Sharing Knowledge Isn't Easy

When I started playing music, there weren't videos, tabs or the internet for that matter, just hard work and ears. Struggling to decipher a guitar part from an LP and thinking you had it right, until a more seasoned player came around.    Compared to today, the pros weren't willing to show you what they spent most of their life time learning, except MAYBE if they were paid, or if you were family. 

Now, practically everything you want to know is accessible and free. And most pros and seasoned players are all more than generous in sharing their knowledge. This is great. 
On the other hand,  there seems to be a reluctance to except the fact that it's still the students job to work and think things through.  If they don't understand what you're doing, it's always a good idea to ask questions and so forth, as opposed to not liking and criticizing something because they don't understand it.   

Private lessons is perhaps a whole different criteria because you're paying for something that hopefully you as a student have made clear to your teacher what your goals are. That aside, a teacher is just a guide to your own creativity. 
  
In my series, I've pointed out that I'm just sharing ideas and challenging the viewer with learning as I've learned. Thinking and listening.    It puzzles me that with the thousands of other videos out there, why someone would be … disgruntled with something shared at no cost to them. 

I thought I explained myself in the intro:
Here's the video - Lesson's from a Lefty 

On we go. 

Jazz Guitar

As a vocalist, jazz came very easily to me. I was very comfortable with singing melodies and scatting.   It was never something I had to work at.  I do recall in the 80's I was criticized for having lousy diction.  I realized that to fix the problem, I simply had to learn to 'speak' more clearly.  When I moved to Maryland I found myself being asked to do jazz gigs as a vocalist. I was learning a lot of material and how different the jazz world was compared to the pop/folk world I was used to. 

As a guitarist, I dreaded the subject of jazz, I never felt I could do it.  I knew enough to sound jazzy but not enough to want to accompany myself or anyone else for that matter.  Besides, I always preferred singing with pianists. I love the harmonic colors jazz pianists tend to have, compared to most of the guitarists I was familiar with.  

After being consistently frustrated with finding piano accompanists who were usually too busy or too expensive, I decided it was time to take on the challenge of trying to play jazz guitar.  At first I wanted to take some lessons, but then things just started to come to me and I started to understand things that had never connected before.   Being self-taught has created certain habits for me. For example, I respond more to concepts rather than somebody saying "put your hand here".  And of course did I  mention that I was left-handed?    Recently I  spent some time with a friend who had some rare workshop videos of a legendary guitarist. He would zip past the dialogue to a song saying, "listen to this." I was more interested in hearing what the legend had to say.  I want to know how a genius thinks. 

I've spent many years practicing and practicing , but I was never organized or structured in any way.  Now I'm pretty thought out with what I'm trying to do before I start my routine. I even keep a practicing diary, it helps me to stay focused. I still need a lot of work, but I'm having a lot of fun.  That's what it's all about, right? :)

Here's a piece I'm working on.

Nice Work If You Can Get It