[DesertTwang]

Here are, in no particular order, some of the take-home lessons from my week at the RockyGrass academy in Lyons, Colorado. Purely subjective and debatable, obviously.

1) The rhythm is not in your tapping foot, but in your hips. Therefore, you should have a plain, uncushioned chair for practicing, so you can move while you play.

2) Never look at your guitar when you play. The music goes where you look, so look at your audience, not at the fretboard.

3) Henderson guitars sound nice and very balanced across the fretboard, but my undiscerning ears didn't really hear anything to write home about.

4) Only play when you have something to say musically. Otherwise, don't play, but listen.

5) The Krüger Brothers not only are two of the most talented and skilled musicians around, but also some of the most wonderful and down-to-Earth human beings I've ever met. They started out as poor street musicians decades ago, and unlike many other accomplished musicians, they have somehow managed to preserve that same level of "Spielfreude" from those days until today. (The German word translates to something like "joy of playing")

6) Uwe Krüger gave me the best one-on-one guitar lesson I've had in my entire life of playing guitar.

7) You really need to learn every note on the fretboard to be able to make music freely and speak through your instrument.

8) Tortoise shell picks are vastly overrated. The tone is so dull that I wouldn't trade any of my casein or BlueChip picks even if given the opportunity.

9) Playing guitar is all about staying relaxed at all times. As soon as any part of your body tenses up tense up, you can't play well.

10) Being a good musician is much more about being a good listener than anything else.