"It's mostly like I was when I started, just for somebody to show me. I didn't have nobody to show me. I bought an old guitar from another guy for $1.50. Old piece of guitar. But I didn't know the difference too much. I just knowed it was supposed to be a guitar. And I got this boy Willie Wilson to tune it up for me. And so that's the way I started myself. None of them showed me nothing but I just got the sound in my head and I'd just hit on round on it till I found the sound I just like myself."
Son House
My guitar lesson with Mike went well enough, yet at the end of the lesson I felt dissatisfaction due to the nature of the material - mostly theory and the music covered (basic blues shuffle) I learned way back when I started almost 3 years ago. I told Mike this and we discussed it for 15 minutes, and came to the conclusion that the best path would be to jam together during the lesson, minimizing the talking and learning through doing. That sounded good to me, but a couple days later I received an email in response to my CL ad, a guy wanted to jam with me, and he had the studio space downtown to make it happen. I decided that paying $35 for a 45 minute jam with Mike was not better than jamming for free for 90-120 minutes, so I emailed Mike and told him the situation, thanking him for his time and kindness. He wrote back and said he understood, and wished me luck.
I breathed easier, something about music lessons brings a hesitation and fear into me - fear of losing my freedom in relation to the creative beauty of the guitar and music. This feeling is instinctive, but is backed up by stories I have read of famous musicians who had the same problem with music teachers - loss of freedom, the things taught being too constricting and rigid. I understand where the problem arises - teaching an art requires speaking about it, analyzing how things work and don't work, and in a way, the analysis kills the spirit of the art. Joseph from Urbana told me that his gf majored in art, and when she graduated never wanted to do art again!
The next day I received another email from Mike. He understood my desire to play a longer jam session, and so offered a reduced rate of $50 for 2 hours of jamming. He ended the email by writing -
"You are a serious player. Rare and Sacred according to my value system. I am happy to be part of your musical community."
There was no way I could pass up a 2 hour jam with a master guitarist for $50, so I decided to go ahead and jam with Mike once or twice a month. I can ask questions during the jam, and I believe this is the key to learning from a teacher - playing along, asking questions when needed. I suggested getting together this Tuesday, so hopefully all will go well.
I recently ordered a guitar gig bag, when that arrives I plan to make the journey downtown to jam with the other guy.
Guitar practice is still moving in a good direction, making small steps of progress from session to session, which quickly add up. My bending is getting better due to increased finger strength and agility. I am beginning to acquire a touch and feel which gives the bend a nice flow and sound. Vibrato is ever inching closer to where it needs to be. My left wrist is getting quicker and more coordinated, and the sound isn't half bad, but still a long way to go. Guitar phrasing and licks vocabulary is expanding, I discovered last night while jamming to a Clapton/Allman studio session that hitting an out of key note one fret before an in key note and bending into the note works and sounds good. Continuing to work with the metronome for speed and accuracy.
Guitar is getting interesting - I have enough skill and knowledge to make good sounds, but have so much more to learn - the momentum I have makes it easy to practice 2-3 hours a night.
"This time I wisely shied away from organized music theory. Sounds from my head found their way to the guitar. I concentrated on playing and not learning about sharps, flats, time signatures, key changes, and chord structures. I didn't want to be cramped by words."
Stefan Grossman
