Instruments – Page 2 – Getting To Know Trees

Goals and Education

Common Bass Walks for Guitar with Alternating Bass

A student and I were working on finding ways to play these bass walks more naturally, rather than having to think through them. I made these short videos (all under 2 minutes) with that in mind. This is a play list of five videos. Each video features a different duo of chords and their bass walks. A to D and Back to A A to E and Back to A C to F and Back to C G to C and Back to G G to D and Back to G These videos are recorded with a priority of watching my hands and listening to the sound of the music. You can scroll through the videos to find the one you want by clicking the three lines and arrow in the top right corner of the video player. Sometimes it’s important to intellectually examine these concepts. Other times it’s advantageous to concentrate on the sound and let the music come out of our fingers. If you would like a handout component to follow along with, or use to practice with later, download this .pdf which has all the bass runs that are covered in the video. One thing the video does not cover is why you might use these in a song. If you are interested in learning more about that, drop me a note at gettingtoknowtrees@gmail.com and we can set up a time to meet over Zoom. Enjoy!

Chicago

Workshop: Your First Guitar Solo!

'Ukulele

Getting Familiar with Intervals

We measure the distance between two notes using intervals. Here is a worksheet to help you get familiar with some intervals. When you’re done with the worksheet, compare the drawing that you made. What do you notice? Add your question to the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them for you.

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Listening Wide-Eyed: Limited-Sight Contour Drawings of Musical Instruments for Sale

Today, I am honored and humbled to offer for sale pieces from my Listening Wide-Eyed: Limited-Sight Contour Drawings of Musical Instruments series. Between now and early July 10, 2022 you can purchase a piece of one-of-a-kind artwork made specifically for you or a loved one. Jump to the order form. The Listening Wide-Eyed series is an outgrowth of my visual art, musical and mindfulness practices. Each one-of-a-kind piece from Listening Wide-Eyed is created through a limited-sight process, where I make a drawing on a sheet of bristol board without taking my eyes off the subject. I don’t look at the board until I am done drawing. Within the messiness, the structural knowledge and spiritual essence of each instruments expands. Each drawing is a made-to-order, one-of-a-kind piece of visual art. They are created with wax pencil and bristol board. Each purchaser is invited to customize their piece, in regards to which instrument, the use of color and matting. There are also options specific to gifting one of these drawings to a loved one. This process started as a way to strengthen my visual record abilities. As my practice bloomed, this limited goal fell away and the drawing practice engendered more connections between the parts and the whole of both the instruments and myself. How do we move? Where are we sturdy? Where are we delicate? How do those and other qualities affect our presentation to and relationships with others? Considering these questions allowed me to hold and play each instrument in a more open, inviting way. We see and hear ourselves, and others, every day. I hope having these drawings in our living space, practice room, or at a family dining table prompt us to notice moments when we are making assumptions about what we know about both ourselves and others. I hope that they can act as a guide to remain open, curious and to foster connections in musical spaces and all other relationships. This round of sales does end on July 10, 2022. Order form for Listening Wide-Eyed: Limited-Sight Contour Drawings of Musical Instruments

A circle drawn on newsprint with charcoal

Goals and Education

Drawing Circles – Counterclockwise/ Clockwise, Eyes Open/Eyes Closed

This is the continuation of some thoughts I’ve been thinking and discussions I’ve been having around the idea of talent. As a guitar teacher, I spend a great deal of lesson time on the mechanics of playing the guitar. The sounds that musicians are able to achieve from the guitar are wildly varied, and it can take some work for students to expand their physical habits to allow for those sounds to be achieved. In my limited time as an art student, there hasn’t been much talk of the physical movements needed to achieve my goals. It really caught my attention when my art teacher mentioned an exercise a teacher had her perform in art school where they had to draw circles on a piece of news print. I took some time this morning to try it out. I stood arms length away from the paper and just drew circles. The first one is one that I unconsciously “completed”. I drew to the counterclockwise to make the first half and then started again and completed it at the top. The rest are made with one continuous movement; standing an arm’s length away from the paper. Some things I noticed: Starting at the top and drawing counterclockwise, the charcoal slid right along the page. But, when I needed to swing up to complete the circle, my arm had a much more difficult time controlling the line. Instead of being loose, the line would skip. As my arm tensed to gain control, the line would become too shallow or to wide. I started to close my eyes. This is something that I know from guitar playing. We, as musicians, can play a lot more accurately than we might think with our eyes closed. Sometimes, we’re even better with our eyes closed. I closed my eyes and got a picture of the circle I wanted to draw in my mind, and then I’d draw it. If completing the circle was the goal, I was MUCH more accurate than I thought I would be. If I drew counterclockwise with my eyes closed, I was able to complete the circle almost every time. If I drew clockwise with my eyes closed, it was much more challenging. I almost never completed a circle. On drawing clockwise – I thought it was very interesting that I had to be very, very deliberate if I wanted to draw clockwise. Many times I’d think, “OK. I’m going to draw this one clockwise.” But, then I’d put the charcoal down and end up drawing counterclockwise. This happened several times in a row. I realized that I had to be much, much more deliberate if I wanted to draw counterclockwise. What do you think? Do people have a talent for drawing circles? How good do you think one could become as a circle drawer? Do you like them? Are the completed circles the only ones that you like?

'Ukulele

Stuff I Keep Track Of – Totals for 2020

I keep track of the number of times I do certain activities in my life. This comes from a pretty severe case of perfectionism/”fear of the blank page”. Keeping track of this stuff has helped me immensely over the years, and is actually how I developed the Sticker Method: Creating a Habit of Practice. You can read more about the process from last years’ blog post Stuff I Keep Track of – Totals for 2019. Here are the totals for 2020 Background This year saw a lot of change in my life. I moved to Marquette, MI in last November of 2019. Between Jan. 1, 2020 and Dec. 31 of 2020 I lived in five places for at least a month and, including other travel, all total I slept in about 15 different beds. And, then there’s the pandemic. Basically what I’m saying is, that is why my numbers are not as complete as I would like them to be. I know that I kept track of my numbers for all the months, but I can’t find where I wrote them down! I only have numbers for seven months, which is SUCH A BUMMER! Final Numbers We’ll say that there were 215 days available (in the months that I have data for) Music making = 189 days = 88% (This is the first year of collecting this data) Visual Art/Writing = 150 days = 70% (Down 16% from 2019.) Body/Mind Work = 169 days = 80% (Up 53% from 2019). Skateboarding = Well, this is a sad one. I got 30 days in, in the late spring and early summer, BUT, I broke my shoulder on July 10, 2020 and I have retired from skateboarding. In addition, I started collecting some data on how many days I work on my “business” (that is not my actual teaching.) This is a very new category and I’m still not sure how to keep track of it. I hope to have more conclusive data next year. Quarterly Focus Words for 2019 (I got this idea from the Being Boss podcast.) Quarter 1 = Nurture Quarter 2 = Patience Quarter 3 = Prepare Quarter 4 = Clarity Goals for 2021 Music-Making – I’d be happy to maintain these numbers. It was so helpful to re-engage with the Dozen a Day piano books. It’s so helpful to have a concrete set of musical exercises to play in the mornings. Visual Art/Writing – I think that this will be stronger in 2021. I am much more confident with my work as a visual artist. And, I’ve found many ways to “break through” in those moments when I am feeling unsure. Body/Mind Work – I mean, I could actually see myself being able to get to 365 days. That would really be something. I wonder. 312 days would be six times a week. 300 days would be 82%. I wonder. See you next year!

Goals and Education

How to Play Twinkle on your Harmonica Zine

Here is the zine for How to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on your Harmonica. Also, this zine contains a very fun song about everyone’s favorite snack, a Juice Box! You can learn the Juice Box song here. And, here is a video that will show you how to fold your zine, once it’s printed. How to Fold a Zine with Jason

Básquetbol en el Barrio – Theme Song for Basketball in the Barrio Camp

Every year I teach the Music Station at an incredible sports/art/music/community-building camp called Basketball in the Barrio, in Segundo Barrio, El Paso, Texas. We couldn’t hold the camp in 2020, so Coach Denisse Franco and I wrote a theme song which, hopefully, we’ll all be able to sing for camp in 2021. Give it a listen and we’ll sing it at camp next year!

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The Sticker Method: Creating a Habit of Practice

This fall I published my latest zine, The Sticker Method: Creating a Habit of Practice (available in the store). This is a method for taking a lot of the stress that can come with being a learner/do-er out of our lives. I’ve developed the method over my lifetime as both a teacher and a student I am a user of The Sticker Method and one of my favorite aspects of it is that the method can be used for anything. If you’ve heard my music, seen my drawings, watched my skateboard videos, or if we’ve talked about developing a habit of going to the gym, then you’ve seen The Sticker Method in action. What are you going to practice? I’d love to know.

Essays

On Practicing – Sept. 2020

I’ve been playing guitar for a long time. And, I teach a lot of guitar players that haven’t played for very long (comparatively). Learning to play is a lot of work, and for the most part it’s very solitary work, so “the public” only sees the “finished” product. As a teacher, I can tell that it is difficult for students (especially adult students) to believe that I have had, and continue to have, all those same challenges that they have. I’m not special, I’ve just been doing it for a long time. The work isn’t any easier, I just know how to do the work. Here is a short excerpt of a tune I recently wrote. It has a part right in the middle where my fingers need to make a move that they are not familiar with. Now it’s time for me to take my own advice! Slow down. Play with intention. Don’t let your habit take over because your habit doesn’t know it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played this very short section over the past couple days. Finally, it’s starting to come together. It’s taken a lot of work. The work is the thing to do.