Sometimes It’s Not About Perfect

Posted on August 7, 2018 by SusanG

Sometimes it’s not about being perfect. Or even being in the right key. Sometimes it’s the thought and the fun.

Kevin, with the Charlotte Blues Jam had a birthday recently. It was on a jam night. After wishing him a happy birthday on Facebook and responding to his ‘see you tonight’, I asked if we should sing. To which he responded ‘Only if it’s Blues!’ Little did he, or I, at the time, realize he had thrown down a gauntlet that I apparently felt a need to pick up.

I spent some time lamenting that I didn’t remember, and therefore couldn’t play, the Beatles’ song, ‘Birthday’. And then I thought I let go of the idea of doing something for him. Apparently not. Because. Just a couple of hours before the jam, with me about to get in the car and head that direction, the idea hit me. And I couldn’t let it go. On the surface it seems like a simple thing to do. Take a blues song, change up the words to be a ‘happy birthday’ sort of song. Except I chose one of the more difficult songs for me to sing as my base song.

I worked on the new words in my head on my drive to the jam and then wrote them down as soon as I pulled into the parking lot. I had enlisted some help before I got in the car so once there, the last bit was to get ‘my help’ and me in the same band. That turned out to be fairly easy. And of course, then, as we got ready to start the song Kevin wandered off to get some food and drink. He nearly missed his song. Fortunately, there’s video.

The first song that came to mind to do the rewrite of was ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’. This is not the easiest song for me to sing. Why I didn’t think this through I have no idea except that I was caught up in the idea with a short amount of time to pull it together. There really wasn’t time to consider other songs. It worked out though. When we started the song everyone else thought we really were doing ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’. Until I switched up the lyrics.

Admittedly, I was a little off key. I’m a little disappointed about this, though not surprised. It turns out, it’s hard to suddenly sing a whole new set of words over a melody you already struggle with. Add to that, I hadn’t had time to learn the words so I had to read them from the scrap of paper I wrote them on. There’s a recipe for not the best performance. But you know what. It doesn’t matter. It was done in fun, good spirits, and genuine affection. When that’s the whole point, it’s not about perfect.

As I noted. There’s video. I’ll get it sorted out and posted as soon as I can. I’ve got one or two songs that I may need to get the names of at some point. I sang a couple of new, for me, songs. They went well enough that I’ll be working on them more so that they are a bit more ready for their next opportunity. It looks like we’ve got a couple of weeks before the next jam so there’s time for practice. Though it will be here way sooner than I expect. That’s ok. It will still be fun.

Enjoy some pictures that I pulled from some of the video of the most recent jam.

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Interesting Experiment

Posted on July 31, 2018 by SusanG

This is probably going to be a shorter post than usual. Not because there isn’t stuff happening that’s worth writing about. There’s always stuff happening, and a bunch of it is usually worth writing about. Actually, this week it’s pretty simple. I just want to go play my guitars.

Before I do that though, I thought I’d fill you in on what I found with the lighter strings.

I tried the Billy Gibbons strings from Dunlop, in the 7’s and 8’s on two different guitars. I really like the feel of the light strings. Oh my. They are an inspiration. Lots of fun for my small and not overly developed hand. I can glide over them without a lot of effort. And they even work for some of the rhythms I play. The lighter gauge makes it easier to finger and maintain. Unfortunately, I don’t like the tone. I find the higher strings a bit too tinny for my taste. On both instruments. I also don’t like the tonal disparity when transitioning from the lower strings to the higher strings. It sounds like two different guitars. I can see this being a really cool trait if you play mostly lead with more three string power chords for rhythm. For straight rhythm that sometimes uses the middle four strings, it’s not too my liking. I find it very discordant.

Because of that I checked some of my other instruments. I have some Ernie Balls on a couple of guitars. One has just the slinkys in 9’s and the other has Cobalts in 9’s. I don’t like either one of these for similar reasons. The slinkys are too tinny for me. The Cobalts feel like I’m fighting to get tonal and volume equilibrium.

Because I didn’t like the tonal quality of the 7’s I put D’Addario EXL130’s, which are 8’s, on my Les Paul, instead of the 7’s. The tonal balance is much better. The jumps between the strings in their gauge is a little smaller and I’m guessing that that is some of what makes the difference. I have a set of the D’Addario NYXL in 8’s that I’m looking forward to trying. I was going to put them on the guitar that currently has the Billy Gibbons 8’s but just realized that that would be silly since I hope to take that in for some adjustments soon which means it will likely be getting new strings at that time. I think I will replace the
slinkys with the NYXL’s instead. That will be a good test.

While looking for strings for my electric guitars, I also wandered over to look at acoustic strings. Partly because I discovered that the strings on my acoustic are 12’s. No wonder I don’t play that one that much. Anyway. I found some 10’s and they feel much better. They sound good too. And my playing sounds better. Nice win all around then.

So, interesting experiment with the guitar strings. About the only thing left for me to decide is if I prefer the EXL series or the NYXL series for my electrics. Well, and weight. But that I think I will keep varied depending on the guitar. I think I’ll stick with the nickel wound though. They seem to meet my needs at this point.

There you have it. My fun filled couple of weeks with guitar strings.

I’m still working on getting new videos posted. I’ll need to get it done quick though as there’s another jam coming up this next weekend. Yay! I’m looking forward to that. It promises to be a fun time. I’m also with the Box Guitar club this weekend on Saturday. It looks like a busy music weekend for me. No complaints about that. It’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Going to go play now. See you soon.

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When a Certification Test Meets The Blues

Posted on July 24, 2018 by SusanG

Learning stuff about yourself can be scary, sometimes it can be painful, like when we aren’t ready to look at something, and sometimes it can be really interesting. Especially when it turns out to be something that answers a bunch of questions. Of course then, when it’s something that should have been so obvious it can be… exasperating, frustrating, a relief, and even a little mind blowing all at once.

I have to take a test for a certification for the day job. I tried doing this last year and was unsuccessful and frustrated. I found it such an unpleasant experience that instead of being determined to pass the test, I went off and did something else, not day job something, just education something. The requirement to pass the test, raised it’s ugly head again this year. Much to my frustration and anger.

I don’t have a very high opinion of certification tests. In my opinion, they are not a demonstration of actual ability. To me they just show how much of the book you can regurgitate. This is personal opinion mind you, shaded by the frustration of not being able to read the book for said test for more than three paragraphs before finding myself nose planted in the middle of same book, snoring.

Were this a new thing I would think I was just being childish. However, this isn’t a new phenomenon. I’ve had the same experience over many years with a variety of subjects, even with subjects I was excited to learn about. I’d be all enthused to start on something, and by the time I was three chapters into the book most of my enthusiasm was gone and frustration had started setting in. By the way, I have a similar experience in lecture and video presentation situations as well.

With the need to pass this test looming and frustration at reading the same paragraph 15 times growing, and yet knowing the primary way to study for this test was/is to read this book, I was desperate. I had to figure something out.

On a fluke one day, I had some drum sticks in my hands as I was reading and I was beating in time with the music I had playing when I realized that the stuff I was reading in the study book was starting to stick, and make sense. And I found that things that were on the test, but I swore weren’t in the book, actually were. So drumming while I’m reading makes the stuff stick. Ok. If it works I’ll keep trying it. After sharing this with my Mother and her suggesting I look up a few things, I finally found something on learning styles. Holy cow.

Short disclaimer here. I’m not an educator. I’m not trained in this area of study. I have not done extensive research on the topic. Though I did do some research to verify that what I was reading tended to correlate across the writings I found.

In layperson terms, and as it relates to me, here’s how I understand learning styles. For this explanation, there are three primary learning styles. I specify this because I’ve come across discussion of more. But these seem to be generally agreed upon as the primary ones.

There is the visual learner, who learns quite well or best just from reading. This appears to be the largest percentage of the population. There is the auditory learner, who learns best from video or lecture presentation or even audio books. They are the next largest percentage of the population. And there is the kinesthetic learner, who learns best from activity and is the very smallest percentage of the population. As I understand it, most people are combo learners that favor one method more than another. Those that are kinesthetic learners require activity, and often movement and learn best from doing, mentoring, and apprenticeship. Ask them to learn from a text book, a lecture, or video presentation and they are likely to fall asleep.

There were a lot of characteristics about the kinesthetic learner given. How they learn and what they go through trying to learn in a traditional setting. Also, what some of the advantages people who learn this way actually have. It was fascinating to finally find the information that actually applied to what I have experienced. It was also exasperating to realize that I had been saying so many of the things that describe a kinesthetic learner about myself over the years and it seems no one has been listening to me. Not even me.

You’re probably thinking, ‘well have you tried…’. Trust me, other than drugs stronger than caffeine, yes, I probably have. What seems to be most effective, at least for me, is to doodle during lectures or things I just have to listen to, and for things I have to pay visual attention to like reading or video presentations, drumming. Now I have a way to pass this test. I hope.

If you’re wondering how this has anything to do with music or my current experiences with going to the blues jams and all that has been going on with that, well, it turns out, it’s kind of the ideal environment for me. People with the kinesthetic learning style tend to learn from doing and from activity. They think well on their feet. They figure things out. They make good Firemen. If you think about what is required for that job you can get an idea of some of the traits involved.

So, when I get up on stage at a blues jam and I’m just another guitar player, I’m not singing, and someone says lets do this song. Once I know what key it’s in and some basics about the tune, I’m good to go. I really don’t have to know the song to join in and have a good time. As I learn more songs, and more skills I find I get even more comfortable with this. And I’m still learning.

Don’t get me wrong. That doesn’t mean I show up at a jam and just jump in without any preparation. That’s not the case. I don’t have that level of skill yet nor am I arrogant enough to think I can pull something like that off. No. I practice. I spend the time and make the effort to improve my skills, and learn new techniques and styles.

The Blues Jam is great because, by definition, it focuses on the Blues. The Blues has some basic frameworks that most songs fit within. This makes just getting up and playing, with a small set of skills, a fairly easy thing to do. I need to know what key, and a rough idea of the rhythm and I can give you something to play over. Not as heroic as running into a burning building, but, it requires some of the same traits. And, though, I am reasonably comfortable doing that with the Blues, I’m not there yet with other genres. Not everything is as forgiving as the Blues can be when it comes to still growing skills. It can also be really
rewarding when you find you have the right tools in your musical toolkit to really rock a song. So I practice. And I work to fill my musical toolbox. And if I don’t have the tool yet, well, I just figure it out.

Last bit. I’ll be posting videos from the last Blues Jam soon. I was able to knit together the one that was split with very little difficulty thanks to Adobe Premier. Yay! We’ve got another week or so before the next jam and I’m still working on getting better at the vocals for ‘The Sky is Crying’. I’m also working on a new one that was suggested. I hadn’t really encountered it before but it’s quite a fun tune, ‘Down-Home Blues’. I’m still a little rough on the vocals and trying to find a good key for me. I’m looking forward to playing and singing this one. I think it will be a lot of fun.

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And Yet…

Posted on July 17, 2018 by SusanG

It’s interesting to me how we might think of ourselves as a certain something or in a certain role and how things can change.

Until this year, I never thought of myself as a singer. And even until a few months ago, I would have argued, that I’m a guitar player who happens to sing. And yet. I have had enough experiences, and opportunities that have pointed out to me that, while I am a guitar player, I am also a singer. I could go into how surprised I was or how I just felt like I was filling a need or any number of explanations or stories. And interesting though they may, or may not, be it really doesn’t matter how I have arrived here. What matters now is, now that I’ve accepted that, what will I do with that.

For starters, and I’ve probably mentioned the need to do this before, I need to spend at least part of my practice time specifically focusing on my vocals. Things that I had not given much thought to before, like finding a good key for the song and my voice, now become part of the process. Coming to an interpretation that both stays true to the song and yet allows my voice and style to shine. And learning to project the right emotion to go with the song so it can be really felt. Those now become things I focus on. It’s no longer just about learning the words and the basic melody for a song. This is the blues. These songs are meant to reach down deep into you and move you.

Don’t think, just because I’m working on my vocals that I’ll be giving up on the guitar playing. Not even close. I’ve got so much I still want to learn and figure out. I’m still working on being able to solo better. And, there’s lots more I can learn to do with rhythm as well. I can get a little fancier, add some flourishes, and that’s just to the things I already do. There are other rhythm patterns I’m still trying to figure out how to do. And at the moment, all of what I do, I’m really just figuring it out. I take the information that people at the Charlotte Blues Jam and the Carolinas Box Guitar Club have been incredibly willing and generous to share with me and I use that as a starting point to go off and try new things, and learn new things.

Because that’s my approach, I try to be as open and sharing with what I do as everyone has been with me when asked about how or why I do something. Though, I will sometimes back pedal on something I say or share in deference to someone with more experience. I don’t want to upset someone’s apple cart too much if they have an instructor that has a certain philosophy. And yet. I forget, that the person asking the question may be asking me, instead of the instructor because, I’m closer to them along the path. I’m doing it now, or did it yesterday. They may have asked the instructor and either got no answer or something that was completely useless or frustrating to them at that moment. If the instructor has been at something a really long time and are really good at what they are teaching, then they may not remember being way back down the path and what that felt like and how they did approach something. And sometimes, it’s just easier to ask the person next to you because, hey, maybe they have a cool way to do it that makes it easier for you.

It really doesn’t matter what your skill level is. Even as a beginner, or intermediate level musician, singer, or whatever, you have information that someone who hasn’t done it yet can use. It might be right, it might be wrong, it might not matter, what they want to know is ‘how did you figure it out’. Because on any road to learning something, there is always a worry or thought of, ‘Am I doing this right?’, ‘It seems so simple. This can’t be right.’, or ‘Wow, this is hard. There has to be a better way.’, and even, ‘Who am I fooling? This can’t be the way it’s done.’ So, answering those questions, with what your experience has been, lets others know, there isn’t just one way to do it. Trust me. ‘Stormy Monday’ sounds just as good in B as it does in G.

Here are some pictures from this week’s blues jam at Moochies Tavern. We had some technical issues that were over come. I got to hang back and just hold down the fort for a number though I did take a lead on that one that I think sounded ok. It was a great time. There were some incredible moments, a bass solo, as well as a drum solo, and we were treated to the fabulous playing of a very talented young man, Joshua King. I’ll get the videos up as soon as I can. Some may take a little longer than others. I have discovered that I’m going to have to learn how to stitch video this time. Ah, more things to learn.

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My Guitars are Calling Again

Posted on July 10, 2018 by SusanG

You know that feeling, when you can’t wait to get home to play with your new toy? You get a new computer, or a new book, or new guitar, or whatever your thing is, and then you have to go off to school or work and you just can’t wait for that to end so you can get back home and get back to your new toy. Yeah. After some really cool stuff this weekend, that was me at the day job. And no, I did not get a new guitar or other instrument this weekend. Though, in some ways, I might as well have.

I’ve been struggling a little lately. Both with singing and with playing. I practice and practice and sometimes feel like I’m not getting it quite right. But I get to the best I can and then give it a go. I think I have been taking the approach that I’m just going to give it my best and see what I can learn from it. I also think I just assumed that that was the way something was going to sound if I sang or played it. Or in the case of playing something, it was as close as I could get right now and I’ll just keep getting better as I keep playing it. Which is true. Yes. It’s also true, that somethings, I may have been doing the hard way, or
even made them harder for myself without realizing it.

That seems like that might be the case with the guitar. And for starters, it has to do with the strings. For the longest time, I knew and understood very little about my strings. While I know a little more now, I am nothing close to an expert. I don’t expect to be. Used to, when I needed strings I just asked for the super light ones. I paid no attention to gauge or even what they were, nickle, cobalt, steel, whatever. Then I had someone suggest a particular string for the guitar I was getting. I still got a light gauge string though. That changed earlier this year. I was getting a new guitar and wanted fresh strings for it and I asked my sales guy for a recommendation. He recommended the 10’s in the D’Addario NYXL. Ok. So that’s what I got.

For those not quite clear as to what I’m talking about when I say 10’s, it has to do with the wire gauge of the highest pitched E string. It is typically the thinnest string. Each string, as you go to the lower sounding strings on a guitar, gets a little thicker. The lowest sounding E string, on my guitar that has a 10 on the highest, is a 46. Before, when I asked for super light weight strings, as far as I can tell, they usually gave me 9’s. So the high sounding E string is a 9 and the low sounding one is a 42. This is really important because of the amount of strength it takes to play the notes and the chords, and especially the barred chords.

For some reason, and I’m not entirely sure the what or the why, I decided I was going to put 10’s on everything. I think it had to do with looking at some specs on a manufacturer sight or something. I really don’t know. But that’s what I did. Except for two guitars. I had sets that had been specifically bought for each of them based on the guitar’s characteristics. Those were and still are 9’s. Everything else got 10’s when I restrung things earlier this year. After which I struggled with the sound of several of the instruments and I got frustrated with them. Then I bought the Gretsch. The thing that is important about the Gretsch is it’s scale length. It’s shorter and works more comfortably for my hands. That was such a difference for me that I didn’t even think about the strings being 10’s and besides, that is what the manufacturer ships them with.

I didn’t think much about the strings on any of my guitars at all until a conversation this weekend. I went to the Carolinas Box Guitar Club meeting and in amongst everything we all talked about, Fred and I had a discussion about strings and scale lengths and
physiology. He made some suggestions and recommendations of things to try. And as I was processing all this information, I was still processing it a day later by the way, it started to dawn on me that some of the things that I had been getting frustrated with or were causing a lack of satisfaction on my part were all problems I had created for myself. By changing everything, or nearly everything to the 10’s I had made each of those instruments more difficult for me to get a satisfying sound out of and I had made learning new techniques that much more difficult.

Here’s the how and why. I am reasonably small in size, and I’m female. The person who’s recommendation I took when I got the 10’s is knowledgeable, has typically given good recommendations, and plays guitar. He is also twice my size. This is important. Because,
I will need to play and practice for a very long time to develop the strength in my hands to play some of what he can. The thicker strings take more effort to fret. It doesn’t mean I can’t ever get there. It means, it will take much longer and my frustration could win out before then.

 

Now that I know that, I am in the process of changing out strings and trying some lighter gauges. Even lighter than I have used before. I have ordered some Reverend Willy’s in 7’s. That’s super light. I think they will be fun to try on the Les Paul. I’ve moved one over to 8’s and have another I think I will do the same with. I have one that I will keep 10’s on it because I’m using it to learn to play slide on and that requires more of a touch than full on strength. I put 9’s on the Gretsch and I fell in love with playing it all over again. I couldn’t wait to get home from the day job to get my hands back on it. My guitar was calling again.

My head is still spinning from some of what I learned this week and the week before. There has been so much, and so much that I could discuss. There have been more than a few things that just a bit of additional knowledge has made a huge difference in how I
think about things and have left me feeling like my head has been blown wide open. One thing that has come out of it for me is that, recommendations are fine and helpful, but also take into account your playing style, and your physiology. Yes, a certain string might be ideal for an instrument for many people, and even the manufacturer. Try it. But if it’s not working for you or, if you know, your playing style makes better use of something different, or your size or strength mean something different is better for you, then work with that, not against it. Playing music is fun. Learning to play music takes work. Why make it harder than it’s already going to be.

I’ve included a couple of pictures I lifted out of my video from the Carolinas Box Guitar Club meeting. I can’t thank Fred enough for inviting me. And everyone there for their patience and tutelage. The pictures might look like I’m leading things. I wasn’t. I was there to sing and learn and I sure got to do that. We’ve got another Charlotte Blues Jam coming up this next weekend. That should be interesting with all the new information spinning around in my brain. I’m a bit excited about it all.

 

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