Okay, it is October 31st. Exactly a year to the day since I took a serious step in my practice and dedicated myself to my Rail-board and the art of tapping. I will admit I have played a little bit of guitar since then, but not much!

Learning this thing is pretty challenging; I was getting pretty negative about the instrument of late, as I feel my progress is not too good, and learning a new tune takes weeks, and performing "said tune" results in a nasty crash and burn... Not good, especially because I like playing so much! lol blah blah blah; in short I am not where I want to be just yet, and it's a bit frustrating...

So, now I am going to cheat. And I'm gonna share my cheating with anyone who will watch/listen 'cause I am sick of being terrible, lol... Enter the Hack...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E38ulEtLlI[/youtube]

Really looking forward to your thoughts, guys! This was put together last night as I was getting ready for my lesson the next day; Which I am certain I will sound horrible at... This is my "workaround" which I spent exactly 1 hour on last night, and I probably made more progress on that than in the last year of "legit" independence practice. AND... I had some fun.

Joe Satriani taps this way, and I stole this from him (Midnight). My way is a bit of a twist, but the concept is the same. He has sold an album or two, and done a lot of world tours and is a playing monster so if it's good enough for him... good enough for me!

So while I toil away on "legitimately" learning to play this instrument the "prescribed" way I will hack and slash my way through whatever i can come up with using whatever is at my disposal. The idea is to eventually be able to do whatever I want, but for now I have to be content with the "illusion" of two things going on at once as my poor little brain can't seem to do things simultaneously. Still, I am all about the music so here's me taking matters into my own hands...

I scored my ideas out, please don't get too mad at how I did it; it works for me. Classic tuning. Hope it helps, and ideally forces some discussion... More to come suckahs! Lots more...

Happy Halloween!

First - stop telling yourself you suck. You’re a year into learning this thing. I felt the same way a year in (I’d bet everyone does), just keep going. Start by getting rid of that negativity, it’s not going to help you.

Your “hack” is an interdependence exercise. It’s a good skill to have, keep doing it (especially if it’s fun). Just be aware that it won’t help improve your hand independence.

There is no “legitimate” or “prescribed” way to play, you have to find what you want to do and make it work for you. If your goal is hand independence, make sure you practice methods and exercises that work that. You’ll probably need to set aside more than a year…

Hey, thanks for checking it out; And thanks for the comment!

Working on "actual" independence also. Not giving up on it, nope. Never. Steve A is slaving away at trying to help out someone who is quite possibly THE most challenging student ever. We had a great lesson today, independence, practice, approach and musical relationships being the hot topic. Independence especially... And of course, 2 cool tunes which I have two weeks to learn. Love it.

And I don't mean to come across as negative, 'cause I am not. Just trying to get organized. I am quite frustrated, though... I really would like to see a bit more come from my efforts, because I practice a lot. I do recognize that I have improved, but I also recognize that "legit" independence practice is going to be a good 5 years or so...

But while I wait for the next 5 years to be able to play "independently" in a spontaneous and improvised manner like pretty much everyone else who owns and plays this instrument, I need to be able to play something that almost sounds like music. I want to play NOW. An approach that I can use so that I can survive tomorrow's jam session.

If that means I have to play "interdependently" while I figure this stuff out, so be it. I like the word "hack" though... Just rolls off the tongue...

Seen my screwdriver?

Love the faces
Be patient grasshopper

You do come off as rather hard on yourself.

It sounds like you’re on the right track and understand it’s going to take some time to get where you want to be with your goals. There’s nothing wrong with cutting yourself some slack and finding ways to enjoy things more in the meantime.


My point that it won’t help independence was more for clarification and wasn’t intended to discourage you from what you’re doing. Playing interdependent stuff is not something you should feel you “have” to do to get something else. It’s its own thing. What you’ve discovered is a way to play some cool stuff that you enjoy. There’s nothing to it that is “cheating” or a “hack”, just another part of the journey.

Scott:

I don't post here much, but I have to say I value your posts and videos. I think it is brave and generous of you to share your "Stick journey " as a work in progress, so to speak. And you are making progress....

That said, I have to admit I feel your pain. Learning anything new can be immensely frustrating, and the Stick seems to amplify those feelings for some reason. You have the physical part of getting your darn fingers to try to do what you want them to do, the mental part of literally building new brain circuitry pathways as you try to get hands to work together or not together (and in rhythm to boot), and the spiritual part of trying to connect to the spirit of Music while the rest of you tryies to work out the nuts and bolts. It aint easy and it is easy to get frustrated.

My path has been long and I have at times been very hard on myself for making less progress that I hoped. I have had my Stick since 1983, if you can believe that, and still feel like I am more or less a beginner. My frustration has tricked me into leaving the Stick in the closet for months at a time. My feelings that I wasnt doing it "the right way" or a way that was "good enough" just added to these negative feelings. And on top of that, I also would fall into the trap of comparing my skills to those of others (or some unrealistic fantasy of where I wanted to be or thought I should be). All of this was me wasting time and energy.

What I have learned is that the path on the Stick comes and goes: you have periods where you make what feels like rapid progress and then plateaus where you feel stuck. Sometimes the "stuck" periods last for a while and you get angry/frustrated/bummed out. I find that changing things up - changing my practice routine, trying new stuff without worrying about "results" etc. helps recharge me out of these funks. Most of all, I remind myself to take time to "play" - literally goof around on the Stick without worrying about what it sounds like or whether it works. Sometimes Its is during these seemingly mindless periods that I have some breakthrough or " a ha" moment. It is supposed to be fun after all.

Most of I, I remind myself, we are all on our own paths and my path is not like anyone elses. I am not going to play like anyone else or vice versa. I may progress slow or fast, but I stay on my path at my own pace and try to enjoy and appreciate every step of the way. Music is, in part, about exploration and discovery. The Stick is an amazing instrument for exploration and discovery and inventing your own ways of playing and finding your own voice. And after all, thats what Music should be about.

It's one instrument, just one that's played with two hands, like a piano. The hard work, hand independence, melody vs. chords vs. bass, all happen in a keyboard instrument. What I'm trying to say is that although every pianist, or drummer, strives to achieve good hand independence, it's always with the one instrument concept in their brains... They know there is always some level of interdependency between both hands, no matter how it looks.



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I read somewhere that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice before to be considered as a professional musician. Let's look at it closely...40 hours a week (whick is huge) x 52 weeks...a bit more than 2,000 hours...x 5 years and then you reach these 10,000 hours. If you put half of it that means it can take up to 10 years. You're still young enough to be really good one day. It's not my case. I started at 59...well...and to be honnest, I don't put anymore all these hours on an instrument of music. I just have fun with it. And fun it also part of the game.

Scott, you gotta learn to relax and feel your music.
You look very tired in your latest video. Take a break.

You have a lot of talent and it's very apparent.
Slow it down and enjoy the sound.

Just my opinion...
More melody please and less technical playing.

Whoa...more melody?
Someone's been eavesdropping on our lessons
Santana, Gilmour, J. Beck
mature approach


Mel O'Dee