Last week
was about catching up on the drawing and screenwriting, which is one type of
creativity, and now I have a lot to say about the blogging and music writing.
The natural space between that is the bass playing. That also works because the
bass just may be the aspect of my life that best represents all of the other
aspects. I am still pretty bad at it, and I still love it.
I am not
naturally good at bass. It's not just being new to it; my fingers are pretty short.
It reminds me of when Lisa Simpson was told how her stubby fingers would hold
her back for saxophone. I don't think my fingers look stubby, but when I am
trying to get them into the right position it feels like I was crazy to ever
think of playing anything larger than a ukulele.
I am also
not living up to my minimum goals associated with it. I decided I would just
ask myself to practice fifteen minutes a day (plus getting it up on my head),
and I often don't manage that. So basically, there are time constraints and
limited abilities that prove frustrating, which again fits in with all aspects
of my life.
At the same
time, there are things about it that are remarkably fulfilling, and touching,
and where it connects me to the larger world, and that's kind of how the other
things come out too.
First of
all, any time I sound a pure note, or I make an adjustment and it works, it
gives me joy. The amount of satisfaction per note might go down somewhat as it
becomes more common, but I've probably got a while.
I still
need to forge my own path, which is overly intellectual. When I was starting
out, I kept sounding out scales, and having all of these questions about why
things worked that way, and I realized that I needed more background to feel
right. I checked out Music Theory for Dummies, and that gave me what I
needed to get to the next step. There is still a lot that I don't know, but it
filled up the gaps that were bothering me. It also gave me future books to
read, and introduced me to Boethius, so that was time well spent.
It has
allowed me to help people. I have two Twitter friends who are learning guitar,
and encountering frustrations. Even though I am sure that they already surpass
me in playing and that they will get far better at this than I ever will, I have
still been able to tell them things they need to hear. That is a really hard
song; two of the best guitar players out there are featured on it, so give
yourself some time. Your ear develops faster than your ability, so you will
hear your errors before you can fix them, and that seems like torture, but it's
how we get better. I might have known those things already, but I understand
them better now.
I have gotten
help from unexpected places through Twitter as well. About a month ago, one
guitarist was sending other acquaintances a picture of a very unusual guitar,
that I think would be hard to play, and I say that without intending any
entendres, but they are there.
Anyway, I
joined the conversation, and I sent a picture of my guitar, for no real reason
except that I felt an impulse to do it and I mentioned being awkward with it.
He wrote back "ahh. The flying V bass. Those can indeed feel a bit awkward
to rock. Takes some getting used to..."
The first
thing there is that it never occurred to me that I had picked out an awkward
model, though in retrospect it totally makes sense. That might be part of my
problem, and I would not have known. His saying that helps me take heart.
The other
thing that is amazing is that the tweet was from Cory White, formerly of
Coalesce (and some other bands) and now touring with Reggie and the Full Effect.
Months ago I was listening to Coalesce, along with so many other bands, because
I was trying to understand guitar better, and because they were touring with
Torche. That was the show that I decided I could not go to, because I was
worried about the venue, and yet I am pretty sure that is the venue where I am
going to see him with Reggie Sunday night. (This show starts and will end
earlier, and I'm just going to make it work.)
There are a
lot of musical connections there, which is cool, but also just being present I
learn things that help me, from people who really know what they are doing, and
it's an amazing thing.
It is
possible that I will not progress much as a player, but that what I do will
help me write about music better and appreciate it more. That would be okay. At
the same time, sometimes I will see someone playing and think "I could do
that". I've got eight years before I'm late for starting Sabbath Keepers.
I'm just
going to stick with it, at my own glacial pace. This is a magical guitar that
appeared to me in a dream carried by Frank Iero, Lindsey Way taught me to drop my inhibitions
with it, and Cory White has given me perspective. It is a beautiful part of my
life no matter what happens from here.
So I will
leave with these points to ponder. I have fallen in love at first sight with
four guitars now: my bass, Dan Brown's (the Fixx) bass, the Schecter Ultra III
(as seen with Kevin Preston in Prima Donna), and the guitar used by Charlie
Sexton in the "Sunday Clothes" video.
Is this
going to become an expensive hobby? Some people seem to end up with a lot of
guitars.
What drives
the chemistry, where some guitars I love instantly and others I only like?
Does it
mean anything that the two 6-strings and their contexts lean a bit more
Southern?
Why do some
songs (especially "Bulletproof Heart" and "Thnks fr th
Mmrs") make me want to play the guitar part, not the bass?
It's okay;
I only really worry about the songs where I feel like I should play the keytar.
I might be better at keytar, but it feels like that could lead to a scary
place.
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