DianeB

Gasp! My vision is getting blurry and my ears are ringing, but I'll keep writing as long as I can... We're at full strength, now that the representatives from Israel and Australia have arrived. Steve again led off with a warm welcome and his favorite finger stretchers. Christie Lenee, just back home from a tour of California and probably reeling from jet lag, taught a session on alternate tunings and tapping techniques. I had to skip out early for my appointment with Greg Voros, who seems more entertaining with each renunion. We enjoy lunch together at the student union. It's a short walk away, the food is delicious, and the price is unbeatable at $5.25. Perfect. Workshops in the afternoon included classes in music theory, fingerstyle, blues, jazz, flatpicking, and guitar maintenance. I opted for basic fingerstyle with Steve, and a survey of seventh chords with Mel Deal in the jazz class. These were followed by jam groups that gave everyone a chance to play. I was delighted to see George McIntyre had returned, a last minute addition to Steve's roster, to lead the Beatles jam. At about 50 minutes each, you can't cover much ground, but there's always that one "apple" -- a tip, an insight -- you can take home (Steve's analogy). Out in the hallway, Paulette and Timothy monitor the "store" where we can purchase some of Steve's resources: cables, courses, music books, and -- music socks. Guitar socks. Sorry, I did not see bass socks. Unobtrusively, and to me, heroically, Paul is again behind the video camera this year recording the main events. We returned after dinner for an evening of brilliant acoustic guitar from Steve, Collin Hill, Joe Robinson, and Christie Lenee. I can only shake my head in wonder at their level of skill and musicianship. And the goosebumps, the shared laughs, the warm handshakes, the hugs? Those are my "apples".

Hi, all, I'm coming to you tonight from my hotel room on a warm and muggy night in Nashville. Today was Tuesday. I started the day in Chattanooga with yet another visit to the Songbirds guitar museum. This time my host was different, and so were some of the guitars on display, as they rotate the collection. Really, the Gathering should kick off there, followed by a motorcade up I-24 to Nashville. Just a proposal. I arrived at Trevecca at 3:00, just as Steve was setting up our guitar show and tell. We put a dozen or so of our babies on stage to commiserate about: Steve's Macpherson and Brent Mason Tele, my Guild, and some real beauties from the rest of the gang. It was so good to see familiar faces: Andy, Dave, Reg, Dwayne, George, Rick, Collin, David, Paul, and of course Paulette and Timothy. Looks like about 60 are registered; down from last year, and half had arrived by 5:00 today. Southerner that I am, I did not pass up the watermelon in the corner. This year I coaxed my friends Bud and his wife Donna, from near me in Maryland, to come down. I needled him about his white lanyard -- "Hey, rookie, you think you can play guitar with us?!" (Well, he most certainly can.) Along with Collin and Dave, we hit Third and Lindsley tonight to see Mandy Barnett. I discovered her back in 1999 and her voice on CD just blew me away. Tonight she did it in person, and I got to meet her afterwards. Here's the view from the Inner Santum at Songbirds, the Holy of Holies. Check out those Explorers! More to follow, I hope.

Hi, Deuce, Jerry is right. Play guitar with your pals. Dive in. There’s no competition. Play what you can, sit back where you must, but go for it. Sing some background lines or responses until you gain more confidence in your voice. Please be wary of thoughts like: “Yes I should be further along from where I'm at presently.” How do you know that? How do you know you’re not better than you "should" be? Banish that word “should” from your thinking; it’s the food of disappointment. Practice. Play. Enjoy your friends. Savor it all. PS / Three or more notes played at the same time is a chord.

For attendees who aren't on Facebook: Steve confirmed that there are no group activities scheduled Friday night. You're free to explore the city on your own. The Station Inn will feature a brother and sister act, Theo and Brenna, at 9:00 playing bluegrass. Third and Lindsley will have: Lera Lynn featuring special guests John Paul White, Rodney Crowell, Peter Bradley Adams, Nicole Atkins, Andrew Combs, Dylan LeBlanc, and Caleb Caudle at 8:00 (doors 6:00). Neither has reserved seating, so arrive early for the best seats.

Know your enemy. Writer Steven Pressfield gives it a name: Resistance. It is the dark force of distraction, procrastination, rationalization, evasion, ego, perfectionism, and judgment. It unfailingly appears whenever we seek to improve ourselves or pursue a noble ambition, and its only purpose is to destroy our calling. We ignore it at our peril. The sword and armor we take up daily against this beast is discipline. Professionalism. Doing the work for its own sake. Paying the price, out of respect for our craft. If you want to understand what you’re really up against, listen to Pressfield.

Well done, Mandy, that has attitude! I think I hear some Blondie in there, too.

Wow, again! That's terrific, Wim. I'm with Neil: very few on the forum have made it to that level. Congratulations!

Hi, Dale, you might want to see my post for first timers on the previous page of this thread. Any day now, Steve should be sending out his e-mail survey to registrants. I suspect it's overdue because of last minute changes to the schedule. See you there!

Erich Andreas in Randy's post above gets to the chase quickly, when he addresses our lust for instant gratification in our "ego-centric world". George Leonard and Thomas Sterner have the antidote. It's taken time for me to internalize it, but this remedy works, and it's been around for centuries: Process, not product. Feed your soul, not your ego. Be in the present. And watch your flower grow.

Colder, the main room will be secured every night. There's plenty of room. Your gear will probably be safer there than in your hotel or your car, but that's up to you. You will only have to carry your guitar a few times, a short distance, from there to the classrooms. I would simply bring the case that you prefer to transport the guitar in.

Halfway through my cheeseburger, I realized, that’s enough: you’re about to go on. My fellow neighborhood Memorial Day picnickers were starting on their desserts and coffee in the community clubhouse as Rick leaned in my ear. “Take your time,” he said, “we’ll be downstairs checking.” I nodded. “Be there in a minute,” I said. I had a couple of bites of fruit salad and stopped by the ladies’ room to brush my teeth, check my hair, and fire up a panic attack. I was alone. I stared at myself in the mirror and heard someone — was that my voice? All right, sweetie, it’s show time, so listen up. You’re still thinking you’re not good enough. Stop it. You’ve outgrown that. You’ve done the work. Your band is ready. No, you’re not a 25-year old Linda Ronstadt. You’re not Glenn Frey. But nobody is. And nobody expects you to be. Just be you. Now go play your music. The face in the mirror was calm. She reassured me. I brushed my hair, set my headband, and marched downstairs. People started taking their seats in front of the band. Before dinner we ran a full sound check, so there was little left to do. I switched on the lamp on my music stand and laid the set list on the floor at the pedalboard. I laughed at myself, thinking, “I’m not going to look at that, but it’s what they do on Austin City Limits. So there.” I pulled my Strat around me, checked the tuner, high-fived my band mates, and perched on my stool. I watched as my neighbors, thirty or so, took in the sight before them: five amps, a Bose tower PA, an eight member band and a tangle of cables where they normally find yoga mats. I saw some familiar faces and smiled back. Where were the nerves? This is when you always get the shakes, isn’t it? I turned around: Ron on lead guitar, Henry on lead vocals, Joe on alto horn, Chet on drums, Ray on Fender bass, Pete on tenor sax, and Rick on keyboards. My guys. Pros. We’ve got each other’s back. My leg refused to twitch. We led off with a tribute to the services, a medley of their marches and anthems. Then a few patriotic tunes, and solemnly, “Taps”, from Joe’s horn. A respectful pause. I switched to my acoustic amid an awkward silence. I pulled up my microphone. “Hey, everyone,” I announced, “what do you say we rock for a while?” “Yeah!” they shouted. “Well, then,” I said, turning to Chet, “Let’s go!” Click - click - click - click — We kicked in. Ron nailed the lick. I leaned into the mic. Was that my voice? Well, I’m a-runnin’ down the road, tryin’ to loosen my load...

Sweet! Shades of Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac!

Thanks, Randy. This might be worth a listen if basic theory is new to you. Some sections could use improvement. His definition of “scale” is simplistic; it would not include pentatonic scales and others, and he makes unfortunate overuse of “extremely” and “incredibly”. At 46:00 he refers to what is normally an add9 (1-3-5-9) as a 9 chord (normally a dominant 9, 1-3-5-b7-9). Then he uses a minor chord (Gm) to derive the corresponding diminished chords. Nothing wrong with that, except that in the previous example he started with a major chord (A). With the 3rd already flatted, it’s harder to see how the diminished chords relate to the major. Maybe that's just me. At the end, it’s a big conceptual jump from the circle of fifths to modulation. And “modes are pretty much just as simple as everything else”? Ummm, okay.

@NeilES335 is spot on about using a spoon instead of a pickaxe. It's exactly what Thomas Sterner calls "the four S's": Simplify - Small - Slow - Short.

Slimshaky, a principle that my tutors have consistently impressed on me is: economy of movement. If you’re shifting up or down the fretboard with the same voicing, relax your fingers only as much as necessary to prevent string noise. It’s not always necessary to lift them off the strings. Noise from sliding is more likely to be a problem on wrapped strings. Sometimes I struggle with this issue, too, especially on fast changes.

Doc, this thread is for the 2019 retreat. The thread for the 2018 retreat is here. Registration for the 2018 retreat is here. It's all making me a little dizzy, too! ?

Thanks for the story! Yay, Molly!

At last report, Steve has plans for Friday night, but hasn't announced them yet.

Simply beautiful, Maria. Your voice is a wonderful instrument, too!

Chris, you're making progress! That's what it's all about. The "Zone of Proximal Development," or "Sweet Spot" as Daniel Coyle calls it, is where about 50-80% of your reps are correct. You want to practice at the edge of your ability, but not so far beyond that you practice making mistakes. Slow down as needed, relax, use good technique, and you will be rewarded.

Steve, two proposals for your consideration: An index to the Live Lessons would be helpful. If you saved your scripts, this would be fairly straightforward: perhaps a few sentences or keywords describing the topic, the guest, interesting questions answered, and links to the video and any PDFs you still have available (see next suggestion). This could be a section of the discussion board, possibly in “Articles”. Yes, I know, there are at least 76 vids on the YouTube page now (sigh). Some years have passed since you completed the original Learn & Master course. Now you know how students use the course. You’ve produced the spotlight courses, supplemental videos, and countless Tuesday night lessons, and kept teaching all the while. You might want to revisit the original curriculum with this perspective. I was originally inclined to suggest a second edition of the Bonus Resources book. But probably better would be a new publication, under your own imprint, perhaps with a video to accompany it. Using the original course outline as a framework, you could place the Fretboard Workouts and spotlight courses in context. You could incorporate topics from live lessons (with those rough draft PDFs polished up), adapt the old Power Workouts/Skills House exercises, discuss the NNS, and expand a bit on music theory as you use it. You could address, in print, topics such as: working with a private instructor, playing in ensembles, and performing for an audience. It could include a bibliography of resources you recommend; no need to duplicate what’s already out there. Perhaps Dino Pastin would be interested in contributing.

That's just terrific, Cap! You're an inspiration!

An hour along, my monthly acoustic jam had lost its vibe. Two guys were playing their guitars so timidly I could scarcely hear them. The other was a talented newcomer, but curiously nervous and hyper. No one else knew his songs, so as he played them, the rest of us gradually dropped out, leaving him and the bass player to finish his tunes. We meet in a tiny art gallery that occasionally draws a visitor or two while we play. I was heaving a sigh when two young women entered, pushed in their wheelchairs by their attendants. May we listen, they asked. Of course, we said, as we welcomed them. The attendants parked their charges next to me and pulled up seats. The women in the wheelchairs were severely disabled. I smiled at them as my heart ached. They couldn't smile back, but I sensed that they understood their surroundings. One extended her arm, reaching for the bass player, trying to touch the source of the music. I turned my chair to face them. It was my turn to pass out a song. As usual, I was overstocked with ballads. I need something upbeat -- okay, this will do, I thought: Bad, Bad Leroy Brown. Let's start a fight, I cheerfully announced, and kicked it off. I nodded to my jam mates and played for the new arrivals. What they heard or felt, I had no way of knowing, but the song got through. I could tell; don't ask me how. They lingered for another couple of songs, then their escorts said goodbye and wheeled them out. I fumbled with the music on my stand. For a few brief minutes, these young women, mute and immobile, lit up the room. Or so it seemed, from my chair.