Conference napalm::guitar

    That happened to me once, but Pepto Bismol did the trick! 
    
    many ;-)'s
    
    It has happened to me though, but not very many times.  I try to
    "re-live" the situation where I hit the wall and work through it
    (easier said than done).  
    
    Problem is once that happens, you hit another wall in another time. 
    The good news is that you'll be a better player for it, eventually.
    
    Mike

    the hardest thing is to play from what you hear in yer head. 
    It is so easy to just let the fingers fly! 
    
    Another way to aviod this trap of traps is when you improvise, go out
    of your way to AvOiD any fingerboard patterns. Right after I got the
    Kramer, before I had relearned much of what I forgot, I sat down and
    caught on tape a nice piece and all I remember when I was playing
    was trying to forget what I was relearning. 
    
    This type of playing, from the head, is not something you can 
    learn in classical, or electric lessons, it is something that comes
    from the heart. 
    
    Go catch the Turtles movie and listen to the Rat!
    Think about the fingerboard as a wave, know that waves are
    are UnPredictable!  In these cases you must learn to take what is
    around you to respond and unseen forces! 
    
    
    	You have begun the mastery of the guitar my son...
    	learn to trust what is inside of you and do not forget us 
    	who are not within you!
    
    

    re.0
    That's the great thing about being a musician! Improv can either
    make it for you, or break you! It's like everything in which you
    need to take it "one step at a time". All the training in the world
    can't help a musician who can't hear his heart. In that case, either
    you have it, or you don't. 90% of the don't have it now people can
    acquire it, but only from feeling the music before playing it. Hearing
    it in your head before actually playing it. It also depends on what
    kind of band you're in too! I've worked with folks that wanted that
    bass line, or guitar lead "just like the record" which can clamp
    down on your creativity. It's just a job I said to myself and it
    keeps everyone happy, but yourself. If you get yourself in a situation
    where *everything* clicks and things just happen by themselves you're
    a lucky guy! I'm also in one of those type of bands where things
    just happen. Very few songs are ever "work" cause we know what's
    going to happen *before* it happens...  even if we've never played
    the song before. IT'S GREAT! I also know my limitations, but instead
    of seeing them as a road block, I work around them so that I don't
    trap myself. Guitar breaks (in the old days...   ha ha) were (and
    still are) an "extension of the melody line". It should say something
    that compliments what the lead singer is doing, not blaze away showing
    everyone else what you can do. I've seen guys blow off all their licks
    on the first tune! After that...  what else is there??? I was told
    a long time ago that if I like a phrase, or a run...   don't play
    it! Didn't make sense to me at the time, but a few months later
    (I'm a little slow sometimes ;^)  ) it finally dawned on me, cause
    if I didn't want to play it, I'd play it anyway, but if I wanted
    to play the riff... I'd play it tooooo many times and bore the heck
    out of everyone. For me, if I can hear it in my head 9 times of
    of 10 I can play it. I'm not a fast guitarist (I don't like getting
    all bruised up in a song you see...   ;^)  ), so that's a big
    limitation for me, but I work around that, or at least I try to.
    The bottom line here is that theory and hours of playing scales
    will get you to a certain level and an excellent one at that, BUT
    after you've mastered that, it time to play what you're feeling
    inside, because nobody knows what your feeling in a song that's
    driving your emotions crazy. The key is to let it out by playing 
    *not* what you "know", but "how you're feeling" and let everyone know
    by playing it out! It can be a totally different mind set from what
    you're used to, but you've already experenced it! Now you need to
    avoid that brick wall by steering clear of it. Look at it as a goal
    and not a stumbling block, crank up that guitar and LET IT RIP!!!!!
    
    YA-HOO!!!! WE'RE CRANKIN NOW!!!!!!!!!!   ahem... well..  ahhhh...
    I think you get the picture right?   ;^)
    
    Rock on,
    	    Strat happy Fred
                        

    Yo Greg .....
    
    
    
    .... my friend, you found the blues !  To me, that's what it's all
    about.  Playing from emotion, right or wrong, not from tab or copying
    lix from a tape.  As long as you're practicing scales and stuff, it
    bottles up your creativity.  The type of music I'm into now (light
    years from anything technical, like metal) has allowed me to do more
    solos from the heart, thus making me a better player (IMO).  
    
    Scary (who's says you DON'T have to be  sad to play the blues ...)

    
   >> Scary (who's says you DON'T have to be  sad to play the blues ...)
          
    But it helps!!! If I try to play slow blues stuff at a band practise
    or when I have the TV on, it sounds like awful mush. Gimmie a four
    pack and a picture of my ex, and I'd make you cry with what I'd
    play!!
     
    -Tony 8^)                                                  

Greg, if you can't go OVER it, then go AROUND it.

jc (WHo has plenty of limitations, but keeps pluggin' away) 

    on a practical note, close your eyes when you play. That helps to
    focus on what's inside you and screen out the factors that can
    distract (beer also seems to help to a point!)
    
    - Dave

    re: .4
    
    Jerry, you have gotten a lot better over the past 6 months.  Your 
    soloing last Saturday night on "Superstition" was *KILLER*!  We 
    really enjoyed the show.
    
    -pat (taking notes in the crowd)

    re .0
    
    Isn't it great when it just starts to flow like that?  Having that
    happen every now and then I'm sure is why I'm still playing (16 years
    now).  I know it's that feeling that I chase after.
    
    So what about it, guys?  How to you practice to get to that feeling?
    
    My approach FWIW:
    
    Start with scales and licks, warm up til they're flowing pretty well
    smooth.  Then break up the structure by using the scales and licks in
    little solo-type things.  Then as it becomes more unconsious, forget
    about the licks and just *try* (not always successful) to just let it
    go, what ever is on the top of my head (heart), just let it out.  The
    trick for me is that now that my fingers are warmed up, forget about
    the fretboard (like somebody else in here mentioned) and play by
    listening.  Turn off the mind and just try not the impede the music
    within coming out.
    
    And I like very dim lighting the best for this kind of practicing,
    often just a candle so I can see the frets and strings.
    
    How do you all do it?
    
    Will

                                                          
    I find that when try and jam out the blues the only scales I bother
    using are pentatonics and the major/minor scales starting on the
    3rd string. If you play the first 6 measures of a straight pentatonic
    and then go straight into a major/minor (depending on what you want 
    to say) starting on the 7th degree of the previous pentatonic, its 
    really effective, and really simple to do (which is a *must* if you're 
    a total blockhead like me 8^) ). Of course you can experiment with
    different octaves or widen the intervals and stuff to make it more 
    interesting.   
    
    -Tony

    
    Sorry - when I said 'starting on the 7th degree' I meant, use the
    7th degree of the pentatonic as the root for the major/minor.
         
    -Tony

    I'm not a guitar player; I'm a drummer.  But I want to make the point
    that this same feeling can happen to any musician, or any kind of
    artist, I suspect.  There is one song in particular that my band plays
    that does this to me.  On a good night when we're playing this song,
    I close my eyes and feel like I'm in a trance.  I play in a way that 
    feels like it is coming directly from my soul.  I find myself playing
    grooves and riffs that I could/would never play if I were really
    focusing on it.  When it's over, I have this goofy smile and I really
    feel satisfied.  But moments like that don't come along too often
    enough.  Savor them.
    
    	Willy

	I really love playing in the feel. There are some things that I
	feel are beginning to pay dividends when I go to do it. I spend
	a lot of time "shedding." Every day when I get up I know which
	mode I'm working in. Today it was E (it's May) Phrygian (it's
	Tuesday). I do some work on the guitar working runs, scales,
	chords & arpeggios in that mode. I do some work on paper writing
	out the notes, chords, extended harmonies, polychords, etc. Both
	of these are good training for being able to "own" the mode.

	The next thing I'm working is the same as was mentioned in a
	previous note. Each one of us has a "comfort zone" where we like
	to play. When I play my comfort zone I can blaze on and on with
	the same stale old garbage it's like reciting my name in my sleep.
	Getting off of these ruts is where my practice time gives me the
	most information. I try to play my licks backwards. I try NOT
	cadencing. I try getting my palm off the bridge and curling my
	right hand fingers under. I try strict alternate picking even if
	the string changes are awkward. Substitute open notes for fretted
	equivalents, harmonics for fretted equivalents.

	I treat my guitar like a nautilus machine.

	Why all the hard work? When I wrote this sentence, I was using
	my understanding of lots of little bits of information about the
	english ('murcan) language to get my point across. I'd like to
	build up enough understanding of my fretboard to treat it like I
	treat my vocal chords. I think it - it happens. I'd be open to
	suggestions on how to get to conversational guitar without so
	much butt-busting, but I seriously doubt there's a softer easier
	way.

	And Greg.... congratulations!!! Get addicted to that rush and keep
	up the good work.

	This is something I notice some people have trouble with that's
	taken me a lot of work. It's a whole lot easier to get with it
	when your technicals are in good order so that you're not dis-
	tracted by them. This is easier said than done and on times when
	I go work with somebody for the first time I almost never get it
	but when you can step beyond the "Yup here I am playing guitar"
	into the "here we are making music" and your attention is more
	tightly focused on hearing what others are doing rather that doing
	what you are doing - you're gonna fuse & that's where the groove
	begins.....

        ... I can relate.
     
        ... and then the drummer gives me that funny look, I know,
      I got into something good and kept going (not ridiculously long),
      sure it was a break from my usual solo but WTF if it sounded good
      and I didn't get too pretentious. There are only a select number of
      songs in our repertoire (sic?) that lend themselves to that
      type of improv, others are way too structured.
        Anyhooo - once IT happens you're hooked. As far as the technique
      or speed limitations, just give it time. Work on improvising with
      a tape and do your f*cking up at home. I've fallen into the rut
      of just playing and not improving my ability thinking I'm good
      enough for what I'm doing, then I get back on track!
    
    						---/boom/--- 

    
    
    
    	Whoa.... Greg.. I really envy you, dude (the feeling not the
    disappointment when the chops weren't there)  I get that feeling mostly
    from listening.... but... an exercise that has helped me a lot was
    recommended by my teacher.  He suggested that I get so that I could
    sing any interval if he gave me the root.  You know, the do re mi
    thingies.  Sounds pretty silly, but I started with the 4th and 5th
    (easy right?) and got so that I could do a decent job of humming
    (croaking) the intervals he asked for....
    
    	Now when my mind goes...   waaa waaa wannnnnnny waaaa weee waaa
    woe, I can, at least, get close to playing the notes that match what's
    going on in my sick mind.   Wanna get really blue???  Practice minor
    thirds exclusively... like I sing the root and you sing the minor 3rd
    makes me want to hang myself in the basement.. knowhatimean??
    
    
    Have fun guy..
    Steve

    
    	Re .0-
    
    	Quite a while ago, when I was foolin' around with the guitar
    (And, BTW, I've yet to be a *serious* player) with some friends, this
    kinda thing would happen for me. We'd be jammin', usually in some
    place we had rented to "go make some noise" and I'd catch the groove
    of playing what I felt. What I remember about it was that it seemed
    like I couldnt hit a wrong note! I was picking all the right ones
    to "bend" too and the result was this nice wailing-ly emotional
    lead. I was playing with a friend and we'd just trade off throughout
    the song.
    
    	And the thing of it is, if I had to do it again, note for note,
    sound for sound, I realize I couldnt. The only reason I got "there"
    in the first place was because of the majic of the moment I spose.
    Now I know why people like FZ and Adrien Belew take solos they happened
    to have recorded in Sweeden of some Gym in Akron Ohio and rebuild
    the song *around the solo* back in the studio. *They* realize they
    couldnt "do it again" with the same emotions intact!
    	
	On "missing" the really fast run that you thought of. That happened
    to me all the time in these "fun" sessions. What I used to do was
    simply wait for my chance at it again in the song or the next
    time we played that song. I have this one recording where I tried
    this particular run - the most appropriate one ;') according to how
    I felt of course - *three* times before I...*got it*. Yes!!!
    
    	My take on being able to express how you feel via playing an
    instrument? It's something that is a quality that exists in someone
    independantly of their "technical" knowledge of music. Technical
    knowledge and skills will only enhance your abilities at self
    expression - but you gotta have "it" to begin with, you know.
    There's plenty of musicians who can play from a sheet, but sit 'em
    down without one, and they wouldnt even know what to do! By the sounds
    of your base note, you "got it" and you can take it as far as you'd
    like through your studies. Understanding the language of music is
    a big first step. For example, to me the reply .10 might as well
    be Ugandanese, because I simply dont "know the language". Useful
    for when you're trying to communicate with other musicians!
    
    	However, unnecessary just to be able to "play what you feel".
    
    	Joe Jasniewski
    

    The big disappointment after getting the "feeling" is finding out that
    the tape machine isn't on.
    
    Mike

Amen to that brother.

;)

    Nooooooooo Doubt!!!

    > finding out the tape machine wasn't running....
    
    Or finding out it *was* running and the gifted, soul-burning, look_
    out_world_I'm_on_fire solo from hell just doesn't seem *right* on 
    tape....
    
    Edd

Thanks!  I really appreciate all the kind replys and suggestions.  You've 
convinced me that this is a reasonably common thing and I haven't just been
reading too many Steve Vai interviews (for esoteric concepts of music and 
playing...).  8^)  

I'm considering this experience a learning one because it tells me that I'm 
stretching as a musician, not just a guitar player.  That makes me feel good
because I've always considered myself just a guitar player.  It also tells me
that I need to work on my technique so that maybe the next time I will be able
to play what I feel.

FWIW when I found I couldn't play what I really wanted to, I ended up tossing 
in this bogus chromatic thing.  It probably sounded ok, but it wasn't what I
wanted to play.

re: the tape machine

I totally agree with both Mike and Edd.  Seems like the thing's never 
on when you play that brilliant thing, and when it is on you get no inspiration
at all.  For me, this is probably a result of not having it on very much 
and getting a little intimidated by it.  I think if I recorded a lot this
might diminish.  Edd brings up an excellent point, sometimes the things 
that FEEL the best when you play them don't SOUND the best.  I guess a lot of
it has to do with you and your attitude at the time.

Thanks to you all!  Please continue the discussion, I just wanted to add this
in now while I was thinking about it.

Greg

    It happened to me on my next to last gig before "retirement".  We were
    playing the Eric Clapton version of "Cocaine" and I fell into this
    GROOVE that just grew and grew.  I had my eyes closed and the lix
    flowed out of me....I don't think I could replay the lead ever again.
    When I was done, I leaned over to the bass player and said: "Damn, wish
    I had that one on tape!"  He just smiled.......
    
    It's fun, but those moments get lost, sadly.
    
    Steve D.

But Steve, we DO have it on tape me thinks...
Saturday night at Shooters right ?

jc - (who has the tape at home... And Stormy Monday wailed on it)

    Coop,
    
    It was at Studio B on Friday (I think).  Did we tape it?
    
    Steve

Can I say something metaphysical here ??

How bout,,,,  feeling what you play, instead of playing what you feel ?

Can you dig it ?

My point here, and yup, there actually is one..

you gotta know just how far you can go.  Draw the line, and when
it doesn't matter, work on putting the line at the next down marker.

I think knowing your limits ahead of time, makes for a better/more confident
performance, then pushin urself to the brink of your abilities and  then 
realizing you can't take the next step.

Just a little philosophy from a great non-philosopher..........

/ray

                                                               
    You have some good points there, but if you keep yourself limited
    to what you can play *confidentially*, even if you set yourself 
    personal goals in your practise time to improve on that confidence,
    some stuff is still gonna sound clich�.                    
                                                     
    The likes of Page and Hendrix didn't hold back, and stay within
    the comfortable boundaries of 'confidence playing'. Love 'em or
    hate 'em, those guys experimented with things they'd never done
    before, and didn't worry about what anyone else thought (well, except
    for Robert plant 8^) ).
    
    Blind experimentation is the true mother of creativity.          
     
    -Tony                                                

re:last,,

well my point was when it mattered, (eg.. for one reason or
another,, important) don't choke on a chicken bone..  That
slays everyone,,,,

When it didn't matter,,,  go-4-it...  Then don't let it bug ya, cuz
you're just wailing...