discipline

it feels really good at the end of the day to have something to show for your work. the downer is that you really have to put the time in. even if it’s an hour a night. take me back 10 or 15 years and i’d laugh at the idea that an hour can make a difference, but it does. it makes all of the difference.

what makes that hour work for me is that i think about it all day. when there is no guitar around and no access to musical expression i find that i think about it more and more. this means that when i do hit the studio my mind is focused even if my hands aren’t quite there. music is mostly a mental game and realizing that can go a long way toward improving one’s output. it really works for me. the results of this week’s sessions is at the bottom of the post.

something that i did for myself this week was pick up two books on beginning and intermediate jazz guitar. both of them are by jody fisher. SG is confused as to why i’m messing around with them. “you went to your fanci conservatory. you already know that stuff, right?” yeah, but that isn’t really the point of the exercise.

the author of “zen guitar” mentions that we must each “put on the white belt.” that is to say, assume the role of the novice and open ourselves to learning. i want to start with something brutally simple and see what i have missed or forgotten. studying my instrument is a passion and i want to feed it. what better way than to focus on the beginning?

i’ll let you know how it goes. maybe i’ll make that my tuesday post…a jazz guitar progress update. i’m starting to sound like my buddy rande. ok. it’s a done deal. tuesdays i will update my progress and thursdays will remain sketch days.

stay focused.

here’s the latest sketch. drop me a line and let me know what you think if you get a second.

sketch-18-feb-2009

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sketch 18-feb-2009 by j.c. wilson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.othertime.com.
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