Kenny Harrison | Ruminations on Six Strings
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Posts from the “Music Life” Category

Persistence: A Stubborn Attitude

Posted on January 22, 2013

I played violin and studied music as a young boy, and last year began practicing guitar and resuming my studies in music a month short of my 57th birthday. It is from that perspective from which I ruminate and chronicle my musical journey. Thoughts, feelings, and ideas meander without purpose unless they are committed to some form of expression. I consider myself lucky that I have two creative outlets from which my intellectual and emotional energy flows, namely music and writing. Words alone are not enough to express the depths at which my most inward-looking meditations pant for unfettered release into the wilds of humanity. To harbor a feeling of profound uncertainty without the means for its release is a lonely place to call…

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Categories: Music Life, Musicianship, Practice

Tagged: Chords, Practice Summary, Ruminations

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In Search of Tone: Part I

Posted on December 21, 2012

Tone is the Holy Grail of every guitarist, and I’m discovering that finding your own unique sound, voice, or tone is a right of passage for the guitarist. Acoustic or electric, every guitar exhibits a natural tone. Construction technique and materials contribute to the natural tone of the instrument, its timbre, its ability to resonate and create foreplay in the ear. In my youth I remember my music teacher praising the timbre of my violin, and forty-five years later I finally understand what she had meant. After a year of research and study, I came to appreciate the timbre of semi-hollow body electric guitars and found a Gibson CS-356 waiting for me in Louisville, Colorado. I’ll save the details of that adventure for another…

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Categories: Music Life, Tech, Tone

Tagged: Guitar Stories

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Looking Back: 1st Month

Posted on October 28, 2012

Several months before I committed to taking music lessons, I researched local musicians who taught guitar with music theory. I didn’t want to be taught how to play Stairway to Heaven, I wanted to learn the fundamentals of music theory so I could teach myself how to play songs and compose music. I wanted to learn the language of music so I could communicate with other musicians. I wanted a well-rounded music education to enable myself to read and write music, acquire instrument proficiency on the electric guitar, and compose and produce music. I needed a music teacher who possessed a professional music background and education. On a spiritual level, I wanted a mentor who would take me under his wing and impart his…

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Categories: Music Life, Practice

Tagged: Practice Summary

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Am I Too Old to Play?

Posted on October 14, 2012

There’s plenty of evidence to support that learning an instrument and learning how to make music will rewire your brain in a good way. It’s a no-brainer—music is beneficial to the nourishment and wellbeing of the soul, brain, and heart. If you want something bad enough, you’re going to find a way to get it. I put aside my age, fears and doubts about being too old to achieve musical proficiency on the guitar and made a commitment to myself that I’m going to devote the rest of my life to music. I have physical limitations, such as arthritic fingers and relatively small hands, which fueled many of my doubts about being able to finger the fretboard and form chord shapes. My cognitive abilities…

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Categories: Music Life, Practice

Tagged: Practice Summary

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Bon Voyage

Posted on October 7, 2012

Labored with doubt and second thoughts about my cognitive and physical ability to jump back into music, I endured many days of serious self-deliberations on factors that I thought would work against me in my pursuit of music, such as age, arthritis, and false notions about learning guitar late in life. If I hadn’t studied music as a youngster, I’d probably be embarking on a different journey, however I grew up in a house filled with music and studied violin, so continuing my musical journey after a 45-year hiatus made me feel like it was the right thing to do. Here I am, three months into music lessons, and I know I’d made the right decision in pursuing a worthy dream. Fortunately, I had…

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Categories: Music Life

Tagged: Ruminations

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Anderson Atom CT Musings and stories culled from making a musical journey in the second half of life.

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Recent Posts

  • The Seekers
  • Dad and Hank
  • Persistence: A Stubborn Attitude
  • In Search of Tone: Part I
  • Looking Back: 4th Month

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