At my guitar lesson last Wednesday, I told Stewart Knight that I wanted to pause the lessons for the time being, even though there were another four or five still scheduled in the current cycle. I gave him what I thought were perfectly sensible reasons, which he was happy to accept.
I've subsequently been reflecting on what really prompted the decision. Understanding one's own motivations is always a hard problem. You know you want to do something, but not necessarily why.
I do have something of a track record here. Over the years I've taken up various activities - Tai Chi, paragliding, karate and piano playing come to mind - pursued them quite seriously for a year or more, achieved a certain level of competence (never mastery, which can take a lifetime), and then quite decisively stopped. (With shotokan karate I had to stop after about ten months and three gradings, because of ever-worsening sciatica: don't get old).
But generally, at some point, I seem to reach an internal target, after which the costs of continuing with formal instruction and its associated commitments outweigh the benefits of further progress.
Is something similar happening with the guitar? I think not.
I've been having lessons for about ten months now, mostly acoustic but with some electric guitar as well. My decision to restart playing seriously dates back about eleven months. So this has not been a passing enthusiasm, and I'm certainly not proposing to give up the guitar.
I note to myself that my desire to play the guitar drove the lessons, rather than the lessons driving my desire to play. Although, inevitably, there is some interaction between the two.
When I started, my particular ambition was to learn fingerstyle blues. This was completely new territory for me. I had no real understanding of the techniques involved, the various styles, or even the shape of the journey towards acquiring the necessary skills.
Ten months later, I'm considerably better informed. I've worked through perhaps 80% of the Fingerstyle Blues Guitar book by Arnie Berle and Mark Galbo, acquired a reasonable understanding of the terrain, and substantially improved my playing.
But I now see two problems immediately ahead of me, both undermining the case for continuing with weekly lessons.
The first is consolidation.
I've acquired a large collection of partial skills: I can stumble through walking bass lines, attempt various vamps as below, pick out melodies and understand, intellectually at least, how to assemble these elements into a recognisable blues performance. I understand intellectually the interaction between the bass and melody lines, the call-and-response structure between guitar and voice, and the different techniques used by the great blues guitarists.
The trouble is that I can't actually do most of it very well.
The familiar problems are all there. Chords are insufficiently precise, chord changes are ragged, the thumb and fingers are nowhere near properly independent, and my ability to play melodic phrases over a continuing bass line remains rudimentary. In practical terms I'm still near the beginning.
But I now know what needs to be done. There are exercises to practise, combinations to experiment with, and skills to develop through sheer repetition. I want the freedom to try this and that, follow up something interesting, or spend a week working on a particular technical problem without worrying about what I'm supposed to be preparing for next Wednesday's lesson.
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| I'm currently working on this vamp piece... |
I need some space to consolidate.
The second problem is deciding where I want to go from here.
Should I develop my singing and learn to accompany myself properly? Should I concentrate on building a repertoire from the classic blues guitarists - Mississippi John Hurt and others from the American South, perhaps moving into Chicago blues? Or should I explore something different altogether?
I have plenty of interests, and at the moment I don't particularly want to commit to just one of them. I would rather explore the possibilities before deciding what deserves sustained attention.
Much the same argument applies to the electric guitar.
Stewart's feedback on my early attempts at the solos in James Shipway's Blues Soloing book has been extremely useful. He could spot technical problems which I had completely missed. But once again, what I principally need now is practice and consolidation. I want to learn more solos, experiment with the amplifier and different tones, improve my picking and playing speed and accuracy, become more fluent in crossing strings, and generally develop the ability to move around the fretboard.
At this stage, I've concluded, I don't particularly need to learn more new things. I need to become better at the things I already encountered.
So I explained to Stewart that I wanted to take some time out from the lessons, consolidate what I'd learnt, explore a few possibilities and perhaps get a little more fun back into playing. The regular lessons, useful though they've been, had become a bit of a treadmill.
He was entirely sympathetic. Indeed, he suggested that in the new year, 2027, I might consider occasional one-off lessons instead. If I have a particular piece I'm working on, or a technical problem where some experienced feedback would be helpful, I can simply arrange to pop round, play what I've been doing and get his advice.
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| Stewart suggested starting with Lightnin' Hopkins and Mississippi John Hurt - so my Christmas present? |
Sounds good.
