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'Tis the Season: Life goes on, staying positive!

11/30/2020

I haven’t thrown out a random thoughts kind of blog post in a while so I thought I’d give that a go. Random is a pretty good way of describing the world we live in these days, I think. Instead of solid plans for the future and a well-defined road that leads us there we are all about reacting now, doing the best we can to deal with day to day issues that we could not even imagine a year ago. Sometimes we are successful, sometimes not so much. One thing is for sure though: most of us have a much clearer idea of what is really important in our lives, much more so than we did that short year ago…. that seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?

I am very grateful that my core group of students has remained with me from the start of the pandemic. They made one of those decisions I’m talking about: deciding what was really important in their lives and guitar playing seems to be one of those important things. I am grateful not only because the modest income my teaching generates would certainly be missed if I suddenly had no more students but also because it keeps me on my toes. Just about all my students are at the very least at the intermediate level (although I’d love to have a few beginners) and some are well beyond that and I consider them advanced guitarists. Searching out new material for them is a constant challenge because I have to consider many things such as their general interests and taste in music; making things challenging so they see some progress – but not too challenging, which leads to frustration; physical limitations (I have some older students who just can’t move their hands like they used to); and in some cases, even the quality of the instruments that are being used.

But this is all good! I’ve learned many new songs and discovered artists I might not have by doing my research. Sometimes I even discover songs by well-known artists that have been around for a while. Case in point: Gordon Lightfoot’s “I’ll Tag Along.” I just discovered that one while watching a recent documentary about him and that tune was playing at the end when the credits were rolling. I was never a huge Lightfoot fan but this is a really nice song and just the type and level I seek for some of my better students. How did I miss that one 40+ years ago? It took me about three hours to figure out most of the little embellishments Lightfoot uses, chart out the song and write out detailed explanations of everything but it was worth it.

I’ve now completed a month of giving lessons upstairs at my home-away-from-home, the Daily Brew Café where I’ve been performing just about every weekend for the last 11 years. The owner did me a huge favor by offering this space for my lessons after the café has closed for the day. I was seriously afraid I was going to have to suspend all lessons for the winter because I could no longer keep the doors and windows open in my studio, as per Covid protocols. The upstairs area at the Brew is not being used by customers and is quite large so my students feel safe there, as do I. I still thoroughly sanitize the area before, between and after lessons but the extra effort is worth it. So lessons will continue in that space for the foreseeable future. Of course, nothing is truly foreseeable these days……

A guitar that I used to own has returned to the fold, an Eastman AC422CE. I sold it to a former student about a year or so ago after using it as my primary gigging guitar for a couple years. I contacted him recently and asked if he had any interest in selling it (he also has a Martin 000-18, which he loves) and he was kind enough to offer it back to me at a very attractive price. I jumped on it because I could remember how great it sounded when amplified and also thinking it would make a nice stable mate for my three Martins, all of which are great but with entirely different voices. I used my Martin M-36 for the first half of my Daily Brew gig yesterday morning and the second half with that Eastman. Oh my goodness, that Eastman sounded fantastic and played like a dream, just as I remembered. I did recall however that the sound was a bit muffled when played acoustically and my guess is that is the result of a nut that needs replacing. That I will do in the very near future. In the last couple of years, Eastman has gained a very large following based on their superb fit and finish, high quality materials, great sound and fairly reasonable price for a totally hand-made guitar. I feel strongly that they are the equal or even better than some American-made guitars costing two to three times as much or more. Check them out if you’re in the market for a very fine guitar but have a case of sticker shock from looking at the current prices of Martin, Gibson and Taylor instruments.

Meanwhile, back at the Daily Brew I trotted out a set of holiday tunes yesterday and will keep mixing them in with my regular tunes all month. Most people love “songs of the season” and some even sing along, kids especially when I break into “Rudolph” and “Jingle Bells.” This year, more than ever, I think people are looking forward to the joy of Christmas with so few things to be joyous about. Music of the season is a big part of that and I really enjoy bringing a few smiles to a few faces when I play those tunes. I tend to lean on carols more than pop-type Christmas songs, probably because they were such an integral part of my childhood while being very involved with the local Episcopal church. I’m especially proud of the arrangement I worked out for “Oh, Holy Night.” If you want to hear those songs and others, check out my Cape Cod Acoustics Facebook page on Sunday mornings from 10 until 11 or so for my live session.

I wish everyone a happy and peaceful holiday season. I am feeling a genuine sense of hope for the first time in a long while, with a number of viable vaccines coming soon and the departure of the worst president in American history. My wonderful, precious granddaughters, daughter and her husband and my son whom we have not seen in person in a year will be here for Christmas and that fills me with more joy than I can express.

As always, I will sign off for now with this: Stay safe, stay well, stay sane.

And let music lift you up.

Peace & good music,
Gene

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How important is perfection?

11/18/2020

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Right now I have a couple students who have been with me for a few years and are well into the advanced level of guitar playing. I really look forward to them coming for their lessons as I get to let loose for a while and have some fun, plus witnessing the joy they get from playing is both gratifying and inspirational. I do have to admit that lesson planning for them is often a challenge – I want them to keep them moving forward but not at the expense of giving them something that is just too difficult. Another bonus for me is searching out and discovering new artists and songs that I might not know about otherwise.

What sometimes comes up is the question of the relative merits of learning a song exactly as the original artist did it. How much value does that have, really?

There was a time many years ago that I was obsessed with learning a song “right,” which at the time I took to mean as accurately as possible with every subtle nuance the original artist used, even things that did not show up in sheet music. I do think that working on songs that way had value at that point in the evolution of my playing. All those little tricks certain guitarists used could be incorporated into other things I was playing, especially traditional songs that were naturally open to interpretation. I know for sure that my ear improved by working out exact replication of songs.

Back in those days (and I suspect the same is true now with some players) I totally judged local bands and musicians by their ability to reproduce perfect covers of songs. There was a trio I used to hear back in the 1970s – guitar/guitar/bass or guitar/keys/bass, with superb vocals from all three players – who absolutely nailed covers of songs of that time like the Doobie Brothers’ “Black Water” and Orleans’ “Still the One.” After that trio dissolved I briefly played with one of the guitar players, who was a thoroughly miserable person but that’s another story (!), but I continued to have huge admiration for their talent, and not a little jealousy too! But about that time I also started to listening to a LOT of jazz, guitarists of course, but other instrumentalists too. Slowly but surely, I began to realize something.

Some of the most interesting and exciting music I was hearing moved far, far away from the original recordings. This of course is the essence of jazz and I think I knew that even then but I didn’t really appreciate the creative process involved. I dove into learning as much as I could about jazz and practiced a lot. Alas, it became apparent that if I was ever going to be the great jazzer that I longed to be it would require a level of commitment to that style that I was not able or perhaps not willing to give. I got to the point I could find my way through basic jazz arrangements and improvisation but I eventually accepted my limitations and moved back toward music I knew I could play pretty well.

This was also a period of time when I’d taken an extended hiatus from teaching. Because of that, without realizing it, I became less obsessed with perfect imitations of songs I was learning. I found that I really enjoyed figuring out what was essential to a song and including that but also leaving room for my own stuff (altered chords, different lead lines, new arrangements) while still staying true to the spirit of what the writer created.

Which brings me to today. The balance I have to find for my students is giving them a satisfactory version of a song and still have it “make-able” in terms of their abilities. For the last few years quite a few new students have come to me with a reasonable level of experience but wanting more, usually the result of finding songs online that they liked but “just didn’t sound right.” More often than not their interpretation of sounding right meant it being as close to the original version as possible. What they hardly ever realize is that (in my experience after lots of research) probably 90% of the lyric/chord postings on various websites are at best incomplete and at worst, outright wrong. Of course that version of the song is not going to sound much like the original! The way many music websites are structured, anyone can post an arrangement of a song. So the start point, i.e., the level of ability of the person posting it is all-important. A passionate recreational player who posts these basic sketches of songs may be helping out fellow recreational players who have little or no knowledge of song structure or music theory and my guess is that for many players, that’s just fine. Many novice players really just want to be able to get through a song they like and have it sound approximately right.

But what about the advancing player who hears more than the basic changes and recognizes that certain writers commonly use musical mechanisms in many of their songs that give them a recognizable style and sound? That’s where I come in.

Now, what I’m about to say may sound a bit arrogant but it’s a fact: At this point in my playing and the development of my ear, plus a solid understanding of music theory as it relates to popular music, I can figure out just about anything I hear. A bold claim, I know, but after playing guitar for better than 50 years I have reached that point. Yes, some things still are a huge challenge, such as chord inversions I hear when the player is in some obscure open tuning. I don’t waste my time on those…maybe I should…. But my focus needs to be on what my students want and finding the easiest and most practical way for them to accomplish that. Open tunings are fun and some sound pretty cool, but do they have long-term practical use for the average recreational player? I think not.

So getting back to the relative merits of perfect replication. Is it vital? I’ll say no, but with a qualification. A recreational player has to realize that the song they want to learn may include elements that are impossible to replicate with just one guitar. Also, that flashy guitar part may have taken days or weeks for the artist to get just right in the recording studio even though that artist makes it sound oh so natural and fluid in the end product.

Occasionally I’ll have an intermediate level student who has convinced themselves that anything less than playing a song exactly as the original artist did it is some kind of failure or perhaps not being true to the song itself as the artist intended the song to be. I do my best to make them realize this is just not the case at all. Adding some of the nuances beyond the simple chord structure or basic strumming can be totally gratifying in and of itself. Capturing the essence with those nuances is much more important – and ultimately, satisfying – than beating yourself up trying to sound exactly like the original artist. It’s called being creative!

Peace & good music,
Gene

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How is a fishing rod like a guitar?

11/11/2020

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Along with my family and my music, my biggest passions in life include fishing. When non-fishermen roll their eyes when I tell them of getting up at 3 a.m. to catch the tide at the perfect time (pre-dawn, just as the sky begins to barely show a hint of daylight) and ask why I would torture myself like that, I have a stock reply: Fishing is the only thing I do in my life where I am totally focused yet totally relaxed.

Just last week I experienced that mind set yet again. The action was outstanding, five very nice striped bass caught and released at my special secret spot. Trying to explain to non-fishermen why I release almost every fish I catch is another thing that’s all but impossible; I’ve pretty much given up on trying. But when I’m fishing my mind wanders to music every time and it did that morning. So here are some analogies between the fishing experience and making music (or listening to it). Some may seem like a bit of a stretch – no pun intended regarding guitar strings and fishing line – but I’ve thought them through pretty thoroughly. So no snickering allowed! ;~)

Patience and hope. When fishing I have experienced the benefits of being patient more times than I can possibly count. That morning was a prime example. All the conditions were wrong; tide, wind, falling water temperatures, no baitfish (prey) in sight. But I decided to hang in even though my first half-hour of casting yielded nothing except an occasional clump of seaweed. My patience was rewarded with five striped bass, the largest of which weighed about twelve pounds, not a trophy by any means but a very respectable fish, and the others were almost as big. All fishermen feel hope with every cast they make because….you never know….

When playing the guitar, especially when I’m learning a new, challenging piece, I know that focused practice WILL give good results, although just how much practice is never known when I first dive in. Being patient and taking the long view is vital to success, as frustrating and difficult as that may be. And from a guitar teacher’s perspective, being patient with a student who doesn’t practice – usually a young one who craves immediate satisfaction and positive results – is a skill I’ve worked on for decades. I’m pretty good at that most of the time. An obvious lack of practice does set me off mentally from time to time but I try keep my mouth shut and let the student know I am not making value judgements about them as a person. The trick is to make him or her realize the value of practice.

Hope is something I try to nurture in every student. Fear of failure is the enemy of hope so I never nitpick about elements of a piece that are giving a beginner trouble. I always tell them that the “little stuff” can be dealt with many ways; there are many paths to the final destination. Instead, I applaud and point out what they are doing correctly and try to help them build on those things. That way, hope of success never dies.

To succeed at fishing you must be willing to keep an open mind. Changing a lure, varying a retrieve, studying your surroundings, i.e., trying to predict where a fish might have the best chance of finding its dinner will up your score. Doing the same thing over and over with no hook ups rarely is productive. You could make the argument that repetition is an element of patience but in my experience if I fall into repetitive casting and retrieving with no love the fault is not with the fish, it’s on me.

One of the very first things I drill into all my students is that pure, mindless repetition alone will probably not make a piece of music sound better. On the contrary, it can be very detrimental to learning: there is a very real possibility of doing nothing more than practice your mistakes. That’s where keeping an open mind comes into the process. You can’t solve a problem until you locate it. There are so many elements to playing a song to perfection and many times just one of those elements ignored or done incorrectly shuts down the satisfaction gauge. All I’m really saying is: take a mental step back. Examine all the elements of playing and not just the hand that’s doing the work on the neck. If your mind is open to making small but vital adjustments (wrist position, arching of fingers, staying close to frets, posture) you will succeed, sooner or later. This probably sounds obvious but many, many times I’ve seen students accept something technique-wise that sounds reasonably decent on a particular chord in a particular song, only to find that when they must deal with that technique issue in another song when it doesn’t work at all. This is why I stress productive practice (being analytical about all the elements) rather than repeating something again and again with no appreciable improvement.

Sadly, in the beginning anyway, that kind of focus usually leads to some degree of frustration. I was reminded of this on my recent fishing trip to Wyoming. I was fly-fishing and even before I stepped into a certain trout stream that I KNOW holds seemingly unlimited numbers of brook trout I had to deal with tying on a fly with leader material that wasn’t much thicker than a human hair. Was I frustrated? You bet! My old eyes just ain’t what they used to be. But in spite of taking about three minutes just to tie on that fly I knew it was the right thing to do: the right fly with the right knot – tied correctly, using line that the trout were unlikely to see and get spooked by. About a half dozen brookies later I was glad I had hassled my way through something that an expert makes look easy. Guitar playing is just like that. Half-done chord changes, inconsistent rhythm and general sloppiness are the mark of an impatient guitarist.

A big part of the pleasure of fishing is reflecting upon your successes. In places near my home where I frequently fish, every trip to such places brings me back to an instance that was special. That rock over there – remember laying that big striper on it to take a picture? The youngster who walked down that beach with a fishing rod and wanted to know just about everything there was to know about striper fishing, and I told him way more than he probably could remember. I’m smiling now just thinking about it.

And many times when I pick up my guitar I reflect upon places I’ve been with it, friends I’ve made via music over the years, songs that always bring me back to a time and place that was oh so special, although I might not have known it at the time. Feelings and thoughts like these have inspired songwriters and composer forever.

I hope you have something in your life – maybe fishing? – that helps you learn and appreciate the essence of playing the guitar.

Peace & good music,
Gene

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'Tis the Season: Life goes on, staying positive!

How important is perfection?

How is a fishing rod like a guitar?

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