My Uncle Can Play Anything

Some people have a gift, knack, or talent, call it what you will, for music. Not just music of course, as there are many skills to be considered but as we all know music is “where I live”.

I think it’s safe to say we’re all born with certain aptitudes or lack thereof and continue to develop or not develop those from early on. Science has shown we’re not really “empty vessels” but are born with certain innate characteristics. Talents are not so much like a light switch that’s either on or off. You can get none, some, or a lot. What we do with what we get is up to us. I think a lot of people (and I put myself in this category) manage to get just enough to get ourselves in trouble.

Why bring this up? As a working guitarist, I’m occasionally informed by non-musician acquaintances (and undoubtedly other musicians have this experience) about relatives and/or friends who can “play anything” meaning of course any instrument (i.e. “My uncle can play anything). These fountains of talent and giftitude can apparently pick up any musical instrument, be it piano, guitar, flugelhorn, violin or saxophone, with absolutely no previous experience or training, and draw from it limitless rivers of impressive repertoire. By all accounts they just “know” what to do without ever thinking about it. They’ve never spent any time practicing. They’ve never considered studying music theory. Why should they? They just have a gift.

Invariably these freaks of nature are never actually musicians. Why do I say this? I’ve been hanging around musicians for well over forty years and have performed in more different kinds of ensembles that I care to list, and have never met one of these prodigies that have never practiced. Now I’m not talking about musicians who are multi-instrumentalists who work hard at their craft(s) - no, no, no. These wonders of mankind have apparently never given their gifts a second thought nor paid for or attended one music lesson, and never spent an hour practicing, yet by all accounts they are absolutely terrific at playing any music on any instrument at professional levels.

These bits of information that are passed on to me, along with comments such as “you should check out so and so...he’s REALLY good” serve to point out to me things which I am not. Naturally gifted and “really” good. That’s okay with me. I know where I stand in the world. I’ve met, seen, and heard, and even a few times been on stage with real world class musicians. I never kid myself about what I can and can’t do. I tend to think of myself as just a guy who likes to play guitar...maybe a little too much.

That there are people in the world with more musical talent than myself is not news to me. The world is loaded full up with prodigies and talented people. Just a visit to a few local churches will show you that along with the ordinary folks there are a few who can really sing their butts off. They’re not musicians. They’re not tending and feeding and exploiting their talents. They’re not paying their dues in the music world or reaping the rewards. They just can sing well and enjoy doing that in church. I’m totally cool with that. More power to them and their ilk. Even I can say I’ve known two sisters, who even at a very young age of maybe 6 or 7 would sing duets that would knock you off your chair. Precocious as hell (neither went on to become a musician by the way).

What I want is for one of these mystery talents, who are some miraculous musical multi-instrumental prodigies that I’m not, to show themselves dammit. Where are you hiding? Reveal your awesome unstudied musical gifts to me!

And while your at it I’d like you stop by one of my gigs and bring forth your guitar, violin, and saxophone so that you may blow me away with how well you can improvise through the changes of “Cherokee”, “Ornithology”, and “All The Things You Are” without ever having studied or practiced even a single minute. Afterwards you can regale anyone within earshot with your rendition of “Giant Steps” or maybe dazzle listeners with a Paganini Caprice or two. All. Without. Ever. Practicing.

See you then...I’ll be waiting! I long for it. It’ll be a pleasure to meet you. And if you turn out to be some long lost uncle of mine - even better! Because I’d like to be one of those who can say “I’ve got an uncle who can play ANYTHING!”.

Art Is Like A Coin

...there are two sides, don’tcha know?

Let’s talk art as related to music and guitar playing because that’s my only comfort zone.

Let’s call one side of the coin technical and the other side expression. They’re entirely different yet infinitely adhered. Each unable to exist without the other, yet always at odds.

The technical side enables the expression side to express freely and the artistic side always needs to disregard the technical side. The artist requires two mindsets, one to build up technical ability (the practicing side of things) and another to forget about all that practicing and just play (the performing side of things). It's quite the dichotomy and all very, very human.

Performing is no fun when I’m willing things to happen on the guitar that don't come true because there's not enough practice time behind me. It's always a struggle to some degree, but as long as I can keep it on the positive side of things then overall it is fun. Sometimes my performances feel like one long struggle, and other times when every note I will into being materializes just the way I imagined. I guess that's art. You never really know what you're going to get. Just prepare as much as you can and roll the dice.

I sometimes tell my students it takes a dedicated artist to play beautifully - any schmuck can play aggressively. When we can achieve beauty we're mastering the instrument instead of the instrument mastering us. That allows a much broader range of expression.

Practice is practice and performance is performance. Let’s not get the two mixed up. It’s best when like a coin - one side can’t see what the other is doing but can exist in comfort knowing it’s there.