State of mind

[Ze.]

Originally Posted by JonPR

There you go.
When you play music, you get in touch with something truly primal, something essentially human. It cuts beneath all the bull.
It's a language that probably predates verbal language. It's the human equivalent of bird songs and animal calls. We can't explain what it means, but we know what it means.

The epiphany I had was the first time I played in rock'n'roll band. Up to that point, for six years, I'd just played folk music, with friends at home or in folk clubs, where people sat and politely clapped. That was nice, it obviously meant something, and the group sessions were a rewarding social get together in many ways. I also got a lot of personal satisfaction and expression out of playing fancy fingerstyle and composing songs. It was kind of therapeutic, in the sense you mean, but also more. (I was shy, with the usual teenage frustrations, but not particularly depressive.)

But then I found myself in this rock band, on a big stage in a hall, playing Johnny B Goode or something like that - and I looked up from my fretboard and people were dancing. It was a light bulb moment. People are having a good time. And (as I thought crudely at the time) we're the good time they're having. It was a sense of power. In fact, it wasn't personal power, it was more like the sensation of plugging into something eternal, feeling part of something important. This is what music is for.

That was 45 years ago. I still think that's what music is for: for communal celebration, bringing people together in this mysterious primal rite. Its individual therapeutic role is one thing (a kind of personal communion), but the social one is the big one for me, especially with all kinds of popular music. I don't really have much time for the refined classical viewpoint - I've been waiting a lifetime to "get" classical music, and it hasn't happened yet.
On that, I like a quote by impressionist composer Erik Satie, a rebel in his youth:

'When I was young, people told me "you'll see when you're fifty". I'm fifty. I've seen nothing."

That's not to say I think classical music is meaningless! It clearly means a great deal to some people. It just doesn't speak to me, and I don't feel bad about that.

Its a funny old thing coz i had no idea i had such an emotional personality until i started playing guitar (specifically acoustic wells up all kinds of emotion ).Here's the thing though ...i never dreamed i would be able to play guitar well but like i say in another thread i got hold of some quality picking tabs right from the start and i had a man who made his living for 22 years who played by ear showing me the chords of the circle of fifths .The sounds and feelings when i picked was almost to much success for me to handle .Then the local guitar community were all pushing for me to do an open mic and it all fell apart ...the success and fear of failure (performing) was too much for me and in the end i packed and even smashed my gear up and havent touched a guitar for 10 years .
I am happy to say i'm back as an at home player who may do some youtube picking in time but the success can stay away for me ...it is a therapeutic thing for me and there was a large hole in my life for the 10 years i never played.

[tonyo]

Originally Posted by Ze.

Sorry i can't it was a long time ago and an acoustic edition of Total guitar magazine there was some great tunes in that acoustic edition "Don't think twice" was another i learned ...cram packed with techniques .Thought there might be versions of this edition still in circulation in guitar circles but i'm just newly returned to guitar so i wouldnt know sorry

Thanks for getting back to me. "Don't think twice" is one I've played. :-)

[funkapus]

Originally Posted by JonPR

To perform music - even the most emotionally moving music - you have to be in total control, not moved unduly by it yourself. Otherwise you risk losing control.

Something similar to this is an ongoing problem for me. Sometimes when I'm playing a tune, my attention will be grabbed by the tune -- I'll start thinking "Hey, this is working out pretty good, I'm playing this, it sounds good, I'm really enjoying myself, life is great, and . . .WAIT, where am I in the tune?! What do I need to do now??!?!" Usually I'm able to recover from this by repeating whatever bit I just played and thinking for a second; and it usually doesn't happen again in that particular session of playing as I'm a bit embarrassed. But I'd rather it not happen.