Active Melody

Besides the set routines that we set up for ” practice ” and it’s structured sequences of ” do this exercise and then do that ” I believe that even if this accomplishes improvement albeit improvement on ” technical execution ” does it truly get your creative ” fix ” ?

What’s that mean ?

Lets look at it this way ...... expression .........feel ..........groove/hook ..timing / breaks ...emotional content and impact . These are key ingredients to the recipe of a song ..........a great song .........one to be savored and feel it’s pulse move you .

How do you perform like that ? Is there a set practice regime that targets that and makes it a realistic and attainable goal ? Is there a book , video or a coach ?

I read once about a great musician who would sit at a piano and let his imagination roam the grid of ivory and ebony keys discovering as he went seeing how different chords influenced different emotions . Cool huh . He was a contemporary of Louies Armstrong :

” Bix Biederbeck “
 

Young as a kid I drove my family nuts when we were watching a movie or situation drama/comedy or what ever as I heard the sound track and realized with my harmonica ( or tried and crashed and burned more often as not ) the melody and had a ball doing it as I explored the possibilities and the enjoyment of when I nailed something .

I have done this with every musical instrument I have ever owned starting with the harmonica then guitar - trumpet - drums - keyboard and now the guitar .

I have found that noodling this way really improves your ability to improvise fast on the fly . It helps the creative process in the aspect of making a gracefully fluid approach to having gut wrenching build ups to thundering crescendos .

Try it with a great movie with a fantastic sound track . Don’t stick to one genre either . Try it with a Discovery Channel documentary . 007 movies - PBS anything from Austin City Limits to Jammin At Hippy Jacks and Sound Stage .

Before you realize it you just noodled away several hours and more than likely will not stop there either since you realize your having a ball . I believe this :

The more time ( quality mind you )  you put in - -  the more you get out in return .

Sincerely
:

Hurricane Ramon

HR, well said.  I am a huge fan of noodling as well - in fact that’s how I’ve learned everything.  I started playing guitar at 14 and it wasn’t until I was around 17 or so that I realized that people could actualy improvise on an instrument - I just assumed that everyone memorized their parts I guess?  So as soon as I figured out the blues scale (minor pentatonic scale) I would just put on the radio and try and play along with EVERYTHING.  Part of the fun of it was trying to figure out what key something was in and then how to play complimentary guitar licks along with it.  I think that’s how I really learned to play, at some point it just clicks with you - I never learned a second language, but I imagine it’s the exact same thing where one day you realize that you’re actually understanding it and can respond.  When that happens with a musical instrument it’s a very exciting feeling because you know you’ve just cracked the code (so to speak).

Hey guys. Along these lines is something that happened to me a few years back. A dear friend and co-worker of mine was tragically killed in a “murder/sucide”. My close frined’s name was Linda and I will never forget her. She and I worked close nearly every day for years. Then that fateful day I got the news that she had been shot in her car by her estranged husband who later suicided. Such a waste of life. That afternoon, after I got home from work, I was completely in shock and highly depressed. I just didn’t know what to do, or should do, if anything, to ease my mind. I did the only thing I could think of to do at the time, grabbed my acoustic axe and let it all flow out. Now keep in mind that this was emotional playing at it’s most primal, basic form. There was no thought going into what I was doing on and to my guitar at the time, just pure emotion. My guitar sang, and sang and sang for nearly 2 straight hours as I vented out everything I was feeling. The music was pure, the feelings were pure. My family was there and sat awe struck as I just let every bit of everything I know about music flow from me into and out of the guitar. I have yet to this day been able to recreate any of that sound. Nothing compares or comes even close to those couple of hours of raw emotion. This is what playing the true blues is to me. Getting down and dirty with your inner self and letting the true feeling of the music flow forth. It’s not always easy to do, but I keep looking for that again ever since that one day. This is what drives us as musicians I think. To have and recreate those moments again and again. Of course, without losing a loved one to spark it all. It’s tough but I keep on searching.

Lefty - Sorry to hear of your loss. Suicide was too good for that guy….Anyway back to the music.

Regarding noodling. The internet and computers have brought noodling to a new level for me. I use the MOG player http://mog.com/  and I can set up a play list for instance Freddie King, or Albert King, or many various Blues Artists, or whatever and just play along for hours on end. Complimenting or mimicking but just jamming and finding the keys, the positions and the riffs. Same thing with my iTunes. Set up some playlists and go.

Dave AKA Bluewater