Guitar Musings

About a year ago, I spent an evening Jamming with a friend.   It’s a time that I look forward too because our sessions are usually great; the kind that give you chills.  No chills that night. I sucked it up, big time.  I was devastated by the thought that I didn’t play up to my ability and practiced even more to make sure that this didn’t happen again.

About a month ago, I met again with my friend and we broke out the guitars and played.  Success!!!  We both got into that zone where you couldn’t make out whose guitar was whose and the melodies and chords filled the room.  This is one of the reason why I play, for moments like this. 

I spent many days thinking about what was different between the two sessions. What I came to realize was the success came from me staying true to my ability as a guitarist instead of trying to match my friends style.  He and I have played together for 20+ years and know each others ways very well.  We can anticipate each others progressions and ideas in while playing.  It’s a beautiful ting.  As guitarists, we are two sides of a coin when it comes to our style.  I’m a fingerstyle acoustic player and he’s an progressive electric guitarist/shredder. 

In the past, my problem has always been that I try to play in they style of my friend instead of mine.  I grab a pick and attempt to play fast and even though, I’m not bad with a pick, I’m much better using my fingernails.  I struggled in past jams because I was featuring my weakness instead of my strengths.   Our last successful jam, I utilized my strengths and funny thing happened;  I played pretty damn well.

It’s a great thing to be flexible and well-rounded as a guitar/player musician.  I try to expand my boundaries as a guitarist everyday and will continue to do so.  I have become a better player not because I practiced more, I became a better musician because I learned to embrace and be true to my style.

As you may know, I’m a huge Bruce Cockburn fan and when I discovered the documentary, “My Beat: The Life and Times of Bruce Cockburn” at Amazon, I had to have it.  A brilliant documentary that gives just a bit of insight into the genius of Bruce Cockburn and his writing process. 

Highlights include:

• Studio footage of Bruce working with Andy Milne and Dapp Theory in his pursuit of overcoming writers block.
• Concert footage from when her got his first break to the Breakfast at New Orleans, Dinner at Timbuktu tour.
• Witnessing the birth of  “Postcards from Cambodia”  from “You’ve Never Seen Everything.”  He was working through the lyrics and music for this song and tried out the chorus for the first time on camera.  Truly moving to watch.

If you are an aspiring song writer or just someone who loves the music of Bruce Cockburn, this documentary is highly recommended.  From interviews with friends and family and words from Bruce himself, you will learn just a bit more about this modern day troubadour.

Today, in our household, is pumpkin day because it just isn’t Halloween unless you carve up a few pumpkins.  There are so many stencils out there, you can create almost any kind of likeness you want on your pumpkin. 

Maybe not….

This year I wanted to do a guitar themed carving but for the life of me, I couldn’t find any stencils at all, except one.  It’s a Les Paul type of stencil and not as hard to do as I thought. Now that I have carved my first guitar, I think I might be able to work out an acoustic version next time.  If anyone has found any good guitar stencils for pumpkin carving, please leave a comment and share where we can get them. 

Happy Halloween!

Links:

Les Paul Stencil compliments of Doeringer Guitars

I would like to introduce Hercules Castro as a new guest writer for Guitar Musings. Hercules and I grew up and learned the guitar together. I know you will enjoy his insights on the guitar and making music.

Meet My Friend

I’d like to talk about my good friend, the big red button. By this, I mean the Record button. Now, I’m not talking about recording in the sense of producing CDs, videos or demos. That comes later. For now, I’m talking more along the lines of creating a progress report.

In the Beginning

When I was a young lad, one of my favorite things to do was plug my amp into a dual cassette recorder with a mic input, play anything, record it, then take the tape to school to generally irritate all of my friends. Later, I figured out if I took the tape and put it in the other deck, recorded its contents onto another blank tape with a drum machine plugged in and going, I could multi-track. After I repeated the process with multiple guitar tracks and a borrowed bass, the line noise had built up so much that you could barely hear the instruments. Plus, it was a one shot deal per recording so I learned to either live with the occasional mistake, or just don’t make mistakes. But I had a recording that not only captured a song idea for later use, but also a small snapshot in the development of my technique.

Monitor Your Progress

Now I’ll shift gears for a second. One thing that I find as I practice is that day to day, I never get better. It’s like a body builder who lifts, looks in the mirror, and sees no change. This can be very discouraging. But one thing that body builders are encouraged to do is have pictures taken of themselves periodically during their development. Over time, the changes are more noticeable. The same is true with playing and developing technique. This is why I highly recommend getting a big red button.

Resources are Everywhere

These days, with a computer in every home and a plethora of affordable recording hardware and software, there is no excuse not to push the big red button every now and then. That is, except for one; nerves. Very few things, save for live performance, can bring sweat to palms like knowing that the button has been pushed and it’s time to do your thing. Just remember this; it’s just you and the button. The button doesn’t judge, it just captures. You be the judge. But you have to put something down to judge.

Mistakes are OK

Also with most systems, along with a big red button comes a big Delete button. There’s no shame in using the big Delete button. You want to capture your best effort at that time, so don’t be afraid to try again and again and again until it’s as good as you can get it. If you can’t get it as good as you want it, step away from the button, work it out, come back, and push the button again.

It Gets Easier

The two things that I’m thankful for after years of using the big red button are, one, that I have something to listen to and say “Wow, I actually have progressed since then!”, or “That’s an area I’m still not happy with, I should focus on that”. The other is that I’ve become proficient and confident enough with the recording process that I can create real projects, make my own CDs inexpensively and on my terms, and help others with their projects.

So like The Chemical Brothers say “Don’t hold back, the time has come to galvanize, push the button”.

Links:

www.herculescastro.com  (Home page of our guest writer)

I’m at 11,000 ft in the Colorado mountains, just got my tent setup and the sleet/snow begins to fall, driving me in for cover.  Like chard’s of plastic falling on my rain fly, a rhythm began to emerge.  Embracing the moment, I unpacked the guitar and being to jam with nature.  For a good forty minutes it was just me, my guitar and the rain.  An inspired  forty minutes that washed away the ass kicking that work gave me the past month.

I used to be extremely uncomfortable being alone up there or any place away from the distractions of technology because I was forced to face the many thoughts/ideas/rants rattling around in my head.  It could be quite nerve racking and I preferred to drown it out with iPods, computers or conversations with friends.  Over the past couple trips, I have found that this “alone time” was an opportunity to face the cacophony of thoughts in my head and I was forced to organize and purge; getting comfortable with myself and in turn, more comfortable, with my playing.

So here’s to getting more comfortable and getting better!