An Ethereal Guitarist's Path

Monday, September 22, 2008

Hmm im thinking of devoting 90-100% of my free time to practicing guitar. Im not sure if this will be a good idea or not, I might get burned out too quickly, but with all that practice I will impro0ve so fucking much that it might be worth it. Right now socializing is out of the question, all my friends are away. I will still be body building and may be reading/walking at random time, you know the usual daily activities. Hmm I felt really good when I did 6 hours a day during the summers. I felt like i accomplished a lot. So extending that by a few hours would be even a great accomplishment. May be when I wake up and get ready for work, part of that time could be 20 minutes of guitaring. Like id practice some scales before i work. When i get home id eat and take a quick rest and then get back to practicing. In essence practicing guitar will be bettering me as a person. I will learn more in general thus becoming a better teacher and gianing more of an understanding. I will develope greater technique. I will be able to communiocate my ideas musically much better and create better pieces.

Only bad thing i see to this is i might get sick of it. Im not worried about that though. That didnt happen when i practiced 6 hours a day
so today is the day where my laziness stops and I will put in the time and discipline in my art.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

distractions

Why is music so good!?!?

i keep getting distracted from playing guitar because I want to listen to music. At least im not being a complete tool and doing nothing though. Im understand music much better and am listening to it more closely the first time i hear it. Its cool to see how my listening skills develop over time.

The new Cynic album, Traced in Air is a fucking masterpiece. It is going to be a huge influence on my writing in the future. It has already influenced me when I improvise. As a matter of fact im listening to it now. Its very good progressive jazz with a metal edge to it.

Im working on a lot of syncopation now. Im starting off slow and very simple for now. I always thought syncopation was fucking cool, and its hard to do so I want to become a master at it. I think it should be used more in death metal. But with death metal a lot of notes are usually all even, if not then its always beats 1 2 3 or 4 getting accented.

Next thing im working on is rhythmic variations. Im trying to think of jazzy type rhythms and will play them to scales to start out. Once i can get a few down with some scales, I will start writing some melodic progressions and applying the rhythms to those. Again im starting out simple and slow. Its hard to think of all this from the top of my head. I dont really know standard jazz rhythms. I listen to jazz but its hard for me to analyze it because i know very very little. I havent worked so much with my chords but will get back to that soon as well.I remember how they are constructed for the most part, im just looking for the different voicings.

I found a video on youtube that teaches like 240 + chords really fast. It takes different string sets and has like 4 different voicings for each chord. Its a very good exercise, hard to get down.

IM back to getting my practicing time up. Im gonna get to about 4 hours by the end of the day, if not more.

Right now im learning
Atheist: piece of time
Theory in Practice: Colonizing the Sun
Anata: Downward spiral into madness
Metallica: Pulling teeth

Im not sure what else to be learning.

Also Im not sure if I should make a practicing schedule or not. I guess it would make sense to make sure I work on every technique. I wonder if not having one is inefficient.
There are a lot of exercises and shit I do, I kind of just do them at random, when I feel like it. I think I might just at least write them down and make sure I dedicate time to each of them.

I also have discovered that playing ultimately comes from your spine/lower back. That is like the musicians power house. My deltoids control my right and left arms/hands. At first I wasnt sure about the right arm, but today i payed special attention and realized it does. Its great that I found this out because now i can correct my technique even more. It makes it so that I dont need to put any pressure on my thumb with my fretting hand.

WHen you fret you want to bring your fingers to your thumb, not the other way around. When the muscles struggle, other muscles tense up trying to sort of aid the struggling muscles. This is why you need to play slowly! Your larger muscles are what can handle the most tension thats why feeling tension in your hand muscles would be very bad. It will wear you out within seconds. Also, pressing from my rear delts, gives my fingers better control in moving.

My improvisation has developed a lot, and changed, really cool. Im just playing stuff I normally dont. I think part of that was from taking a huge break.

Ive got lots of new music coming in the near future. One or two ambient songs, then some black metal songs. May be something proggressive or jazzy, we'll see.

I think that finally concludes this post!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Finally getting back into motion

Im starting to practice guitar regularly again. My fingertips hurt like hell because my callouses wore away, but its fun. I dont know why, I like to feel the strings ripping through my flesh. I also upgraded to thicker strings so its even more of a challenge, AND im in E standard instead of D. So lots more tension but man my strings sound great and the sustain is long. I love them.

I havent sorted out a definite practice routine quite yet, but will work on that as I go along. One thing Ive noticed is that Ive been practicing in shorter time frames. I used to always practice for an hour at a time. Now Im doing 20-30 minutes at a time. My hands need the stretch and then I dunno I just want a mental break. It might be because I havent played in a while and my job requires a lot of concentration.

Im starting to find some more interesting death metal songs to learn. Looking for stuff thats tuned to standard preferably but if not ill learn it anyway. Right now Im learning some theory in practice and will probablytry some atheist soon.

Working on some ambient/black metal songs that will be released on a split. My friend Thiago knows some dude whose starting a label or something and will release about 50-100 copies of our cd, more details on this later

Thursday, September 4, 2008

So i decided to drop classical guitar

as well as viola. My problem with classical guitar is the whole growing my nails out. I cant stand it, ive tried for months at a time and its the most uncomfortable thing ever. Also, classical guitar is like a whole new instrument nearly. I dont play it how i play electric guitar. Since the frets are wider I use my fingers differently when playing up on the neck. I dont like the overall feel of it, and practicing that doesnt really help for practicing electric guitar. Also I stopped playing the viola. Its too hard to get comfortable with. I had the same problem ever since I started. There was something that always felt awkward, plus its waaaay too small for me.

The other day I tried playing the cello. I did a few years ago and it was too big for me then. When I tried it again, I already felt much better on it than I did the viola. I have a feeling if I pick this up, it will come more naturally to me. So I decided I am going to buy one once I have the money. I definitely want to explore another instrument, and there's something about the cello that I really like. Plus I will already have a teacher to teach me so that will work out well. Anyway, I'll end it here, I think there was something else I wanted to post about, but I don't have the time.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Filling my head with creative ideas instead of...

practicing. I havent felt motivated to practice at all. Ive been doing a little more with theory, but more importantly exploring more music. Jazz in particular. Miles davis, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk are all amazing. Every other time ive tried to listen to jazz it felt like random notes and structures or lack there of. I didnt get it, i thought it was cool because i didnt hear it a lot, but i didnt understand anything of it. I was first introduced to a video of Miles Davis playing Bitches Brew. Since then, ive come to understand what i was hearing a little more. Today I took some cds out at the library. I took out one by Miles and popped it in my stereo. From this point on I have figured out what the problem was. Im finding with jazz especially the focus is not on the specific note. What i try to do is focus on the expression of the music. Thats what makes it interesting. Yea theres a melody of course, but how does the artist express that melody? That is what is important, that is what gives the music its own sound and emotion. I never was much of a fan of horns but after hearing Miles play, man I love trumpets. He plays the trumpet like a guitar. Thats how I looked at it. Jazz can many times be simple in terms of technical ability, and then it makes up for it in rhythm and ornamentation. Not only did I decide to listen to the way the music is expressed more, but also how the artist moves from one note to another (not necessarily consecutive).

Anyway this new insight is what I want to incorporate into death metal. I want to have it reflect jazz somewhat. Not in just playing all these weird chords and melodies/harmonies that youd expect from a modern band who claims theyre influenced by jazz. I would like to specifically concentrate on dynamics , space between notes, rhythms, improvisation, and how to express the musical melodies. Also i want less repition. These are what I want to incorporate but its not like im going to limit myself to these. I think the way to make death metal less stale and more interesting is to vary the elements used within the music. Specifically im talking about repition.

In death metal, as well as general metal a riff is a musical phrase that gets repeated. THe whole thing. May be sometimes there are alternate endings. Aside from that the whole thing is basically repeated with no variation. It is repeated between 2-8 times generally. That can be good, but what happens if its a boring riff? You have to sit through that boring riff over and over. I think it would be a good idea to take a little section or part, or melody or what have you, from the riff you are working on and repeat that so the listener remembers it, and feels that it is important. From there you vary everything else that was originally in the riff. I guess that would sort of be like a riff/variation kind of thing. In my opinion metal needs that consistency, so I dont want to make something that just sounds like a blur of notes without a common ground. I think i want to structure songs keeping that in mind. I want to bring "sections" into death metal as opposed to riffs.

Why am I choosing to do this with death metal and not just make jazz of my own or something else, why death metal? Well what I like about death metal that i do not see in any other genre is the intensity and energy. Its a constant flow through out the whole song. I often dont feel that in classical music, jazz, and any other genres. Its heavy. I want to create heavy/intense music that is very well thought out. Energetic music is the best because it moves me the most. If i can make music that is both moving and well thought out, then I have filled two gaps. Death metal isnt 100% stale, but if you look at it every band has the same sort of formula. Repeated riffs, no variation on expression, etc etc. Music to me is more than just playing with feeling. Its more than just listening to the melodies. Its everything in between. More than what you hear. Its what is physically there. What im trying to say is, Music is a reflection of how I feel with an intellectual process of expressing it. Meaning that it is a combination of feeling and choosing how to express that feeling by thinking and planning rather than just playing stuff and say "oh!" that sounds cool. Thus I am figuring out more and more what I want to achieve.




So back to the original topic of the thread. This is why i havent been practicing, I am not sure 100% where I want to take my music. I want to play fresh again instead of doing the same old routines. So im taking a bit of a break. Im afraid to take too long of a break for my skill level will definitely decrease, but i just need to clear my mind and stop being so biased of how i play.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Figured something out

I figured the main reason i lose motivation to practice is because i dont vary what i practice enough. Just as school ended i wrote out new things to practice, and i practiced them sooooo much, 6 hours + per day. THen i slowed down. Now im trying to figure out what to practice and how.

Im trying to work on some more theory. I wont be going to school for approximately a year, so i will buy a textbook or two soon and work on that and that will be how i practice. Not everything needs to focus on physical technique.

That being said ive been working more with jazz and trying to learn what the hell a I iv V progression is. I know what it is, but i dont understand specifically how you choose which chords work and which ones dont. Right now my guess is to choose a specific chord, ex. C7 and move that exact chord up to the 4th and 5th step of the scale. Then what happens when you want to move out of that? Im trying to learn the rules for that.

Pretty close to haveing the circle of major and minor fifths down cold. I am getting much better at knowing the frets on the guitar as letters and not numbers. I can play in the key of G very easily and fluently. My next goal is to be able to do that with every other key. I will try a minor key next. I want to pick something with a lot of accidentals because i can refer more easily to stuff that doesnt have that many.

I started teaching Ricky, my student some basic theory, and thats when i realized how well i understand it at this point. Im really happy that it has clicked strongly with me.

So what I will be working on for a while is learning different jazz chords, how theyre constructed, and multiple voicings. Then i will start learning progressions. I will work on I iv V in the key of C, and then move that to different keys. Soon i will refresh my theory knowledge from where i left off in school and continue on at my own pace. Hopefully by the time i go to a new school i will be able to take more advanced theory classes, that is my ultimate goal. Also, I want to start being to easily count up major/minor 3rds, and perfect fifths in every key. It is easy to play, but the more fluent and fast i am at recognizing intervals by myself the quicker i will be able to learn and analyze music.
-one more thing in addition to the jazz chords, i want to learn different jazz rhythms and stuff like that. Hopefully my book will explain that.

I think I will focus more on playing slowly, rather than always stressing for speed. At the beginning of the summer i did a great deal of playing slowly but also a great deal of playing fast. Im going to take a break from death metal playing and work a lot on jazz/classical music/random progressive music. I dont need to be playing super fast all the time. Plus i want to develop an even stronger foundation. The way i see it thus far is, the stronger the foundation, the easier it will be to play fast. So far it has proved true.

One other thing i am learning is that you can apply nearly everything to music, its really cool to see the different connections.


Im starving so im going to end my post here. I may have a band in the works very soon ill keep updating about that. Right now im gong to eat and start looking for some new jazz theory stuff to have ingrained in my head

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Lots of updating

Ok so i lost motivation for this because stuff like that happens. But now it has come back.

To finish off what i started, my last few classical gutiar lessons were all about playing slowly with a metronome.After months of practicing electric guitar like that, I have noticed how much it helps
Playing slowly is essential for everything. It helps you get way more accurate, find mistakes, and play faster. That is what boggles my mind. Playing slower will make you able to play faster. It is such a great technique, I could write a fuckin 5 page paper on it but now is not the time.

So over the summer, now that summer is just about over i focused a ton on electric guitar. I was just totally unmotivated to play classical guitar. I hated growing my nails and still do, but im finally parting with that. I practiced 6 hours per day with a metronome using a variety of exercises. Those boosted my skill level so much. I shall go more in depth on this later on.

Ive taught some people how to play guitar, and my friend Ricky has improved greatly. Not only can i hear it, but he has noticed it too. ALl thanks to a metronome and the art of playing slowly. I need to thank my guitar teacher Harris Becker for just talking to me about playing slowly. One quote which ill never forget is that the key to playing fast is to be able to relax quickly. Its 100% true. The way you get to relax quickly is by playing slowly and gradually building up speed. What hasppens is, you effortlessly play something, then stop/rest after each stroke. Eventually that rest comes quicker and quicker as you get more used to it. He also told me that once you play something so slowly many times over, and then you perform it, it will feel that it is going in slow motion. That was also true. I experienced that with my frist piece i learned. It was such a cool feeling.

I will post some practice samples later on and talk about teaching, but for now I want to fast forward to today.

Today I saw my brother perform in two orchestras. The first one was ok, nothing too remarkable honestly. THe second however was truely amazing. It was so inspiring and motivating that it got me thinking more and more about going back to classical guitar. It has given me a whole new outlook on classical music. My teacher gave me a bunch of stuff to work on over the summer, and i havent touched a single bit of it until today. I used to struggle with reading music, but its coming a lot easier to me now strangely. Im so glad. I plan to be practicing a lot everyday. I want it to seem like i practiced throughout the whole summer. Ive gotten through a decent portion of the stuff he gave me considering today was the first day i looked at it. So who knows how far ill be in a week. That being said i only have two weeks (well probably three) to get this stuff down. Its coming along very well now though, and i can only see myself getting better at it considering i know better practicing methods.

Im so glad this day happened and wish it happened sooner