Guitar

Les Paul’s Son Gene Gives Me a Guitar Lesson

Two days ago, I dropped a hard drive off at my mixing and mastering studio for my upcoming Michael Jackson Guitar CD. Time to mix & master…I start tomorrow!

The “engineer” is more than just an engineer. He’s the one and only Gene Paul – son of guitar and recording legend, Les Paul.

Gene played drums in Les Paul’s working band for years, and of course was privy to Les’ genius, since Les was his dad. Later on, Gene became a top notch enginieer…now he primarily does mastering.

I was only there for about an hour, but I took a gander at the gold records on the wall. Does “Kiling Me Softly” by Roberta Flack ring a bell? Well, he was the engineer on the session. I’ll try to remember the others and post an update here…

As we chatted, he asked what I had been up to since the last CD. I told him: touring, practicing and perfecting the show and arrangements as best I can, so that I can provide a great night of enjoyable music for an audience.

That’s all he needed to hear, and my music lesson started. (I wish I had recorded him….I’ll see if I can get him to do an interview.) I sat with ears and eyes like sponges for soaking up his masterful words.

He went on to tell me stories of how his dad – every night – either audio taped or video taped his show, and then listened, and analyzed. He said that Les particularly paid attention to timing, the interaction with the audience…seeing what worked and what didn’t. It was all about the show.

Watch Les in action, how he communicates to the audience through the eyes, the music…watch what he does at the end. What a showman! So much is said with this simple tune…

At one point he told me Les got a Django record (yes record…LP…played with a needle) and worked on a Django lick for days. Suddenly, on the gig Gene heard this lick fuse into his Dad’s playing and asked him about it. Les would say “It was Djangos, but now it’s mine…”

A week between gigs? No problem…Les would take other gigs, even if they just covered hotels (between good paying gigs) just to keep the band and stage show razor sharp.

The point being that well into a ripe old age, Les Paul never stopped learning, studying, practicing, analyzing.

This should serve as inspiration to us all! It never ends…and if you ever saw the youthful life in Les’s eyes (I got to play with him when he was well into his 90’s and did see it – watch that video if you haven’t) you’d know…that youthfulness was surely due to an inquisitive, active and intelligent mind!

Ok. Time to stop blogging and start picking…Happy Monday!

Musicians – Please Stop “Making It Big”

By Adam Rafferty 19 Comments

My buddy Jefferson Thomas got a hilarious text message from a singer the other day about a bass players availability for a gig. It read:

“Is he available for a gig, or is he trying to ‘make it'”.

We had a good laugh, and let’s not forget – all humor has some truth in it!

=-=-

A letter to all musicians.

We will always play music because we love it.

However in the process of us who are trying to “have a career”, “make it”, book gigs, make a living and all be the top dog, I urge everyone to take a time out.

We must realize that we are constantly being forcefed “celebrity” – America’s drug of choice (according to Chuck D of Public Enemy), and we are affected by it collectively. It’s easy to forget why we love playing music and turn the simplicity of a song into a house of mirrors.

Everything has become the web presence, the shows, the gigs, the tours, the photos, the twitter, the hits on youtube, to many of us.

It’s all very nice when these things support the music, but when it becomes more important than the music, which we have let it – all of life becomes tainted with the “never having enough”.

The sickness of the music community (and all of showbiz) wanting “something for nothing” is running rampant. Shows like American Idol and overnight internet sensations cloud worthwhile artists from public view – but worse…they spread an MTD (mentally transmitted disease) of “making it”.

Now audiences too can feel the addiction of “wow I can be a celebrity too”. When they see the average, mediocre talent that is on display it is in reach for them. A baby can sing “Hey Jude” and be a star.

It used to be that audiences appreciated seeing someone do something that they COULDN’T do.

Imagine if everyone stopped trying to “make it”.

Imagine if YOU stopped trying to “make it”. Might you not be happier? How much will actually change?

None of the people who are “making it” are fooling me. Their being flashed before my eyes is like a temporary newspaper headline.

I call on you, dear musician, to abandon “making it big”. Just do what you do, let the profundity speak for itself with its own quiet voice. Carry on and live from the heart.

=-=-=-

Why do I write this? To give value to the music community in some kind of way. To orient students and aspiring pros in a direction that will blossom.

In hindsight, the only thing that has ever done my “career” any good was being 100% into the music and feeling the natural joy that comes from that. Everything else has NOT worked…and believe me, I have tried!

🙂

Good Luck, and groove on!

Adam Rafferty LIVE: “Play It Back” – Guitar and Human Beat Box

By Adam Rafferty 5 Comments

Surviving the “Ouch!” of Criticism

By Adam Rafferty 2 Comments

I remember as a kid getting “conduct” grades at my little private school run by nuns. We actually got grades in:

Works well with others
Homework – Complete, Prompt, Neat Independent
Accepts Criticism Well
General Conduct

Good grief. Item # 3 on that list…I wonder how many of my teachers accepted criticism well! I still don’t always, but I try.

Jack Canfield in one of his talks describes the mistake in ignoring criticism.

He does a mock performance with his attendees explaining that his goal is over “there” (he points somewhere in the room) and then asks for their “constructive criticism” in getting there – to his goal.

Comically, he puts his fingers in his ears and walks away from the goal. Everyone in the audience shouts, but he keeps going further and further away because he refuses to listen to them.

Everyone gets a good laugh, and he illustrates the importance of listening to criticism very well.

Criticism is a “pinprick” type of pain. It hurts, but the sooner we are honest with ourselves (and if we trust our critique) we can take what we do to the next level. Part of this is getting over the ego identification with what we do. What we do is not who we are.

Know that it should and will hurt, and know that it is probably your ego. It’s not that you’re bad, or a failure – it’s just that nobody knows it all, not you , I or anyone – and outside guidance is good.

If we can get over the ego bruise and get on with the message contained in the critique and take action, that’s called growth, and I repeat, it is good.

Listening Deeply Can Transform Your World

By Adam Rafferty 9 Comments

Mike Longo, my teacher and mentor once told me something very important and perplexing after a big band rehearsal many years ago.

I played guitar in his 17 piece band for a while, and finding the “crack” in which to put a guitar “comp” chord or fill was challenging. The “chug chug” Freddie Green style comping on every beat totally was not what he wanted – and I already knew that.

So at this rehearsal, I played what seemed right and was very self satisfied at the time.

He says to me afterward “You weren’t listening”.

HUH? Did he just say that? I was with them the whole time! This had me scratching my head.

He then assured me that what he meant was extremely subtle, and that Dizzy Gillespie once told him the same thing after a gig.

Last night I did a duo gig here in New York with a friend – and it was really a relief to play a gig and let loose in the midst of all my uber focused recording activity on my Michael Jackson fingerstyle guitar project.

Same guitar, same amp…but I heard new detail and nuances in the sound that I had never heard on that gig, and naturally exercised ‘restraint’ in ways I had never done before. It was more musical, focused and relaxed. Even whispery quiet songs had people grooving in their seats.

Imagine a camera lens coming into focus – but on a sonic level.

It’s so common to think that to “improve” one needs to simply “practice” guitar with the hands and get bigger, faster, louder and stronger. Macho Man!!!

Once you (and I) listen deeply – very deeply – the guitar playing changes.

I need to carry thins listening over into all areas of my life. If there is as much joy and delicacy available to me in all of life as there was last night on the guitar, it’s me that needs to quiet down and listen. The world can stay as it is.

Something nice to think about on a ‘quiet’ January Sunday morning.