Musician, performer & teacher, Chris "Citrus" Sauthoff

Zen Guitar!

I am all the time comparing the guitar and music in general to the experiences that I have while practicing martial arts or photography or any other such endeavor.

I am finding that as in all things...the beginner's mind is a great thing to have.

When we start something for the first time, we have no idea of how to actually do it...well...we have some idea or we wouldn't even begin to try...but you know what I mean. We don't know how to hold the guitar, let alone what a BMaj7 chord is. Yet we can hack at the instrument and even if we just mess around with one string and slide our fingers up and down... the most basic concept, we can have some enjoyable experiences and quite a bit of fun. We can discover all sorts of things just randomly moving one finger up and down the neck!

As we start to learn the "rules" and all of the physical requirements and mental processes start to be actually THOUGHT about...we loose our beginner's mind...and our mind gets stuck in one place or another. A "sickness" in Zen thought.
We get stuck in the placing of the fingers in a certain chord...or in how the strumming pattern goes...then...into what sort of Bass Line should I add...Walk Ups? Scales? Arpeggios? Substitution Chords? Modes? Which Inversion of chord? And how to actually play each of those things come to mind.

The things that the mind can get stuck on while playing music are countless.

Thru a lot of focused movement and practice and thought...our hands start to move to the chords and scales and notes that we think about with much less effort...in fact sometimes it feels as if they are working on their own and the music is playing itself...that's the Big Moment...the Flash of enlightenment that we are all seeking...in some way or another.

Often this occurs (to me anyway) and I get mesmerized by the moment..

"I actually did/understood that?!"

BAM another Sickness...In Pfunk they always say.."oh..you're smelling yourself!"

It's a good feeling tho....then sometimes I find that it is hard to actually put the new concept or skill into my everyday playing...it takes more and more practice to get it to come out spontaneously.

I am at such a stage...some recent books and practice sessions have given me new insight into the music itself...but actually letting my fingers do what they do is a bit hard...my mind is stuck on the newness....

Zen Mind...Beginner's Mind... A great book! and a wonderful thing to strive for!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Mind,_Beginner's_Mind

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris "Citrus" Sauthoff on March 9, 2011 at 8:38am

I have a LOT of Guitar 1-A classes this session...

So this is on my mind quite a bit...how to get you to explore...yet how to get the proper form and technique into your bodies as well as a bit of theory into your minds....

Please work the KEY CHORD CHART in the 1-A pdf... the better you can switch between the chords...the faster we can play music!

The Dr. Banjo's Remedy is a GREAT way to learn how to play songs quickly!

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Permalink Reply by Chris "Citrus" Sauthoff on March 15, 2011 at 8:37am

Let the process of practicing excite you! IF you do all the work...the rewards will unfold for you....if you don't...it will be like looking out the window at the sunny day and not being able to go out and play.

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Permalink Reply by Chris "Citrus" Sauthoff on March 21, 2011 at 8:21am

wow.....so I practiced what I was preaching and Friday I practiced really hard on a few things that have been missing in my guitar playing.....I really didn't want to play the guitar at all that day is it was my only day off...but I did it anyway...

I ended up opening doors that had been locked on me for years! Things that were hard to even consider are now easy and suddenly all over the place in my actual playing!

I am so excited...the guitar is brand new again!

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Permalink Reply by Chris "Citrus" Sauthoff on August 29, 2011 at 2:08pm

Don't Ask, Practice......Some questions no one can answer but yourself. Practice properly and the answers will come to you in time. The only route to understanding the Way is through your own experience.
Seven Times down, eight times up. ...IF you slip in your training, get up. Even should you think defeatist thoughts__"I can't learn this, My hands aren't strong enough, I'll never be any good" never voice them aloud. Burn such thoughts from your mind before you make a single utterance.
The only opponent is within. ...What matters on the path of Zen Guitar is not the obstacles we face but how we respond to them. Master your reaction to the unforeseen and unfortunate circumstance, and you will master the WAY.

These are right out of a book called Zen Guitar....LOL... IT's awesome! Since I can't really practice Kendo right now. I have resolved to practice the Way of Guitar as much as possible!

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Permalink Reply by Chris "Citrus" Sauthoff on November 4, 2011 at 9:58am

Play something over and over and over and over.....until it becomes so smooth that you don't even realize that you are still playing it! Spend time focusing on each hand separately and then try to spread the focus to both hands at once!

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Permalink Reply by Chris "Citrus" Sauthoff on November 15, 2011 at 10:02am

Working on the Right Hand Technique Workshop over the last couple of weeks, as well as my intensive Classical Study that I am currently involved in have lead me to some GREAT EXPERIENCES of Zen...Samadhi...Nirvana....Bliss...Happiness........what have you...

By really working the right hand and leaving the left to do either nothing or just a few basic movements, I found that I was really able to get to a place where my fingers were moving and I was no longer really mindful of it. I started to look around, to talk, to think about unrelated things or related things.

My mind became un fettered by my fingers! It was free to move about at will, yet my hand continued it's work! It is a great feeling!

Of course they were only instances, and AS SOON AS I NOTICED THEM..they went away!

Work on your right hand...and see where it takes your mind.