Hey guys just wanted to give you guys an update on what I've been doing, but this is more for myself, to kinda look back on how I have gotten where I am right now.
So I don't remember If I had posted before ( like 8 months ago ?) about how much I hated playing at church. It is not that I hated playing at church but it was just so difficult for me, because sure I could do chords and rhythm and solo work and everything technical but I was missing that X factor. Mainly because I couldn't get the songs by ear, because I couldn't find any recordings of the songs they played and the rehearsals were too short for me to get them... so I quit playing at church.
So I had a bunch of downtime with excuses like : I'm getting gallbladder surgery, I've been 3 months in the hospital and am too busy with school etc etc ( valid excuses I think xD ). So then in summer I went to a Berklee workshop here in Puerto Rico and I met up with the musical director of my church who was also there, and we started talking, and since I didn't have a ride he gave me rides and we talked alot about music ( from the "minor melodic modes" to how to control your volume and other practical things you have to do when playing live).
Now this guy is a teacher at a well-known music school here in Puerto Rico, and he plays with a bunch of big acts here and tours latin america with some of them, so he is a great profesional musician. Needless to say I learned and am learning alot from him, and he was also very nice, he told me to come play at church, but that I had to take it easy and be relaxed and I would eventually get it down. So in summer ( about July ) I started playing at church again, and I struggled a bit early on, but with my improved ear and knowledge of theory I could work out the songs via ear and logic.
So now I have been playing for about 2 and a half months, and I am loving it, aside from all the spiritual things that I won't talk about ( cause this is a guitar forum :P ), the music rocks. We play with an Israel Houghton kinda groove, very groovy and sometimes with a more rock/pop leaning on the rock and jazz/pop leaning on the pop with some jazz stuff. Now some of these songs aren't diatonic and that is why I couldn't get them at first but everything in my life has come together to open my eyes up to harmony.
I am also changing from Rhythm to lead in a matter of seconds, I don't mean playing, I mean changing the settings without using an effects board, I have one but I wanted to get used to changing without one so that I can play without one If I don't have one sometime. And I am playing diverse genres from funk to rock to latin music to jazz, I play some better than others but I can play them. Best of all I am playing with some kick-ass profesional musicians, like last Sunday the worship group was the bassist ( musical director/ profesional musician who tours around America ) the pianist ( another profesional musician friend of the bassist ) drummer ( not profesional cause he is 16 but he is a beast ) and myself.
So while everything sounds awesome I also get to learn from the Pros in a real-life setting.
So yeah! I don't know if this goes in the news section but I just wanted to write about my experiences :D.
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
Thanks for the update and also for sharing your experiences here. And many congrats, too! It seems you found a great place and a great band to play with (aside from the spiritual things as you said).
Yeah definitely, I'm learning what the guitar does, when it is not like moving the song, because alot of the songs are piano driven, and bass. What I do is do some nice voicings, to give it a bit of flare, and little lines here and there, and the ocasional solo when the singers have been singing for a while and need a bit of rest, or when its just instrumental stuff. Only some times will I just strum hard and that is when the song is reaching a climax or something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McmUHclV9do
Idk about quality, didn't listen to it, but that is one of the songs we play by Israel Houghton, he has a bunch of different grooves, but yeah.
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
Hey save me a couple front row tix when you sell out your first concert. You've got a great start and definitely have a head for music good luck with everything and have as much fun as you can.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Thank you man. When people say stuff like that it really makes me feel good.
But I have discovered that I have to have a high self-esteem to be a good musician, because if you don't believe in yourself you can't sell yourself so people won't buy. But thanks :D
Yeah I have to have fun, that is crucial, if I am not having fun it doesn't flow, even if I am in a bad situation I gotta keep my good attitude cause I play how I feel, and I have to learn to control my emotions if I wanna be constant.
But yeah my guitar's tone pot just died, so Ima have to fix it but my uncle offered me his Les Paul for the week, blessing in disguise?, hell yes!
Sometimes I look at other the shredders that are my age and it is like O_O, and not all of them are totally ignorant, and they know a bit about theory, but what I have noticed is that when they are taken out of their comfort zone they tend to flunk ( just a generalization ) but playing in church, I have to play looots of stuff, so like 2 or 3 ( of the gazzilion songs ) songs are comfortable, and it has really pushed me to my limits and beyond.
For example one song this weekend had a little phrase that was part of the song that was played in 8th note triplets and it was ( frets ) 5-7-12 then 5-7-11... I have short fingers, but I can do the stretch the problem was the speed, no way can I hammer on while doing that stretch so I had to pluck those quick triplets while I stretched my tiny fingers...
I practiced it for like 15 minutes straight on an old classical guitar with crazy ( bad) action, just that stretch ( and the quick plucking) ... afterwards doing it on the electric was a breeze.
Haha what I also love about what I am doing is that I will be playing the song, I get it by ear in the moment, then when the song maybe lowers in intensity, I will find some voicings for the chords that I got by ear just a moment ago, and then when the song picks up intensity I will play them and they sound awesome.
But what I love the most is just the feeling that I get, like I am another person, like I am my alter-ego, that I cannot fail even if I make a mistake, and I have made mistakes xD, but in my mind I have a mask on, and nobody knows who I am.
It is so weird, but I feel like I am a spectator, and I'm not there, but I'm there cause I'm playing and changing my guitar settings, and looking at the musical director for the cues, but I'm not thinking, I'm just doing it, its just crazy.
But yeah it rocks :D
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
The most important is always to have fun.
Sorry I made a typo the stretch wasnt 5-7-12 it was 7-9-12 7-9-11 still pretty big stretch xD
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
