Law of Attraction

The Michael Jackson Fingerstyle Guitar Sessions – A Musical Mastermind Meeting

My buddy Paul Beaudry and I started doing 2 person “mastermind” sessions in 2007. Even though we are musicians, we realized that chatting in the car rides after gigs was not enough, and that we needed non-music time to sharpen our minds and lives.

“Mastermind” meetings have been done by the greatest businessmen of all time like Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie and other great leaders. They are described and recommended in many of today’s success books by authors like Jack Canfield and Brian Tracy.

The concept of a “Mastermind” meeting is that the group, collectively harnesses divine, cosmic intelligence to bear on a problem or issue and helps solve it.

Each member gets to take a turn presenting their problem and hearing about a possible solution. It’s more than a think tank though. Very special forces come into play when intelligent minds come together as one, in a cosmic focus, and are open to the power of the divine.

Advice can be personal, financial, psychological, informational – and in our case, musical.

This is very different from someone giving you a flip opinion about what you should do. Mastermind meetings take a spiritual aspect into account, and the minds present work as one and connect in ways we can’t comprehend intellectually. Egos have to step aside while the cosmic mind gets to speak through the group, which can be as small as 2.

Paul and I start each weekly meeting (yes, in the middle of Starbucks, usually) with a prayer, or incantation if you will. One of us says this out loud while we both hold our hands in prayer:

“We now ask to be filled and surrounded with light, and our hearts be open to receive guidance from the higher power.”

It’s from these meetings with Paul that all my DVD and CD ideas came into focus. I can remember coming into meetings with 10 ideas about what to accomplish next, and Paul might say “well the next order of business is the MJ CD.” Also – it is thanks to Paul that I went to a real recording studio to record this, and didn’t set up mics at home and do a hack, homemade job.

Even what appears to be mundane advice as shown above has a spiritual essence, just behind it. To leap into courageous actions brings up issues of one’s self worth, self esteem, vision of what life will be like, and goal setting.

A Musical Mastermind Mixing Session

Yesterday Paul came down to my 2nd mix session for my Michael Jackson Fingerstyle Guitar CD, so we had 4 people in the studio: Paul, Gene Paul (Les Paul’s son and mix / master genius) and his partner Jamie Polaski. Jamie has been appreniticng with Gene for years, and is just awesome with the ears and the tools. (Check them out at gandjaudio.com)

Paul and I stepped out for lunch, and I said to him “Wow this is a helluva mastermind session. 4 sets of ears and intelligent musical minds all bearing down on the problems and subtleties of this music. I’m lucky.”

We looked at eachother and laughed, because this was a textbook definition of the “Mastermind.” The group was harnessing the power of the cosmic mind, and revealing a “true” solution to each little song on this record. Every person brought a little piece of truth and intelligence to the sound.

I stepped back, and saw that this would be impossible to do as one person. Too much can slip past one guy or gal. I then gave thanks to God, realizing how lucky I was to be there and have these guys help make the next CD be the most excellent CD it can be.

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!

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.

Settle for Nothing But Excellence

By Adam Rafferty 12 Comments

It’s up to you if you, your life and music are excellent. Are you settling for mediocrity? Mediocrity is easy, but painful in the long term.

Allow me to share with you, dear reader – a current story in my quest for excellence.

As you may know – I am working hard on a Michael Jackson tribute fingerstyle guitar CD. At this phase I have 15 good tunes recorded, many of them are ones I have posted to Youtube.

As I sat and listened with my good buddy Paul Beaudry to my almost finished CD, he was just gushing for about 5 tunes, and then the feeling changed.

His face became more serious. My stomach sank. Most of us musicians feel that the music is an extension of us…if the music sucks, I suck. If it’s good – I’m good.

He and I started noticing a “sameness” to the grooves. Honestly I personally started feeling worn out by the lack of variation too. Surely I don’t want this to happen to my listeners!

The album needs to be a joy, a delight and a delicious experience for anyone who puts it on.

Here is the crucial point – it would be so easy to let things slide, to rush, to want it done, want it now. It takes serious self honesty to just say “it ain’t soup yet!”.

It takes patience too.

Essentially a bunch of great “guitar video singles” were not making a varied enough program to hang next to eachother on a “CD”. Back in the vinyl LP days a good album took you on a varied, interesting journey from one musical landscape to another. Led Zeppelin really was a leader in this.

Today most musicians don’t think albums…they think singles and mp3 downloads. Sorry – I want this CD to be in people’s players, playing all the way through.

Paul assured me that what was there was EXCELLENT – and he pulls no punches. He also advised me to go back and look at Michael’s Albums to see where pretty ballads are placed in between dance tracks.

The Moral of the Story:

This is a record that I want to be finished. However, accepting mediocrity is unnaceptable.

Standing firm only for excellence is permissable.

My gut says when it’s ready – not my head.

The price must be paid – in advance.

Out of tune guitar? Record it again.

Not enough groove on a tune? Record it again.

Listen closely.

Not enough “pretty ballads” and too much “hit you over the head 2 & 4 groove? Record more and re-asses.

Make a plan and get to work.

Make things right.

Allow artistic instinct to prevail.

Late last night I discovered this video from Seth Godin, and I love his message. It resonated with me completely. Enjoy:

[youtube=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBrRLI4ozag”]

Whazzup with the blog title “Guitar and Spirit?”

By Adam Rafferty 4 Comments

Greetings! I hope you had a wonderful Holiday and stay out of trouble on this upcoming New Years Eve!

As I sit here on a chilly, snowed in December morning I am considering creating a Podcast out of what my blog has been: a mish-mash of musical, philosophical and spiritual thoughts.

When I started my blog, my Dad warned me “stay away from the spiritual stuff, just stick to music”. However, I chose to go with my gut and mash it all together.

Why?

Oddly enough it was my Dad who gave me a copy of “Zen in the Art of Archery” when I was 15 and really struggling with classical guitar technique. He tried to show me that while it’s an outer game of guitar, archery or whatever – there is the inner game of the mind. Inner and outer are related in a mysterious non verbal way.

Later on, as I continued my music studies at college I had the wonderfully good fortune of apprenticing for years with pianist and composer Mike Longo who was Dizzy Gillespie’s pianist and musical director from 1964-71.

At a certain point in my studies, I had tackled most of the “quantifiable” work on harmony and theory. However, as I pressed Mike for more information about tone, touch groove his answers became more and more cryptic.

One day we played together and following our duet he said “You hear that ‘ring’ in your sound? That has a deep spiritual significance.”

My lessons really took on the vibe and feeling of studying with a magician more than a musician.

It didn’t take long before people started asking me questions as though I “knew” something. Teachers at college would ask me what I was practicing. From nowhere people started speaking to me as though ‘I knew’.

Mike Longo kept reminding me “what you are learning here is not common knowledge.”

Heavy! Even musicians whom I looked up simply talked to me like a peer. I’m more used to it now, but was very weird at the time.

I love teaching and explaining things. I vowed as a young person never to teach or preach hot air or bull, and I really felt sick when I had teachers who did “not know” but pretended that they “knew”.

If I can do it – that shows that I know it. If you can’t see me ‘do it’ then don’t believe me. Allow me to be transparent to your ears and eyes – and you decide what’s true for you. Take what you can use, leave the rest.

So to write a blog about learning guitar or music, I can’t leave out the personal development, the spiritual journey, the discipline, the trials, tribulation and the joys and ecstatic moments. It’s all part of the soup mix of music and life. I spend as much time on myself as a person as I do on myself as a guitarist. In actuality, there is no separation!

Sometimes you’ll get a post here about my choice of guitar strings or recording techniques; at other times you’ll get a post about the power of visualization or meditation. To play guitar well, or music well – for that matter, you need to develop yourself inside and out, from the head to the heart to the body and to the soul.

I wish I could have gotten the inner thoughts of my guitar heroes as I grew up. With the internet today, it’s possible to deliver my intimate thoughts to you – quickly and easily.

If your music is to ring of truth and touch people’s hearts, your whole being is involved. If you are to be successful, your whole being is involved. No outer “techniques” and cover or hide what’s inside. Another way to say this is “You can’t fool the Universe”.

Happy New Year, and be on the lookout for the “Guitar and Spirit” Podcast in early 2011.

– Adam