This one's too good not to share: an excellent summary of what I shoot for in playing lead!
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
Thanks for sharing!
Download a bunch of cheat sheets and posters: http://stevesmusiclist.com/
i liked the article, but i can't apply it. my approach is "play a note, hope it's not a clam, keep faking it until they let me stop, try not to fall off the stage"
i liked the article, but i can't apply it. my approach is "play a note, hope it's not a clam, keep faking it until they let me stop, try not to fall off the stage"
LOL! At my age, it's always a challenge to remember if I zipped up before hitting the stage again after the last break.
Then figure out how to check with no one noticing . . .
Re: Clams - if it's a clam, play it again and call it a jazz lick.
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
Re: Clams - if it's a clam, play it again and call it a jazz lick.
I tell my improvisation students something along those lines: if you play a note and you think it was a mistake, the first thing you do is play it again as soon as possible, no matter how bad you think it sounded. This does two very important things:
1. It tells the audience "I meant to do that.... now let me show you where I'm going with it"
2. It buys you time to figure out where to go with it.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
I think the new look forum needs a 'like' button for a string of excellent posts.
Regarding clams, anyone know where the term comes from? I'm familiar with 'caught a crab' for rowing, where a stroke that goes too deep gets dragged down and throws your timing, but I try to keep water away from my guitar.
As soon as I started reading the article, Mike Campbell came to mind. When I was younger, I was impressed by the flash and speed of more technical players. But the songs I still listen to and remember are the tasteful and melodic things like Mike plays. I've been studying his playing a lot lately and he just does so much work with so few notes, it's amazing.