I nodded vigorously to so much of this. In high school band, we had practice cards that we filled out and turned in to the band director weekly. He thought I was exaggerating on mine; when he called my mom to chat with her about it, she assured him in emphatic tones that if anything, I was under-reporting the time I invested in practice.
Why do you think sax players, specifically, are better than guitar players overall?
Why? Because sax players (and most band instruments) are learned with the detailed knowledge of reading and playing from notation.
For many (most) guitar players, you learn a few chords, a handful of riffs, and then you are off to the races.
There is almost a pathological aversion to notation and reading sheet music.
Oh there are plenty of excuses. There are at least 4 ways to play a 440hz A note, and often you can use interesting inversions of chords to either tweak the sound, or to make it easier to play (side note: when I learned to play Mood for a Day, the tab I used had some chords and hand positions that were insane. I "fixed" it for me, and it was all the exact same notes.)
Truthfully, if all you want to do is play at campfires and beach trips, learn the basic chords, and you can play most of the Beatles catalog (at least the cheater versions that is good enough) and impress members of the opposite sex.
Now, the great players. The Steve Vai's, the Stanley Jordans, the Joe Satriani's of the world do read and play from notation.
Rumor has it that Eddie van Halen was notoriously averse to notation. Not sure that lasted throughout his life though
Geoff, I genuinely believe there was a revival of the arts all through Covid, where artists of all stripes were locked down, and that just unleashed a massive amount of creativity around the globe. Your story is one example. I have one, too; all of my writing in the past three months was born during Covid times and was rattling around upstairs before I started putting it all down on paper... no, incorrect, I put in down on whatever this is - I am now stacking all of my covid thoughts here! And on music, I've been listening to music and watching music vids for many hours a day starting when Covid did, and I have not done that since I was 18. I'm 70, but I feel 18 again. And I think Covid times did that to me: that and a combo of my UBI (Universal Basic Income) in the form of pension and SS.
So what does this phenomenon of lockdown, UBI, and explosion of art tell us? OR better put, does Oppression breed Liberation? I don't know; let me know in the comments below, and I will write about this very point in my Shines of the Times series I just started today. Things went well in the arts, but I think Spirituality may have not.
Thanks for the words of advice, Geoff. I have the old timey metronome with the wand going back and forth. It looks kinda cool and I just like it overall.
Not sure if it’s a benefit, but it freaked the hell out of the cat the first time I used it.
Cool. Playing with a metronome for the first time is an eye opener for sure (and likely a none-too-pleasant reminder that your "internal" clock is garbage!
I nodded vigorously to so much of this. In high school band, we had practice cards that we filled out and turned in to the band director weekly. He thought I was exaggerating on mine; when he called my mom to chat with her about it, she assured him in emphatic tones that if anything, I was under-reporting the time I invested in practice.
Why do you think sax players, specifically, are better than guitar players overall?
Why? Because sax players (and most band instruments) are learned with the detailed knowledge of reading and playing from notation.
For many (most) guitar players, you learn a few chords, a handful of riffs, and then you are off to the races.
There is almost a pathological aversion to notation and reading sheet music.
Oh there are plenty of excuses. There are at least 4 ways to play a 440hz A note, and often you can use interesting inversions of chords to either tweak the sound, or to make it easier to play (side note: when I learned to play Mood for a Day, the tab I used had some chords and hand positions that were insane. I "fixed" it for me, and it was all the exact same notes.)
Truthfully, if all you want to do is play at campfires and beach trips, learn the basic chords, and you can play most of the Beatles catalog (at least the cheater versions that is good enough) and impress members of the opposite sex.
Now, the great players. The Steve Vai's, the Stanley Jordans, the Joe Satriani's of the world do read and play from notation.
Rumor has it that Eddie van Halen was notoriously averse to notation. Not sure that lasted throughout his life though
Geoff, I genuinely believe there was a revival of the arts all through Covid, where artists of all stripes were locked down, and that just unleashed a massive amount of creativity around the globe. Your story is one example. I have one, too; all of my writing in the past three months was born during Covid times and was rattling around upstairs before I started putting it all down on paper... no, incorrect, I put in down on whatever this is - I am now stacking all of my covid thoughts here! And on music, I've been listening to music and watching music vids for many hours a day starting when Covid did, and I have not done that since I was 18. I'm 70, but I feel 18 again. And I think Covid times did that to me: that and a combo of my UBI (Universal Basic Income) in the form of pension and SS.
So what does this phenomenon of lockdown, UBI, and explosion of art tell us? OR better put, does Oppression breed Liberation? I don't know; let me know in the comments below, and I will write about this very point in my Shines of the Times series I just started today. Things went well in the arts, but I think Spirituality may have not.
Thanks for the words of advice, Geoff. I have the old timey metronome with the wand going back and forth. It looks kinda cool and I just like it overall.
Not sure if it’s a benefit, but it freaked the hell out of the cat the first time I used it.
Cool. Playing with a metronome for the first time is an eye opener for sure (and likely a none-too-pleasant reminder that your "internal" clock is garbage!
Oh, so true! We forget that many of our skills deteriorate when not used. Gotta stay sharp.