PlayJazzGuitar.com Forum

[JohnB]

the great guitarists all seem to have a lot of LIFE experience.
what are your insightful thoughts on time spent in the shed versus time travelling and experiencing life?

I think equilibrium is important but then I think that, as Jody Fisher puts it, life is vibration and vibration is music. where do the two collde and it whar mutual ground do they co-exist best?










been to the pub!
_________________
he who kisses the joy as it flies,
bathes in eternities sunrise.

[JakeJew]

I seem to go through extremes in phases. Heavy practicing for a few years, then moreso into other things, then back to practicing, etc.
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"Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure that it is the antithesis of self-consciousness." - Aaron Copland

[MangoTango]

[M]

[JohnB]

yeah very nice!

where are you from Mango? Im in Preston, Lancs.
John
_________________
he who kisses the joy as it flies,
bathes in eternities sunrise.

[greentone]

Ditto--great line about storytelling.

My 2-cents: I've progressed two hours for each hour I've spent on the bandstand, relative to playing at home. I've progressed four hours for each hour I spent on the bandstand when I LISTENED and tried to make my story weave into other musicians' stories, rather than just waiting for the opportunity to "get my thing across."

I've progressed even more when I was fortunate enough to be in the presence of better musicians at the gig--especially when they were hip to my desire to improve.

Moral of the story: play out as much as you can, without acquiring the reputation as a gig polluter, i.e., be sensitive. There is nothing like playing with other musicians when it comes to really making music--time, melody, harmony, etc.
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Soul Jazz & Blues

[Generic Sobriquet]

You live in your house, you live in your house, gotta get out of that old house.
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lll
ll

[andy_rothstein]

[jamester]

[voodobop]

[dewey decibel]

Yes, I think you need to enrich your life in other areas, you need to be well rounded. There are those that are completely focused on music and may have a very big impact, but they're also the ones that tend to burn out quickly. I have a good friend that has been moderately successful at music but tended to get frustrated and would either burn out or get self destructive in other ways. But in the past couple of years he's had a steady girlfriend, a good social life and has had some financial success (he owns his own business), and now his musical life is much stronger than it ever was. Some people seem to think that to be a good artist you need to be in pain or tortured, but I think that BS. Sure that stuff can be powerful fuel, but again it burns out quickly. Positive things run much deeper and last much longer.


This is a little off topic, but it still applies; There's a local player here that a good friend (who's played with him often) and I were talking about. I said something like, "You know, I really like his playing after about the 4th or 5th chorus, but everything before that I can't get it into. It's like he has to warm up on every tune." And my friend replied, "Well yeah, haven't you talked to him?" And I realized that he played just like he talked, or to put it in the context of the conversation he played a solo just like he told a story.

And since then I've noticed similar things with every player I know well personally. Much of it is hard to put into words, but it's really easy to notice personal quirks and the way they come across in someone's playing. And some of it's a good thing, that's what gives you character. But in the example above, the players personal and playing lives would be better served if he worked on how to better formulate his ideas and develop them quicker.

[MangoTango]

[steve]

[Generic Sobriquet]

[JakeJew]

Man it's a tough balance. I think of this music as a something that requires a lot of practice time, and there's a list of about a thousand tangible things that I feel like I'd like to be able to "do" that I can't do yet, and I have to work to be able to do those things.

And the more time I spend practicing (and playing sessions and gigs), the quicker I'll get to that place where I can do all those things.

At the same time, if I spend all my waking hours practicing, then when it comes time to perform, what am I expressing? "hey guys, let me tell you this story about me spending my life practicing."

I too kick myself about time I've had to take off, both forced (for hand issues) and intentional (for playing other music, or just focussing on other things in my life, or a temporarily lost interest in jazz.) But as long as I'm doing something useful and productive I'm growing as a person, and I'm sure that helps my ability to communicate as a musician, both to an audience and to fellow musicians.

But even in my limited experience I can agree fully with Greentone - the best thing is to play with people. That experience is actual life experience - we're communicating with other people, we're being social and interacting.

That's something that's been extremely appealing to me about jazz lately - in a sense, it's social music. You converse through it, you interact with people and that's the whole fun. I've done a lot of rock/folk/songwriter type stuff and although honestly sometimes I find that music more powerful (and I'm much much better at it than I am at jazz) I can't really dig playing with people for that stuff in the same way that I can with jazz.
_________________
"Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure that it is the antithesis of self-consciousness." - Aaron Copland