An Ethereal Guitarist's Path

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

1. Improvisation 2. motivation

1. My first post was actually supposed to be done like a week ago, didn't mean to do two in one day.
But anyway, Improvisation is a wonderful thing. I have had a very narrow view on what improvisation is and how to incorporate it when jamming with somebody or even recording music. Lately I've just sort of figured improvisation was picking up an instrument and randomly playing stuff. Sure I would map out a bit what I would play and things like that but not really much else. Sure I could try to concentrate on a specific style or sound but that was about it. I hadn't really known how to properly create the sounds I was aiming for. I would just pretty much play whatever came to mind and whatever sounded good, but I'm starting to realize there is much more than that. I feel that "playing whatever" is a big portion of improvisation, but not all of it. There are things like scales and modes that can go deeply into consideration.

2. Lately I have been on this huge streak of feeling unmotivated to play and to create. part of it was probably picking up a metronome and realizing I'm not as tight of a player as I thought I was. This is good, now I have a reason to improve, but where is the drive? I'd like to think that this is just a small phase and I'll grow out of it quickly like I usually did, but it has been on-going for a while now. Usually I could watch some videos of guitar players and get right back into it, but that has not been working. This sucks because There is a whole lot I want and need to accomplish, but practicing is seeming to be a bit forced and not as natural as it used to be.

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