The Gift of Lessons

Posted on June 12, 2018 by SusanG

No. Not voice lessons, or instrument lessons. More like just, lessons.

My recent performance at the Jam did not go quite as I would have liked. Which is part of why I don’t have the videos posted yet. I’ve been procrastinating owning up to the fact that I did not do as good as I could have and I did not do as good as I wanted. I got fixated on something and tried to make it fit and things didn’t go as well as I would have liked.

I thought about ignoring everything and not posting any of it. That would be silly, and unfair to everyone else. Especially since, there were some really good bits in there. I thought about making a bunch of excuses for how things went. That would be even sillier in my opinion. Once you see the video, you see where the short comings are. That’s the beauty of recording the performance. And as hard as it can be, it’s exactly why I do it. And I’m not going to keep it to myself. I’m going to share it. I’m going to share it because sometimes it helps to see someone else learn.

I recognized, pretty quickly, some of the lessons in that experience. I never had any intention of ignoring any of them. I just had to take some time to come to grips with what to do about them. So here are some of the lessons I learned from having a ‘not up to my liking’ performance, and having it on video.

The lesson I’ll start with is that I do know how well it’s going. I just need to listen to my instincts. And if it’s not going well, it can be turned around. I just have to pay attention. I knew my performance on the first song did not go as well as I wanted. I could hear it and I could feel it. After seeing the video, I can say, I was right. Now I get to learn from that, and learn how to turn it around so it is going better, quickly.

One of the most important lessons, was more of a reminder. I forgot to breathe. I forgot to breathe properly and I forgot to breathe to relax and enjoy what I was doing. If I had done that, my performance would have been better, in so many ways. So I need to remember that. I know it seems odd, but remembering to breathe takes practice. I’m just going to have to keep trying. Maybe I should write it on my hand before each Jam. Breathe.

Probably the biggest lesson, partly because it covers so much and also because it’s just a big lesson, was that I still have a lot to learn. I still have a lot to learn about playing the guitar in general, as well as playing the guitar in the songs I’ve been playing. And I still have a lot to learn about my own singing. Oh yeah, and I still have a lot to learn about leading the group and communicating with everyone. I’m going to come back to this because it is big.

The last lesson, that I’ll cover is that as hard as it may be to watch, that video really is a friend. It tells it to you straight. It’s that friend that says…’girl, those jeans make you look fat, what the heck were you thinking with that hair and what sort of color is that sweater you’re wearing. Lawd have mercy, who dressed you this morning?’ So I’ll keep using the video camera at jams. This way, not only do I have record of my progress, I also to get to experience the performance again.

Back to that big lesson. I’d say this was a shock except it wasn’t. It wasn’t a surprise. I really knew this. Well most of it. But it was still frustrating. I have come so far and to realize I still have so much further to go took a bit to process. So what do I do about it? Mostly, I’ll just keep learning. But more specifically, for the guitar and singing, I will keep practicing what I’ve been doing and if that doesn’t work I’ll try something different. I am still making progress, even this last week, I’ve seen some improvement in my ability to finger some of the rhythm patterns. And I’ve identified something vocally I want to adjust, so I will work on that. I still want to learn to play some lead on the guitar and as much as the loop pedal has helped, I think I have a better solution so I’ll give that a try. As far as the communicating and leading? I will pay closer attention and be more aware to start with and I’ll figure out the rest as I go.

I tried not to beat myself up over the performance. I tried to accept it for what it was, a chance to learn. But, because I thought I’d been getting so much better, the experience did leave me in a bit of a funk for a couple of days. I didn’t let it stop me from practicing. It helped that I already had a song picked out that I wanted to work on. And I had some ideas for how I could better assess myself I just need to start using them. Like that better solution to the loop pedal. That was something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I just needed some information.

That information came from a very helpful salesman who could answer all my questions and make a recommendation for a reasonably priced recording solution. The recording solution will not be replacing my friend the video camera for performances. This is for
my home practice. It allows me to record two tracks at a time into my computer, and then I can add more tracks after that. It was easier to setup than figuring out how to use my fancy loop pedal that is still in the box. It can help with both my singing as well as my guitar playing in so many ways. The most important way it will help is that it will allow me to record what I’m doing and then step back and listen to myself. Just listen. Not try to listen while I play. Just listen. I’m kind of excited about this.

It’s not easy facing it when you don’t do as well as you could and you know it. But, it is a great opportunity to learn. Some of how you do that is to keep trying and to not hide from the goof ups, mistakes, or short comings. With that, I will work more diligently to get the videos posted soon even though I’ll be cringing every time you watch one.

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Nope. Don’t Think So

Posted on June 5, 2018 by SusanG

You know how you look at the weather forecast and it will say something like ‘rain ten percent’. Most of the time we take that to mean a ten percent chance it will rain. Well in the south of the United States, with summer quickly approaching and lots of tropical moisture making it’s way up from the panhandle of Florida, that ten percent means something a little different. At least that is the conclusion I have come to. In this case it does not mean there is a ten percent chance it will rain. If there is a chance, then it’s going to rain. No that means that it will rain ten percent of the day. It’s up to you to figure out which ten percent of the day.

This weekend it turned out to be that the ten percent of the day would be towards the end of the Blues Jam. This was disappointing for sure. But none of us wanted to get our instruments wet. And while there have been improvements made to the music electronics
over the years, we are, most of us old enough to have heard the true stories of musicians, guitarists in particular, electrocuted to death by their instruments. So nope. Once that temperature dropped real fast and I could smell the moisture, I knew the storm was coming. And so did Jack and Kevin. At the point we saw lightning, that was it. Nope. Don’t think so. We had bills settled and the stage cleared in 20 minutes.

Just because we had to cut things short doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it to go. It definitely was. I got to learn some things as always. And, I got to have some cool conversation with a couple of people I haven’t really had a chance to talk to before. Which was great. I don’t always get to do that so I don’t know that much about some of the people I play with.

As always I came away from the Jam wanting to do and learn more. I’ve already got one song picked out to work on. And even another guitarist excited about it. Jeff suggested that it will be good to get a harp player on it. So we’ll have to see if we can make that happen. I want to find another song or two as well. I’ll do some digging. Which, I guess is a bit how I approach choosing songs to learn. But that is a whole other topic for another post.

We had a little trouble getting started with ‘Big Boss Man’ because I was playing it Jimmy Reed style and one or two of the other people on stage were used to playing it Elvis style which I guess is more rockabilly. I’ll have to look it up because I don’t know if I’ve heard that version. Oh, and to add to the possible confusion, the Grateful Dead also covered it. That’s the big challenge with some of these songs. There are so many different versions to reference. But this one, I came to from the earlier, Jimmy Reed version. I like the way his version of the song flows. It especially fits well with the amusement I get from some of the lyrics of the song. I’m a bit short and I love being able to sing the line ‘you ain’t so big, you just tall, that’s all’.

We had some new people at the Jam. We did our best to make them feel welcome. And I watched as once again, one of the extremely talented guitar players that comes out made the extra effort to help out someone who was willing to come out and take the chance and play with us for the first time. Not sure how things will go with that one. He looked like he had a rough time.

As much fun as playing live with a group is for me, I know it is not for everyone. That’s a difficult thing for me to comprehend. I have so much fun doing it and get so much out of it, playing live, that I want everyone to have as much fun as I am having. But, just like running marathons is not my idea of a good time, playing music live or with a group, is not for everyone. It is a different experience from just playing music on your own. It requires skills that not everyone has developed, or will develop. And it requires a certain level of comfort with yourself to be willing to get up there.

I’m not sure when the next jam is yet. We would normally be heading back to Moochies on the third Sunday but this month that is Father’s Day so that is likely to require a schedule adjustment. I just haven’t heard what it’s going to be. No matter. I have stuff to work on and things to learn so I’ll be practicing just as much as if it were going to be tomorrow. And as always, I can’t wait to get to do it again.

While we’re waiting to hear on that next Blues Jam, here are some pictures I took or had someone take, I’m really bad at selfies, while we were getting ready to go. I do have video from the night. I’ll get some of that edited and posted soon too. Not all if it is my best performance but there are some moments worth sharing.

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I Practice Because I Love to Play

Posted on May 29, 2018 by SusanG

I once heard a recording engineer, who is also a musician, comment on another musician’s organization. He said that the young man was very talented and if he could get himself organized he would be very successful. I recently had someone ask me if I practice  regularly and if I was particularly disciplined about it. I’m going to go with yes on that one. And here’s why.

I practice quite regularly. Almost daily. Almost. I like to practice. I don’t see it as a burden or a chore. Practice is how I learn. When I practice, I usually have an idea or plan, of what I want to accomplish with my time. Some days I get 30 minutes to practice, others I might get 3 or 4 hours if I want it. If I start out with an idea of what I want to come out of that time then it’s easier to stay focused on whatever I’m working on and actually make progress regardless of how much time I have. I know I saw this when I set about learning the pentatonic patterns. I sat down to learn them and within a week I knew them all. Because I was focused on learning them. And learning how they fit together. The next step was to learn how to find them in the different keys.I’m still working on this one. For that, at least once a week I will spend a significant part of a practice session working on just that. Playing all the patterns in different keys.

Focused practice is what allows me to learn a new song or two in between the jams. I will focus primarily on the new songs. And then I will play some of the songs I already know and then come back to the new songs. By doing this I make sure I’m learning the new song, not just cramming it. What’s the difference? Well cramming it is figuring it out just long enough to use it in the short term. For me, if I’m doing this then, if I do something else in between the time I’ve crammed something and the time I use it, I’ll completely forget it. Sometimes I forget it or part of it anyway but if I cram something it’s pretty guaranteed that under the pressure to perform it, I’ll mess up.

I recently took the advice of a co-worker and started using Google Sheets to help me keep track of the songs I know and have practiced and if I have practiced them recently or not. I use Sheets instead of Excel because it’s free and I can access it from the laptop in the music room or my desktop or where ever. I’ve made a list of the songs I know or I am working on and the date that I last practiced them. I update it as I practice.

I try to play each song at least once a week to keep them fresh. Though, since I started keeping track I have found there are a few songs that I have not been doing that with. Sometimes it’s because my last experience with the song was frustrating. Maybe I played it at a jam and it didn’t go so well. Or maybe it’s just been frustrating to learn and I got tired of fighting it. Or maybe I forgot I had started working on it and it just got lost in the mix. By having the spreadsheet, I can go back to those things that have been neglected and try them again. Sometimes I find that with all the other practice I’ve been doing I’ve learned something that makes things work again, or finally.

With all that it sounds like I don’t ever just play and enjoy myself. This is far from the case. I do a little of this at every practice session. Either at the beginning or the end of my focused practice time I will play through songs that I have learned just because I like them. They are songs that I play for myself. They have nothing to do with a blues jam or anything anyone has asked me to learn. I play them because I enjoy them. I’ve also been known to sprinkle one or two of these songs throughout my practice time. I find it refreshing and a nice break.

I also have practice time that is more spent just trying things out. Like when I got the new Gretsch. While I was practicing songs, I was trying out different settings and combinations to find sounds I like and how to get to them as I want them. I have also had sessions where part of the time was dedicated to finding the right length for my strap or finding the right pick, or how to get the capo in just the right spot. Small things, sure, but things that might take a little repetition to get down so they aren’t a delay at a jam or in a group setting. Of course, if there is a new tool involved, like a new pedal, then there will be time spent getting familiar with that. And lets not forget the time spent experimenting with new techniques. This is very important. This is how you grow your skills. But as much as this falls under the trying things out practice time, I also work it into my focused practice time. Like with learning the scale patterns.

Practicing is important. Repetition really is the only way to develop the muscle memory that lets things come automatically when you need them. It’s what makes it easier to get up and perform a song when your legs are shaking and you can’t believe you’re doing this. It’s what makes it possible to relax and enjoy the moment because when you practice and when you do that over and over it becomes a part of you and then it can be used to express what it is you want to say.

I’ve spent many years knowing how to play guitar. Most of those years I have not spent in focused practice. Once I learned the basics, without direction or focus, I quit making progress. Most of those years that I have known how to play guitar I have spent just learning this song or that song. And that is fine if that is all you want. I love to play guitar. I love to sing with it. I practice because I love to play and I want to be able to play more things, more songs, more styles of songs. I practice because I love to play with other people. I practice because I want more out of my music experience. If I practice with some level of focus, discipline, organization, whatever you would like to call it, then I get that. I get to play new songs, and new styles of songs, I get to play with other people, I get more from my music experience. Otherwise, I’m just doing what I’ve always done and you don’t get anything different or anything more that way.

So what’s all this got to do with that disorganized young musician? Well, not much directly. Except that it made an impression. Here I am more than ten years later sharing it with you. It probably plays a part in why I approach much of my practice time now with focus and discipline of a sort.

And by the way. I got the last of the videos from the most recent jam on 5/20/2018 posted so you can have a look at them. That last set was a lot of fun.

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Blues Jammin’ and More Learnin’

Posted on May 22, 2018 by SusanG

We had another Blues Jam this past weekend. This makes six months I’ve been going and it has been an amazing experience. I know I’ve said it before, and will probably say it a hundred times more. Every jam has been not only a great time, each one has been an
incredible opportunity to learn. Whether I’m learning about performing in general, singing, playing guitar, how to interact, how to approach the music, something about myself or something about other people, I always learn something. Often times, I get to learn a lot of things all at once. It can be a little dizzying. This jam was no different.

This jam was the second time I’ve been asked to guest sing on a song as part of someone else’s set. It’s kind of cool. The first time was when we did the Delbert McClinton song ‘Shaky Ground’. That was fun. And terrifying. This time though, we did ‘The Thrill is Gone’. Nick sort of got elected the leader of his ‘band’ and so it fell to him to come up with three songs. He had two he could play and sing and asked me to sing on a song we have played together previously. This is where I got to learn stuff.

I have finally figured out, or maybe decided, that it might be OK to have some songs that for now I just sing. It’s not something I’ve been inclined to consider before since I have always considered myself a guitar player more than a singer. It’s not that I intend to move away from the guitar and only sing. Not at all. In fact my goal would be that the songs that are on the just sing list make it to the sing and play list at some point. In the mean time, it would help me to broaden my repertoire and also have songs lined up to work on for guitar. That is under the probably false belief that learning to sing the songs will be easier than learning to play them. I have a feeling this won’t be how it goes because the Universe likes to play with me when it comes to these things.

Another of those learning, or figuring out things, was that I realized that I have absorbed much more than I thought I had by watching the other groups when I’m not playing. Now, to be frank, I did a poor job of that this weekend. There was a lot going on  and I got a little distracted by some of it. But over the past six months, as well as the time I spent playing with the Blues Jam several years ago, some of the things I didn’t understand I was learning were about being a part of the band, as well as leading the band and how to to make those 15 minutes or so work. I do still have questions about things at times because I certainly haven’t learned everything. However, I have learned to ask the questions and not just hope I’ll figure it out.

There is one question that had been in my mind to ask for a few weeks and I hadn’t really had a chance to get it answered until this weekend. As I now sing, and occasionally take a lead, finally, I was not sure how to handle, if I’m leading the song, is there an etiquette to when I take my lead if I’m going to take one. Should I take it first or take it last or somewhere in the middle if there are lots of players? I was advised that it didn’t matter as long as everyone got a chance. Now I know.

I hadn’t really thought about the idea that when I’m the singer in the band I’m in, I have started taking a leader role for that band. Not like I’m the star of the group or something like that. More like, we need someone to choose the song we’re going to do, give us a key and get us going, and stopped. For me it hasn’t ever really seemed like a big deal. Except in the cases where I have had a chance to see, or play with, someone who is really good, and is playing with new players. They will be particularly patient, gracious and generous with their interactions making people feel comfortable and welcome instead of being a diva and making people feel really uptight. That’s when a good leader of a group stands out. But. When you are new to that leader role, and thrust into it for whatever reason, it can be daunting.

It’s pretty scary to get up on stage and play in the first place, now imagine being the leader of a group that knows more songs than you do and may have been playing for a lifetime longer than you have. Now you have to choose the songs they will play, and remember how to play those few songs you’ve managed to learn so far. Oh and by the way, you also have to pay attention to all the other musicians on stage, and make sure they get to take a lead or are not lost or whatever, because you’re their leader for the next few minutes. I have been fortunate. I have been eased into the lead role to some extent. Partly because I didn’t start out trying to sing an entire set. And, the first couple of times I did try that, I was either given some extra encouragement or paired with another guitar player who is a good leader. So I’ve had a chance to grow comfortable with being the one to drive the set. We don’t all get that chance and we have to just do the best we can. We get comfortable with it and grow into it. Sometimes with a few bumps and bruises along the way. Though, there are some that will never be comfortable in the leader role and that’s OK. It’s taken me a long time to get to the point I am. I have farther to go for sure. My hope is, at the end of the day, I become one of those leaders that makes people comfortable, that they enjoy playing with and that I make people feel they can relax and just have fun playing the music. That is after all what it’s about. Having fun and playing music.

I learned a couple of interesting things for myself when it comes to singing and playing. First off. Probably the most important part for me, and what I will be working on for the next jam. I need to learn the song well enough that I don’t need a lyric sheet in case I forget the words. I am so much more relaxed with a song when I’m not worried I’ll forget a line or miss a verse or something. When I can really feel the song and the words and not just sing them. The only way to get there, that I can think of, the only real solution for that is to just practice, practice, practice. So I will be focusing on that for the next jam. If I add
a song or two, great, but for the next couple of weeks, I’m going to get more comfortable with the songs I currently play and sing.

The other thing I learned, and got to see, is in relation to the song ‘One Way Out’ in particular, but I can see how that would translate to other songs with tricky rhythm riffs. I watched, and listened to Kevin, basically teach everyone on stage with him, the main riff to ‘One Way Out’. So everyone could pick it up as the rhythm and keep it going. Then he didn’t have to play it and try to sing over the top of it. Brilliant. Kevin, it may still take me a while to get that technique down, and that song, but I hope you don’t mind if I steal that little trick. That was so cool.

You know, it’s been an amazing six months and I have learned so much and had so much fun. I’m not sure I can adequately express my appreciation and how grateful I am for everyone who I have had a chance to meet, play with, talk to, who have given me pointers, advice, lessons, their patience and their encouragement at these events or because of these events. It is because of their generosity of spirit that I have had the courage to become a better musician as well as singer. I still have a long way to go and thanks to them I look forward to every minute of it.

Enjoy some of the pictures from this last jam and I’ll get the videos posted as soon as I can.

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Music with Art on the Side

Posted on May 15, 2018 by SusanG

Early this year, late last year, when I started changing the focus of what I was doing and writing about to the art I was doing and music I was working on, I thought that the art was going to be the primary focus. As you might have noticed, that hasn’t quite been the way things have gone. Music has definitely taken a stronger hold of my world than I anticipated, and a stronger hold than the art.

If you were hoping to get to read more about the art, never fear, I haven’t quit or given up on it. I have too great a need for it for practical purposes, first off. And I enjoy it. Also, I still have pieces and projects that I want to do. I just don’t work on it near as much as the music. However, I did spend some time on the Ovation painting this past weekend. I’ll share some pics and get to that in a moment.

Last week was the first week back to the day job after vacation. Fortunately, I’d had the Blues Jam out at Halligan’s on Sunday to help ease the transition back to the regular world. It was a bit of an odd week though and I didn’t get a good jump on things as I usually do. Or so I perceive. I usually get home and within a day or two I’ve found a few songs to start working on for the next jam. Typically they have been, a few fairly easy or basic 12 bar blues of some sort. Maybe something a little outside of that but not by much.

This time though, I went a little different. Jeff and I had flirted with doing the song ‘Tush’ from ZZ Top. It’s in a key I can do and fits in the genre so why not. We didn’t do it but I decided, when I got home that I’d see about learning it. So, I got stuck into starting to learn ‘Tush’. While it can probably be played in a basic 12 bar blues style and be just fine, I want to go a step further. It’s actually a little more complicated than that and I’d like to learn it ‘properly’. So it’s taking longer. And as a result, I didn’t see myself as having really gotten going on learning something new for the next jam.

To go with that, I’m also working on ‘One Way Out’. The vocal timing is just a little  challenging for me to get down so there is that. And then there is the riff. I found a video online that teaches it. Though, I had figured out some of it myself. But the trick to that is that it’s played pretty much all the way through the song and it’s a bit on the quick and speedy side for my skills. Which means, while I have learned the riff I’m still working on getting, and keeping, it up to speed. It’s taking every spare brain cell I have just to do that right now so I’m not even close to being able to add vocals over the top of it yet. Then, the combination of working on the riff, and struggling with the very tired and sore forearm sent me off down the rabbit trail of trying out picks of different thicknesses.

Guitar Picks! Which one to use.

Which sent me to the music store to pick up some new test subjects. This resulted in some new accessories. A slide that I have little clue as to how to use yet. And a new capo because, the ones I had, while adequate they weren’t tight enough. New picks, a slide, and new capo in hand and home I go to see what’s going to work. While testing out the different picks I discovered something really interesting that I had never paid attention to before. The different thicknesses can make a huge impact on the sound of your instrument. I probably knew this but as noted, I hadn’t paid attention to it. I’ve always been more concerned with finding something that I can hold onto and doesn’t spin in my fingers as I’m playing.

As you can see, I have been working on things, I just chose two songs that are not going to be quick learns. That’s ok. They will both stretch my skills and abilities and make me a better musician for putting in the effort. So it’s not a waste by any means. Neither is the experimentation. It’s all part of learning about what you can do as a musician, what sounds you can get, as well as what your instrument can do. It’s just not how I usually approach things or how they usually happen.

So, at the weekend I decided I’d look for something that was a pretty standard basic blues song or two, to learn. I started with some really old stuff and finally landed on ‘Dust My Broom’. I’ve got an Etta James recording of it and probably an Elmore James version as well. Though I can find that on the web pretty easy so no worries. The chord structure for the rhythm falls into the basic 12 bar blues group so it makes that part quick to pick up. It is a little more up tempo, which, is a stretch for me because I tend to play at a saunter or slower most of the time. And trying to keep the particular rhythm, while singing it, turns out to be a little bit of work. Or maybe it’s because I care more about doing it well and right than I did before. And I can hear it now, when it’s not right. Either way. I’ll be putting in a lot of work on that one this week, hoping to have it Teady for Sunday back at Moochie’s.

While all this was going on, since I was stuck in my head thinking I wasn’t learning anything new and generally losing focus, I decided to work on the Ovation painting. Well, that and I was waiting for videos to upload to YouTube. Whatever. At least I worked on it regardless of the why. I finished off the second pass of that flame red that I was working on and decided to start the blending layer. I got pretty far on the blending layer. I was surprised. Then I realized, I spent quite a few hours on it. So I got some art in on the side this week. Cool stuff.

So For the Ovation painting, there is still this blending layer to finish, and looking at it, I think it’s going to take a second pass. I’ll know better when I get this one done. Then it will be time to focus on another area, finally. I’ll keep you posted on the progress. though, it may be slow.

Yes, you did read, that I got more videos up on YouTube. I have three more to go from the last jam at Halligan’s. I will have them up before the next jam. Which, yes, is this coming Sunday at Moochie’s. That means…

Yay! We get to do it again! WooHoo!

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