May 2, 2010. Hey everyone, sorry it's been a while! I owe an explanation, so here's the news with me: The last newsletter was in october of 2009 - since then, I had some mild tendonitis and kind of gave up on typing so much which was really exacerbating it. Then we had some holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas/Hanukah. Then, in January/February were spent obsessing over getting a new guitar and amp. (both links go to my blog: scraggo.blogspot.com) Then after that, I was wrote a piece for my girlfriend's recital, which I will post on myspace or youtube or both at some point. I've also been playing solo jazz guitar gigs, which have been very fun.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Wisdom from Guitar Virtuoso Steve Vai
excerpt from the following Steve Vai masterclass:
Steve Vai Masterclass
"...and you can do the same thing with soloing. You take an idea [...] and just work on it and work on it and evolve it, until finally, I come up with something...weird. Then, that would become part of my musical vocabulary. For instance, take the idea of trills where you flutter the note (fast and repeated hammer-on pull-off combinations). If I just sit and do nothing but that for...an hour, I'm going to come up with something I haven't done before. You do this until you fascinate yourself with some of the weird things you're coming out with. It's like finding a thread and pulling it...or knitting a sweater. That will work its way into your playing."
So what is to be gained from Steve Vai's advice? He's talking about improvisation sessions, setting up a significant amount of time to mess with ONE idea. The stress is on ONE idea and to mess with it until something happens. What is that something? Vai says until he comes up with something "weird." I think he means "interesting" but for him, being weird is synonymous with being interesting! When he says "fascinate yourself," that's all tied together.
The next element in his advice is the ONE idea factor. If you try to cram a bunch of miscellaneous things in a practice session, then you only get a little better on a thing or two, while the rest is glossed over. Believe me, I've heard the advice to do this before, where you spend 15 minutes on scales, 10 minutes on legato, 20 minutes on chords, etc. I feel like there is a place for this - but it's not satisfying to only practice in this way.
I equate the concentrated-one hour-one-idea practice session with experimenting in a laboratory. You have your equipment: guitars, amps, computers, metronomes, recordings, drum beats, etc. You have the ingredients, which are musical ideas such as: tempo, melody, chords, techniques (such as trills, slides, bends, fingerings), etc. Many great players practice this way. I feel like it's not talked about a whole lot because it doesn't really feel like practice when you're doing it! You don't have to be amazing to do this though and it's crucial in developing your own sound and style.
The goal of practicing an instrument, for me, is to become "at one" or "connected" with the instrument. That way, you'll be able to achieve whatever musical goals you have by the sheer virtue of not having barriers between your mind and the instrument. This sort of practice leads to better improvisation ideas which may even become compositions! For the creative (and I believe EVERYONE should try their hands in musical creativity), I highly recommend these sorts of practice sessions.
LINKS
To begin our links, see this amazing improvisation by our wisdom giver extroardinaire:
Steve Vai Demonstration
More Great Guitar Playing
Van Halen Cathedral
Jody Fischer - excellent jazz player
Kenny Burrell rocks. Another jazz guy.
Online Guitar Lessons
These are free lesson guys who don't suck!
http://www.youtube.com/user/sheetsofsound
Soloing over difficult chord changes
Guthrie Govan - Pirate Modes
Guthrie Gowan imitates great players!!!
Bending Lesson
Master The Guitar Youtube Channel
Master The Guitar Website
Learn Music Theory blog
Jazz Guitar, minor 2 5 1
The Fraktured Zone
Combining Blues Scales lesson
More Cool Guitars
Guitarists like guitars, enough said. The following links are ergonomic (contoured to fit your body better.)
http://www.guitarjapan.com/talbo/talbo.html
http://www.edroman.com/guitars/lsr/bodies.htm
http://www.elutherie.org/
http://www.elutherie.org/2009/09/michael-spalt-hybrid-guitar.html
http://www.hohnerusa.com/index.php?1717
http://www.burrellguitars.com/JG023.html
The following links are CRAZY guitars.
MISA Digital Guitar
The MOOG Guitar - infinite sustain!
Giant Guitar from Portugal!
Fernandes Guitar Sustainer
Music and Geometry
For those who are not repulsed by math!
http://music.princeton.edu/~dmitri/
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/07/950.aspx
http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/brain/language/music_mathematics_brain_tymoczko_2006.html?advance
http://www.uwec.edu/walkerjs/MBSGC/
Miscellaneous
Jud Jud - a hilarious group that imitates electric guitar with their voices
The History of the Amen Break - if you like electronic music at all, this is really interesting.
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