i started playing over 30 years ago,im totally self-taught,& ive had 2 lessons when i was 12,in which i learnt & forgot house of the rising sun & home on the range!...From the very start i never learnt a song off a record,prefering to absorb it & what it meant to me on a emotional level....I always tried to only play just for the expression of my different moods & feelings,in fact i tried as much as possible not to play (i never considered it practising)in the excepted sense!...My guitar playing friends would have guitar for breakfast,& then continue for many hours each day,franticly trying to imitate the guitarist of flavor of the month,(be it eddie van halen,pat metheny or whoever) & yes to some extent they did get better in their playing & a little faster,but to my mind there was something very unsatisfying about this.I think on one hand they saw it as a tool to impress others that they could play exactly like whoever & there was a complete lack of their own identity,...when it came to writing it always sounded a bad imitation of whoever they were into at the time...Of course i would have my favorite players too,but i always felt,that it was something more than just learning a series of notes,& more to do with the inner essense of why these players arrived at these particular notes,& that i should get beyond my influences!...So i began an approach of playing the guitar as if i was the first person to ever discover such a strange instrument!....I began to play like a child,only playing what was nessary,it became almost a form of prayer,both in my playiny & song writing,and it developed a purity about,like a kind of Zen meditation,discarding of ego & only playing for what i considered were the right reasons!....& sometimes not playing for days or even 5 minites at a time.....I would rarely play at partys if asked too,& as soon as i felt i was trying to impress i would stop....even if i was alone at home!....I think the fact that most musicans are generally sensitive beings sometimes we have a greater need of acceptance from others,but to desperately reach out for that has an negitive effect on our playing & on ourselves....So i would always put the guitar down if such feelings arose,& i realised that i could play the same piece of music in quite different ways,anywhere between ego & a pure heart!....Also because of the tendency for us guitarists to "fret-wank"i steered clear of solos for a while & only played them if truely nessesary,& if i was playing live hold back a little,& not give it out in one shot,always retaining more in my pocket...this probally was due to seeing many guitarists "pre-ejeculate"on stage,which i found quite embaressing!.....So the results of my embarked musical journey have been a personnel identity,a sense of joy & freedom.Also the influence of other guitarist are still present should i think of them in the course of a solo or a writing process!....One of the reasons i have taken this approach is that there is,in our times this need to possess,own or even steal,without actually putting the time into to work towards something,so its a kind of reaction to all of that....I dont feel less or better than anyone else,i just feel that im expressing myself in an honest way!....What is also strange is my father is from India,& i have develope a deep resonance to this music,more than jazz,rock or all the other terms that are used for clarification,...to me its all music,good or bad!....My practise if indeed that is what it is,...is to close my eyes only play when i need too,look for the spaces more than the actual notes,& to let the music breath without me trying to take control!......& some future point i might put some GUITAR- MEDITATIONS on this site,which are very rewarding,for any player be it beginner or an advanced player,it depends on the player him/or herself what they find ion these exercises,a certain amount of ability is nessary,but not much!!...Another point i bought guitar magazines for years,& couldnt learn a thing from how it was explained,i just ended up looking at the pictures of guitars....So,finally,when i have a little more time i will write a guitar exersise that all can understand & get something from!.......Happy searching & dont forget to enjoy & have fun,while you play,....The key is you!! Best wishes Kramro.......TBC!
@kramro welcome to IGT..it was nice to read ur experiences/account ur most welcome to post ur work and hope u'll enjoy here too!
yes, that was good to read i just got myself lost somewhere. But, as of now I can only think of is I want to play good, which should sound good and should be able to play anything everything. You may have crossed this stage years back. Thanks for joining and writing on IGT, please keep your posts coming..
