Steamroller

I've got a new routine going. It occurs to me that I need challenges. I need 'projects'... something I can sink myself into over an extended period of time. I get bored when there isn't something specific tying up my mind and my energy. There's been a bunch over the past couple years, usually music-based. I think I need to feel like I'm always 'in school'. I really love learning, and, hopefully, turning into a better version of myself through the effort. There are so many great stages, too. At first, it's all blood and sweat, and no results. You're just hacking away, but you're running on the adrenaline of the initial idea and the excitement surrounding it. And then things start taking shape, and you start to gather the little evidences of improvement that keep you coming back. And then, hopefully, in the end, you can look back and realize that you've benefited more than you ever realized was possible.

So anyway, I realized a while ago that my guitar playing had essentially reached a plateau. Which isn't to say that I got so good that I had nowhere else to go... no.. but I think any sort of musical pursuit can be a series of plateaus. You work like crazy to get to a certain point, and then you get there, and for a while, it's all about the joy of being able to be there, and to play things you could never play, and just hear that coming off of your hands. But then you get to a point (which I got to a few weeks ago) where you discover that you're out of ideas, and out of direction. You can play everything that other people who play like you are playing, and you can't even come close to playing what people who don't play like you are playing. It isn't so much about measuring skill on a unidirectional scale anymore. I'm just finding that there are all of these parallel streams of musicality that I have never really tackled, so I can be playing what I play (fingerstyle, folky, whatever) and then I take that step left into something else and it's like a free-fall down into serious discomfort and a total lack of ingenuity.

It's the difference between being the guy who can say, 'ya, I know how to play all of John Mayer's tunes...' and being John Mayer.

So musically, and specifically on guitar, I think the place that I'm most lacking and, incidentally, the place that will probably be the most fun and exciting to explore and learn to play, is blues. I mean... guys who can really dig in and just lay that stuff down are incomparably fun to watch/listen to. Let it be known that I have no idea how to 'learn how to play the blues..' But I have a few ideas on how to get there in my own way. So, I've been coming in to work about an hour and a half early every morning and doing scales. Sounds boring, I know, but it's actually pretty great. Everything from learning standard major/minor scales to working out blues scales, and finding the various places you can play them in the same keys up and down the neck. That gets my fingers going, and has me back into using a pick (which has been absent from my playing for a while)

After work, before Kar gets home, I've been doing another half-hour of that, followed by another hour or so of working out licks, mimicking stuff I hear some of the big guys doing (Mayer, Clapton, BB, etc.) playing along to backing tracks (Youtube is sweet! you can find slow blues backing tracks in abundance that are perfect for practice!)

I'm loving this!! I have more fun playing guitar than almost anything, and it feels like I'm learning how to play the instrument again for the first time. I mean, it can be painful at times. Just when I feel like I'm getting somewhere, I make the mistake of throwing on someone else's tune and discovering the meaning of the term 'amateur'. But regardless, it's a blast.

So, you may not hear new music from me for a bit, but I promise you my next record is gonna be a badass blues romp.



Side note: If you can find it, try to get your hands on a series of podcasts called 'Spin Cycles'. It's airing on CBC 1 late on wednesday nights, so I always tune in on my way home from hockey. It's all about our current news-hungry 24 hour information-based society. Talks alot about the concept of 'spin', and how we rarely, if ever, hear proper factual programming. Sheds good light on how much of what we hear is designed and tailored for specific reactions and a predetermined resultant public opinion, most specifically in the political forum.

Also, on the topic of CBC 1, they have some really great podcasts. If you're looking to go for a long drive and you're sick of your own current CDs, let me recommend:

- "Vinyl Cafe" with Stuart Maclean. You can get it free on iTunes. He's a true gem of a story teller, and that's all this podcast is. Stories and anecdotes. Makes me laugh like crazy, sometimes cry, and always feel better for having heard it.

- "Wiretap" with Jonathan Goldstein. Can't really describe this one, but he's brilliant in his own way.


Alright, well, this weekend is all about house parties, sushi with friends, and orchestral sessions at the Glen Gould. Peace,

Jon