The School of Feedback Guitar Blog

If one reason why you want to learn to play guitar better but hesitate is because you don't want the love of it to disappear, then know you are not alone. Recently, a very creative pair of students posed a question that knocked me speechless:

"How do you learn a song and still love it just as much when you get done learning it?"

I still don't know quite how to do this! Perhaps this question is more of a philosophic one:

"Does the end justify the means?"

In other words, in order to learn a song, do I have to give up my love of it? Do I have to give up the mystery I feel when I listen to it? In order to attain mastery of the song, must I drain it of it's vitality? From what I can see as a teacher, this might lead to a nice simple re-arranging of priorities, and that is not an easy accomplishment.

Which is more important to you: The Mystery or the Mastery?

Most people don't understand that there are musicians out there who never knew a single lick of music theory. It seems odd, but most people consider knowing music theory as the barometer of a musician's mastery. Yet the most famous example of a master musician who had no music theory knowledge was Jimi Hendrix. He knew not a shred of music theory! I think Jimi must have found the guitar mysterious, something to explore, bat around, set fire to, play with his teeth. From the looks of it, it seems he was out to push the guitar and it's capabilities, and that to me speaks of mastery more than anything.

Attaining mastery over the guitar is something quite a few people are after, but does mystery have to be sacrificed in order to get it?  From my standpoint, from a guy who has spent years playing guitar, mystery is far more important. To me, a good song is worth letting go and not learning so I can feel good when I listen to it later. Perhaps losing the love of songs is part of attaining more mastery on the guitar. I don't know. If that's the case, then keep me in the dark please. Music is all I have, and if it's gone then I have nothing left to give.

Expect more blogging on this topic.

There is a moment in this video where Eric Bachmann talks about how long it takes sometimes for a song to come around. Even cooler is the way he describes how a song will feel to him when it's ready. I really want to see this movie, and I don't know quite where I can...

This is a situation that professional musicians sometimes find themselves in. It's a rush to share their new songs.
 
At first glance, this doesn't seem like a bad thing. Yay! Show and tell! "Dude- check this song out!" After all, the act of creating, to paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, is just plain good for us. Don't get me wrong either. I like to encourage just about everyone I know to create something, anything. It just feels good. Sharing the contents of our creative work is life affirming, tends to build confidence, and allows us to begin to understand that there are people out there who appreciate our work even if we don't necessarily know them. The mere act of creation creates space for more creativity. Confidence besets confidence.
 
The flip side is that the rush to share has a strange consequence: The musician in a rush to share never allows his/her song to take traction and stand the test of time.
 
Creativity is everything to me. Being in a rush to share means that no work has time to marinate in solitary peace. Paul McCartney's "yesterdays" took two years (!) To write, but it's a classic. Letting a song sit and rest, to find itself even if it means it's two years in the making, means that not only will a person find out for sure if it will stand the test of time, it will also give the song a chance to be even more of an extension of the songwriter. When a song stands the test of time in my world, then I am positive that I want to share it. My personal dilemma has been how to wait for the right moments to share. When it's ready, it's ready, and it should be shared. Sometimes songs, poems, art, whatever, just needs time for it to fully bloom. Sometimes not. They can come like lightning too (Brian Wilson's song "God Only Knows" was written in seven minutes).
 
If you need to write a song, do it! Don't hesitate. Ditto with sharing. Especially if you need to play! But if you have spent years writing songs, creating art, or writing poems, then perhaps being more selective can allow songs to last for a long long time.