I have been super busy lately. Life, life and another dose of life. But I have been able get in some good mandolin practice and have even gotten to a couple of jams. And of coarse I have been plugging away with taterbug.
My practice sessions have recently taken an interesting change – for the better. I went through about a 2-3 week period where I was really lost, but now I have nailed down a really great practice regime.
Through my lessons with taterbug I have been building a good cateloge of Monroe style licks in all keys. I am really trying to take these licks and positions and integrate them into my mandolin vocabulary. So, I have been playing along with some recordings of jams and applying the licks to them. I will take a lick that is in C and transpose it to G, or A or D and try it against several different songs.
I am also working on playing the melody, and playing what is in my head. This has been a real turning point for me lately in my playing. In the past I feel that I was reaching for notes that I knew would not be out of key, while not really thinking about the melody I was playing. This makes for solos that start to all sound alike and that do not represent the melody. Playing the melody has been something that does not come very naturally to me, and so I really have to work on it.
Another aspect I have been working on is the ego. In a lesson with taterbug I mentioned how I froze up in jam and how that tension really affects my playing for the worse. I feel that my playing at home and alone is much better than when I am in front of people. His response was that playing in general becomes so much easier once you loose the ego. He really just mentioned this in passing but it struck a chord with me.
The fact is that I am so worried about “sounding good” that it handicaps me. My own ego is my belief that I should sound good, and that other people should recognize that. I get so nervous worrying about what other people will think. Loose the ego and you loose the nerves. Who cares what other people think! Have fun!
So I have been happy with the progress I have been making and I feel that my practice sessions will lead to more progress.
Below is a clip from a recent jam. I like this solo because I had some really good ideas in it. I used some licks that I have been learning and applied them really effectively. But this clip is also an example of my ego getting in the way and my need to loosen up. This solo could have been really good, but my tenseness gets in the way. When I listen to it, I can really hear my musical idea and my insecure ego battling it out.
Loosen up, play raw, have fun.
Filed under: Jam Reflections, Music & Mandolin Meditations, Music Clip, My Journal, Practice Session Notes
