Guitar Fu
Or ‘Kung Fu for the Guitar’.
Back when I thought I had time (haaaaa ha ha ha) to learn how to play the guitar better, I subscribed to the Guitar Principles newsletter [Be careful with their bright red screen. Early in the morning it can be blinding, perhaps waiting until afternoon to visit might be better… Yeah, I just don’t think they got the Webdesign-Fu thing going yet].
Their approach has always been very deep, paying attention to every detail as well as paying attention to the numerous ‘purposes’ one has playing a guitar. Yes, it is very much like our hobby, but luckily we do not require much hand-eye motor coordination :-)!
[… though, often, the amount we do require can be duanting, plugging left channels into right, output cables into the input sockets, … all sorts of difficulties can arise if we do not FOCUS. Or maybe it is just us….]
For example, here is a (small) exerpt from their last newsletter, which I found myself identifying with both as a listener to musician’s music as well as a audio reproduction system optimizer [but not so much as guitar player – free time disappears as if it were nothing but a poof of smoke from Gandalf’s pipe]:
“….in the course of developing as a guitarist, you will be forced to confront who you really are, not who you think you are.” Musical performance does not allow us to lie, it forces us to speak the truth, whatever our truth might be. If I am afraid, if I am shallow, if I am passionate and profound; the music will say it.
As we play, we must ask “where is my attention? Is it focused on what I want, or am I allowing my psychic energy to be devoted to my fears and doubts, thereby bringing me what I don’t want?” The smallest corners of our minds and hearts, though we may keep them hidden from our awareness in everyday life, will come to life in the midst of our artistic endeavors. And that is why an artist must strive toward purity, which is earned through honest, fearless, and constant self observation.
So, let us observe ourselves fearlessly, especially when we play guitar, and see if we are focusing on the problem, or the solution. Is it our fears to which we give our attention, or are we thinking of and focusing on what we want? What we get [the results we get] will depend on the answer. “
Anyway, inspirational, for me at least. And I try to apply ‘Guitar Principles’ to other parts of my life.
[Boy, some people have bad hair days, I get bad spell days [everyday is a bad hair day, but I’m a guy, so who cares]. I’ve had to look up half of the words on this post…. *sheesh*].
Well, here we are at the end of this little Blog post….
Mike,
Why don’t you pickup a copy/re-read the Hagakure? ….
– Steve O.
Hi Steve,
I never heard of the Hagakure before – it looks interesting though.
Primarily, I like approaches that have prescriptions – things, principles, that one can do and test for themselves whether they really work or not. Otherwise it is just so much mental mas-, uh, day dreaming.
Some of Bruce Lee’s books are like that [the more philisophical one, but it is still based on Jeet Koon Do, I believe]:
“To express yourself in freedom, you must die to everything of yesterday. From the ‘old’, you derive security; from the ‘new’, you gain the flow.”
But thanks for the reference… have you read it? What did YOU think of it?
Let’s see, to paraphrase Bruce, I mean, Mr. Lee, and put this all in context:
“To listen and be free to truly Hear, you must forget that you have ever heard the song before, forget the money and hours you spent on the system; to remember these things you derive comfort from familiarity; But to hear it as if it were all of it ‘new’ to you, you will experience the magic of each note as it comes into existance – as if it had never existed anywhere before this moment – the magic of the simultaniousness of the flow of the Music and the flow of the Now”
Thanks,
Mike.
Mike,
I haven’t read any of Bruce Lee’s writings. His kung fu was/is a true art form.
I first read the Hagakure about three years ago when I lived in Portland, Oregon. Excerpts from the book were interwoven in a fantastic film called Ghost Dog – The Way of the Samurai. So, I found a book by way of a movie…
While from a completely different era, the book contains profound ideas. It will give you a different perspective on living your life day to day, I think.
– Steve O.