Embracing the Paradox - How to Play Without Trying

Excerpts from the last chapter in the current draft of a book I’m working on

THE GOLDEN RULE

Follow this or nothing else helps: Do not try to fix anything while you're playing. Just don't. No planning to "get it right next time around" and no spending time worrying about something that just happened. That goes for things you think you did well. Notice them and move on.

"Just made that mistake again" -- move on. "Wow, we're really grooving" -- move on.

This is key and without this mindset being fundamental in your brain then you won't get the most out of the tips below.

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MENTAL STATE -- How to Think While Playing

• DON'T PREOCCUPY YOUR MIND WITH THOUGHTS OF YOUR HANDS OR THE MECHANICAL ASPECTS OF PLAYING; JUST HEAR IT IN YOUR HEAD AND FEEL IT.

    The clearer the sound is in your head and the more you feel it, the closer you will get to that sound.

• LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE ENSEMBLE TO MATCH THEIR GROOVE.

    This is a lot like driving a car down the road on the interstate. There's a white line that separates the two lanes on most interstates. You notice it when you're driving. But you also don't notice it at all. Recall a time when you were driving and they were paving and it went away. It's not comfortable. But more importantly, it proves you were completely aware of that white line though you totally ignored it.

    → Full awareness and no awareness at the same time.

• USE DYNAMICS.

    When you are immersed in the song, your hands will naturally recognize that you're too soft or too loud because you will hear yourself as a record that is being played.

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PRACTICE METHOD -- Building the Foundation

• PRACTICE PRIMARILY FUNDAMENTALS INSTEAD OF SONGS. YOU CANNOT LEARN TO WRITE A BOOK BEFORE YOU LEARN THE ALPHABET.

    I have about ten songs that I play pretty much all the time. I don't really learn new songs unless I'm in the studio and I don't chase licks. What I do is keep working on those songs. To my family, it sounds really boring. I mean how many times do they want to hear me playing "What Am I Living For" with Ray?

    Well, I do it anyway because that song has long since passed into the realm of muscle memory, it's dead simple, it's in 6/8 time, and it's full of places where things just happen if you get out of the way.

    You can find a song that fits every style or chord position you're likely to find. About 10--20 songs maximum should do it for most patterns (and that's really a lot of different options!).

• DON'T STOP PRACTICING SOMETHING UNTIL YOU CAN HEAR IT IN YOUR HEAD AND PLAY IT WITHOUT CONSCIOUS EFFORT.

• IF YOU CAN'T PLAY SOMETHING YOU KNOW VERY WELL, WHY ARE YOU LEARNING NEW THINGS?

    This goes along with what was said earlier about forming a core set of songs and sticking with those. Fundamentals cannot be overstated. They are what make music work. Refuse them at your own peril.

    If you're gonna play rhythm guitar then don't learn a single run until you have non-intentional mastery over the basic pattern of every time signature you're commonly using the shape in.

• FIND THE BIGGEST GAPING PROBLEM IN YOUR PLAYING, AND THEN FIX THAT.

    This is, to me, the most practical way to practice. Record yourself or have someone you know can hear well listen to you play and find whatever it is that's the biggest problem.

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TECHNICAL FOUNDATION -- The Mechanics

• DO NOT CONSIDER INSTRUMENTAL TONE BEFORE YOU CONSIDER TIMING AND TUNING.

    To start with, it's my opinion that since strings are vibrating in a frequency then those frequencies need to be aligned or your notes are already out of time. In other words, the only thing you actually have control over is the tuning. It's the first chance you get to actually put your instrument "in time." That does matter to both the instrument and your timing.

    You can't play with great timing if your instrument is vibrating out of time. And, worth mentioning, instruments learn. A stable guitar will literally learn to stay in tune if you keep it in tune. So I recommend always being in tune.

• USE A METRONOME OR SOME OTHER SORT OF TIMEKEEPING DEVICE.

    Recommended tools: DrumBeats+ app for Mac or an old Franz from the 70s. The DrumBeats+ is more inspiring because there's an array of various beats and drills. The Franz is great for stripping back all the added support and making sure your fundamental timing is intact. Pro tip for the Franz (stolen from Matt Combs) -- make the click the off beat instead of the on beat.

• GROOVE WITH THE METRONOME INSTEAD OF JUST PLAYING WITH IT.

    This might sound obvious but it's not. Lots of musicians do what I call "bumper car-ing." What I mean by that is they can play with a metronome, sort of, but you can hear them hitting the sides and then adjusting.

    When you truly lock in with a time source then there's no effort. There's no pull forward or backward. The timing vanishes and you're in pure feeling. It's all effortless.

• IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE IN TIME WITH A METRONOME, BUT NOT GROOVY.

    This goes right along with what was just stated. You can easily find yourself playing along with the metronome and not really with it. Avoid this and slow down whatever you're playing if you encounter it. Noticing it is the key to defeating it.

• YOU CAN BE DRAGGY WHILE STILL BEING IN TIME.

    This is an interesting phenomenon that happens when you play by feeling. I like to describe this as taking the way you play with a metronome and pulling it off of the metronome, as if it were a ribbon waving across the timing spectrum. Now you take this same pattern and lay it on top of whatever timing source you're focusing on.

    Unless they're really messing up the timing, it's nearly impossible to perceive timing problems if the entire band is playing together this way. And it's not inherently bad. If you don't want to have dragging in your record then be aware of it and work around it with your band. But don't fear it if you're truly playing together without effort.

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PLAYING WITH OTHERS -- Application

• LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE ENSEMBLE AT ONCE. IT'S LIKE HEARING THE WHOLE THING BREATHE.

    Awareness of everyone doing everything, but nothing sticks past the moment and none of it matters in any given moment.

    When something goes wrong, back off. No rhythm, just bass notes until they find their footing again. Then come back in underneath. If done correctly, they don't realize the support is happening.

    → Support without being spotted.

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THE PARADOX -- What It All Means

The goal is to not have a goal other than to pay allegiance to the music and to be ruthless in your pursuit of the music. The music is there and wants to be played correctly; it's just waiting for you to play it correctly. You need to get out of the way and accept it fully for it to happen.

However, this is selfish. Even people who meditate are selfish in that they initially do it because they want a benefit, and part of the benefit can be a placebo of some sort. The whole idea is paradoxical.

The moment you admit that you want something out of it, you can start to accept it and let it go. Hiding it is probably not helpful. If you're not after some sort of personal benefit, you may be lying. It is best to admit it and just go on.

All "good" effects such as helping another person realize what they're about to do are incidental and symptomatic of the larger idea of acceptance. The fact that someone benefited from your actions was likely not the reason you acted in the first place. The fact that you feel some happiness from the result is incidental and transitory. It probably has little to do with why you chose to musically behave in a certain way.

The goal is to maximize the potential of the band for the benefit of the music. Any joy that others may have experienced was incidental. But the joyfulness from doing this is not incidental; it is the motivation that allows this process to continue. The joy comes from knowing there will be a positive impact on someone's playing, and it will feel better to make others feel better and for the music to be tighter.

    → The paradox: while the good effects had nothing to do with the motivation, they had everything to do with it. Supporting others serves the music, which serves the self. It's selfish and selfless at once.

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