Playing The Numbers

Ok, so, I "think" yesterday's lesson was a BIG step forward or at least it opened the door that will be.  Bless him he's so patient and I'm soooo .. complicated?   Promised you a doodle too so there'a a fun illustration of my point at the end!

What's my point?  Two things 1) this damned perspective thing, I'm so so close to resolution.  However I'm beginning to think that rather than them fixing this for me I'm going to need to find the solution and work it into our routine.  I sank like a stone after yesterday's lesson and bless him it was actually a genuinely GREAT lesson, I loved it & it helped tonnes... but I'll save that for another day &  2) soloing!!!!  Bet you saw that coming & it's the focus of today's post.

I'm going to be honest I don't know what he wants from me when I solo, I really don't.  Well I do and I don't, I "know" what he wants but I just can't seem to compute how to get from point A - being what I'm currently doing, to point B - the cool soloing he wants.  I know what I'm doing wrong but I don't understand the reason behind why it's wrong and how to fix it, the steps required to take the motions I'm making and change them into the ones that will be right.  I have the same problem with Tom's soloing and that's why my frustration has gone epic.  When my frustration goes up my confidence goes down and ... well we know what.

However ... yesterday for the very first time I feel like we took a really really big step forward.  And it's all to do with the numbers!  Actually, its to do with a lot more than that but it does centre around the numbers - of what?  The chord, the scale, the story!  In my head I hear a tale when I play, I hear emotion and it's only getting more prominent the more I write and the more I play.  That's where Zak & I differ and I think he struggles to understand, I struggle to move away from it & at the same time I really struggle to incorporate it into what he wants which I'm struggling to understand - it's a mess!!  When I solo I follow my head "up or down" to where the sound is that I'm "hearing", it makes for nice melody (or at least I think it will when I can really play) but crap soloing.  

BUT......!  In today's lesson we looked at how to play over a chord, we've done that before but this time we looked at what to start on and why, how to decide on a final end point for the run.  What the numbers mean within that and how to make it more interesting to get from start to finish.  We looked at using the scale to accomplish it and how to use going up or down in 3rds to add interest and adding rhythm to that to make it sound funky and how just a tiny change can really alter the dynamics.  The important words in bold, remember it's not enough to tell me WHAT to do, I get it but I can't apply it.  You have to tell me WHY, HOW etc, feed me the science of it THEN I can begin to understand and THEN I can begin to apply and experiment.  Connect the dots back to the one I'm on so I can move forward.

So now we're speaking my language.  Right there several lightbulbs went on and a few dots were joined, there were a few things we've been over and over suddenly coming together and for the first time making sense.  I've talked numbers before in this blog, I've talked rhythm & I've talked about to death about melody (and will continue to do so as it's important!).  Can you see how things can be difficult for me, I literally have to understand the detailed mechanics to do the simplest of things.  But can you also see how when I understand the in's and out's it opens up far more opportunity long term?  It's a harder path with more options at the end... I think!

Where do I go from here?  Into intense study mode.  No more free passes, I need to learn those scales, I need to learn those chords, I need to know the numbers instinctively, I need to understand the flavour and purpose of each note within a scale.  I need to get comfortable with rhythm & I need to know where I am at all times.  I need to think about how to get from point A to B without thinking and all while knowing where A & B are within my story if that's how I'm going to insist on playing (well not insist but I can't help where my heart leads!).

​It's a lot, it's a LOT.  But I always knew this was coming and I actually feel much better about it than I thought I would, it makes more sense now.  If I want to play anything like Jimmie Vaughan or David Gilmour I need to crack this completely in order to be able to move on to worrying about skills.  I don't know if this is the final angle I'll need to approach this particular problem from.  I don't know how long it will take to bring me around and I don't know if there will be one of my *ding* moments when we get there.  But let's hope so!

And that's just one thing on one instrument haha - I must be CRAZY doing this right?  Good thing I'm hopelessly passionate about it.