May 15 2008
My Guitar Lesson: Back To Basics
If you have read Guitar Musings for the past couple of months, you might have noticed that I’ve been on a huge Tommy Emmanuel kick. When I listen to the “Live One” CD’s, I get inspired/motivated to keep plugging away and keep working hard at guitar and wanted to learn all about him and his playing. However, you can get too much of a good thing. What do I mean by this? I was so focused on T.E. songs, that my playing narrowed to a point where it has been a bit stagnant. I neglected my theory and exercises that helped me take my playing just a level higher. This isn’t the first time this has happened. I have had Bruce Cockburn, Eddie VH and Eric Johnson obsessions as well. What happened in the past, is that I would stop playing for anywhere from week to many months but not anymore.
So I’m taking step back and pulling out my chord progression book and scales book and remember to work on those more. I recall reading an interview with studio musicians where they talked about how they didn’t work on learning songs but theory and progressions when practicing. This was so they were always prepared for any piece of music that was brought to them to play for recording. This has helped me quite a bit and maybe, just maybe, this will get me a step closer to that elusive YouTube post.
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I’m looking forward to seeing that video! Keep up the work. -Amish
Thanks Amish! I’m hoping to make some progress this weekend!
[...] stepping away from the instrument help me re-evaluate some technique like I vowed in a past rant, “Back to the Basics.” Anyway, I just picked up the axe this evening and it felt good! Didn’t really [...]
[...] my “Back To Basics” post, I mentioned that I needed to work on technique for a bit because I was stuck in a rut and [...]