Music's Puzzles-vs-Instrumentals

Franklin · Posted 21 Dec 2018 11:45 am

Hope everyone is ready for an awesome Holiday Season....

I don't believe this topic has been discussed, so I will open the subject with a question and my earliest insight from Buddy.

Are playing tabbed instrumentals the best use of practice time?

As a kid I asked Buddy how he practiced to get so good? He thought and said "Oh..I just practice things, a bunch of little things"...I learned after moving to Nashville, Buddy was always a man of few words, so he usually cut to the chase....He confirmed what Casey Clark and the musicians who worked in Detroit with Buddy told me...They said, "Buddy would practice forever on just one thing at a time for hours"..Casey would laugh and say "Buddy never played songs until he was on stage"

In the interviews with Lloyd Green early this year...He shares his journey in those earliest recording years...He also talks about his focus and the vision he had for playing when he started learning the steel... If anyone hasn't seen these Lloyd interviews they should surely watch...A lot of learning insights...And a great Christmas gift to yourself!

https://paulfranklinmethod.com/conversation-with-lloyd-green-p1/

https://paulfranklinmethod.com/conversation-with-lloyd-green-pt-2of2/

https://paulfranklinmethod.com/a-conversation-with-lloyd-green-pt-3/

Happy Holidays!
Paul Franklin

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

I watched this a couple months ago Paul. But it's certainly worth another watching. That's a great look into Buddy's practice habits. I remember doing the same thing as a kid and beyond with 6-string. My family was always saying "why don't you play a song". I think they figured it out after I started playing in bands - although I did learn a couple old songs to play and sing to keep them quiet haha.

Eddy Dunlap · From: Nashville, Tn

Invaluable content, Mr. Franklin! Happy Holidays to you and your family.

Franklin · Posted 21 Dec 2018 4:43 pm

Thanks Eddy and Bobby
Merry Christmas!

Kevin Fix · From: Michigan, USA

Seen those videos also a few month ago. Well worth it. I agree with practicing pieces or licks instead of playing whole songs. Works for me. Have a Blessed Christmas and a Blessed New Year....

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

To me, playing something in different ways is the highlight of playing music. It's the process of using imagination and creativity instead of rote playing, and mindlessly regurgitating what someone else has done. Until you can throw away all your tab, until you can come up with stuff of your own, you haven't really learned anything.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

I don't "learn" a song with tab. If I learn it with tab I can only play it with tab. I do learn licks or parts of songs and then take that and make my own version or arrangement.

I read a story about Buddy when he was with Ernest Tubb. He would sit in the bus with a small suitcase on his lap, put match sticks out as fret markers and learn licks playing "air steel". When they got to their destination, he would set up his equipment and play the lick perfectly.

If only if I would have applied myself more during the learning stage. I did spend a year in Nashville (working at a music store) talking to steel pickers and learning to think in licks (and playing the lick the right way) helped me immensely. Hank Corwin is one that helped me a lot during that time. Hank may not be associated with that end of steel guitar but he was Julliard Conservatory trained.
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Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

Thanks so much Paul. I listened to them again yesterday morning, which kind of inspired me to just magically figure out Lloyd's solo from Too Much Water, which further led to my tinkering around with all the C6 sounding voicings that can be found on the lower strings (6-10) - a part of the guitar I'd not really messed with a lot. I also discovered where Jimmy Day got his rich chord voicings from down there.

As far as tab goes, I get a lot more out of charts - they help if I'm having a hard time hearing a chord progression. I find a much better use of my limited time, to be learning what all of the pedals, knee levers and bar placements do, and attaching that knowledge to my feet, hands and brain. - then I can hear how something is being done, as opposed to reading how it's done, and then having to transfer it to my playing.

Tim Herman · From: Alberta, Canada

Thanks for all this Paul. I have been applying your mindsets to my steel and my guitar playing. I have always been a chords first kinda thinker, although sometimes the guitar player in me wants to get scale-y sometimes. I have had the good fortune to play more steel than ever this year, and the method has really made a big difference. Now, just to find more practice time. Thanks again, and Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Over the years I have accumulated piles of tablature yet I don't think I ever 'learned a song' from any of it. I found that a tedious and unrewarding process. It's rather like musical GPS, and it felt like playing with my mind switched off.

I have found bits of it useful, however, when approaching C6th (which I ventured into years after beginning on E9) as I've found short cuts to inversions that, given my comparative unfamiliarity with the back neck, might have taken me much longer to discover.

I enjoyed an illuminating moment with Buddy at a sound-check in London in the '80s. He was just tuning and generally noodling around (that was worth the price of admission right there!) when he turned to me and said: 'Look what I've found - if I move this whole pattern over one string, I can get the same thing over here!' I'm paraphrasing, but it struck me then that here was arguably the best player ever and he'd discovered something that had been 'under his fingers' all the time. To my eternal shame I can't remember the specifics (being on the same stage was a bit overwhelming for me) except that it was on strings 10-7 and involved a knee-lever or two but it was a priceless moment and a glimpse of a master musician on an eternal quest.

Thank you for those links, Paul - I watched them first time around but I'm delighted to revisit them. Your selfless input here on the Forum is appreciated by all of us, I'm sure.

Happy Christmas!
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Bob Russell · From: Virginia, USA

When I taught jazz guitar at a university, I always warned my students against over-relying on transcription, which some people seem to view as almost a panacea. Used properly as a means for trying to understand what you like about someone's playing, why you like it and why it works, it can be valuable. But too many people view it as a "being a good student" activity; they spend most of their time transcribing instead of playing. They tend to just learn a bunch of someone else's licks and rattle them off without bringing something of their own to the table.
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Jim Palenscar · From: Oceanside, Calif, USA

There are a ton of great anecdotes about Buddy and his practicing but one in particular was told to me by Jeff Newman. It seems that at one convention Buddy's room was adjacent to Jeff's at the hotel and Jeff said that Buddy was practicing hitting one note- ALL NIGHT- to get it to sound just right. Jeff said it drove him absolutely nuts.

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

It sure did Donny - and led to a few more doors opening up, which also felt pretty good..

J Fletcher · From: London,Ont,Canada

Thanks very much for doing these . Informal , relaxed , informative and friendly conversations between two of the greatest .

Tony Dingus · From: Kingsport, Tennessee, USA

I enjoy the Lloyd Green interviews. Very interesting and some good stuff to learn too as the Podcast of yourself. Love your playing and the online school.

Merry Christmas Paul and your family.

Tony

P.S. I love the stories of your dad's building ideals too. I could listen all day to them.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

I believe , like many things in life, if we are able to just PLAY a song without tab because we can feel or hear the changes mentally , then TAB would most likely be a distraction . If we can't negotiate around the fret board and hear the phrases, then TAB is our home run !

But certainly playing the same things over and over again is the key factor. Kinda like the 10,000 hour rule. I'm not a TAB learner but I may view a written piece to learn where a particular phrase may sit on the fret board.

But on the other hand I do write TAB for those who may be starting out and are looking to gain some knowledge from it.

I don't profess to be anything more than what I am, but I do as Paul mentions above, and as Buddy was well known for. I play pieces or parts of songs over and over again until I can get it close and place it in auto pilot or maybe come to the conclusion that some things are not meant for me !

I'm pretty good at carpentry but don't ask me to build you a house! Very Happy

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Dave Ristrim · From: Whites Creek, TN

Paul, thank you so much for conducting these interviews and making them available to us. Wow, what a treasure trove of history and knowledge. I am now discovering new things I've never thought possible by concentrating on my left hand. The more I learn, the less I feel I know.

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