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5th TACiversary brings new Start
My TACiversary happened 7 weeks ago on June 19th. But hey, I wasn’t inspired to say anything at that time. My guitar journey has been characterized by large ups and downs in my motivation. That doesn’t reflect at all on TAC, but that’s simply typical of me in life. (I actually had a doctor once say I was manic-depressive. That was nonsense. It’s my thinking, which admittedly is exactly what “mental health” is all about. Anyway, my mind gets in the way of my life so badly at times that it can side-line me. Music is about getting out of my own way. Then, the music can flow out of my heart uninhibited.)
My story as it involves TAC has also been very off and on. I have made it a habit to check in pretty much every day. But in the later years, I’d just go my way after checking in. The effect of coming here regularly has caused me to dig into some lesson once in a while cause it’s relevant to my interests and efforts at that time in my guitar journey.
What I’ve found is that I can’t learn much without learning something first. Ok… say what? Music is circular. The more I learn the more I can learn. Or something like that. Just bear with me, cause it’s very hard to put into words since it’s about letting my inner spirit flow out without any control. But I gotta learn control (technique), before I can abandon control. Yeah, I know, it makes no sense. That’s exactly why music has been so difficult for a person like me who lives life from his brain.
I’ll finish in another post as this platform struggles with long winded comments.
MG 🙂
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10 Replies
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Ok, so I’m back. I’m still trying to figure out how to word my experience with music. Here’s what Victor Wooten says in his book, “The Music Lesson”:
There are 10 elements of music (one way to divide it up into elemental parts).
1 Notes
2 Articulation
3 Technique
4 Feel
5 Dynamics
6 Rhythm
7 Tone
8 Phrasing
9 Space
10 ListeningThen he makes the point that melody, harmony, keys, scales, major, minor, 7ths, diminished, augmented, etc, are all part of “notes”. That means that very little is taught about the other 9 elements.
All of this means 2 things that relate to my TACiversary. 1) I have had to learn the other 9 elements on my own. (Like all of us who didn’t learn as kids at the feet of relatives who were “natural” musicians.) The more I learn about these other elements the more I understand what a music instructor is trying to tell me. 2) Tony does a better job of trying to help us understand the other 9 elements than most music instructors.
It turns out, you can’t really “teach” this stuff, but you can “show” it. Tony uses words and academic understanding as little as possible and does as much “showing” as possible. Since I live from my mind, this has been difficult for me to grasp. But, slow by little, I’m getting it.
Ok, this blurb is long enough. I’ll finally get to point in the next “installment”.
MG 🙂
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Ok, the title of my little story. “New Start”.
I’ve recently been trying to get a handle on “the Blues”. So, I’m starting the “30 Days to Play” Challenge/Course over again.
I know I’ll get more out of it this time… a lot more. I think I’m finally at the point to actually learn the “music” that Tony shows and just skip the “knowledge” that might be contained in the lessons.
P.S. – Given my propensity to learn head knowledge, I’ve actually learned so much music theory that I’m a theory expert. (That’s too bad as the theory has stumbled me. Theory can help if we don’t try to “control” the music but simply “express” the music that comes from inside.) Anyway, it’s interesting to teach music theory and know hardly anything about actual music.
Maybe I’ll write a song titled “Brainiac”. =)
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N-light! Congratulations!!! Thanks for sharing. I always am a better musician after reading your posts.
Now do you get what I was saying about how there is only one scale. Where we jump in and out delineates the character.
Love the whole Victor Wooten list. He is one of my musical journey inspirations.
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Thank you so much, @jumpinjeff for reading and leaving encouragement for me. We really do push each other along.
I’m actually going through Victor’s book a 2nd time right now. Other people have to go through Fretboard Wizard multiple times to really get it. I understood one time. Ah, but Victor’s book will take me the 4 or 5 times through to get a real handle on it.
MG 🙂
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Congratulations on your 5th anniversary and it seems you’ve been on a musical journey with ups and downs.
Reading your post, I can relate to what you’re saying but in terms of photography instead of music. I used to do daily challenges in photography and each challenge enhances your knowledge in terms of composition, lighting, depth of field, spacing, texture, etc. Over time, your eye (or ear) finely tunes in what is working and why it is working. To answer the “why” is a huge discovery and not should be taken lightly.
I’m finding, guitar does the same thing but in the auditory realm instead of the visual. Once the pieces are put together, the creative magic happens. It is a journey to discover this and it seems base on your post – that you found that path. Kudos! So here to more music coming from your guitar and now you have the knowledge to know why it works great things will happen! Again congratulations!
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Thank you so much, @TerriG .
I appreciate your kind words of support. Yes, creativity works the same in different areas. It seems to come and go on it’s own schedule. But, we stick to it and we keep growing.
MG 🙂
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Happy 5th TACiversaty @N-lightMike
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Thank you @Marty73 . It’s been fun sharing the journey with you. 🙂
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And one more TACaversary well-wish. I enjoy the journey with you. One of those reasons is your unique but positive point of view and approach to learning. Rather than bemoan certain aspects of learning are difficult, you seem to embrace them and move forward. Congratulations on another year.
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Wow, @albert_d , that’s a really positive compliment, thank you so much.
I have suffered depression and struggled with negativity. So now a days, I try really hard to stay in a positive place. Music sure helps with that.
Guitar is challenging for all of us. Anyone who keeps moving forward has to stay positive and just keep enjoying the journey.
MG 🙂
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