The 12 Commandments of Julian Lage | Chasing Frets Podcast

[@premierguitar]

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[@TheCompleteGuitarist]

Excellent. Thank you for sharing. Very inspirational. He's talked about those 1 minute improvisations before.

[@jwallguitar]

Commandment 1: Be Julian Lage

[@JohnHorneGuitar]

Great episode!

[@Appalachian_trail_mix]

Where does one read these 12 commandments

[@tomazcm]

rt

[@pinnedcomment8614]

Today I learned that If a Lobster loses an eye, it will grow another one

[@Haku_records]

Where can you find these 12 questions?

[@michaelbage7018]

ARCANA VIII it’s expensive though

[@ormiecole]

Julian Lage: Twelve Observations About The Guitar 1. Know Where All the Notes Are on the Guitar a. Each day, pick one to two pitches. With a metronome set to a comfortable tempo, play each version of the note, in all octaves, all across the neck in no particular order. If you get to a note and fumble for any reason, slow the tempo down. b. Repeat until you make it through all 12 notes by the end of the week. If you finish early, go through all 12 notes again until you can do it without looking at the fretboard. 2. Guitar is Designed to Fall; So Are You a. With the guitar resting in your lap, place both forearms on the top of the guitar with the palms of your hands facing down (for right handed players: left forearm on the neck, and right forearm on the upper bout of the guitar.) Then gently move the guitar around on your lap, using your forearms. By not using the hands right away, we can circumvent some of the habitual gripping that comes about when we pick up a guitar. Do this movement for a few minutes, seeing how far it can slide off your lap before it is about to fall to the ground. b. Once this feels comfortable and your sense of balance is renewed and the boundaries expanded, graduate to using the hands as if you were to play and do the same exercise. c. Ask yourself if the two experiences differ. Eventually when you play, either standing or sitting, ask yourself: am I consciously or unconsciously expending energy to stop the guitar from moving or am I moving with the guitar? It is very important to remember that there is neither a right nor wrong answer, both have their merits. It is more a matter of bringing this relationship up to a conscious level. 3. Center Your Register we have the right and responsibility to find what feels like our home. Is it the 5th fret on the B string because that's what resonates with us? a. While playing a solo or melody, limit yourself to the low E string up to the B string. In a given chorus, only play one note on the high E. What kind of impact does it have? b. Play along with a recording of your favorite singers, male and female. Where does their range fall on the guitar? How does this differ from the guitar range you are used to? 4. You are worth listening to a. Record ten 1-minute compositions per day while looking at a timer. I his can be made easier if you have a recording device that also has a timer. As you play, try' to create architecture as the seconds pass: by the 30-second mark, you’re about halfway done so maybe that is where you play a bridge; at quarter of, you are starting to bring it in for a landing. When the timer goes off, you stop. b. After a minimum of one week, listen to them one after another in any order. c. While listening back, take notes of what trends you hear in your playing. i. Left Side: What stands out ? What do you love? What surprises you? ii. Right Side: What do you crave more of ? d. Do those things. 5. Once You Play a Note, It's Too LateI started to realize that being able to account for what I played after the fact is often of little use, because once you play a note, you can't do anything about it. The next decision doesn't necessarily make it disappear, no amount of wiggling or vibrato will gussy it up, no facial expression/grimace will convey what I meant to play. It is what it is. Good, bad, or indifference whatever I just played happened and 1 can either ignore it, analyze, work with it. The aftermath of each sonic event is important, if not essential to the forward motion of the music. 6. Two Things that Aren't Reserved for Advanced Guitarists: Counterpoint and Playing Solo Guitar a. Counterpoint: My encouragement is to play the older contrapuntal repertoire as much as you can to get used to the feeling of playing multiple voices. As this progresses begin to replace the written notes with your own and continue to make contrapuntal sounds happen. b. Solo Guitar: i. The guitar shares a great tradition of being a solo instrument ii. I encourage you to let it sound rough, raw, bad, great, etc. and record yourself and listen back. iii. It is my belief that we are in one way always solo, even when in the company of an ensemble, and also, paradoxically, not really ever alone, even when playing by ourselves. We have the room, the guitar, the music, the listener and our intention. It is a format that presents a lot of questions and hopefully offers a musical environment to experiment with the answers 7. Throw Away Your Tuner for a Month There are many instances where I am not totally in tune, but the upside is that I am starting to learn about the instrument and what it needs in order to be resonating at its fullest capacity. 8. Guitar and Piano Work Well TogetherIt started to become clear that avoiding each other or staying out of each other's register didn't matter as much as sharing the same sense of rhythm and movement within the music 9. Two Observations About Picking: Modulating Dynamics and Holding a Pick a. Dynamics: Using a plectrum, practice playing a note on any string on any fret, and compare what it feels and sounds like to: i. Make a loud sound with the intention of playing harder. ii. Make a loud sound by moving through the string quicker, iii. Make a quiet sound with the intention of playing softer, iv. Make a quiet sound by moving through the string slower. b. Holding a Pick: i. I've started to look at the pick and hands as "thermometers" for the rest of the body, indicating whats going on inside. If the hands seem tight and fidgety, perhaps there is some consternation internally about what I want to play. ii. I feel that technique describes how we organize around a given musical intention, rather than a constant through which we push our intention out into the world iii. People imagine that their bodies are disobedient and unreliable in carrying out their wishes, whereas nothing could be further from the truth." Our systems are carrying out exactly what we ask of them. When we don't like the result, it isn't necessarily because we are malfunctioning, but rather that what we are asking of ourselves is not entirely in our best interest. 10. Use What You Do Well as a Reference Point a. I began to use this as a reference point for learning and practicing any new music. Though I can't ever master something completely, I ask myself, i. "Can I play this particular passage without feeling like the whole thing will fall apart if I lose focus?" ii. "Can it feel as comfortable as an E major chord in open position?" If I can inch towards a place, no matter how slowly, I feel ok taking a break from practicing. I don't need to be wiped out for it to be a job well done 11. The Jaw is the Forgotten LimbWhen the jaw tightened, whether consciously or unconsciously, the hands and fingers along with the rest of the body are invited to follow suit and tighten as well. If you become aware of what you do or don't do in that region, you are moving towards having a choice about what you do with your jaw, and this can lead to greater ease of movement. a. Practice playing a musical passage of your choosing the way you would usually play it. b. Play the passage again while tightening your jaw. c. Play the same passage again without tightening your jaw. Is there a noticeable difference in the experience? Record and listen to the results to see the effects this has on the sound 12. Play with Records Though the musicians obviously can't hear me, I still have a very straightforward objective make it sound like I'm on the record with them. ○ It is one of the greatest ear training exercises. ○ Whether it is a piece that you know or not doesn t really matter. What matters is that you find a place for yourself within the music. ○ If you pick a recording you love, it is already perfect as is, and you really only have two outcomes to deal with: you can make it sound better or you can distract from it and make it sound worse. What this rules out is getting too comfortable floating on the periphery of the music. ○ It asks you to play something you believe in that also benefits the recording. ○ This is especially effective practice when practice time is limited. Suggested Practice a. Pick a recording that you love from any style. Play along with it. Record yourself playing along with the recording and listen back to see if you sound like you were part of the original recording. b. Play along with a recording that you respect but don't really know. For me, a great piece for this is The Rite of Spring or any Beethoven String Quartet. In both cases, these pieces display such mastery and clarity of architecture that you can trust they won't lead you astray while playing along with them Record yourself and listen back See if you begin to learn the music organically and without effort. Suggested Reading Music • Slonimsky, Nicholas. Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns • Toch, Ernest. The Shaping Forces in Music: An Inquiry into Harmony, Melody, Counterpoint, and Form Guitar Specific • Goodrick, Mick. Almanac of Guitar Voice Leading Vol. 1/2/3 • Goodrick, Mick. The Advancing Guitarist • Bertoncini, Gene. Approaching the Guitar Alexander Technique/Movement • Gorman, David. Looking at Ourselves • Gorman, David. The Body Moveable • Jones, Frank Pierce. Freedom to Change

[@Carnage2018]

I forgot to wait until the 8th day and to write down lol