Looking Back: 3rd Month

Posted on November 18, 2012

Ruminating over journal entries about my third month of lessons and practice, I noticed the dynamics of my relationship with my music sensei changing. I observed that my conversations with him were more like a musician talking to another about technique, improvisation, and music theory fundamentals. Our sessions were intended to last only 30 minutes, but since he had no other students after me, we usually ran over, making that extra 15 minutes of feedback and general talk about jazz or the blues greatly appreciated, and by no means did I take it for granted. As my knowledge of music theory and guitar performance increased, I found myself able to musically articulate questions and grasp the resulting answers. Indeed, I had found a damn good music teacher.

Though I excelled at reading and performing songs arranged with single notes, playing chords cleanly and shifting between them smoothly still presented a challenge to me, however I continued to register incremental improvements over the previous month. After one particular lesson, Andrew explained that as proficiency increases, incremental improvements become less frequent. My readings in music studies confirmed this as well, and in a bitter-sweet sense it marks an advancement in musicianship.

As my fourth month was quickly drawing near, I had totally capitulated to the idea of deliberate practice. If I was going to commit four hours per day to instrument practice, then they would have to be highly optimized hours targeting specific areas for improvement, experimentation, and new material and technique. A respectable two hours of daily practice was no longer sufficient for my musical journey. I had relied on a rather static practice regime, but a dynamic practice strategy was becoming necessary and vital for growth. I decided on a core set of routines to practice, like scales, chords, and new material, but my primary objective was to intelligently focus on specific goals with desired outcomes. Gone would be the hours of trial and error, and my mantra would be “smarter practice, not harder practice.”

“Music means what to me? Why do it? Are the reasons the same as pondering why write? I view the study of music, the discipline, the unwavering determination, and the persistence needed to acquire proficiency in my chosen instrument is like becoming a student of Zen, a disciple willing to make the journey to enlightenment. The results are tangible and quantifiable. The study of music and learning to play the electric guitar is the last leg of my life’s journey. I want to be remembered as a musician who rekindled his musical journey late in life because of a propensity for being a late bloomer of all things important to me.”

—Excerpt from my Music Journal

October 19, 2012

Categories: Musicianship, Practice, Proficiency

Tagged: Deliberate Practice, Practice Summary

Journals, Diaries—Whatever

Posted on November 11, 2012

Journals, diaries, notebooks, workbooks, or whatever you call them, documenting your progress and thoughts makes good practice sense along the musical journey. I keep a music journal wherein I document my trials, tribulations, and successes in my music practice. I record such things as what works and what doesn’t; feedback form my music sensei; and my growth as an aspiring musician.

In addition to a music journal, I maintain a music workbook, wherein I may sketch a phrase of notes to experiment with during an upcoming practice session, capture a mood or feeling by laying down a few stanzas of poetry that might carry potential as lyrics to a song I have germinating in my head, or ideas for further exploration. As the name implies, it’s a workbook intended to be used before and during my practice sessions. Unlike the music journal, my music workbook is an analogue device; it requires paper and pencil in order to effectively operate.

Every few months I like to review older entries in my journals and workbooks to discover how far I’ve come in my practice, where my improvements have been, and what still lingers as uncorrected problems. I especially notice the increased usage of music terminology to describe elements of my playing, questions to ask my teacher, and growth as a practitioner. The mere act of writing about my musical journey satisfies a need to know where I’ve been, where I am, and where I need to go next as I seek the Way through music. Writing has proven to be an essential element in my overall training as a musician, and it further complements communication through the language of music.

“I detected additional improvement in playing the [G7, C7, D7] chords in my early PM practice session. I used a practice tip from my music sensei whereby I shape a chord and hold it until fatigue sets in, which is about 60 seconds for me at this time. The theory is that by holding the shape muscle memory is stimulated. He suggested doing this while reading or watching TV, instead I use the exercise to meditate. I also observed that my strumming is improving and is lighter, more carefully controlled, almost pleasant at times when strumming the open strings or when I have a chord fingered just right.”

—Excerpt from my Music Journal,
September 4, 2012

Categories: Writing

Tagged: Music Journal, Music Workbook

Looking Back: 2nd Month

Posted on November 4, 2012

Whatever discouraging, lingering doubts I had about my inability to fret chords and play them clean and clear were quickly being abated by problem solving, persistence, and repetitive practice. Encouragement and support from my music teacher, stronger hands and digits, and tougher calluses on the finger tips were motivating factors to plow through a dry patch of technical obstacles. I reminded myself that reading standard music notation and playing single notes has been unencumbered by technical difficulties, and any fumbles in this area were the result of momentary lapses in my concentration (cranium flatus).

My second month of lessons appeared to be an incremental improvement over the previous month, but I knew I could do much better and felt like I wasn’t giving a 100 percent. Maybe I needed to practice more and/or get more serious. My daily practice regime had already been consisting of two 45 minute sessions:

Warm up—5 minutes

G Minor Pentatonic Scale, 5 times each at different bpm.

Scales—20 minutes

C Major Scale
Chromatic Scales
Pentatonic Scales

Chords—20 minutes

Pulse (shape and strum on and off) G7, C7, and D7 chords
Strum 12 bars in 4/4 time.

In between sessions I studied music theory, performed ear training exercises, and practiced active listening of selected music. I easily devoted three to four hours to the pursuit of music, but I still was unsatisfied. I began to research practice methodologies used by performing classical musicians. Man, did I ever feel like I had a very long road ahead of me. I discovered a methodology called deliberate practice, an organized, goal-based approach to instrument practice and performance. My practice regime appeared to be organized and goal-based, but it desperately needed some serious tweaking if I desired to optimize my practice time.

While my practice regime appeared orderly with definite goals, it lacked specific target areas where performance issues were creating barriers to advancement that required a deliberate, focused approach to treating the problem, and for me that was fingering chords at one extreme and smoothly shifting between them at the opposite end. I also needed to target difficult passages involving phrase transitions spanning two or three strings, when in such situations I would invariably lose focus of where my fingers were over the fretboard. If I messed up notes here and there, my inclination was to stop and start from the beginning of the song again until I got it right, rather than increase my practice efficiency by targeting the affected phrase and repeating it until I was satisfied that it was correct and comforting to the ear.

This was one of those situations where having a music sensei became indispensable by communicating my difficulties and presenting a solution set for his consideration and constructive feedback. It was reassuring that he explained I was on the right path and offered additional insights into making practice efficient and productive. Figuratively speaking, I concluded my 2nd month of lessons and practice on a high note.

“I want to get the most out of my practice, thinking that I need to work smarter not harder. My frustration [lies in] learning to play the G7, C7, D7 [chords without errors]. Repetition wasn’t working, keeping the chord shape until my fingers either broke or went numb wasn’t working, and waiting for it all to just happen was naively wishful thinking. I’ve been experimenting for the past four days where I fingered each chord note separately, moving between the notes from each chord, one note and finger at a time. I performed this exercise until my fret hand fatigued. Today I can finger the chords and move between them, though far, far from clean and smooth. I still have to look at the fret board, string buzz makes me cringe…”

—Excerpt from my Music Journal

September 26, 2012

Categories: Practice, Proficiency, Technique

Tagged: Chords, Deliberate Practice, Practice Regimes, Practice Summary, Scales

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 knowledge to me, much like the relationship between a Zen master and his disciple.

After a few lessons with Andrew, I knew I had hired the right person for the job. If you don’t like or the chemistry isn’t there with your music teacher, then move on and continue your search. You’ll know if you found the right teacher for you. Teaching music to adults requires a different set of skills. The dynamics are quite different for both teacher and student when the student is much older than the teacher. Older learners may not be as fast as they once were, but we are an experienced bunch. A lifetime of experience as a responsible human being carries its own set of credentials. We learn best when the teacher acknowledges that and imparts knowledge from one adult to another in way that the older student can appreciate.

Having studied violin and music as a youngster, I wasn’t totally lost on day one when I was presented with something called a pentatonic scale and three chords common in playing the blues. These materials were presented to me after a quick discussion of my music tastes, which included the blues, smooth jazz, classic rock and country western. The lesson lasted 30 minutes and felt like a lap around the race track. I demonstrated to Andrew that I could identify the parts of my electric guitar, tune it with an electronic guitar tuner, and fret a few notes. While the sheet music for the pentatonic scale and the chord charts didn’t look like hieroglyphics, they did intimidate me until I took them home to decipher their meaning. That’s when and where Music Theory for Dummies came in handy.

By lesson #4, I was concerned that I still couldn’t finger the assigned G7, C7 and D7 chords, however I had fewer problems fingering the single notes making up the G Minor Pentatonic Scale. My weak, arthritic fingers and small hands turned on the second-thought light in my head. I was worried and quite concerned that perhaps I hit a wall. “Fear not, all is well,” sprouted from Andrew’s mouth. March on and practice; be an adult about it, I instructed to myself.

“After 90 minutes of AM practice, fingering chords are still eluding me. I can’t quantitatively say there’s any improvement in fingering the three chords today than yesterday. I’m going to devote my PM practice just to practicing chords. I can only guess that at my age even muscle memory takes longer. I think I’ll ask Andrew to devote our next lesson to form relative to playing chords. Playing scales is where I can absolutely detect improvement, and I can nearly play them without looking at the fret board. Chords are simply a bitch for me, at least for now. Perhaps it’s just going to take more time than fingering scales. Fingering a chord is one thing, but to gracefully shape another is an exercise in finger numbing frustration. I’m stubborn, so I’ll persist.”

—Excerpt from my Music Journal

September 2, 2012

Categories: Music Life, Practice

Tagged: Practice Summary

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 have slowed over the years and my reaction times are not as fast as when I was a younger man. Though items were quickly adding up in the deficit column, I had read enough about others who have gone before me and achieved a decent level of instrument proficiency and musical expression by overcoming their own limitations. Letting fear and doubt linger can drain the well of enthusiasm bone dry. Everyone has a unique set of circumstances that may limit their musical outcome, but for me the only way to know if I can do it was to just stop thinking about it and start playing.

During my early weeks I communicated all my fears and doubts to my music sensei, Andrew. He was not concerned and reassured me that I could develop a decent set of chops and achieve instrument proficiency through practice, courage, perseverance, unwavering determination, repetition, and more practice and repetition. I make every effort to optimize what I have left in me physically and emotionally. I continuously cut back my nails on my fretting hand to expose the very tips of my fingers; I exercise my hands with 7-pound Grip Masters to increase the strength in my crooked, arthritic fingers; I develop and maintain calluses just shy of using Super Glue on my finger tips; and for emotional strength training, I focus on the here and now of making my journey, not the journey’s end.

To be bluntly honest, I would have given up if I had made the decision to learn guitar through self-study. Those who have learned their craft on their own I admire, but for me I needed interactivity and constructive feedback. I located a professional jazz musician with above-average credentials who was accepting students. My experience as a hiring manager in my retired field of information technology told me Andrew was a good discovery. His instruction in guitar and music is worth every dollar to me. He imparts to me knowledge and practice tips that are absent in the self-study materials I’ve used as supplements to my music studies, and I highly recommend seeking out a good music teacher who has experience training older adults.

So am I too old to acquire proficiency in guitar and for making the journey as a musician? Hell no!

Categories: Music Life, Practice

Tagged: Practice Summary

Looking Back: 3rd Month

Posted on November 18, 2012

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Journals, Diaries—Whatever

Posted on November 11, 2012

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Looking Back: 2nd Month

Posted on November 4, 2012

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Looking Back: 1st Month

Posted on October 28, 2012

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Am I Too Old to Play?

Posted on October 14, 2012

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