[Todd Tipton]

I'm not going to try to answer this; there are many good responses. Maybe someone can get something out of my prattling. I feel compelled to try to offer something useful here because I have so much empathy and compassion with the question. It reminds me SOOO much of my early years. If I had a time machine, I would go back and try to keep it all from happening. But then again, I might not be the same person I am today. And also, I wrote this over many sittings in between practicing. It is probably too much to READ in one sitting...lol

I, like many people, put the cart before the horse. I started out like most people. I just want to play. I want to play now! I want to play the things I like. And anything that didn't serve that purpose was set aside as not useful to me.

Just like most everyone else, I made progress. Not as much as I COULD have made, but I made progress. I played more. I listened more. My tastes evolved. And then it started happening. I had questions. Then I had more questions. And sometimes they weren't the right question because I didn't know enough to know what to ask. And the answers to my questions were long, confusing and only left me with more questions.

The thing is, it is okay. It is normal. We aren't robots. We are not computers to merely be programmed with the most efficient and effective way. And we are talking about one of the most popular instruments in the world!

To give an analogy, maybe I like science fiction. I love the ideas of time travel. Black holes are fascinating! So I start reading and studying them. It is cool. And, at this point, I have no way of knowing how my tastes will evolve. I don't care. I'm just enjoying learning about black holes. And I like Star Trek. All of them. Don't care for Star wars, and what is this about C3Po's silver leg?

The thing is, I've been studying black holes for a really long time. I keep wanting to learn more and more. Suddenly, I start having questions. And the answers aren't helping. It takes WAY too long to get an answer, and I'm only left with more questions. What do they mean magnification? What is Kepler's Law? There are THREE of them? What is an ellipses anyway? Is that singular or plural? What does redshift have to do with all of this?

There comes a point where I have a decision to make. And the good news is, there is no wrong answer.

1. Stop learning about black holes.
2. Go back and invest time in learning fundamentals that I didn't think were important at the time.
3. Relax. Continue learning about black holes MY WAY and know that somethings are just not fun to learn about. Nothing wrong with that stuff, but I just am not interested.

To repeat, there is nothing wrong with either answer. Choose, and enjoy life! For me (shift from metaphor to guitar), I couldn't stop learning about guitar. And I WAS interested. I couldn't STOP asking my questions. And I need to add that a BIG, BIG part of it was that I later (many years later) found a teacher that motivated me. He managed to begin teaching those fundamentals in a relatively quick and painless sort of way. He tricked me into needing some of those answers to the RIGHT questions (to the fundamentals) right away. Everything from theory, reading, hand positions, exercises, scales, arpeggios, you name it: He had me in a situation where the following always occurred:

1. an easy and digestible piece of knowledge was the most efficient and logical piece of information I needed to learn at that moment if I was going to build an amazing "race car" in the least amount of time.

2. He found an amazing way to make me WANT that little piece of information so that I could play this particular pice of music right now.

With his help, I chose path number 2. I chose to go back and invest time in learning fundamentals that I didn't think were important at the time. I could have chosen number 1 or number 3. And that would have been okay. But for many years, I didn't choose ANY of 3 choices. I tried to avoid it.

Like many people, I took music store lessons as a kid. Now is a great time to say that anyone in this position is someone to be highly honored and respected. It is something I did many years ago. Too often, a teacher is put in a position where "the customer is always right." I think I was paid back for my "poor" behavior as a student, and I am grateful I no longer have to do that. So, having nothing to do with anything, the next time you see a music store teacher? Buy them a beer! :-)

But I was on the other side. And it is like the usual, "what do you want to learn?" My sarcastic adult self decades too late replies with, "You are the teacher. I am the student. I have no basis for evaluating what I want or need." Don't misread that! You'd have to see the laughter and twinkle in my eye as I say that. It's one of those moments when a colleague spits out their coffee in laughter. Besides, there is a good chance the teacher was thinking the same thing as he asked me what I wanted to learn, being scolded one too many times by the music store owner...lol

Here is a good example of not knowing enough to even ask the right questions. I had learned SOME of my pentatonic scales. (Not all of them because that would require work....lol I didn't know how to work nor understand why it was important. I could play in a couple of the forms and it sounded good. In the same haphazard way, I worked on my major scales. I didn't learn them. Wasn't interested.

That is SOOO ridiculous, it is worth repeated: I wasn't interested in learning major scales! Because I didn't know enough to know what I was saying, "no" to. All I knew was the pentatonics sounded cooler. Besides, I'M the boss! "What do you want to learn?" I learned what I wanted when I wanted. What I needed to learn wasn't important because my teacher had bills to pay! (As a side note, I hope that poor music teacher gets a straight ticket to heaven and may all of his years sitting in that music store trying to pay his bills, fearful of taking charge and losing students...may he never have to serve a day in Purgatory. Dealing with me alone was surely enough penance!)

So, I learned random things as I felt I needed them. I think it was some metal piece I was wanting to learn and couldn't figure out the solo that sparked something. The Phrygian Mode. I was FASCINATED! Why? It sounded cool.

Darn it! He pulls out one of those major scale forms I was SUPPOSED to already learn. Instead of just taking a few moments, it of COURSE turned into wasted hours, weeks, and months of my questions. It would have been FAR easier if I had just let him lead the lessons from the very beginning. But that is hindsight. I couldn't see this at the time.

So taking WAY too long to learn, I finally got a half misconception in my head: different scales and modes go with different styles of music. No doubt, this misconception was based on my teacher trying to trick me into learning something important without losing me as a student. Spanish music is the Phrygian mode. Hippy music is the Dorian mode...LOL etc.

I was finally motivated to learn a scale pattern or two. But I was a hot shot metal head that could ride up and down the 1st string like no ones business. Learning the scale forms and how they connect required effort. I didn't know how to work.

So, one day I walk into my lesson. And I quote, "I want to learn the jazz mode." I am serious. I actually said those exact words. The more I tried to learn, the more I realized I didn't know anything. And I didn't even know enough to know that I had to make a choice. I either had to stop playing, or stop asking questions, or....GULP...I had to go back and do what I should have done from the very beginning.

I was fortunate enough that someone MADE that choice for me. I started playing when I was 10. That teacher didn't come along until I was 21. And the only reason HE came along is because I failed a music audition. I failed miserably. And it was devastating to a young, arrogant, cocky jerk who had "dedicated his life to music."

Many of my colleagues have written books. There is some insight on bursts, rhythmic variations, speed, tone, whatever. And there is a lot of regurgitated information where I'm not sure they mean what they write, or if they even understand it themselves. Me? I'm too young. I'm not even 50 yet. But I suppose if I ever wrote my OWN book, it might be filled with stories like this one. Let's hope I have a good editor. :-)