and listen to great performances in all areas of life – not just music!

We all work towards the vision we have in our mind whether we realize it or not, and many of the Law Of Attraction books are more about the awareness of the vision we hold. The law operates whether we realize it or not, like gravity we can’t change that…but what we can do is hold a vision in our mind of our ideal life. Upgrade the inner vision, then you upgrade the match when it arrives!

A psychiatrist friend of mine put it differently….but similarly. He said that our minds are problem solving mechanisms and that if we have a discrepancy between the vision inside and outside, our minds will work night and day to make the outer circumstances match the inner vision.

Fascinating and exciting stuff. The more and more and I watch, and the more and more I am clear regarding my inner vision, I see my dreams are in fact coming true. It’s incredible. As I said before, life is good.

Christmas in August – Recording on the Road

By Adam Rafferty 3 Comments

Ho ho ho….Merry Christmas!!! In August…

Greetings from 30,000 feet. I am on my way from Denver to San Jose right now to do my usual August Bay Area workshop. Sorry for not posting in a while…I have not forgotten about you or the blog, just been busy.

It’s been an exciting 2 weeks. With a minimum of recording equipment, I have recorded 18 Christmas hymns and carols, hopefully to be released just in time for Christmas 2009.

In case you are wondering how I recorded this, here goes. Here is a brief rundown of what I used for my bare bones travel recording setup:

Guitar – Cole Clark FL2AC
2 RODE NT5 mics.
A table top mic tripod from Guitar Center – designed for podcasts
A “stereo” extension for mic stands, so I could do an X-Y configuration
with the mics
2 XLR Cables
ZOOM H4 Digital Recorder
Mac Laptop with Garage Band

A key aspect of recording (I am a newbie – forgive me if this is obvious) is having a nice quiet spot to record. Things like refrigerators, air conditioning, traffic, and neighbors thumping all come through on recordings. Out in Colorado I was able to use a friends empty office space, with fabric covered dividers, carpets, etc.

The ZOOM H4 is cool. What’s key is that it offers “phantom power” along with it’s XLR inputs so I was not limited to the mics on the unit. Inside is a memory card just like a digital camera, as opposed to an internal hard drive. It mounts on the Mac via USB and each track is a stereo wav file.

While Garage Band is not ideal software – it really has a lot of very cool features. After a while with it I got quicker at the editing process. As well, I did my best to play takes right minimizing editing.

The AU effects are a bit more complex than their “out of the box” effects. Ultimately I will go to a real studio with great sounding gear to mix and master, but Garage band is an excellent tool to edit with. A real mastering house has compressors that cost $20K and the guys who are experienced engineers can listen and know what frequencies are missing or overloaded…so I’ll leave that to them!

The only slight drawback was not having a real mic stand…I had to put the mics on a chair close to me and do my best to get a good position. But hey, what I have fits in a suitcase!!!!

While my setup may be less than ideal compared to a fancy studio – I had a quiet environment, great mics (ok, really good mics) and most importantly – the TIME to be creative and spend a whole day on one or two songs. Some takes were done 10 times until I felt that I captured the spirit and essence of the song. So, despite any technical flaws this “open ended” studio time I think allowed for some great music to emerge.

Please post comment especially if you have good mobile recording advice!!!

Until next time….

Busy and Joyful in Nashville

By Adam Rafferty 1 Comment

As a stone cold, New York, Harlem bebop funk kinda guy the last place I ever thought I’d appreciate and love is Nashville. Wow, it was amazing!

I have just returned from 2 trips to Nashville in a course of 2 weeks. First trip was to visit the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society (CAAS) annual gathering. The second trip was to attend Summer NAMM where I did demos for Cole Clark Guitars.

It was my second time at CAAS and already it feels like a family. Correction – it is a family. And youtube makes it all the stranger and lovelier…I walked in knowing the names, faces and music of many of the fine players there and they knew me. It really makes me wonder…how love and appreciation of guitar and music draws certain souls together. Beautiful!

I spent quite some time hanging out with Tomi Paldanius of fingerstyleheaven.com, Joscho Stefan, Joe Robinson…but there were so many other fine players there…Edgar Cruz, Muriel Anderson…the list goes on. Oh yeah, there was also some talented guy named Tony Enamel…Emmanuel…or was it Tommy? I forget what the heck his name was, but he seemed to play pretty good 🙂

NAMM was also neat-o! The convention is much more personal and less of a freakshow than L.A. NAMM. Everything has it’s place, but I really liked the vibe of this NAMM show. HIghlights included – buying a “porchboard” and rocking the house (product review will come), Muriel Anderson’s All Star Guitar Night (best guitar concert I have ever seen), Jerry Douglas stopping by the Cole Clark guitar booth, and eating breakfast at Cracker Barrel 3 days in a row. More butter, please.

The musicians in Nashville are generally…well…awesome to say the least. Great taste, great feel and no room whatsoever for attitude. For a guitar picker like me it felt like home, I must say!

Well…back to work. I am still preparing my handouts and lessons for the Swannanoa Gathering where I’ll be teaching “the ways of the funky fingerstylist” from July 26 to Aug 1, 2009.

Until next time…God Bless, and keep pickin it – never let it heal!

Tour Greetings From Helsinki, April 6 2009.

By Adam Rafferty 9 Comments

Friday was a real highlight and milestone for me, musically, career wise and personally. I got to perform with maybe the most beloved and incredible guitarist alive, Tommy Emmanuel. But performing with him was but one final moment in a day where we got to know each other and become friends. I got to absolutely re-live the thrill of being a kid and taking guitar lessons! A true friendship and mentor/protege relationship was set into motion. Most guitarists would give anything for this rare wonderful opportunity that I have had.

At 9:30 am, Tommy jumped into the hotel lobby and just embraced me with a big bear hug. “How ya doin’ brotha!!!” he said with his Aussie twang. We had a few laughs and I was cautious to let him unwind, but no…he asked me immediately up to his room. In a matter of seconds he showed me his guitar and played for me. It was like youtube came to life 12 inches away from my face. My jaw hung open. And, it was interesting to see what he packed, how he packed…after all he is THE road dog.

We went downstairs and had lunch and talked about more…relationships, road strain, but most importantly – communicating to an audience through music. He’s so passionate about this stuff! I bounced ideas off of him, and over lunch he gave me lots of great advice, especially this – “what other people think of you is none of your business!”. He’s describing the strength to forge ahead with one’s mission and not even think about others approval.

He took me back to the hotel room after lunch for rehearsal. I suggested “Tenderly” which we played together on the concert. Tommy was very specific about how I should accompany him, and showed me ways to get the melody to sing more. As he got the melody to sing he says “brother, that’s the difference between 80 or 800 in your audience!” We fooled around playing “On Broadway” and then, I just had to ask him about his tunes. We played “The Hunt” together and he was cracking up as we did it! Then we played “Tall Fiddler” and on both tunes he showed me spots I did not quite have 100% right.

We left for soundcheck and here is where I got to see his sheer mastery. He brought me over to his stage setup, which was so much simpler than one could imagine, and plugged in. I stood 2 feet away in the empty theater. From the first note, BOOM it sounded stellar and he just looked at me and said “no time to screw around, I want a sound and I want it NOW!” and cackled with laughter. I got a mini concert right there, just him playing for me and it was ridiculously…well, Tommy, right there 2 feet away, kickin ass, just like in concert.

Backstage, he said I’d come up after “Mombasa” his guitar percussion feature. Here’s where it turns into the guitarists hilarious LSD nightmare. You are backstage listening to Tommy play in front of 1400 people, just the most incredible stuff you’ve heard in your life….and then you realize that you have to follow up and play after him. I sat backstage and laughed at the sheer madness of it. Thank God for all the gigs in my life where I actually was nervous, because this was so ridiculous, all I could think was “well you wanted it, now you got it. Time to make music!”

As he called me out, there was nothing short of love, support and a grand introduction. Once I got on stage, all was cool…I performed “Superstition” and “Chameleon” and rocked out as hard as I could. I think the people really dug it.

Tommy then joined me for “Tenderly” which I heard the playback of about an hour ago – and it was MAGIC.

It could not have gone better! To have the opportunity, visibility and recognition of playing for and with Tommy is a real “name booster” in the guitar scene, but add to the mix that I got yet another music master to take me under his wing….that makes it a double whammy! Thank you God, Universe, Source!!! And thank you Tommy!

Pictures, videos and audio clips will be posted as soon as they are processed by the concert promoter, but thankfully it was all captured in HD and great digital audio as well.

I am smiling right now! Until next time…

– Adam

Are You Thinking Big Enough? Am I?

By Adam Rafferty 2 Comments

Greets friends! I finally have a quiet peaceful moment here in Cologne, Germany. The past 2 weeks have been loaded up with a combination of solo concerts, festival gigs with award winning vocalist Sabine Kuehlich, and 3 recording sessions for our upcoming duo album, tentatively titled “Girl Meets Guitar”.

If you have read any of my posts, you’ll know by now that I am fascinated by the mind & spirit. And while it has become quite “pop” to mention the movie “The Secret” I have spent time investigating the individuals interviewed in the movie.

Since discovering affirmation & visualization techniques I have literally watched my own life unfold in amazement as the visions of my mind pour out into the material world and become “real”. (Actually the vision is just as real, but this way others can see it, and hey it’s fun to materialize stuff!)

Now one of my big questions is “am I thinking big enough?” Why do I ask this? Because I watch in amazement at some of the achievements of others – and no, this is not a “keeping up with the Jones’ ” type thing – it is an inquiry to see how much better I could do.

A few days ago I met a man named Peter Finger. (He’s a guitar player – great name, huh?). Peter not only a fabulous player but he runs the record label “Acoustic Music” which will be putting out the new duo CD.

Peter gave us the tour of the “Acoustic Music” building in Osnabruck, Germany. I eyeballed the building, and thought silently to myself about the vision and imagination required for what he was about to present.

So, in short – he runs a successful record company, plays about 15 concerts a month himself, has a world class recording studio in the building, runs a guitar magazine, organizes the “Open Strings” festival, has a concert stage & series throughout the year, has a guitar shop in the building – and oh by the way, he builds his own guitars too.

WHEW!!!! The lesson I received was – THINK BIG! How much bigger can I think? Are my limits real or imagined?

I was literally in shock for a day wondering how one person could do all this – but all of these accomplishments start as visions or ideas. This was an inspiration of what is possible with a big broad vision!!

So are you shooting for the moon, or are you just shooting for “down the street”? Are you going for it or just getting by? It’s time for all of us to think bigger and bigger, and set fulfilling goals.

Until next time…

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