a guitar post not involving G string jokes
A friend of mine recently posted an entry of discouragement about learning to play guitar. It inspired in me the idea to write a post concerning the intricacies of musical performance. Because not everyone who reads my journal is a musician, I'll cut this.
For all of us guitar slingin' fools, when we first start we're all about virtuosity. I wanted to be the fastest gutiarist with the widest chord vocabulary around. I thought that people would dig me if I was the greatest guitarist in the world, and that being the greatest involved playing like lightning and being able to play any and all music by ear, and technically surpassing the original musician with virtuosity and flair.
In effect, a group of guitarists sitting around comparing technical ability are like a group of guys comparing penis size. Tales of stamina abound, girth, length... But, as any woman knows, size is relatively irrelevant; in fact, too much size and stamina without the knowledge of how best to use it.
It's the same thing with guitar. Every teacher I've ever had has told me this musical mantra: "the notes you don't play are just as important as the ones you do". Never use an Adim13#9 chord when a simple A5 will suffice. Too much technical prowess can diminish the experience. The more technical "bigness" you have, the more important it is to learn how to use it and ease into it so that it's not going to "rip" the minds and ears of your audience.
But still, technical prowess is only part of it. As with sex, what makes for a great time is passion, intensity, connection. While technical ability is good, the whole experience is hollow without that spiritual portion of it all. My friend says "is it a bad thing that I don't want to know the guitar better than I know myself?" No, of course it's not bad. But realize, at least for me, the guitar has been a very helpful tool in getting to know myself. Through deep, passionate musical exploration I've learned many things about myself, things I wouldn't normally know about in just an everyday routine life. Granted, I am not possessed of a very normal psychology; I get along with machines much better than I get along with people. The guitar is a very simple machine which sings, and technical ability is only a means towards getting it to sing for me.
But through my interaction with this machine, I've discovered many wonderful things about myself. And while it is guitar for me, it's different things for other people. Through the guitar, I connect with an entity I refer to as "the groove". I play the groove with my guitar. Painters paint the groove with their paintbrush. Janitors mop the groove with their mop. Secretaries type the groove with theor keyboards.
We've all got different means of connecting to this, but the connection itself is what makes anything powerful, what makes anyone truly masterful at what they do. technical prowess is irrelevant. What matters is how you use what you have to maximum effect.
I thought that was a bit long and scattered for a reply comment, so I decided to just post it in my own journal. Either way, anyone out there who'd like to talk about this more in detail, my AIM screen name and my yahoo! user name are both in my profile. Please feel free to message me if you'dlike to talk about this more.
For all of us guitar slingin' fools, when we first start we're all about virtuosity. I wanted to be the fastest gutiarist with the widest chord vocabulary around. I thought that people would dig me if I was the greatest guitarist in the world, and that being the greatest involved playing like lightning and being able to play any and all music by ear, and technically surpassing the original musician with virtuosity and flair.
In effect, a group of guitarists sitting around comparing technical ability are like a group of guys comparing penis size. Tales of stamina abound, girth, length... But, as any woman knows, size is relatively irrelevant; in fact, too much size and stamina without the knowledge of how best to use it.
It's the same thing with guitar. Every teacher I've ever had has told me this musical mantra: "the notes you don't play are just as important as the ones you do". Never use an Adim13#9 chord when a simple A5 will suffice. Too much technical prowess can diminish the experience. The more technical "bigness" you have, the more important it is to learn how to use it and ease into it so that it's not going to "rip" the minds and ears of your audience.
But still, technical prowess is only part of it. As with sex, what makes for a great time is passion, intensity, connection. While technical ability is good, the whole experience is hollow without that spiritual portion of it all. My friend says "is it a bad thing that I don't want to know the guitar better than I know myself?" No, of course it's not bad. But realize, at least for me, the guitar has been a very helpful tool in getting to know myself. Through deep, passionate musical exploration I've learned many things about myself, things I wouldn't normally know about in just an everyday routine life. Granted, I am not possessed of a very normal psychology; I get along with machines much better than I get along with people. The guitar is a very simple machine which sings, and technical ability is only a means towards getting it to sing for me.
But through my interaction with this machine, I've discovered many wonderful things about myself. And while it is guitar for me, it's different things for other people. Through the guitar, I connect with an entity I refer to as "the groove". I play the groove with my guitar. Painters paint the groove with their paintbrush. Janitors mop the groove with their mop. Secretaries type the groove with theor keyboards.
We've all got different means of connecting to this, but the connection itself is what makes anything powerful, what makes anyone truly masterful at what they do. technical prowess is irrelevant. What matters is how you use what you have to maximum effect.
I thought that was a bit long and scattered for a reply comment, so I decided to just post it in my own journal. Either way, anyone out there who'd like to talk about this more in detail, my AIM screen name and my yahoo! user name are both in my profile. Please feel free to message me if you'dlike to talk about this more.