Bass

Laura Lee & Louise

I was planning to take the day off from guitar because tomorrow is jam #2 (Blueberry Jam) at Joseph's house, but the old saying "strike while the iron is hot" is applicable, so in the morning I practiced a bit with the bass guitar, and then switched over to the strat (I bought a new bass guitar and amp yesterday!).

I don't know if I wrote about this already, but about a month ago I was working on vibrato while watching a movie and I discovered a wrist action/motion which created a sweet vibrato sound. It goes against established mechanics of vibrato in that I move my wrist up and down rather than left to right, but it works and is very easy to do. It requires a light touch and a small movement of the finger. Prior to discovering this I had been pressing the finger down too hard, and the wrist movement was too exaggerated because I was trying to imitate the correct procedure. I remember writing an entry about forgetting about book technique and searching for the correct sound rather than the right mechanics. This idea brought about my new vibrato and I am proud to say that it is my own invention.

Having obtained the beginnings of a vibrato, the next thing I need to work on is sliding the fingers to notes two or more frets up or down the board. I am beginning to find the correct mechanics and this should not be as difficult as vibrato, it just needs a lot of practice to cement the muscle memory of the distances. So I worked on that today while jamming in the late morning (an unusual time for me to practice).

Later in the day as the sun was going down I could not resist picking the guitar up and playing some more, this time to Canned Heat's second album. This was my first long double practice session, and I think there will be more now that I am making progress and things are starting to sound good. My fingers held up nicely, 3 hours of playing and no soreness or blisters. I played to a few new songs, one being a Nick Moss version of Howling Wolf's Louise. The main bass line is hypnotic, and I surprisingly found the 8 note line rather quickly. I played the bass line and then made a quick transistion to playing lead - fun! I will post the live version I was playing along too, Nick Moss is amazing!

Lastly, I felt the need to name my guitar, and decided upon Laura Lee...

Spoonful

The musician seeks to let the music play the music, but he must practice a long time before that can happen.

- quote tacked to the cork board in my music room

I have not mentioned my guitar practice lately, but I have been practicing daily. Things are starting to heat up, get interesting.

Learning guitar, or anything, is foremost an art. I don't have the ability to sit in a class or in front of a teacher and feel comfortable with what they are imparting. Books are good, but in a physical activity, such as golf or guitar, just moving into it, getting the feel of the stick in hand, swinging over and over, is the crux of the process. The reason why learning an activity is an art is because during practice the analytic mind becomes observer, making notes, and remains silent. Some people possess a scientific mind in which the analysis kicks in during the process, but I am glad I am not one of them - a silent mind is my best friend.

If the analytic mind is silent, how do I learn? Although the silent mind appears deaf and dumb, I believe it is dancing relentlessly to the beat of the will. How else to explain the consistent progress and moving forward in my guitar quest?

For the past 5-6 weeks my main mode of practice switched from sitting in a chair, banging out the Jamie Andreas walking exercise, to a standing one man jam. An hour before the sun sets I feel the pull of the guitar, so I pick it up, open the music folder on the computer, and play along to Canned Heat's first album, minus one song. After finishing the last song from the album I move to Phish's Backwards Down the Number Line. I then select one or two Cream songs, and ready myself for the finale - turning the volume way up and jamming to the 16 minute live version of Spoonful. I am connected to that song for a reason which eludes me, but one of the first things I recognized on the guitar during my first month of the quest was the two note switch back of Spoonful. I did not know it at the time but it would become one of the things which propelled me forward in the quest.

When I began the jamming practice method six weeks ago I was a bit shaky, feeling uneasy with how the guitar felt while standing. But with daily practice (60-90 minutes), my fingers toughened up further and standing began to feel more expressive than sitting. When bending a note my body bends with the string, when doing a fast note progression my eyes close and I get lost in the valley of sound which surrounds me in the darkness. Last week a desert like heat descended upon central Illinois and it was too hot to play in the late afternoon, so I took three days off. I felt uneasy during the absence and knew that I had become addicted to the beautiful sound expression reflected in the mood of a day just lived through. When the heat broke last Sunday I picked up the guitar and noticed a leap in ability and skill - note runs were cleaner and faster, the fingers were stronger, more agile and accurate. The three day layoff allowed the silent, analytic mind to work its magic, without any interference from the conscious self. The art of learning guitar was in bloom on that magical Sunday evening.

Today I experienced a BIG jump - jamming to the usual song list, I was comprehending with more precision and a fuller memory the pentatonic scale along the length of the fret board. During the past six weeks I have noticed a slow and steady increase in comfort with the notes in the scale, and today it felt almost effortless, the fingers moving up and down, back and forth, with little conscious thought, allowing the mind to concentrate upon the emotions and sounds - the meaning of the music - rather than the mechanics needed to achieve the desired sound. Added to this was another increase in speed and accuracy, along with the right hand pick gliding to the strings with greater precision. The music which emanated thus sounded confident, less abrupt and choppy. During the final song, Spoonful, I created a driving avalanche of sound which made me wonder how it all came about.

I have the sensation that I have reached the point of no return - the guitar has become a part of my experience, an extension of my life. It is looked upon with affection and love, and I trust that it will open to me a small part of its beauty and mystery each time I hold it in my caring hands.

?

After studying various details of traveling in Thailand, I was disappointed that I have no acceptable reason for extending my visa by more than 30 days. Student? Business? Visiting family? All no, so that leaves me with the tourist visa, which is 30 days. After the 30 day period I am required to leave the country for a day, and upon returning can get a 15 day extension stamp. The border runs can supposedly be repeated indefinitely, but the cost and long journey would soon become a burden once the novelty waned.

Flying into Thailand is not as simple as I thought it would be. I did not know that most countries will not allow someone to arrive with a one way ticket. Since I do not know when I am to leave Thailand, or by what method (train, bus, plane, boat, foot), I do not want to tie myself to a date and place of departure. A round trip ticket, which is required for entry, is not something which will promote wandering and a sense of timelessness. The cost of the ticket, ~$1200, is also more than I would like to pay, especially since flying to Costa Rica costs ~$450.

Since Thailand does not want tourists staying longer than 30 days, I have decided that it does not fit my main purpose - to live freely for the longest amount of time. The cost of border runs would deplete my savings faster than if I stayed at home.

I then studied details of travel in Costa Rica, and found things a bit more encouraging - a 90 day visa and cheap airfare had Thailand beat. However, the cost of living in Costa Rica is almost equal to that of living in the USA, so what then is the point of leaving the USA? I realize leaving my comfort zone and learning Spanish and immersing myself in a new culture can lead to immense growth, but growth in what area? One of the reasons I want to visit Thailand is to learn about their Buddhist culture. I don't know anything about the religious culture in Costa Rica, but my initial guess is that the Buddhist tradition there is not as strong as in the Far East.

It is now time to step backwards and reflect anew, starting once again the process of planning a new direction in my life. Having a nice apartment in a nice town has me considering that my best plan of action is no action. If my amount of leisure time can be maximized by remaining in Urbana, then not leaving may be the best choice. But my inner guide is restless and wants to strike out and explore something new.

To stay or to go.....

?

Wandering

After making the decision to resign from my job on 11/11/11, the next step was to decide upon a destination. I have no great desire to be anywhere in particular, so I wrote down the things which were important to me. Inexpensive, warm, somewhat safe and clean, were things which came to mind. That knocked out half of the world and I was left with the continents in the tropics. It came down to Central/South America and SE Asia. Once I made a choice the ball would begin to roll, so I picked Thailand as my initial point of arrival.

The next step in planning is to acquire knowledge of the country, its laws, culture, popular towns and areas. I also need to plan the logistics of the trip. Airline tickets, visas, what type of backpack to bring, what to put into the backpack, how to manage the initial 30 day period, border runs, departures to other countries. It is a bit overwhelming.

I will make an outline of the things which need to be studied and decided upon, and then work down the list, taking my time. I imagine it is a bit like planning a battle in a large scale war -something misunderstood, or entirely missed, could bring defeat.

11:11

I was walking through the park last week and in a moment of clarity decided to choose November 11 as the date of my departure. While leaving before the arrival of winter is pleasant to ponder, the mystical 11:11 is what drew me to that month and day. Since childhood, whenever I have seen 11:11 (mainly on digital clocks) my mind becomes reflective and somewhat shaken - the number acts as a trigger for a memory of something which has not yet happened.

Having chosen the date, the next task is deciding upon the initial place of arrival. I have a world map laid out on the kitchen drawing table, and every day I study it, hoping for an insight or inspiration which will lead me to the correct and logical choice. With four months remaining I appear to be on schedule for making an important change in my surroundings and circumstances.

At times I have the idea to stay put and believe that the odd desire to leave all that I know is an effect of a restless mind. But this sentiment is soon overruled by a strong emotion which I recognize as my inner compass. It is this voice which has led me to the place where I now sit, and the important choices which I have made in the past have followed it faithfully. Long ago I decided that I would follow this voice over all others, and if it brought me to ruin so be it. One of the main purposes of my life is to use it to test ideas of spirit and integrity. Money, career, stability, things which seem on the surface to be good and worthy, are trappings which destroy that purpose, the reason being that to obtain these things I would need to do work which is dead to my heart - when the heart is dead, the voice is silent.

My guitar quest is moving steadily along. The past few weeks there has been more improvement, along with new ideas and practice methods. Since implementing the idea to forgo vibrato book technique, and learn it instead through trial and error, I have been liking the direction, and made a breakthrough a few days ago. My stamina and finger strength now allow me to practice for longer periods and I am using this new found endurance to play along to live Cream songs which last from 12-16 minutes each. Jamming to Spoonful for 16 minutes is an incredible experience, I follow the bass and drums as if the band were in my living room, using the rhythms to create improvisational leads. I can have long runs where everything flows smoothly before the finger patterns break down. I have also been playing to Canned Heat's first album. I have reached a point where I can create notes which sound like the blues, but I am still a number of years away from achieving the level I would like to be at - with each passing session the confidence that I will reach this higher level grows stronger.