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Gigs in hard times…and how bananas can make it easier

Driving south on that bright morning, I couldn’t help but smile at the wide open Colorado sky and the towering pines that reached up to meet it. Yup, this is one special part of the world, all right.
I had the day to chill out and take my time. I stopped in Fairplay and grabbed a coffee, a bag of nuts and a banana. The lady at the register looked at the speckled banana (how I like ’em) and said “Hm… the banana’s on us” . Surprised, I said ” ok…erm…why?” “Weeeellll” she explained,” it’s not gone off, exactly, but it’s darned close…”
I thanked her and gave a quick internal nod to the road gods and their one simple act of kindness. “Welcome back to Colorado” they whispered. I took it as a good omen, and I was taking as many of them as I could find.

You see, this “mini-tour” was designed as an experiment to see if it was feasible to hit the road in these strange times, and the booking agents and I were prepared to fall flat on our faces if our hunches were wrong.
My first show the following day was in Westcliffe, just shy of 8000 ft elevation, which can send a singer into a tailspin gasping for air, but this wasn’t my first rodeo so I just took it easy and gulped the air when I needed it.
I played outside under a cloudless sky to a wonderful audience of music nuts, and then hung out with the night owls, strolling around that tiny town under a blanket of stars until the bed beckoned.
The remaining shows were great, and the old schoolhouse in Coaldale is rapidly turning into one of my favorite rooms to play, so I didn’t think twice about playing two shows back-to-back on the same day to allow for social distancing. A room like that, built in the 1800s and ushering countless generations through it’s doors has it’s own stories to tell. Then fill a room like that with an audience of music lovers who can hear the stories from the walls just as well as the songs and well, you have a recipe for magic. I’m forever grateful for times like that.

Once the playing was done, it was time to hang out with friends and de-compress before heading for the airport – a day to chill in Salida, where an odd thing happened…

Sometimes I go looking for LP records. It’s my “day off” thing to do. Sometimes I find ’em. Sometimes they find me. I wandered into a store that had a small bin of vinyl; HOWL Mercantile:

I stood by the box and started flicking through the pile just to relax, expecting nothing, just kinda zoning out when I saw staring back at me, this record;

“Hello Sonny” I said, “it’s been a long long while…” as I smiled to myself. You see I used to open shows for Sonny back in Dublin – a hero of mine and a living legend, and we haven’t crossed paths in over 20 years, and there he was, looking at me from a small box of records in a random store in a small mountain town in Colorado.
Needless to say, the album came home with me. In the words of another hero “Nobody told me there’d be days like these. Strange days indeed. Most peculiar, Mama”.

After saying ‘bye to my most genial hosts and good friends, it was time to hit the airport again- a simple case of hurry up and wait. Buds in. Coffee at hand.

…..and with Mick Jagger hollering in my ears and the coffee no more than a rumbling in my belly, it was time to, well, wait some more…..

…until inevitably, I had a plane to board, back to the snowy north and the comforts of home.
And every time I come home I think of one thing; how great it is to see wonderful places, and how great it is to come home. A wonderful place is a wonderful place. Home is a feeling.

God bless ’em both.
See you out there.

🙂

Don’t stare at the problem. Stare at the solution.

I was once again reminded lately of how a positive attitude affects everything.
I was practicing a piece that I really have to stay on top of – if I don’t visit it regularly, the mechanical accuracy it demands tend to escape me.
So there I was , heading into a passage that always caused me some trepidation – two out of three times I might flub a note or just screw up the whole thing.
Then I hit upon something- as I approached the dreaded passage, I visualized playing the whole passage perfectly- smooth, clean, without a hitch, like a total rockstar.
Guess what happened – well, it wasn’t smooth clean perfection exactly but it WAS a whole lot better that it had been on all previous passes.
I went around it again and again with the same visualization as I approached that passage. Each time through was a little bit better, and I would say I got to my goal- a good playing standard that I could repeat- a whole lot quicker than if I had simply continued to approach with doubt and trepidation.
Try it- having difficulty with a certain chord voicing, passage or technique? Well, before you even try to play it again, imagine yourself playing it perfectly, with ease. Run that image through your mind a few times and enjoy. I think you’ll like the result.
Saying “I can do it!!” doesn’t have to mean trying harder; it might just rid you of phrases like “Can I do it?” or worse still, “I’ll never get it”.

Play on…..

Bloom where you’re planted….

The Buddha said:
“Bloom where you’re planted“.
Fine advice, and with that in mind, I want to talk about minimizing your left(or neck) hand movement in an effort to familiarize yourself more deeply with just a small.portion of the fingerboard.
I’m going to use 2nd position as an example.

2nd position on the fingerboard is where your hand lands when your index finger is at the 2nd fret. Subsequently, your 2nd finger will be at the third, your third finger at the fourth fret and your pinky at the 5th. Your thumb is planted roughly adjacent to your index finger, and resting on the neck, providing a kind of pivot point for your hand movement.
Now you are going to explore all there is to explore from this position. The restrictions in place are:
No sliding your thumb around
Reaching for the first fret with your index finger only when necessary
Reaching for the sixth fret with your pinky only when necessary

Now let’s take a 3 chord trick, say F, C and Bb.
How do you voice these chords in as complete a way as you can while you’re in 2nd position,a nd adhering to teh above restrictions?

Some of the questions that might come up are;

What notes do I need to build that chord?
Where are they within the 2nd position?
Do I need to think about chord inversions in order to make it work?
Can my hand make that shape?

How about playing an F major scale from the lowest note you can reach (G – second finger on the 3rd fret of the E(6) string) to the highest (A on the 5th fret of the E (1) string?

By willfully imposing a boundary on your hand, you will develop a deeper and more complete understanding of your surroundings in order to express yourself and get the job done.

Go through a number of scales a and melody lines and see what come up. I think you’ll find yourself re thinking, and therefore expanding your approach to how you build chords and melodies. Have fun with it, and let me know how you get on.

Final thought:

Replace the word “hand” with “self” and you’ll get where the Buddha is coming from. 🙂

A Postcard from Portugal

It’s been a little while since I said hi – I’m just back from some travels and I want to share something:
I listened to a lot of Fado singers in Lisbon over the course of five days or so. Each singer was invariably accompanied by a Portuguese guitar (six pairs of double strings, teardrop shaped body like a bouzouki, almost) and a nylon string guitar.

First of all, the singing , and the music in general, was outstanding in almost all cases.
One guitarist stood out, however, and here’s why:
The guitar’s role in this setting is purely rhythmic – most of the melodic embellishment coming from the Portuguese guitar. I watched this guitar player doing his job within the trio, and it was a joy to watch.
His eyes hardly ever left the other player, and his own rhythm was driven by an almost full-body involvement: every accent and downbeat came from a slight clenching of the lower abdomen, causing him to “bounce” slightly in his seat. He was clearly feeling, and utilizing his “feeling” sensitivity to lock himself in and be a part of the trio as a whole. His playing was a huge part in making this trio sound like one single minded engine. The take away here is that, once you have the stuff under your fingers, remember your guitar is something you hug right up to your torso, where you feel the vibrations. Few enough instruments allow that sort of sensitivity, and it’s a part of your playing.
Anyway, how about we talk about something a bit more “nuts and bolts”: the guys at The Guitar Journal blog recently posted a quick video I did about an Irish ballad, and playing the melody inside the chord shape, which I hope you find useful. You can see that mini guitar lesson here.

And I hope you all have a happy picking time until we meet again.

What My Guitar Knows About Life #1

When I started to learn guitar, I had my heroes- some of the rock and roll greats (Jimmy Page, Hendrix...) plus a bluesman or two (Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson…), and as I proceeded down the path of learning, the list of heroes grew longer and longer: Django and Segovia made it on there pretty quick.
That said, for all my adulation, I resigned myself to the ” fact” that I would never be good enough to play like them, and by that I mean that I would never improvise a lead guitar solo, or even play a solo proficently. My resignation to that “fact” was based on pretty solid ground; those guys effortlessly ran around the guitar neck, whizzing between licks and keys at breakneck speed while I sat at home struggling to form a G major shape and doing my best to avoid string buzzes, ugly rattles and dead thuds where there should be clear notes.
“Those guys are just made of different stuff” I concluded
It wasn’t until much later that I was listening to a song, and when the lead guitar break came around I thought “Maybe I’ll try it” . I think it was Ritchie Blackmore. Anyway, I sat down at the record player, picked up the needle , dropped it on the guitar break, picked it up at the end of the break and repeated that about a hundred times, trying to pick out the notes as they went by. And lo and behold, I found I could do it.
I got good at two things; playing lead guitar breaks by ear and finding the exact spot on a record to drop the needle.
I realized then that I had, over the preceding years, followed a path that lead me to this point, and following that logic,it occurred to me that I could get to anywhere I wanted to go, if I could build the path to get there.

Years later , I studied Jazz, and one of my tutors mentioned, probably in an effort to uproot any discouragement in us, that the great John Coltrane once had to be told how to play a C note. In other words, even if you’re at the very beginning of a very daunting, perhaps impossible looking path, you can rest assured that every master at the other end of that path stood right there where you are and felt exactly the same way. In fact , if the young beginning “whats-a-C-note ?” John Coltrane had walked into the room at that point, I could have offered him lessons.
Of course for me , this was a guitar lesson, but more accurately it was a life lesson delivered via my guitar. It’s a perspective I’ve hung on to and has served me.well and it has has diffused many an irrational fear or feeling of hopelessness in the face of whatever new challenges life presented.

Hopefully it can do the same fore you 🙂

Well la di da….

None other than the fine folks at The Guitar Journal saw fit to post my “Introduction to Traditional Irish Guitar”. I’m very flattered, and you can read it here– I hope you find it useful.

Your guitar loves your body

This is always worth mentioning to beginners:

Please please please be aware that a huge part of learning guitar falls under the category of PHYSICAL EXERCISE. For your hand in particular but of course for your arms an upper body also. Be aware of your posture. Sit up.pretty straight. Thighs about perpendicular to the floor. And relax. Let your shoulders drop and release any tension from that area. A few deep breaths helps.
As for your hands, those of you just starting out should be aware that many of those bum notes or buzzy noises can be attributed to as-yet unconditioned muscle . Your hand has 34 muscles in the palm – ligaments and tendons running through your fingers.
For most of the time our hands’ daily activities rarely go beyond holding coffee cups, pens, tapping on a screen or a keypad, or turning a page.or two. A guitar asks your hand to apply concentrated pressure over a prolonged period of time, then shift to another position and do the same again. Over and over again. Or in other words, your hand could be forgiven for asking “What the….?”
The strength to do this does not happen overnight. With regular guitar practice – which , as far as your hand is concerned, translates into regular physical exercise, your hand turns into a Schwarzenegger-esque super hand. Your accuracy and finger strength improves, resulting in less buzzes and rattles.
And finally, please do not “play through the pain”. This is not a “no pain no gain” scenario.
Take breaks. Allow your hand to rest. Then resume. And enjoy playing guitar.

Practice while you’re not practicing…

—ooooh, very Zen.

Not really though; this is just a quick tip I learned from a great Jazz teacher/piano player, and writer Mark Levine– creator of The Jazz Theory Book– a must for musicians, in my opinion.

Anyway, he made the point that you can practice singing scales anywhere – you don’t need to be near your instrument. For example we all know the MAJOR SCALE (do re mi – a la Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music), and we can easily see how well we know that scale by trying to sing it. You can do that in your car, in the shower, wherever, and you can apply that to any scale you are familiarizing yourself with.

learn guitar . learn music. julie andrews teh sound of music — Julie wonders where her guitar is….

Now let’s take this a step further- while away from your guitar, imagine your left hand on the guitar neck in, say the first position. Visualize it as clear as you can. Now imagine PLAYING a G major scale. Imagine your third finger on the third fret of the first string and plucking it. Visualize it as clearly as you can. Feel the string under your finger. As far as your brain is concerned, you’re actually doing it, and not about to drive into a tree. (Seriously, don’t do this while driving or using a chainsaw).
Carry on through the scale – take it from me this is legitimate practice that will aid your sit-down time with the guitar immensely.
As a kid, I used to go to sleep making up guitar solos in my head (I like to think that some of ‘em were pretty good).
Although I just did it for fun, I would also occasionally find myself visualizing the guitar lick in my head. I know for a fact it genuinely helped me as a guitar player. And I hope it helps you too, try it.
May you all know peace and love, and may your pick always be at hand. 🙂

PS I occasionally post small nuggets of guitar wisdom, as I find them, on Instagram and Facebook – be sure to stay tuned in and feel free to drop me a line anytime.

That darned F chord….

It doesn’t even look pretty…

They say it’s called the F chord for a reason – that reason being that a whole lotta beginners have done a whole lotta swearing trying to make the F chord sound right, and I’m no exception.
But the life-long lesson here is that you can work hard, but it’s better to work smart.
I remember struggling over the F chord like it was yesterday. The song I was learning was The Animal’s version of House of the Rising Sun, and it was my first encounter with that darned F.
The main challenge is that the index finger stretches across all six strings (a “bar” chord , or “barre” as i learned it) and needs to apply pressure to three of those strings at once.
For a time, I just focused on pressing down as hard as I could until I got clear notes ringing from those three strings that were digging a very painful groove into my index finger, but even then I had to think about forming the rest of the chord with my three remaining fingers. All I ended up with was a very sore hand and a whole lotta pennies in the swear jar.
Then I started to work smart. I tried rolling my index finger back and forth on the strings until I found a point that held the strings down and allowed my other fingers to fall comfortably without too much pressure. After that, and with practice over time ( the power of Patience cannot be underestimated), the F chord came together pretty quickly, actually.
When students say to me “I can’t play bar chords” I say “yes you can – you just haven’t figured it out yet” .
The take- away from all this? Better to replace the words “I can’t ” with “I’m figuring it out.” If the F chord was good for nothing else (and believe me it is) that would be enough.

So really, the guitar aand it’s pesky F chord taught me two lessons on the road to self-improvement:

Work hard, as long as you’re working smart.
Swearing doesn’t work.

Guitar Stuff I Use

In response to questions I get a lot GUitar strings etc here’s a quick and incomplete list of what I use regularly. The links are affiliated, which means I might get a small small percentage from Amazon on a sale, but as you’ll see, these are hardly high-ticket items, and I’m linking because they’re the best deals I’ve found – if you find better, let me know- I wanna hear it.

Guitar Strings

For live work, I use Elixir Guitar Strings. great longevity and they keep their tone for a long time, so they have that “workhorse” that I look for to get the job done.
However, there are other guitat tones that I get from other strings and one of my favorites has always been John Pearse Guitar Strings. I personally use gauge 12, and I love their bright tone. If you haven’t tried ’em, give ’em a shot.
For some studio work I’ve done, I stumbled upon GHS Silk and Steel Guitar strings. Silk core, and a really beautiful almost bell- like tone. I loved recording with them.

…..and while I’m at it, a word about guitar picks. A lot of folks I run into are interested in accompanying traditional Irish music, and one of the first thing I recommend is what I regard to be the best guitar pick for the job.

It’s a Jim Dunlop .5mm. Cheap ‘n’ cheerful. If Backing Irish tuhes is your thing, go get you some. This pick, coupled with 12 or 13 gauge strings will give you that percussive “thwack” that can really “tighhten” your rhythm playing.

And these exotic wood guitar picks are FUN!! I was gifted these some time ago and I love noodling around with them- I’d love to hear what you think..maybe it’s just me.

Recording Guitar- stuff I use

I keep recording very simple, with a few mics I go between. I have used Karma Silver Bullet mics in teh past with great success , but they’re not available anymore so I can’t offer a link, although yoyu could try scouting around for second hand models. I used two of them in an X-Y pattern for a lot of the Irish Guitar album.

For a large condenser mic that I place in front of me at various angles , I like the RODE NT1000 – great and well-priced, really well balanced and pretty much an all round favorite with those I’ve spoken with.
The best guitar cords I’ve found are these guys; MONSTER CABLE. Although there’s no such thing as the perfect cord (and I have a stack of broken “lifetime warranty” cords to prove it), these guys come close.

So that’s the partial list, folks, and I hope it’s of some use to you- drop me a line with any questions.

If you want to talk Irish Guitar, and get the free tip sheet, click here.

I hope we chat soon.

Best

Patsy