Electric Guitar

Blues / Electric Guitar / Learning Music / Performance — No Comments
30
Apr 15

The Passionate LIfe

At a large gathering a few months ago, my wife introduced me to Julie, a woman she had met not long before. As Julie and I got to know each other and shared information about our lives, work and activities, I told her about my learning to play guitar and how much I enjoyed it. I probably said that playing with a band was like a dream come true (when I first started taking lessons in 2009, it seemed a remote fantasy).

After I’d talked about this, she said, “I can see how passionate you are about music by the way your face lights up.”

I thought about this moment several times later and was reminded of how helpful others can be in reflecting who we are. Sometimes people remind us of aspects of ourselves we weren’t conscious of or ignored. In this case, I was well aware that music was a passion for me, but I was happy that it was obvious even to a casual acquaintance.

In thinking about this encounter, I was also reminded of the often-quoted passage in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden:

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

I suspect too many of us become resigned to our lives without even realizing it. The challenges of life can at times be overwhelming and can leave us feeling we have few or no choices. When we’re caught up in the seemingly urgent demands of daily life, we can lose track of priorities. It’s important to find a few moments of quiet to listen to the voice within us. If we listen well enough, we may hear a calling that has gone unheeded.

I’m very grateful to have discovered my passion for music, especially playing blues. It enriches my life in so many ways. I fervently wish that everyone might discover at least one creative activity they feel passionate about whether it’s music, writing, cooking or knitting.

Ensemble Plays at Chicago Church

Our Kagan & Gaines Music Co. ensemble played a set of R&B and blues songs at the Pine Avenue United Church in Chicago Sunday afternoon in honor of Black History Month. The performance went well; we had fun and the audience seemed to enjoy us.

We began with a medley of “It’s All Right,” “My Girl,” and “Rainy Night in Georgia,” then continued with “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” “People Get Ready,” “The Thrill is Gone,” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

At that point, we started playing something I wasn’t expecting, Albert King’s “I’ll Play the Blues for You.” We hadn’t rehearsed it in a while and I hadn’t been practicing it, so it took a moment to realize what the song was and remember the chords.

We concluded with our version of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” It was the perfect finale, because Mickey Johnson went all out in his rendition of Mr. Brown. The audience loved it.

Our ensemble was smaller than usual, because our keyboard player, Vera Beilinson, had to cancel at the last minute, because of illness. Our teacher and leader, Jim Goelitz, who usually plays with us, had a prior commitment.

Alex Scaramuzza and I played guitar, Lawrence Brown played bass, and Justin Young played drums. Mickey Johnson, Mike Estelle, Billy Smith shared vocals in various combinations.

In previous performances, we’ve had music stands, so I had music to refer to if necessary (though I rarely did). This time I didn’t use music and didn’t miss it. There were a few times when I got off track and missed the chord I meant to play, but I hope no one noticed. Alex and I soloed on “The Thrill is Gone,” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

I love playing “Thrill,” and it’s a favorite to solo on, but I felt my solo wasn’t as good as I would have liked. Alex sounded good in his solos, though it’s hard to listen to others in the group when I’m trying to pay attention to what I’m playing.

It was a challenge to hear our singers, because we had no monitors. Afterward, one of the singers said they had the same problem. Kagan & Gaines didn’t supply any equipment for this event, so I used my Crate practice amp. I don’t know how it sounded in the audience, but it seemed to me to be loud enough.

Lawrence, our bass player, is a member of this church, so our group had played here once before on Sunday, October 29, 2011. (My post about it is here.) At that point, I’d only played with the group for a couple of months. It was my first time to play in public with the group. I remember that my anxiety before hand neared panic-attack levels. Since then I’ve gotten more experience playing with the group and performing, I know the material better and my anxiety has greatly diminished.

It’s always encouraging to be reminded that I am making progress in learning to play this music I love so much.

Blues / Electric Guitar / Learning Music / Practice — No Comments
09
Jan 12

Repetition and Music

Repetition is an essential feature of the form and structure of music. Much of the delight of music comes from repetition. This may come from the repeating of key rhythms, notes or phrases or from more complex forms such as theme and variation in classical music.

Repetition is also the foundation of music practice; without it we’d never learn new music.

Since I began learning to play guitar in the summer of 2009, I’ve played the blues scales up and down the neck countless times. I still repeat them every day, but have reached a point where playing them is almost automatic. I can play them fairly reliably with my eyes closed and can always hear when I miss a note.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve also played a few short Delta blues pieces many, many times. I’ve memorized them and when I’ve been practicing them consistently (I sometimes neglect them to practice other things), I can play them reliably. So far they are the only music I feel I’m close to internalizing. There are times when I feel I’ve made them mine in a sense.

Even after playing for more than three years, I can’t get used to how much practice and repetition it takes to learn music deeply–to internalize it. I often feel like I’ve played a piece so many times that I “ought” to have mastered it by now. How many more times do I need to repeat it? There is no way to know in advance. I just have to stick with it until it becomes “second nature.” Fortunately, I enjoy playing the music, so the repetition isn’t an onerous task.

I’ve been playing in an ensemble since July 2011. I’m getting better at playing the songs in our repertoire, and even though I’ve memorized most of them, I’m still a long way from internalizing them. At times I feel frustrated that I haven’t mastered them yet. Then I think of how much I’ve already learned and that reassures me that in time I’ll learn this too. As a breadmaker, I’ve learned that you can’t hurry the dough. It rises in its own sweet time.

Blues / Electric Guitar / Ensemble / Learning Music / Performance — No Comments
29
Oct 11

Milestone: My First Gig (10/29/11)

I got to the Pine Avenue United Church in Chicago about fifteen minutes early and sat in the car trying to meditate and calm myself. I had never played guitar in public before and had only played with our Kagan & Gaines ensemble for a couple of months. For the previous couple of days, I’d been extremely nervous about this event. When I saw Jim Goelitz, my guitar teacher pull up, I went to the door with him. He had brought three large guitar amplifiers from Kagan & Gaines.

Lawrence Brown, our bass player, is education director of the church, so he was already there for the youth outreach program, which lasted all weekend. Justin Young, our drummer, was also already there. Jim and I set up the amps in front of the stage next to where Justin had set up his drums.

The room was a large auditorium-like space the size of a basketball court (there was even a hoop at the end opposite the stage). Near the stage were a number of folding chairs and behind them were folding tables and chairs.

The program started a little after 3:00. Six young women did an interpretative dance to a couple of modern recorded gospel songs. Then four young people from another church did a mime interpretation of two gospel songs. They wore black robes and white gloves. Stark white makeup highlighted their facial expressions.

I’d been nervous that Alex Scaramuzza, guitar, and Mickey Johnson, vocal, hadn’t arrived, but they made it before it was our time to go on. I was relieved our group wasn’t first on the program. It gave me a chance to get used to the space and the audience.

We started with an instrumental, Jimmy Smith’s “Back at the Chicken Shack.” Then Mickey came up and we did “The Thrill Is Gone” “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “My Girl,” and “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.” Even though it wasn’t on the planned set list, Mickey announced Otis Rush’s “Feel So Bad” and we played that after “Thrill.”

He obviously likes that song, and he used it effectively to get the crowd going. He had suggested playing it at our practice the previous evening. Fortunately, I had an intuition to go over the chords yesterday and so I was able to get through it OK. I played almost the entire set without music.

As our final number, Jim picked “Equinox,” the John Coltrane jazz tune, which I felt weakest on. Fortunately, Jim and Alex played the melody. I’m still having trouble with the timing on it. Once Mickey left, the audience started to disperse. They especially responded to “My Girl,” recognized the instrumental lead-in, and sang along.

Blues / Electric Guitar / Learning Music / Practice — No Comments
07
Sep 11

Floating into the Blues

One of the most valuable techniques my teacher Jim Goelitz has taught me is his “trademarked” method of learning chords, which he calls “float and drop.” The goal is to learn the chord shapes as a grip that your hand remembers with precision. To practice chords, you very slowly position your fingers just above the strings (float) and frets you want to press for a chord. Then you very slowly drop your fingers to the strings and strum the chord to make sure it sounds clear. You repeat this process with the next chord.

I find this is an especially helpful way to practice two or more new chords when I’m having trouble getting reliably from one chord to the next. Recently, Jim had me demonstrate “float and drop” for a couple of chords that were bothering me. He noticed that I was moving too fast. He stressed that the movement needs to be like slow motion in a movie. This helps ensure accuracy and precision. Before your fingers touch the strings, they need to be in the exact position for that chord.

It may seem obvious, but in working on a transition from one chord to the next, I realized it helps to notice the most direct path your fingers can take between the two chords. Perhaps a finger stays on the same string and just moves up or down. It’s more effective to practice following this path in slow motion with “float and drop.” It may take a lot of repetition, but eventually it leads to improvement.

Once I’m starting to get familiar with a chord grip or transition, I find it helpful to practice it with my eyes closed. The ultimate goal is to “find” the chords without looking.

Blues / Electric Guitar / Ensemble / Uncategorized — No Comments
07
Jul 11

A Big Step: Playing with Others

This was a Big Day for me: it was the first time I’ve played my guitar with other musicians. I went over to Jeff’s at 8:00 and after his friend Cesar arrived, the three of us played together for an hour or so.

It didn’t go as badly as I feared. I didn’t feel embarrassed or humiliated and while I was probably tense, the atmosphere was loose enough that I had fun. I played some reasonably good leads, but had trouble (as I had anticipated) keeping my place when I played rhythm. In part it was so loud with both the bass and drums in a basement room that it was hard to hear the chord changes.

Jeff would pick a song, and usually said what key it was in. Mostly I wasn’t familiar with the songs. He did a version of Albert King’s “Crosscut Saw” that was in a different key than I was used to, but at least it was a familiar song. For one song, Jeff sang the notes of an accent lick he wanted me to play. I managed to figure out the notes, which pleased me.

On the whole, I felt it was a successful experiment, at least from my point of view. I hope Jeff will be interested in repeating the experiment, though Cesar took his drums home at the end of the evening.

About 10:30 we headed over to the Harlem Avenue Lounge, which has an open mic blues jam on Thursdays. Jeff signed up to play and strongly encouraged me to sign up. I had taken my guitar home to avoid that possibility. Because I was still recovering from a bad cold, I was really pushing it to go at all and should probably have gone home to bed. However, I hope eventually to get up the courage to sign up and play.

I’m glad I went. It was a fun time, and it was good to hang out with Jeff. He knows a lot of the Lounge regulars. I asked him when he first started playing, and he said in junior high, when he was about 12. I wish I’d started that early. At one point in the evening, he mentioned playing with Junior Wells. I’ll bet he’s got a lot of fascinating stories to tell about the guys he’s played with over the years.

Blues / Electric Guitar / Learning Music — No Comments
25
Jun 11

My Third Anniversary

On Wednesday, June 25, 2008, I took my first electric guitar lesson with Jim Goelitz at Kagan & Gaines in Forest Park (a nearby suburb of Chicago). Except for a few gaps of a week or two, I’ve taken a lesson every week since then.

For the first year or so, I took an hour lesson, but then cut back to 30 minutes for reasons of economy. Having a weekly lesson to prepare for has been important in helping me maintain a regular practice schedule. In the beginning I practiced 20 to 30 minutes a day–most days. More recently, I’ve tried to practice at least an hour (usually in two 30 minute segments). Sometimes I practice a total of 90 minutes, but other times I miss a day. I usually average around five hours a week and always wish I could manage more. I’m convinced that more playing time leads to more improvement.

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been playing guitar for three years. In some ways, I still feel like a beginner. Given how much there is, potentially, to learn, perhaps I always will. At the same time, when I look back, I can see how much I’ve learned so far. Scales, chords, riffs, techniques or music that once seemed challenging, if not impossible, I now can play comfortably. There are always new challenges, but fortunately I love learning new things.

Blues / Electric Guitar / Learning Music — No Comments
15
Jun 11

Do I need a guitar teacher?

Many famous blues players were or are “self-taught.” They learned to play guitar by listening to other musicians play, or by listening to radio or to records (remember those big black disks?). They kept listening and kept trying to figure out how to make the sounds they heard with their own guitars. If they were lucky, a member of their family or a friend might show them how to play. Or they might live where they could see and hear a local player. Blues greats from John Lee Hooker to Buddy Guy have learned this way and you can’t argue with the results they achieved. They obviously spent many hours “woodshedding” to develop their skill. It took devotion, commitment, persistence, passion and perhaps some obsession with music. And, of course, some talent.

Nowadays, aspiring guitarists have a lot more resources to draw on. In addition to recordings in your preferred format, there are dozens of instructional books (often with a CD), instructional or concert DVDs, as well as the vast resources of the Internet. The YouTube website alone has thousands of short videos of performance or instruction (though the quality varies).

When I decided to learn guitar, I wanted to begin with a teacher. I thought this would make it easier to get off to a good start and avoid developing bad habits that I would have to unlearn. People differ in how they learn best, but working with a teacher has proved to be good for me. Most of the learning process is still in my hands (literally as well as figuratively), but I believe I’ve learned more and learned it better by having a teacher.

There are two principal benefits to me. While I am very motivated to learn, I still enjoy the “discipline” of having a regular weekly lesson to prepare for. I like having that “deadline” to help structure my time and help me maintain priorities among all the competing tasks and responsibilities. (I’m very curious and interested in a lot of things, so one of my biggest challenges is setting priorities and focusing on what’s most important.)

Even more important is having an experienced and knowledgeable musician to guide me along the path. Of course, Jim Goelitz, my teacher shows me how to play and demonstrates techniques, but he also can watch me play and advise me how to improve. He’ll suggest a better fingering or a very slight change in hand position to get a better sound. For me, it’s invaluable to have someone who notices things that I don’t. I can usually tell if I play a wrong note or don’t make a chord change in time, but he notices if I’m playing the right notes in the wrong rhythm, for example.

I feel very fortunate that I happened to find a teacher who is (1) a good musician, (2) a good teacher, and (3) a good fit for me.

I also draw on other resources: books, CDs and DVDs. Living in the Chicago area, I’m lucky to have easy access to a lot of blues clubs, live concerts and festivals. All of that contributes, but I’m convinced my playing would have developed quite differently without a teacher.

Blues / Electric Guitar / Learning Music — 1 Comment
04
Oct 10

How long does it take to learn to play music?

The Zen answer is “forever.” That runs counter to our culture of instant gratification, which leads you to believe you could be a “rock star” overnight (just learn a few chords). I believe music is a spiritual path that one follows, ideally, without regard to any destination. I know of no creative activity that one can truly master. The great painters, writers, composers, musicians were always striving to develop their art and scorned the notion that they had “arrived”–regardless of any public acclaim they might have received.

When I started taking guitar lessons, I naively imagined that learning to play wouldn’t be as challenging as it has been. I don’t know if I had a specific time line in my head, but I didn’t realize how much there was to learn. Even after more than two years, it feels like I’m still at the awkward toddler stage, at best.

I recently ran across two different sources that mentioned a more proximate time frame. In a 2004 interview with Bill Wyman, Muddy Waters’ son, Big Bill Morganfield said that after his father’s death (April 30, 1983) he wanted to do a tribute to him. He bought a a guitar for himself and for his brother Joseph. “I knew my dad was great, but I didn’t realize how great he was until I tried learning how to play the same stuff he was playing,” Morganfield said. “It took me eight years or so to even get within the ball park of being good enough.” (This interview is one of the extras on the concert DVD Muddy Waters: Messin’ with the Blues [1974].)

In a 1994 interview with Guitar World, Hubert Sumlin said that he had been playing guitar for eight or nine years when he approached Howlin’ Wolf and wanted to play with his band. Wolf said he wasn’t ready. Sometime after Sumlin went home, he had a realization that he didn’t need to play with a pick. “I started playing with a lot more soul. I never used a pick again. My tone, my sound, everything happened right then,” he said.

I can’t even guess how my playing may have progressed after eight years (That’s 2016!). So much depends on how much and how well I practice each day.

In his book, Zen Guitar (1997), Philip Toshio Sudo (1959-2002) says that when beginning students ask how long it will take to learn, he tells them “as long as you live.” He adds, “The Way of Zen Guitar is learned day by day, minute by minute, second by second, now to eternity. There is no faster way.”

George Leonard drew on his knowledge of Zen philosophy and the martial art of aikido in writing his book, Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment (1992). He stresses that mastery “brings rich rewards, yet is not really a goal or a destination but rather a process, a journey.” He says the best way to move toward mastery is to “practice diligently,” but also to “practice primarily for the sake of the practice itself.”

I’m committed to the path of music and plan to continue playing guitar as long as I’m physically able to. I’ll do my best to accept that it will take “forever” and focus on the present moment and what I’m able to play in it and to play that with all my heart.

Blues / Electric Guitar / Live Music Report — No Comments
14
Aug 10

Magic Slim and the Teardrops

This was the third time I’ve seen Magic Slim and the Teardrops this year at Kingston Mines, but it was a special treat, because in the first set Magic Slim played a Fender Jazzmaster. This was his primary guitar on his early recordings, including my favorite album of his, Grand Slam (1982). In his hands (he uses a thumb and a finger pick), the Jazzmaster had a more twangy, stinging tone than does the Les Paul Classic that I’ve see him play before and which he played during the second set. (He doesn’t use effects pedals, but plugs directly into the amp.)

Magic Slim at Kingston Mines August 14, 2010

Magic Slim is a master of the shuffle. Many of his songs are based on this fundamental blues rhythm. Born Morris Holt on Aug 7, 1937 in Torrence, Mississippi, Magic Slim is one of the elder statesman of Delta-flavored Chicago blues. He was given his blues moniker by West Side Chicago bluesman, Magic Sam, a Mississippi friend. Magic Slim is no longer slim, but he’s still tall and he definitely still has the magic. There are guitarists who can play faster and with more flash, but very few who can convey the depth of feeling Magic Slim can with seemingly little effort.

At this performance, The Teardrops consisted of Jon McDonald (Fender Stratocaster and vocals), Andre Howard (electric bass) and Brian Jones (drums). They provided a solid rhythmic base for Slim’s singing and playing. During the second set, a trombone player joined the band (I couldn’t catch his name). Additional photos of this event are on Flickr.

I’m already looking forward to more Magic in September when the band returns to Kingston Mines as well as to Buddy Guy’s Legends.

Making Music On the Road to the Blues