You Have to Believe in Your Own Genius.

You have to believe in your own genius. You have to believe that given the time and focus on your own path, you will find it. This means you must be you to the fullest extent. Which is an exhausting place to go to, because it must be unearthed. There is so much sitting on top of it. So many rules, preconcieved notions, baggage and perhaps fears, lying in large boulder, mounds of earth. Ugh. this metaphor.

So, yes, you must study the other geniuses, but don’t try to be them. You can’t. You won’t. And, they didn’t get their by trying to be someone else. They can point the way, they can help you level up faster than you would otherwise. Admire, respect, but do not worship them.

Back to belief. You have to have it, or the door doesn’t open. I’m not sure why, but it is an essential key. You don’t have to be arrogant and think you are a genius and better than everyone. But, perhaps, there is a genius in us if we do the work. A lot of work. Built acquiring knowledge from others and finding our own path.

It is not a competition, even if in the marketplace it can be. But, you must forget that when you go about digging and building. You don’t have to be better, you have to be you. Forget better. Let others decide. What does it even mean? Not in art. It’s not a footrace. Unless you questioning who is fastest. Then, there will be a winner. But, do we care? not for long. It is art.

Extensive self study is required. Admit your weaknesses. You will be surprised how many remain. Don’t chastise yourself, just aim to fix them. Knowing that there will always be gaps, but genius can show through, even with gaps. Perfection will not be attained, so don’t worry.

Believe.

It is in you. Do the work.

Play wrong notes.

We’ve all heard, practice like crazy, then forget it all and just play. Or don’t think when you play. and we’ve heard, don’t be afraid to play wrong notes. or tell a story when you play.

wtf does that all mean?

It’s driven me crazy for years, but I think I get it.

First of all, you do think when you play, but it’s a different kind of thinking. You think in sounds or musical gestures, or waves of sound. You think the lines, but not how to play them, that you’ve got under your fingers. So, that’s the don’t think part. You have to think, but think in music, not technique or mechanics. You will be aware of the changes, or at least the form, and using this as the canvas which you paint on. It matters.

Next up, Don’t be afraid to play wrong notes. It’s way more than that. Play wrong notes. You will. If you do the next thing, which is the most important thing, and it’s tied to the first thing. and this is, just play the lines that you hear and go for it, don’t send anything through the filter of theory, or most importantly, through the internal judge or critic. F them. They slow it all down, and just muck up the works. Just play the sounds, and you’ll be fine. And guess what? you’ll play “wrong” notes, but if the line is good, they won’t be wrong.

Besides, check out transcriptions of the greats, there are wrong notes all over the place. It doesn’t matter. The line, the gesture, the phrase, the impact matter. That’s it. If your line is too off, it won’t have the effect you’re after, and that’s what matters. What effect/affect are you after? Does it resolve? Does it leave you hanging? Does it question? Does it shout? Does it destroy? Does it give sweet little kisses? What effect are you after? Play that.

It is a balance between intellectual an emotional. so, play freaking wrong notes. (often they end up being the juiciest.)

All, this is being said with the assumption that you can play the right notes when you decide to, and play simply on the changes.

Subject for another day. Playing Chords Changes vs the form and its events.

As for tell a story when you play, I still have no f’n idea.

peas
gman

Take a Break

After practicing your ass off for a long time, take a break from practicing.

And there are three ways to do this.

  1. Don’t play at all.
  2. Play, but don’t practice.
  3. Just light maintanance practice.

Each have there benefits.

  1. Don’t play at all. For a day or two. I think two is the longest I’ve gone. You might try longer, it might work, I just haven’t done it. You get some perspective on things. Also, things gel that you’ve been working on. And come back when you start up again, things will be in your playing and come out naturally. Somehow, I need the separation sometimes to make it mine.
  2. Play, but don’t practice. This is really great and can be done for longer periods, weeks even. So, you’d better be gigging or have a lot of playing sessions during this period, or it doesn’t really work. Playalongs might even work, but play for a hour or two, or three and just play. Don’t practice. Be free.
  3. Just light maintenance practice. This can go with #2, or just be like a half-way version of #1. Just do basic fundamentals to keep chops up, usually not more than an hour, and don’t try to add new stuff.

Ok, I’ll flesh it out more later.

peas

What to do when you’re bored practicing?

When you’re bored while practicing the guitar try some of these.

  1. Just do it. Give it a minute. Try to be here now.
  2. Mess with the pieces you’re practicing. Play them forward and backwards. Make a sequence. Make a new tune from it.
  3. Sing along with the parts, double up ear-training and line practice. It may also help you to become more “here now.”

Become Familiar, Not Good

Insight!

Practice to become more “familiar” with the material, not to get “good” at it. Assume the getting good part, and focus on really “knowing” the material. Becoming aware if it, and, simply becoming very familiar with it. Intimately aware, like you are old, old friends, or hey, family. Hey! Familiar, family! Yup. There ya go.

The body with execute with ease if it is allowed to. Let it travel down well worn roads, in a favorite old pair of sneakers.

Focus is the challenge, especially if you been playing for years and years. You don’t realize how little your attention is really trained on the task at hand. You’ve gotten good enough to sale through a lot, fooling many, even most, including yourself.

You just want to be efficient and get “good” fast. After all, you’ve got a gig to do in 3 days or whatever. Focus. Become familiar. Good happens.

 

Virtuoso by 50

This is my goal. Virtuoso by 50.

What is virtuoso?

Cambridge Dictionary Defines as: “a person who is extremely skilled at something, especially at playingan instrument or performing:”

Miriam Webster:

  1. :  one who excels in the technique of an art; especially:  a highly skilled musical performer (as on the violin)

  2. 2:  an experimenter or investigator especially in the arts and sciences :

 

According to Music in the Western civilization by Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin:[2]

…a virtuoso was, originally, a highly accomplished musician, but by the nineteenth century the term had become restricted to performers, both vocal and instrumental, whose technical accomplishments were so pronounced as to dazzle the public.

None of these properly define Virtuoso for my purpose or taste. I don’t care whether the public is dazzled.  Many people are easily dazzled, so they doesn’t justify virtuoso.  And every instrument has some relatively easy tricks that wow the crowd, without the player ever reaching a very high level of technical proficiency. So, the crowd dazzle is out.

Still, Virtuoso must be relative to something. So, better than the average player. By what metric?  Some are subjective and some objective. So, here are my standards and markers for virtuosity.  They are mine, alone. You can choose your own.  Some are objective and some subjective.  They also read like goals.

  • Clean 16th notes at 150 bpm, as arpeggios, scale runs, licks and improvisation. (objective)
  • Performance of the following at originator’s tempo. All include  Minor Swing-Django, Limehouse Blues-Django, Coquette-Bireli, Bossa Dorado-Stochelo, Donna Lee – Charlie Parker, Montagne Ste. Genevieve – Yorqui Loefler. Johnny Smith- To Be Decided(More)(Objective)
  • Artist command of Ballad Playing.  (Subjective)
  • Flow attained during playing. Relative ease. Some tension is often required. A dead fish won’t do anything but stink. So, a relaxed free flowing playing. (Subjective)
  • A large vocabulary of tunes. (subjective)  100 tunes memorized. (objective.)
  • Developed and original vocabulary during improvisation. (subjective.)

I have been playing guitar for 35 years. I have had periods of intense practice over the years. These periods last for a few months, then lighten, then intense again. This we’ll call one cycle. The cycle may last a year or two.  Then practice greatly slacks off, or completely disappears. During these periods I may just be performing or writing songs.  So, I am playing, but not consciously working on getting better at guitar playing. No focused, regimented practice.  Many will point to the 10,000 hour rule.  I have not done my 10,000 hours. My best guess is maybe close to 6,000 hours. I’m not sure how accurate the rule is, or better, how relevant. It will take what it takes. Some people may get there in 6,000 or less, some in 20,000 hours. Who knows? Why count? It won’t change anything. I guess the only benefit is that you know about how many hours a week you need to be playing, intelligently, to get to the stratosphere. And, if you haven’t put in that much time, don’t wonder why you’re not there. And, possibly, don’t get down on yourself and think you just “don’t have it.”  You just haven’t done the work. And maybe that is the “it” really, the ability to put in the work. The desire, the obsession, the love, the neurosis, whatever it is that drives you to play all the freakin time.

Some people think I’m a Virtuoso already. By their standards, I guess I am. But, not by my standards or the metrics of the top performers in the world. My biggest challenge is really speed.  I will need to learn to relax. Ah, subjects for further posts.

Anyway, I guess this is my declaration.  My goal is Virtuoso by 50 years old. I’m 47 1/2 right now. That half might matter!  Onward. Wish me luck.

 

 

Further Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuoso

Have Concrete Goals

If possible, set real, quantifiable, attainable goals.

This mean that you’ve seen or heard someone do or perform whatever you goal is. Whether it’s local or a legend, if it has been done by another human, you can possibly attain it.  At least in guitar technique. I’m not talking about dunking and things of that nature, there are limits imposed by size and gravity.  But, even then, there are those who have managed to attain what most said was impossible. I don’t believe there are these types of physical limits on musical skill, if you’re an average person with no disabilities.  I could be wrong. This is one of the things I aim to discover.

For example, I’ve seen and heard plenty of legendary gypsy jazzers perform triplet picking, down-up-down, down-up-down, etc across strings at 200bpm. Eight note triplets at 200 bpm.  This rate also coincides with 16th notes at 150 bpm.

So, both of these are my goals and they are measurable.  I set exercises, licks, patterns that I aim to bring to these tempos.

Real. You’ve witnessed it in one form or another.
Quantifiable. Can be measured.  BPM. Or playalong at speed with recording, or Etude at verified tempo.
Attainable. Again, you’ve witnessed another human being doing it. Theoretically, you should with proper work be able to attain it.

It may take a long time. It may take many different paths to uncover the method, secret tricks. You may have to unlearn many things first.  These are all subjects for other posts.

Some people love the metronome, some hate it.  I think it’s both great and bad. My advice, use it, but not exclusively.  Use it to measure.  Turn it on, and turn it off. I will weigh in on the great metronome debate eventually.

Definitely play along with recordings. This is an opportunity to play with great masters. You may learn by osmosis.

Measure your progress in a small notebook. Keep track of dates and tempos.

Be consistent and patient.

And don’t try to do too much at once.

 

 

Sound is Everything – Tone

Focus on tone.

Listen deeply to what you are practicing. Think good tone. Let your body do it. It will adjust.  (You may have to stop and study why good tone is not being produced, depending on your level and experience. )

I often multitask or let my mind wander. I have found this may be the single biggest mistake I have made. Tuning out, just repeating, letting my mind wander, hoping that when I tune back in, the sound will be there. I am often deluded into thinking that I am still tuned in, but I am not. It takes effort.

If you are bored, listen more deeply. If still bored, changed the pattern you are practicing. Or the exercise. Do a circuit.

When you tune out, return your thoughts to the tone.  Speed will come. Other exercises focused on speed on used.

Focus on tone.  Speed without tone is worthless. If you can hear the notes, it doesn’t matter how fast they are.

Focus on tone, not technique. Think sound. Let the technique happen. Much other practice is spent on technique. Especially with the mirror. Spend much time on tone.

You will learn the sounds more deeply. They will be useful in your improvisation and composition if you know them intimately, by sound.

Take breaks. Concentration is hard.

 

some thoughts on practicing

  1. Every session. Find mistake. Ask why? Create exercise to remedy. Reintroduce to tune
  2. Have a clear target. Not just a goal, a target. Goals seem too broad. A target is narrow and precise.
  3. 10,000 kicks
  4. Pick a good hammer. Choose a few choice tools/devices/licks and make everything a nail. It seems to be what the great improvisers of old did.
  5. Listen Deeply when you practice.
  6. Belief may be essential. You have to believe you are special. You have to believe you are magic. But, it must be uncovered. It is buried deep beneath much rock and clay. You must dig it out. Dig most every day.  Some days, rest.
  1. Practice is for practice. Don’t spend too much time on stuff you already know, except to warm up.
  2. Forwards and Backwards. Creates variety and the ability to use the device elsewhere. Scales, fragments, licks, etc.
  3. Rehearsals are not individual practice time, they are focused on ensemble playing. Get you stuff together on your own time.
  4. Guitar is an athletic endeavor, especially if you play acoustic, in particular gypsy.
  5. Relax
  6. No, Seriously, Relax
  7. Muscle it. Contrary to the relax. You need to develop volume and tension. Then maybe you can blend the two. But volume won’t seem to happen without it.
  8. Use metronome- to mark progress and push yourself.
  9. push yourself
  10. relax
  11. push
  12. Have fast days and slow days. Don’t try extented fast every day, you will hurt yourself. Don’t only do slow days, you will never get fast.
  13. Don’t use metronome. Forcing yourself to listen more closely to articulation and rhythm without metronome covering anything or making it sound more driving than it really is.
  14. Different strokes for different folks. Getting to the same place as others may take a different path for you. Depends on which habits you need to correct.
  15. Practice can be meditation. Single-minded focus.
  16. Real practice is hard.
  17. You can’t just flail away and hope fir the best. You must dig into the nitty gritty. It’s taxing.
  18. Record or use play alongs. They can be a great help and barometer.

  19. “Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” -Bruce Lee (Bruce Lee Quotes)

  20. “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.” -Bruce Lee

  21. “It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”  ~Bruce Lee
  22. “Rule number one: for speed you must compromise volume. There is no other way, you can’t play ultra-fast and ultra-loud at the same time.” Thomas Lang
  23. Take a walk. A walk makes everything better.
  24. Areas of developement:
    1. Muscle development
      1. RH
      2. LH
    2. Scale patterns
      1. LH patterns
      2. RH patters
      3. symetry between both
    3. Arpeggios
      1. LH
      2. RH
      3. Symetry