One of the coolest guitar arrangements I have heard was Man in the Mirror by Tuck Andress.
I can Moonwalk. This was really hip when I was in middle school. It’s probably not so impressive now.
One of the sweetest posts I’ve seen on FaceBook today is from Arika Dorsett. She stated: “Michael Jackson died!!! How sad…he was such a big part of my childhood…very sad…I hope he knew the Lord….”
Not all the other comments were as considerate. Shameful.
Earlier today I had a student that presents a challenge each week to my ability to explain music concepts without resorting to sarcasm. This is a young person, so I am sure that the student is being sincere with their comments and ‘challenges’.
Adults exhibit some of the same behavioral traits and when we meet at the crossroads I respond with ‘OK’, and say nothing more. I know that adults have better memories of those little moments and eventually the adult student will get big eyes and say; ” So, that’s what we were stuck on when…”
Children, on the other hand, need to be ‘bonked on the head’, so to speak.
Today’s challenge was: ‘I can’t play at 60bpm, it’s too slow’ in response to my suggestion that the student played better at 60bpm instead of the 70bpm that we had just attempted. This is how we determine a player’s personal speed limit. A personal speed limit is the highest speed at which we can play something without mistakes.
Knowing this child’s tendency to need proof, I then set the metronome at the ‘Final’ tempo to be achieved, 122bpm, and directed the student to count off.
FAIL!
Since Mr. I. B. Fast quickly came to the conclusion that his personal speed limit was under 122bpm, I then proceeded to demonstrate my personal speed limit for our song.
I moved the metronome to 150bpm and played the section of the tune flawlessly.
Then I played the section at 180bpm just as flawlessly.
Pressing onward, I moved the metronome to 200bpm whereupon one could notice that my wonderfulness was wearing down and I did not play quite as well as 180bpm. (Frankly, I was surprised I made it as high as 180bpm.)
So, while I am certainly faster than this student, I too have a personal speed limit and I think things were much more clear on a few levels after this demonstration.
By the way, the song was “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and we were working on the Intro. Give it a try at 180bpm one day. It sounds quite silly.
I have been working on a severe weak spot in my playing over the last few months. I have had the most difficulty with a certain improvisational concept: arpeggios.
Arpeggios are really just ‘Broken’ chords. Arpeggios are what we do when we are first learning chords. We form the chord, then play each string individually to know whether or not it is ringing clear.
I am working on playing all arpeggios everywhere as they appear in a song. While improvising, a musician usually plays a mixture of scale-like lines and arpeggiated lines. I have spent most of my time until now playing the scalar type of lines.
To improve in the least amount of time possible, I am working through a song improvising with only arpeggios. This is similar to what I ask many of my students to do when facing a playing issue; focus only on what you are not doing well and leave the good playing alone until the not-so-great stuff is a lot better.
The only example I can imagine at the moment to give you an idea of what my problem feels like is this: imagine that all of your strings are reversed. Instead of your strings being 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, & 1, imagine that their order is now 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6.
Go ahead and play a few ‘Chords’ this way. Try playing a song this way and discover some new sounds.
If you do not play an instrument, spend a day using the hand opposite of that which you would normally use.
Leave a comment to let us know your thoughts and feelings during this experiment.
I had a eureka moment recently regarding my study of improvisation. I discovered that I spend entirely too much time making myself technically capable of playing certain concepts, but nowhere near enough time playing these concepts musically.
I have always heard that we should strive to play musically when learning new concepts; I just took it to mean that we would be musical eventually. Well, I was wrong to think that this would happen naturally. I now realize that I must make a conscious effort to be musical very early in my study of a new concept.
What has happened in your lessons that really ‘Flicks the Switch’ in your mind and makes something easier that you ever thought possible?
Wednesday, May 13, Eric H. and I played for the Lynchburg Parks and Recreation’s 50+ group. We played a 30 minute set of jazz in the pavilion at Jefferson Park. We had not yet been to Jefferson Park and found it to be a very nice park with a recreation center. Our audience seemed to appreciate our playing and the provided lunch was wonderful.
I had never played an outdoor acoustic gig before the Jefferson Park affair. I had a really difficult time hearing my guitar. I could hear Eric just fine. I forgot to ask if his perspective was the opposite of mine; could he hear me more than himself?
My family and I went to Richmond this weekend per Celeste’s request to go there for her birthday. While there, we saw a few musicians playing on the sidewalk. One had his case open the way he was supposed to if he expects any tips, but was not playing. The others were playing but had no tip jar or open case. The thought occured to me that Eric and I could rub enough brain cells together to play and have a tip receipt area in the same instance.
A student recently told me of quite a blessing. ‘The best thing that’s ever happened to me’ is how he put it.
His X-Box died.
The RED RING OF DEATH.
(I think that’s what he said.)
Anyway, we both noticed a great improvement in his playing in just one week. He said he was practicing about 30 minutes each day with a much greater focus than before his new-found freedom from the digital grip of gaming.
I often need to reorient my focus in regard to how I spend my flexible time ‘On the Job’. There are many work related items on my ‘To Do’ list that can and do distract me from keeping my ‘Chops’ up on my instrument. I have to be as vigilant as anyone to keep a proper schedule of practicing.
I played a gig May 1st with some students from a private school where I teach Music Elective. It is called Can Do because the students show what they ‘Can Do’ and admission is a canned item to donate to the local Food Bank.
Shame on me, but I almost enjoy seeing these kids brains turning inside-out with nerves before a performance. They are just adorable with their eyes bugging out of their heads. Some of the same students from last year were on this gig. I don’t think they were any less nervous than the last gig. They did a great job just like last year too. Why worry?
The greatest cause of nervousness in public performance is; ‘What if I suck?’. OK, so what if you completely fall apart? I have never, ever been booed. I have never, ever witnessed anyone being booed. I think that only happens on TV. Most people know how nervous they would be to perform on stage, and are simply not so mean that they would make a person feel worse.
Frankly, the only part that makes me a little nervous about a gig is; ‘What if nobody shows up?’
“Funny thing about being unemployed; the weekends don’t mean quite so much. They just mean you can hang out with your working friends.” – Les Claypool, Bassist/Lyricist for Primus
Not to make light of others being unemployed, but I remembered this lyric recently while reflecting on the fact that without a gig, there is little motivation to practice. Early in a student’s ‘career’, there is a great need for an abundance of practice; mostly in an effort to develop general ability to play music. Later, similar to where I am as a player, most practice time is used on repertoire or specific instrument techniques that are unfamiliar.
From the musician’s point of view, this is one of the issues I want to resolve with our concerts. Being able to select the group’s best tunes for a gig and arrange the setlist for maximum momentum requires a gig length of 90 minutes or less.
Most professional musicians have played enough gigs requiring three hours of music that any group of us could build a setlist of 40 songs and only need to learn maybe five songs that we had never played. Which group of musicians can be really, really interesting over the course of three hours?
The Rolling Stones, or Eagles maybe, but not me. Unless we formed a tribute band.
