Adam Rafferty’s Blog – Guitar and Spirit

Greetings from CAAS in Nashville, TN!

I am sitting in the Nashville airport on the way home to NYC after having spent 3 uplifting days at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society convention (CAAS).

I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun this was, and how many wonderful people I met. Not to mention, I heard some of the greatest pickers in the world.

(I will post all the photos on my myspace page soon, so take a look.)

What really thrilled me was to dive into a scene where I knew virtually no one, and within days I was embraced by the guys (and girls) there…I gave some lessons on how I do my solo arrangements – and I got some lessons too!

Buster B. Jones showed me some very cool fingerpicking stuff, gave me insights on rhythm…Tony McManus showed me some wildly beautiful celtic type patterns and techniques.

It was a blast to meet Pete Huttlinger, it felt like meeting an old friend – as we have had what appears to be a similar “jazz background” before entering the acoustic world (he’s been doing it a tad longer though!!!)

I also got to hear Chet’s music more and listen to the older players who are masters of that style. It really has such a happy “sound”. I’ve just been in a great mood from listening to it!

And…the young talent was VERY promising indeed! It was great to see the “young fellas” fired up about guitar.

The whole vibe of the event was upbeat and happy. The intent of all was to make nice music, and there was an overall attitude of camraderie and support.

Mark Pritcher and his team did a fabulous job of hosting a great event…Mark, THANK YOU!

Well…back home to NYC in a few minutes…the plane is boarding…see you soon!

Stillness at 7am and Pervading Peace

By Adam Rafferty 2 Comments

Greetings Friends.

It’s about 7 am, and I am enjoying my first sips of hot fresh coffee…the streets of Queens are quiet and only half of the street is seeing the first rays of today’s sun….

This past week was fabulous. I had a knockout gig at Acoustic Long Island, spent time with my family, had some “working musician” type gigs, and today I leave for Nashville to hang out at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society yearly gathering.

Life is good. I am at peace. I am fortunate to wake up every day to infinite possibilities. I am blessed to have a worthwhile goal of playing this guitar as good as I can.

It’s really not all about “guitar” though. I am lucky and fortunate in life to see meaningful goals ahead of me, and I get to spend my time and energy every day realizing those goals. I have made decisions and sacrifices to set up that type of lifestyle.

To witness the unfolding of it all is breathtaking. To see that I, as a human, have the ability to visualize something and bring it into being is an awesome feeling.

A few years ago I envisioned playing solo acoustic guitar for people and knocking ’em out. To see that the “vision” has materialized means I can create my reality, I can do it – whether it is a house, car, career – anything – I can do it. And, I’ll never “get there”…it’s all a delicious process.

Success is the “delicious unfolding” of one’s desires. Success is living on purpose, rather than default.

I get to wake up every day and feel this good. That is wealth, abundance and success. I wish this for everyone.

When I talk to friends and family, and I see their confusion, not knowing the career direction they want, or frustration, the comparing to others and feeling like they are falling short, not looking good enough, and all the typical psycho spiritual ailments of common folks, I want to tell them……

Turn the TV off.
Turn the laptop off.
Get quiet.
Be still.
Breathe.
Allow restlessness to arise, but stay there.
Allow the chatter to go on, it is it’s own thing. It’s not you.
Watch what happens when it stops.
Bathe in the silence.
Breathe.
Listen.

Do this twice a day for 30 minutes and watch your life change.

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Time to pack…see you in Nashville!!!

Letting Seeds Grow

By Adam Rafferty 4 Comments

Greetings Friends!

Wow, so much has happened in the last week, I don’t know were to begin.

A friend of mine recently gave me a copy of a Tony Robbins CD (sorry Tony, don’t worry – I’ll be buying stuff from you soon!) and I gotta say – the man is a genius.

The expression “when the student is ready, the teacher appears” was exemplified when I heard this cd.

A typical frustration that I bump into (and many of us do) is “why can’t I be further along than I am”. Whether it is financial, career, family, skill at something, one’s physical appearance – it is easy to be dissatisfied with the present circmstances.

Eckhart Tolle would say it is the experience of saying “no” and pushing against what is that brings us unhappiness. Absolutely true.

But Tony said something so real, so obvious that I just perked up.

He said, “maybe you’ve planted seeds and just have to wait until they grow”.

Bingo. This really chilled me out!

I often get comments on youtube and audience comments amounting to “why aren’t you more famous, you’re as good as ……(pick a well know guitarist)”. And then, I find that I am walking around, irritated slightly at the perfect unerring response of the universe. I am where I am, but want to be “further ahead”.

Add to that the financial pressures of life, a little bit of ego…and away we go!!! 🙂 The frustrated ideas bring about frustrated emotions, and then I roll down the slippery slope of negativity. Hmm….how can I avoid this?

Now I see. My little seeds of my acoustic guitar direction have had much less time underground than some other people’s “seeds”. It is natural, perfect for me to be right where I am. The seeds are sprouting, and I gotta “keep on keepin on” to make sure the water and sunlight is consistent. That means ongoing touring, practicing, writing – and WAITING PATIENTLY to let nature “do it’s thing”!

I am writing about this so that you can take a look at your life and see if you are frustrated that “little seedlings” are causing you upset because you want them to be more grown up than they are.

A farmer knows if he want’s a harvest that he has to prepare months ahead…..

Huh? Licensing & Copyrights On The Web? I thought is was FREE?

By Adam Rafferty 2 Comments

About two weeks ago I completed guitar tabs for some VERY well known pop tunes that I play that youtubers had requested non-stop. Just check out my youtube channel and take an educated guess as to which tunes 🙂

After painstakingly writing tablature for my own arrangements I figured I’d give out lessons on fragments and sell them.

Whoa…not so fast Buddy! Even though the arrangements are original, the tune is someone else’s, and I’d need licensing rights from the print publisher.

I yanked the stuff immediately, and wondered what the future will bring…

Publishers and record companies are SCRAMBLING to stay afloat!!! In fact, they have even yanked a guitar teacher off youtube for teaching chords to Rolling Stones tunes!

Executives have been screwing musicians so long, it’s great to see that exploiting musicians is no longer a lucrative business for them. What is worrisome though is that the public can also get around paying the musicians for their stuff…

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This got me thinking – how the heck will music, video and any other printed material that is intellectual property be protected? Or is the “stuff”, the material simply now an “advert” to sell a service?

For example, should a musician or band give away mp3’s and videos and lessons online to get their audience down to gigs and workshops? Do the gurus give it away free and get people to the seminars? Are recordings now like TV interviews? The minute you charge even a penny, you are out of the “FREE” fast lane, and viewers / surfers will check out the FREE stuff overr your item that costs a penny.

Here is the BIG problem. An artist, musician, author cannot survive if they can’t sell stuff. If all I can get paid for is the gig or lesson I am on at this moment, that’s no good. I have to be able to sell products too! I deserve to write a book, make a vid, or record a tune and sell it.

It’s a funny little turning point…for someone who is not known, the web is great for “getting out there”…but what about an established band, author, teacher? They are getting robbed if they cannot sell their stuff. Or, is the viral “everyone can share it” approach the best approach?

If you are a user you most likely love the FREE aspect of the web. But, I want you to go do your job for FREE for a week. If you sell products or services, give them away for FREE and see how that makes you feel!

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A POSSIBLE BRAINSTORM, and what do you think of it?

Since computer OS’s upgrade constantly and we need new machines every few years to keep up with the ever incrreasing software needs, I think this issue lies in the hands of the software companies (Apple’s I tunes, Adobe PDF and other companies).

Every document / mp3 / video will need a fingerprint that checks a big database in the sky to see if the computer is licensed to play the file. This will also trickle to ipods, iphones, etc.

(Itunes is attempting this.)

Each inventor/ author / musician / company will be able to log into the database and set prices, track users. Or companies, if they are advertising the artist.

So let’s say I create a new mp3 and post it on my web site for FREE. Go get it, no problem…

I go to my account and register the tune, and say to the database “YEP it is FREE”.

User listens and enjoys.

I go back and say “Hmm. 100,000 downloads? Time to set the price to 99 cents, for the slice of people who really want it .” Or, set a 6 month trial period on the tune so that after 6 months they gotta pay.

The next time the user goes to listen to the tune, they see that it now costs 99 cents. The software does the checking. Depending on artists, services, publishers, promotion the 99 cents gets divided up.

So the onus is on Itunes , Adobe PDF and the host of other reader / player applications to control the copyright infringement I think.

No doubt the spy vs spy element will remain, people will do various “save as” techniques or use text files to pry files open but I see no other way.

The player / viewer application just has to say “nope, I won’t play or show the file”.

I am looking forward to your thoughts and curious to see where this goes…

The Importance of Art and The Excellence of Tommy Emmanuel

By Adam Rafferty 2 Comments

Friends, last night I went to go see Tommy Emanuel perform at NYC’s Highline Ballroom. I feel like I don’t even need to say it – it was awesome, one of the best shows I have ever seen. It had variety, virtuosity, groove, highs & lows in intensity.

He had guest performers, he had stories, and jokes. All bound together with the glue of his unbelievable guitar playing.

In short, he gives you an “experience” and does not just “play the guitar well”.
As you know by now, this man has changed my life – and I am one of many people whom he has affected. As you can see in my videos & hear on the mp3’s I plan on “doing something” with this inspiration.

What needs to be noted I think is this: great art and music shows us how EXCELLENT we are as humans, and points to how excellent we can be. Many things show us our excellence also – athletics, invention, science, writing – to name a few.

But to see someone “take it to the limit” shows us the unbelievable depth of the human mind and spirit is a treat, a joy – and much needed today in the age of ”
too much of digital everything.”

On the “meet & greet” line I was practically in tears. I thanked Tommy for his music. I had overheard him saying to the guy ahead of me how he wanted “people to walk out of the show spiritually uplifted”.

Well he spiritually uplifted my girlfriend so much I told her I’d get his number for her 🙂

Seriously though, this brings a Biblical story to mind. There was a story about how Jesus went nuts and overturned tables at a temple that had become a market place, saying something about what they had done to his “Fathers House”.

When I hear all the crapola music that’s out there it makes me want to overturn tables. But, the over promotion of musicians who have hardly practiced, who offer nothing spiritually in their music does serve a purpose. It is the perfect backdrop for when the “real thing” comes along.

Thank you Universe, God, Source for bringing us real artists and messengers who show us the “excellence” that lies buried deep in all human beings.