I’m doing on my blog what every musician does right now… stealing other people’s stuff and making it my own. Here’s another quote from another blog that I follow:
“The gifts possessed by the best performers are not at all what we think they are. You are not a natural-born clarinet virtuoso or car salesman or bond trader or brain surgeon—because no one is.
Great performance isn’t a result of inborn abilities, intelligence or experience.
The fact that seems to explain the most about great performance is something the researchers call deliberate practice.” -Geoff Colvin, author of Talent Is Overrated
One thing that every great musician has in common is their unceasing desire to practice and play their instrument. You hear stories like that of Stevie Ray Vaughn, blues virtuoso, who constantly carried around his guitar, or Victor Wooten, arguably the best bass living player in the world with similar tendencies. You hear about people who went through seasons of practicing for hours at a time day in and day out… and made these seasons into lifestyles.
As a Christian musician, practice almost becomes like devotional time. I don’t mean to say that it should replace your intimate time with Jesus and his word, but when God has gifted you as a musician, he takes pleasure in you increasing your knowledge and skills.
So let it be known. There are no shortcuts to greatness. Get with God. Get with your instrument… guitar, drums, keys, voice, whatever. Practice your way to greatness.
I read a sweet post by this guy today. Here’s a quote from it:
“Will you woodshed it on your own time this week to get it right, or will you cross your fingers and hope for the best? Will you spend the needed mental and musical energy needed, or will your apathy get the best of you? Or are you simply not good enough – and if so, what are you going to do about that?”
The holiday season always seems to stretch us as musicians at Rock Church the most. Partially because we’re cramming, and that’s usually my fault (which is another subject in itself). But the other part is because we are playing different styles of music, stuff that’s outside of the normal pop or rock box that we tend to put “praise and worship” music into. We play stuff like jazz blended with gospel and, well, let’s face it musicians, Christmas music is just different. Different progressions and voicings than we’re use to… or maybe that’s just me?
My point is this. I love how Christmas pulls at me as a musician to get back into the “Woodshed” and pound things out. This is where the term “shed session” originated. This term is used more on the gospel side of the spectrum. Essentially, it’s where a bunch of musicians get together and stretch themselves, trade licks, bounce melodies and ideas off of each other. Here are two drummers “shedding.”
The beauty of course of this “shed” concept is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be done with anybody else. You can shed with any musician out there. Just put in a CD, throw on a DVD or scour YouTube of your favorite artists. And then click on some of the “related videos” and stretch yourself to learn something completely outside of your preferred genre.
This is often how I write “church” songs. I get with God, and shed.
So go read the quote at the top of the post again and ask yourself, “what am I going to do about it?”
I believe that there are certain people in everybody’s life that are irreplaceable. If you don’t have somebody like that in your life, then you need to.
Filed under: Musicianship
Here’s the thing… I realize that most of the musicians that read my blog fall either into the category of a “peer” or an “elder” in relation to me. But let me just speak as one musician to another. I truly believe that we as musicians have no business trying to rip up a solo or push ourselves out there until we know how to play something simple, right and patient.
Just found this guy on YouTube. Curt Chambers is his name. He’s like a breath of fresh air… mostly because he’s got a lot of soul and his band is sick! I can’t find any CD’s of his anywhere online or on iTunes so I’m thinking he’s just getting started with his solo career. He plays with P. Diddy and LL Cool J. This is kind of the style I’ve ventured away from, but want to get back into. Just RIPPIN type of stuff that takes quite a bit of musicianship, a GREAT internal clock and lots of energy. Be on the lookout for some new songs with this kind of feel. Here’s two of his videos on YouTube:
Filed under: Musicianship
Of course, the thing that I’ve been trying to communicate to seemingly ANY musician I play with or come in contact with… John communicates better. I called it “sophisticated,” John calls it “patience”… John wins. He always does.
Filed under: Musicianship
I’m setting a goal for myself. This is what I want to sound like as a guitarist in four years…
