Super cool discovery stuff - and also a lovely autodidact story!
Nothing powers knowledge discovery skill and idealism like that fundamental spirit level (irrational, but post, rather than non) love for a subject, which goes so far beyond words into not just action - but a whole cascade of interlinked quests.
And McLaughlin and Corea - yowza! what an energizing double whammy!
Also - love the way you didn't just find what suited you and then insist it must also suit others (like some rather tantrum prone bandleaders I have known) but kept working to make your technique and expressions, ever more useful to the actual "as found" musicians around you (most of us learn better by modelling and encouragement than by conforming to strict doctrine, anyhow).
A mark of someone truly dedicated to the pursuit itself and interested in the world, and not just seeking the embiggening of their own ego!
Also love your genre journey. I was raised on classical and folk (dad was a pro church organist at the age of 14) then rebelled into old jazz in my teens, when everyone around me was into commercial crap-rock. Only discovered high technique prog and fine songwriting classic rock many years later, thanks to a rock and roll pal who was improvising with my bebop mentor and I, and simultaneously deep studying bluegrass, as a whole new motherlode of guitar techniqe that his cover band gigging years never taught him.
I think some people think about musicians as being very much concentrated in the area for which they are known (same for writers, definitely). But in my experience, the most interesting creators are almost always those who are voracious and cultural polyglots, rather than the hyper specialized and obsessed (of course with some noteworthy exceptions - there really are some who do well in an attic!)
Cheers man - clueful and sincere - thank you for it!
And I still have many songs in old notebooks, with a strict number-indicated melody (With an accent for octave). Much regret never learning to read with any useful fluency, but it is funny how the mind will find a way (and I can still scan those melodies back into my head accurately, and the lyrics refresh the meter, instantly!)
Super cool discovery stuff - and also a lovely autodidact story!
Nothing powers knowledge discovery skill and idealism like that fundamental spirit level (irrational, but post, rather than non) love for a subject, which goes so far beyond words into not just action - but a whole cascade of interlinked quests.
And McLaughlin and Corea - yowza! what an energizing double whammy!
Also - love the way you didn't just find what suited you and then insist it must also suit others (like some rather tantrum prone bandleaders I have known) but kept working to make your technique and expressions, ever more useful to the actual "as found" musicians around you (most of us learn better by modelling and encouragement than by conforming to strict doctrine, anyhow).
A mark of someone truly dedicated to the pursuit itself and interested in the world, and not just seeking the embiggening of their own ego!
Also love your genre journey. I was raised on classical and folk (dad was a pro church organist at the age of 14) then rebelled into old jazz in my teens, when everyone around me was into commercial crap-rock. Only discovered high technique prog and fine songwriting classic rock many years later, thanks to a rock and roll pal who was improvising with my bebop mentor and I, and simultaneously deep studying bluegrass, as a whole new motherlode of guitar techniqe that his cover band gigging years never taught him.
I think some people think about musicians as being very much concentrated in the area for which they are known (same for writers, definitely). But in my experience, the most interesting creators are almost always those who are voracious and cultural polyglots, rather than the hyper specialized and obsessed (of course with some noteworthy exceptions - there really are some who do well in an attic!)
Cheers man - clueful and sincere - thank you for it!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And I still have many songs in old notebooks, with a strict number-indicated melody (With an accent for octave). Much regret never learning to read with any useful fluency, but it is funny how the mind will find a way (and I can still scan those melodies back into my head accurately, and the lyrics refresh the meter, instantly!)