Obsession

"For me, I think the only danger is being too much in love with guitar playing.  The music is the most important thing, and the guitar is only the instrument."  ~ Jerry Garcia

First off, I really do mean to post more regularly.  Before I knew it, 3 weeks flew by since the last time I put something up!  I swear, the old cliche about time flying is so true.

Anyway, while walking the dog tonight my mind went to this Garcia quote.  The first time I read it was in a wonderful book called Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo.  I'm not sure why it popped into my head, but I think there's a lot of truth in it.  Personally, I prefer to listen to creative, catchy music with substance.  Yeah, that is pretty subjective.  But so is art and many other things.  I strive to experience music that transcends the individual talents of the musicians playing it.  If there happens to be guitar in there, great!  But there doesn't have to be.

It can be obvious when a player is more focused on the instrument, rather than the music.  And this definitely isn't limited to guitarists.  Drummers, bassists, saxophonists, singers, etc.  Every group has it's obsessed members.  Probably the main reason I can't take a lot of mainstream country or pop or Americal Idol is because most of it is focused on how good the singer is.  And believe me, I love a great singer.  But I don't want show-choir tunes to be sung to me.  Certain players I can't take because every single second of music is about them filling it up with notes. 

For us 6-stringers the most common culprits tend to be jazzers and shredders.  That makes sense, given it takes a lot of technical ability to play those styles.  You almost have to be obsessed (or possessed?) to practice sweeping 8 hours a day, or arpeggiating rhythm changes all day long.  But unfortunately, when you hear many of those players out at a show, they are lost in their own world.  Their ears and eyes are closed off to everything going on around them.  Sure, on an individual level, they may be crazy talented, but then you realize what they're playing doesn't fit, or is so trite that it gets tiring real quick.

There can be a fine line between using your super-good abilities to add to the musical experience or distract from it.  Of course, it can be different from one person to the next.  There are people who just want to hear a great guitarist.  People who just crave to see drummers working that double foot pedal faster than anyone else.  I guess it's in our nature to be drawn to the aesthetics of something, rather than the substance.  Same can be said about sports.  Kids who want to become basketballs players, what do they worship?  The slam dunks.  Maybe a game-winning 3-pointer.  They could care less about learning how to play within an offensive system or spending hours at the free-throw line.

So learn to recognize a ball-hog, especially if that person is you.  No one wants to listen or play with someone who can't play within the "system" of the band.