Yard Work and Guitar Practice

I was  cleaning up the neglected back corner of my yard and was struck by the similarities between yard work and guitar practice. Your guitar playing and your yard both require maintenance. You have to mow the lawn every week or so or the grass will overtake your house. With your guitar playing, you have perform some warm-ups, scale studies, and chord practices regularly or you’ll lose the muscle memory you’ve built up.

In addition to regular maintenance, you need to perform more in-depth work on both your yard and guitar playing. Here are some things I noticed that apply to both.

Tackling the Large Plants Provides Instant Gratification

The  corner of my yard was filled with large honeysuckle bushes. It was pretty easy to cut those down. When I did that, the section of yard looked transformed, and I felt a real sense of accomplishment.

The large plants in your guitar playing might be the chords or the melody line for a song. Suppose you learn the chords to “Back in Black” or the melody line to “My Favorite Things.” You may not be able the play Angus Young’s solo or improvise over “My Favorite Things” like John Coltrane, but by focusing on the element that defines the song, you can make some very satisfying progress.

There are Always Smaller Plants to Weed Out

After I removed the large bushes in my yard, I noticed all the smaller weeds that were hidden underneath. These required focus and an eye for detail to eradicate. Every time I thought I was finished, I’d find another plant I’d missed.

With guitar practice, after you learn the large structure of a song or technique, you’ll begin to notice the little adjustments you need to make. All the notes of a chord may not be ringing cleanly. A portion of the melody might be out of time. As with the weeds hiding under my honeysuckle, there will always be small things to work on in your playing. The secret is not to get sucked into trying to fix them all at once.

Small Steps Over Time Yield Large Results

I only worked at clearing the back corner of my yard an hour at a time, mainly because I got bored with hunting out every little weed.

The same is true with guitar practice. You can’t spend three hours working on your right hand picking technique. You’ll burn yourself out. You’re better off making that technique a small, but consistent part of your larger practice regiment. This will allow you to make progress and will also prevent you from giving up all together.

Nature Abhors a Vacuum

I know that’s a cliche, but it’s true. When you clear out the bushes, a few days later, you’ll notice new weeds sprouting. The seeds that have laid dormant are now capitalizing on the open ground and sunlight. If you don’t want weeds, you need to pull them out by the root and replace with them some more favorable plant.

With guitar practice, when you eradicate a bad behavior you have to replace it with a new, positive behavior or the old habit will sprout again. This is especially true about the mental aspect of playing. Say you’re working on a particularly fast passage and you keep having the thought that you can’t play that fast. You have to first remove that thought before you can proceed. But eradicating the thought is not enough. Instead of thinking that you can’t play the passage up to speed, you may hear yourself thinking that you can’t play it cleanly. You’ve remove one negative thought, but a dormant thought has cropped up in its place like a dandelion. You have to remove the negative thought with a positive one, something like: “I am playing this passage cleanly and accurately at the proper tempo.”

Cut, Rake, Dig, Repeat

The basic process for cleaning up your yard or your playing is simple: Cut, Rake, Dig, Repeat.

Cut down the big plants that provide big hits (chords, song structures, melodies, etc.).

Rake up the debris to see what’s lurking underneath. For guitar playing this may require you to record or video tape yourself playing so you can see what’s going on with your technique and what small adjustments need to be made.

Dig up the small weeds you find and replace them with something beneficial. Once you’ve identified techniques that need help (right hand picking, left hand legato, etc.) locate drills that address those areas and incorporate them into your practice.

Repeat. As I’ve said before, playing guitar is a process–a movement toward mastery. You’ll never truly master the instrument. There’s always something news to learn. Enjoy the journey. And don’t forget to take some time away from the instrument to engage in other activities. You might be surprised at the insight they’ll bring to your playing.

Les Paul

Les Paul passed away this week. This is a great loss to the music world. Besides being an exceptional guitarist, Les Paul was an technological genius. His contributions to the development of the solid body guitar and multi-track recording had a huge impact on the way we create and record music.

I had the good fortune to see Les Paul perform last summer at the Iridium Jazz Club. Arthritis took a tremendous toll on his ability to play, but his spirit was unchecked. He joked with the crowd and his band mates, and there was no doubt that he was enjoying himself. Everything I’ve seen of Les Paul suggests a strong element of play, something we all need to embrace.

Technique

Les Paul excelled at hard swing at breakneck speed.

Tone

His basic tone is simple. What more do you need than a Les Paul straight into an amp and maybe a little reverb (which Les Paul invented, by the way)?

Why you should check him out

You can’t help but smile when you hear Les Paul play. It’s important to remember that you play guitar. You don’t fight it. You don’t work it. You play it. Les Paul embodied that spirt of play and experimentation and which is key to achieving joy as a musician.

Suggested tracks

How High the Moon

Caravan

Demonstrating the Les Paulverizer

Jazz Guitar Masters

I’ve been kind of busy this week with work and rehearsal and haven’t been able to find the time for a new post. In lieu of a slapdash post, I’ll just recommend a link. Dirk over at Jazz Guitar Online just created a new section for his site featuring profiles of Jazz guitar greats written by Jeff Aarons. He only have a few profiles up right now, but it’s worth a look. Happy reading.

Jazz Guitar Masters

Guitarists You Should Be Listening to: Robert Fripp

I’ve been a fan of Robert Fripp (most famous for his involvement in King Crimson) for close to twenty years. Recently, I listened to some very old demo tapes and discovered his influence in my playing years before I started listening to his music. I think that indicates his impact on other musicians. I’m currently listening to From Good to Great, a presentation he gave about moving from being a beginner to a master. As I said in one of my Friday Filosophy posts, I believe that mastery is impossible. But his insight on what it takes to move toward that impossible goal is fascinating.

 

Technique

The best way for me to describe Fripp’s technique is eccentric.  He combines angular melodies (playing across the fretboard more than up and down) with a heavily processed tone. Since the Eighties, he also employs an alternate tuning he calls New Standard Tuning (NST). All the strings a tuned a fifth apart (starting with a low C), except for the first which is a minor third above the second string. Instead of E-A-D-G-B-E, you end up with C-G-D-A-E-G. This tuning became the basis of his guitar teaching concept, Guitar Craft, and his side project The League of Crafty Guitarists.

Tone

Fripp is a master of tone and sound processing. In the Seventies, he developed Frippertronics, an analog delay system made up of of two reel-to-reel tape recorders running side-by-side. The tape travels from the supply reel of the first machine to the take-up reel of the second. As a result the sound recorded by the first machine is played back some time later on the second. The audio of the second machine is routed back to the first, causing the delayed signal to repeat while new audio is mixed in with it. The delay is controlled by the distance between the two tape players. 

It’s an amazing innovation that allowed Fripp to play as a one-man band and improvise compositions live. 

Why you should check him out

In addition to being an amazing innovator, Fripp is also an inspirational teacher and speaker. His Guitar Craft seminars combine Alexander Technique, Tai Chi, and instruction in New Standard Tuning as a way to break out of the conventional approach to playing taken by many players. Some players see the Guitar Craft approach as quirky at best and downright cultish at its worst. But it all illustrates what it takes to create a unique voice. You have to commit to your beliefs without regard to what others might think.

Suggested tracks

Frippertronics — A demonstration of how Frippertronics works

21st Century Schizoid Man with King Crimson

Neal and Jack and Me with King Crimson and Adrian Belew

Asturias with the League of Crafty Guitarists

 

Fret Freaks Filosophy Friday: Why?

I’ve often asked myself: “Why am I practicing?” I spend hours a week going over scales, working on exercises, learning songs. All of this alone in my office. If you’ve played for any amount of time, you’ve undoubtedly had periods when you’ve questioned why you’ve sacrifice all this time when you could be watching TV or playing video games.

Well, let me tell you a little story. I’ve studied jazz off and on for as long as I’ve been playing. One of my early teachers taught me “How High the Moon” when I really wanted to learn “Iron Man.” That teacher’s influence paid off later when I played in my high school’s jazz ensemble. A few years ago, I quit a rock band because I wanted to study jazz more in depth. 

I spent about nine months doing that. At the time, I was working full time and only had enough time to practice a couple times a week. That wasn’t enough time to keep my hands in shape, let alone get my head around the concepts I needed to improvise effectively.

On my last birthday, as a gift to myself, I bought a jazz fake book and set about learning a few tunes. As I did that, that question popped into my head again. Why was I doing this? Do I really expect to become a jazz guitarist? I was enjoying what I was doing, so I just ignored the nagging, logical half of my mind. I learned “Satin Doll,” “Bluesette,” “Take Five,” and “Straight No Chaser.” I felt a real feeling of accomplishment learning those songs even though I was only playing them for myself. I had no grand plan of what I was going to do with what I’d learned.

Then, earlier this week, completely out of the blue, I received an email from a director at a local community theater. She was in desperate need for a guitarist for a show she was mounting. One of the songs she needed someone to play was “That’s All” by Nat “King” Cole. I didn’t know the tune. But because I had been building my jazz chops, I was able to learn it quickly and accept the gig.

That is why you practice. So you’re ready to accept an opportunity when it presents itself. Are you ready for your next opportunity? What should you do while you wait for it? Simple. Practice.

Guitarists You Should Be Listening to: Michael Hedges

An old college friend suggested that I profile Michael Hedges on this blog, so this post is for my friend Rick. 

It was strange how I came across Michael Hedges. I remember seeing him on PBS’s Live at Wolf Trap back in the mid-Eighties. That episode also featured Bela Fleck and The Flecktones. So I discovered several great artists in the span of one night. (I’ll talk about Bela Fleck, and The Flecktone’s bassist Victor Wooten, in a later post.) The next day, after class, Rick asked me if I’d ever heard of Michael Hedges. I told him I had just seen him on TV the night before. A few days later, he gave me a tape with Michael Hedges on one side and Alex De Grassi on the other. So it seems I was destined to find  him.

Technique

Michael Hedges threw the acoustic guitar community for a loop. He used many common fingerstyle techniques, but combined them with percussive slapping, popping, and tapping techniques that had a lot of people scratching their heads. He wrote everything from meditative new age songs to expressive tunes with a punk edge.

Tone

Hedges used Martin guitars almost exclusively. His unique tone comes from the use of a variety of alternate tunings. He rarely used the same tuning twice. These tunings allowed him to use the guitar like a piano and to play multiple parts at once, his left and right hands working independent of each other. He was responsible for the explosion of alternate tunings in popular music. You can hear his influence in Dave Matthews, Kaki King, and Willy Porter. 

Why you should check him out

Hedges was an exceptional technician who obviously studied bluegrass and classical music. But he is also a great example of how important it is to break the rules if you want to move forward. He’s also a great example of finding joy in your practice and your work. Listen to his song “Funky Avocado” or his versionof “Come Together” off of Live from the Double Planet, and he’ll remind you that playing guitar is supposed to be fun.

Suggested tracks

- Aerial Boundaries — Watch how his right and left hands work independently to create an ensemble piece.

- All Along the Watchtower — From Live at Wolf Trap

- Double Planet — With a harp guitar

- Funky Avocado

- i carry your heart — The lyrics for this song are from a e. e. cummings poem.

Fret Freaks Filosophy Friday: Commitment

I made a commitment to myself awhile back to practice every day. My goal was two hours a day. Not up to professional levels (I once heard Leo Kottke say he practices eight hours a day), but it was a bigger commitment than I’d made for years. And it has paid off.

Yesterday, I just wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t seem to be in the proper frame of mind. But I had made a commitment to myself and didn’t want to weasel out of it. I decided to compromise. I would do my warm up and a few minutes of scale and arpeggio studies just to keep my hands in shape. I sat down, and before I knew it, an hour and a half had passed.

If I had let myself slip yesterday, it would have been that much easier to not practice today. Did I reach my goal of two hours? No. But I did keep my promise. Practice doesn’t have to be a huge commitment. The importance is keeping it regular–15  minutes a day is enough. How much time can you spare every day to be a better guitarist?

United Airlines Breaks Guitars

Here’s an interesting story from the Jazz Guitar Blog about guitarist Dave Carroll’s experience with United Airlines. The airline broke his Taylor guitar and then refused to compensate him. 

http://www.jazzguitarblog.com/2009/07/united-airlines-breaks-guitars.html

Guitarists You Should Be Listening to: Elliot Easton

Elliot Easton played lead guitar with The Cars, and for my money, he’s one of the best pop guitarists around. Ric Ocasek wrote great, eccentric songs, and Easton’s solos took The Car’s synth-pop to a new level.

Technique

Easton is a straight ahead rock player, but what sets him apart is his sense of composition. His solos are like small songs unto themselves. I’ve a always liked the idea of considering a solo as a story. A solo should have tension, movement, and a climax. Easton’s solos have all of that, but at the same time they don’t sound contrived. They sound relaxed and natural as if he’s just playing off the top of his head.

Tone

Easton has a great combination of distortion and sustain–a wonderful organic tone–that offers a great contrast to the band’s trade mark staccato guitar and dry synthesizers. 

Why you should check him out

I’m a big proponent of serving the song and not being flashy for the sake of showing off. Elliot Easton is a great example of someone who has found a way to break that rule. Listening to the basic Cars tracks, I would expect the guitar to imitate the keyboards. Easton takes the opposite approach and propels the songs to a different level. You can learn a lot from him  about how to take risks while still being tasteful.

Suggested tracks

Touch and Go — This is a great example of everything Elliot Easton does so well–tone, composition, and flash.

Magic

Bye Bye Love

Tonight She Comes —  A great melodic solo with some real flash at the end.

Fret Freaks Filosophy Friday: Declare Your Independence

I spent a few  weeks recently transferring recordings of my college band from cassettes to CDs. Listening to twenty-year-old recordings of myself was a humbling experience. One of the tapes contained a dig from our bassist, Ken, against one of the other bands playing the bar circuit at the time. Hearing that got me thinking about the guys in that other band.

When I was gigging in college, it was the height of heavy metal’s big hair era. The bars were filled with shredders playing as fast as possible . The band Ken took a shot at were part of that crowd. Now, I have nothing against heavy metal. In fact, I grew up listening to Black Sabbath and Kiss. And this particular band was a pretty good hard rock outfit. They did more stuff like Zeppelin and Deep Purple , so they were a little different from most of the new metal bands.

When the metal fad ebbed, it was replaced by a boom in country music. I happened to run into one of the guitarists from the band. I’ll call him Steve to protect the innocent. Steve informed me that they had reformed the group and were now playing country and western. When I asked him why, he said it was because there more gigs playing C & W. They were professionals and they needed the money.

I think playing in different genres is the best way to expand your musical knowledge. On any given day, I may play jazz, hard rock, blues, or even some metal. But I do it because I’m interested in the genre or I want learn a particular technique. I grew up with Steve and knew for a fact that he had absolutely no interest in country music.  About ten years later, Steve’s band re-formed again, this time playing ’80s pop, and trying to chase in on the nostalgia market. What’s ironic is that this was the type of music my band was playing in college and which Steve’s band criticized us for playing.  

Tomorrow is Independence Day in the U.S., and I urge you to declare your independence from fads. Play the music you love whether it’s hip or not. Play as many genres as you like, just so long as you’re passionate about what you’re doing. Because there is nothing worse than playing without passion.

 

From the dim and distant past: Keith's college band