Paul Player // Blog

27 takes to get something aproaching acceptable. 27 takes! And I wrote this myself, it's not difficult and I have been playing it for weeks and weeks.
One difference is that I had to nail down the form into a consistent pattern. No more adding a measure here, dropping a beat there or changing the chord progression on a whim. It seemed to me that I should make the form easy to follow since I'm asking others to play along. Whenever I play it solo for a live audience (or just messing around) I can improvise all I want. But to do it the way it is written Without any alteration took me 27 takes.

I have gained more respect for all you professional recording artists out there.

I recently quit taking guitar lessons. I hope to resume them when finances are better. But I am very grateful to my instructor (Normal Rockwell in Clearwater, Florida). He has given me enough understanding of music and the guitar for me to know what to practice. I understand music far better than I ever did and this has only sharpened my enjoyment of both listening to and playing music.

I play all the time because I love to do it. I sometimes have difficulty in putting the instrument down and doing what I am supposed to do. When I listen, I hear things in terms of what I might be able to play myself and the emotion is still there. Nothing has been lost.

I have two goals for my guitar playing:

1. To be able to play well enough that other musicians would want me to join them.

2. To interest others in playing music with understanding and enjoyment.

What do you play when you are just messing around? Do you rehearse old songs you already know? Do you play scales or improvise on them? Do you strum chords and try to string together a pleasing chord progression? Do you work on your finger picking?

I do all the above, usually with a balance between things I am comfortable with and things that are difficult for me.

One other thing: I try to make it all sound as pleasing as possible, both for myself and for those around me, since I often practice in public settings. I always take a guitar to my daughter's gymnastics lessons. That way I feel like I'm accomplishing something, too. And the instructors don't seem to mind my playing. They've complimented it several times. So, I try not to be too irritating.

My wife is my toughest listener. Her irritation level is more easily reached. With her, it is best to stick to finger picking, preferably on a 12 string.