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October 27th, 2012

10/27/2012

I bought my first Martin D-28 in 1975. It belonged to a friend of mine who bought it new in 1969, unfortunately (from a resale perspective) just after Martin switched from Brazilian to East Indian rosewood. It was a good, solid and serviceable D-28 that served me well for quite a few years both on tour and in the studio. Many other Martin D’s have followed.

So here’s the thing. A couple folks who read this blog have noted in the last couple weeks that I regularly misspell the model name. And oh my, they are right! For years and years I’ve spelled it: dreadnaught. But alas, except for one reference on the Martin site with that spelling it should be spelled:

Dreadnought.

Bad on me!! To make matter worse, I spent quite a few years as the editor of a well known fishing magazine, so I should know better. Ugh!

So here it is, I officially apologize for misspelling the name of this most hallowed of Martin models. From now on it will be: dreadnought.

But damn it, being the lazy guy I am, I am NOT going to go back in all my previous posts and change it!

Big grin…..

Peace & good music,
Gene

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Realities of Playing the Guitar, Part 2

10/16/2012

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As promised, the rest of my list of The Realities of Playing the Guitar. As I see them, anyway….

6. Sooner or later, you MUST try playing with someone else. This is vital because part of the essence of making music is learning not just how to play, but also how to listen. Matching your playing to what someone else is doing, at its core, is about rhythm. In a perfect world we all keep a perfect beat but that is hardly ever the case. This is not a bad thing at all because music that is rhythmically perfect can be… boring. Music has to breathe. And by developing a keen ear to notice and respond to subtle variations not only in rhythm but also in dynamics can only make you a better player. Plus, playing with someone else is just plain fun!

7. As a subtext to Reality #5 (the search for the perfect guitar), you can be sure that your playing will ultimately reflect your mood. Sometimes it can even amplify what you’re feeling. Joy, sorrow, peace, frustration, love… just about any emotion you can imagine will begin to come out in your playing, the longer you stick with it. James Taylor has a song called “Me & My Guitar” that begins: “Me and my guitar, always in the same mood,” and Jimmy Buffett has one that’s called “Tonight I Just Need My Guitar.” Check those tunes out. No matter what you how you are feeling a session with your guitar will either help you feel better or help you reflect on the depth of your feelings, good or bad. Sooner or later there will come moments when you’re feeling a certain way and all you want to do is grab your guitar and play. Then you will know what I’m talking about.

8. You now have a curse. A small one but its there. Remember the days of being able to go to a live concert and just “get into” the music without really thinking about it too much? Well, if you haven’t already realized it, those days are gone! Now when you are in the presence of another guitar player, whether it be a big name star on a stage or some guy banging out a few tunes in a bar, you will scrutinize what he or she is doing. Is that a D Major chord he’s playing? Does he do a lot of finger style playing? What is that stuff he’s doing way up the neck? Could I incorporate that little lick into some songs I know?

See what I mean?

But this isn’t necessarily a bad curse to have, unless of course you allow value judgments about that other person’s playing versus your own cloud your enjoyment of the music. In fact, I’ve picked up plenty of little things by watching other players. I think pretty much all guitar players do.

9. Practice may not make perfect, but not practicing will surely make your playing increasingly less perfect. In the most basic sense playing the guitar is exercise and like all exercise, doing it a moderate amount on a frequent basis is far better than trying to do a lot on an infrequent basis. I tell my students that quantifying their practice in terms of time spent can be a mistake. In other words, I hardly ever tell them they must practice (X) minutes a day. That’s because watching the clock makes you feel bad about not playing “enough” or stopping when you’re just getting into something because “your time is up.” It’s far better to try to keep something like a schedule, setting aside a general time of day to devote to the guitar, whether is be something like before or after dinner, right after breakfast (for the diligent!) or whenever. This is a much easier regimen to adhere to than a specific amount of time per session, whenever that session may be. Just be sure to play – even a little bit – every day, if you can. You will surely improve if you do.

10. There will be times when you just can’t play for some weeks at a time, for any number of reasons. In the complex world we inhabit sometimes we are required to be away from our guitars. And here’s the bottom line: When that happens, if you find yourself missing playing and wishing or even scheming to figure out a way to play someone else’s guitar, you know one thing. You are, for better or worse, a guitar player!

Peace & good music,

Gene

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Guitar Realities, Part 1

10/7/2012

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As a continuation of my shameless pandering to people who are attracted to “lists” I offer a new one: Top Ten Realities of Playing the Guitar. I’m putting this out there because from time to time I have a student who just can’t accept the struggle of learning to play or more accurately, can’t focus on the rewards – or both. As I’ve mentioned here before, a big part of my job as a guitar teacher is to be a cheerleader. And I see absolutely nothing wrong with that because I’m careful not to foster unreasonable expectations but always, always keep accentuating the positive. So here are some of the things I try to make students understand and accept. I present them in no particular order.

1. A Big Picture reality: No matter how long you play, weeks, months, years…. It is going to hurt the tips of your fingers. As time passes you will develop calluses and the muscles in your fingers and hands will grow stronger but the best you can really hope for is that amount of time you can play in any one session will increase before you just have to stop. Way back when in my college days I had a few late night jam sessions when a finger or two actually bled from non-stop playing (those days are long gone!) but you know what? It was glorious and it made me a better player. I’ve read many accounts of the Beatles in their days in Hamburg before they were famous when they were expected to play two 4-hour sets a day, seven days a week, for months. And that made them the tight, seasoned band they were when they broke on the scene. I’m not saying a guitar student needs to abuse him or herself, just that “you reap what you sew.” Sore fingertips and stiff fingers are part of the price we pay. Sorry, but that is just the truth. A beginner who is not experiencing some degree of discomfort probably isn’t practicing enough.

2. You will go through peaks and valleys. Although I generally don’t like sports analogies, think about hitters in the Major Leagues. For someone to stay hot throughout a season or even for more than a few weeks is very rare thing. There will be periods of time in your playing when things seem almost easy and sometimes a light bulb will go off and you’ll make a great stride. There will also be times when you will feel like you’re not progressing at all, no matter the amount of effort. That can be extremely discouraging, especially for younger students. Adults come to me from time to time with a different but related problem - they have feel like they’ve been playing the same things for years. Part of my job is to assess how much of what they know will contribute to helping them advance, and how much should be put on the back shelf. The trick, I think, to getting through those valleys is to not put value judgements on what you already know how to play pretty well. Take the time to go back and play things that give you satisfaction no matter how simple or even “wrong” in terms of technique they may be. That will give you the energy to keep moving through that valley because I promise, there is an opposite side that you will reach, sooner or later.

3. It is vital to keep an open mind regarding what constitutes “good” music. I admit to struggling with this even now although I hope I’m way more tolerant and accepting than I used to be. I’m not saying you have to like a certain type of music that is something you wouldn’t listen to casually under most circumstances, just accept the idea that there are viable and important aspects of just about anything you hear. Professionals like the great Paul Simon know this and he has incorporated the music Africa, Brazil, Peruvian Inca music and much more into his fabulous albums. Whether they be melodic or rhythmic concepts, we can never stop learning from other styles and cultures.

4. Playing in front of ANYONE else will always be both gratifying and a little bit terrifying. Let’s face it – performing music whether it be on an instrument or singing is a very “naked” thing. You’re putting it out there, even if it’s just for your partner or best friend. No matter how confident you are about your playing there is always risk; risk of some degree or failure, risk of being subtly or not so subtly mocked. I have a sign in my studio right above the area in which I teach that reads: “I played it so much better at home!” I want them to know I’ve heard that dozens if not hundreds of times. No big deal if a few mistakes are made. The process can and will be gratifying though, sooner or later. It all depends on not being to down on yourself and for God’s sake, don’t compare your own playing to an artist you admire or even your teacher. At some point they were in exactly the same place you are. And any other critiques or comments you may hear often reflect some degree of jealousy that the critic doesn’t have the guts to try something like playing the guitar themselves!

5. There will always be a better guitar you wish you owned. I’ve known players who have stuck with the same instrument for years, decades…. Even their entire lives. But those are rare birds. We call the malady “getting GAS”: Guitar Acquisition Syndrome! I suffer from it all too often. In my case it’s the perpetual search for the Perfect Guitar – that hasn’t been built yet and probably never will be. But in most people’s guitar playing lives it’s often more of a practical solution to a problem, i.e., that guitar you bought and thought it would be “the One” turns out to have some deficiency or another that you didn’t notice right away. This is not a bad thing at all because it means you’re becoming a better and more sophisticated guitarist. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, if you truly love guitars as I do, there is no cure for GAS.

I’ll post the next five of my Realities very soon.

Peace & good music,

Gene

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October 27th, 2012

Realities of Playing the Guitar, Part 2

Guitar Realities, Part 1

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