Music Teachers and the Internet and Bitter Irony

kevingcox

Hey Jazza, I wasn't meaning to call you out on anything but I seem to remember you posting about the importance of melody and variation in soloing. Sorry if I am expressing that poorly or if you feel misrepresented, and I'm certainly not saying i disagree with that viewpoint.

Jazzaferri

No worries @kevincox. I was grinning as I wrote. I don't mind at all being associated with the melodic school as a place to start from. I have never been a fan of prolonged facile displays of technique for the sake of it. In my experience audiences like some bravura tech displays but over an evening prefer Listening to music with emotional content. If ones music can stop the chatter in a bar and get most people really listening, then you know you're onto something.

It's healthy respectful discussions about our craft and our art that may help each of us clarify where we are, and hopefully open our minds and ears to differing points of view. Doesn't mean we should always agree, music would be a very boring idiom if we all thought and felt the same about it.

Lango-Django

<i>I very rarely see the advice to find the best local teacher available given on forums.</i>

Well, stick around, my friend, because that advice pops up here pretty regularly.

But I suspect a lot of guys here are much like me--- no good local teacher available in my neck of the woods, and no other players of this music to jam with and learn with.

We'd all like to be hanging out in Paris taking lessons from Sebastien or Adrien, but sadly that's not an option.

*****

That said, I have obtained musical resources here that have been invaluable in guiding me on my musical journey from "hopeless" to "pitiful" to "mediocre".

Michael H's "Gypsy Picking" was an IMMENSE help in getting started. And I think a lot of other guys here would tell you the same thing.

I personally got a lot of mileage out of the Daniel Givone method, but that experience is not as widely shared here.

Some swear by Gonzalo's books, others by Stephane Wrembel's, and there are many others, like my DiJ buddy Anthony Parker's new book...

...but you are right--- you've got to really own it or it all just stays up on the shelf as soon as you put the book away, as probably Gonzalo and Stephane would agree.