What's the single best piece of advice you've received as a player?

"You play really fast,and cram alot of notes in,but maybe consider slowing down some,and go for the feel."

That probably isn't word for word, but close.......a guitarist in my area said this to me when I was about 14 or 15 years old.I tried to play everything really fast ALL the time,and this guy was about 22 years old and a smoker on guitar---he scared me.He had style,and was the first person I ever saw play a tele up close---this was 1971-72,so it was probably an old one.Looking back,I remember he played with such fire and feel,although I didn't have much idea what that was back then.He really said this to me to be helpful,and the respect I had for him (even though I really didn't know him that well) made it mean something.
I remember reading what Gravity Jim said about Jim Hall..."Make Musical Sense." It is a needed thing among guitarists!

"The Jam Zone, the best kept secret on the net".

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Originally Posted by thebluesbarn

The best advice was from my wife; "Don't dance......."

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My wife told me "Smile once in a while...you look like your getting shot at..."

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Originally Posted by photoweborama

"The Jam Zone, the best kept secret on the net".

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Word.

Tune that thing!

and

Turn that thing down


are tied for first in the Single Best Piece of Advice I've Heard Most Often category.

"Why don't you try just playing these five notes"

followed closely by:

"..., and bending just these ones"

-Mark

If I remember correctly, it was something along the lines of "don't just read the notes off a page. Make something. Really listen."

Harry was not the best teacher - but what he had to teach, was otherworldly marvellous.

"Play with less gain and delay and you'll learn to play clearer. You'll play better and once in awhile you can step on those and it will have greater effect"

I pass this on whevever I can and really stopped using effects for a crutch and just use them for ... effect. ;) Been primarily a guitar > amp guy since and my playing and sense of dynamics have improved dramatically. Back then I never envisioned that you could do so much with just the guitar, the volume knob and an overdriven amp.

I used to think the best advice I ever heard was, "you never play as well or as badly as you think," but I'm seriously considering the Miles quote from above:

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To start a solo, you think of a note. Then don't play that note.

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Half-tones lead.

"Wet birds don't fly at night"

dont get frustrated, dont try to be an imitator, u picked up that guitar to be an individual, so try to write like an individual..

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Originally Posted by Dan_S

I used to think the best advice I ever heard was, "you never play as well or as badly as you think," but I'm seriously considering the Miles quote from above:

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Or what Miles Davis once told John McLaughlin, "Play like you don't know how to play the guitar"

Definitely. What a great way to rethink the whole solo problem, without laying back on our familiar crutches.

That excellent Miles quote is a fine expression of the Zen concept of "shoshin," which loosely translates as "beginner's mind." Suzuki-roshi of SF Zen Center made this one of the central precepts of his teaching, giving it even more emphasis than satori. The idea is that expertise is good, but not if you let it get in the way of spontaneity. So, no matter how good you get at something, you should always approach the endeavor as if you have never done it before... picking up a guitar, for example, not with the idea, "I know all about working this thing," but with the idea, "Gee... I wonder what this thing can do?"

Ah yes... the Crooked Cucumber. :yay

I refer to Beginner's Mind a lot in my day-to-day goin's-on, but I always have a hard time bringing that mindset to live perfomance. There just seems to be so MUCH going on all the time that it's hard to think about "just being." Actually, this can be pretty hard when you're not on stage too! :)

It's like the story/joke of the great musician with a drinking problem. One time someone asked him how he manages to play so well being so drunk. His reply was that he practices drunk.

Perhaps I need to practice zen when I practice.

It sure is a mindset thing. I used to stress over tone too much at gigs, to the point of not having fun. If everything wasn`t right, i`d flip out.You have no control over the room, and so I`ve eventually forced myself to set up, just plug in, and start playing, and find a way to make the play around the tonal roadblock. I can now go out, and have fun with whatever I took with me.
The old school guys did this as they didn`t have the choice in gear that we have, and they made out ok.

CT.:ahem

The little book "Zen Guitar" had one idea along these lines that really stuck with me. He says something like, "When you pick up your instrument, take a moment to remember your purpose, and to prepare to make music."

That idea - that shouldering one's instrument is a preparation for making music - sounds bonehead simple. But 99 times out of a hundred, we don't think anything close to "I'm getting ready to make music." We more likely think of something like:

• I'm gonna blow these guys away
• Gosh, I hope I don't suck
• Is she looking?
• Tonight, I'm gonna "nail" the solo on Cold Shot.
• I'll show him who's the more masterful player
• My mighty rockin' will demonstrate how strong and manly I am
• I am hoping to sound just like my hero/her hero/the record
• blah blah blah

Dan S, you just said it... playing in a live band, there is so much going on, you don't HAVE to think and play to fill every moment... there's plenty going on while you settle into your Zen mindset. Heck, with that kind of approach, soloing with a band is like Neo warding off Agent Smith in the climactic scene in The Matrix. You can kind of just watch your own hands, which appear to be moving slowly, while this whirlwind of activity happens all around you. ;)

Wow, GravityJim. Zen & The Art of Music. *smooch*

It is frustrating and enfuriating to play with a geetar player who is a "monster" of licks, chops, tones/sounds, frills, fills, and phrasing and they just piss all over every tune. Makes me want to shove 'em off the stage with my boot-heel on their behind.

There's a huge difference between a "monster" and a "master".

Hear what you want to play in your head first, and then play it. Play as if you were singing.

(I can't do this yet, but I think I can see it starting to happen.)

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Originally Posted by Annie D.

There's a huge difference between a "monster" and a "master".

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Dayum! I'll have that laminated for my wallet.

"Mastery" is quite a different concept in the East than in the West, o my droogies. In the West one is expected to "master" (that is, overpower, subjugate, have under one's control) the object in question (a horse, a guitar, a woman, whatever). In Eastern traditions, "mastery" begins with mastering one's self, reigning in one's own counter-productive tendencies... in the case of making music, mastering one's own desire to overplay, to flash, to dominate the musical setting, to seek praise, to play with some idea of gain and loss, etc. Nobody is a master that has not mastered the self.

Every morning Zen master Zuigan called out to himself: "Master."
And he would answer himself: "Yes, sir."
"Be sober."
"Yes, sir."
"And after that," he continued, "do not be deceived by others."
"Yes, sir," he answered.

Jim,
You are one deep dude my man.....

:)