Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Jsome1

December 31st, 2009 – So here we are heading into 2010 and I know everyone is thinking about resolutions for the new year (not new decade, that’s in 2011). Of course, for procrastinators like me, annual resolutions never work. Something that does work is the David Allen’s GTD methodology. For those of you that can’t seem to get things done unless it’s absolutely urgent, I suggest you pick up a copy of “Getting Things Done”. I don’t use all of it, but it has certainly helped me out more than any other system.

Regardless of whether or not New Year’s resolutions work or not, I can’t help reflecting on the last year and thinking about what I should have done. These things that I regret not doing, are the things that I resolve to do this coming year. One of these things is to play more music. I’ve written music, I’ve written about music, but I just haven’t played it enough. Unlike producing music, which I enjoy very much but get super stressed out about, playing music allows me to live in that moment.

When I was in Japan a few months ago, I got the opportunity to sit in with a band, something I haven’t done in almost 10 years. It really refreshed my love of music. If you haven’t had a chance to play with a band lately, or ever, I strongly suggest you make an effort to sometime very soon. It’ll light your fire.

I’d really like to improve my guitar playing within this next year and get back into session playing. I’m a decent guitarist but I’ve never been a great guitarist, and I feel like I’ve been on the same plateau for the past 5 years. Yesterday, however, I stumbled across some videos by Anthony Stauffer of StevieSnacks, an online guitar lesson website. Anthony’s site sells very complete lessons, however he also provides free videos. If you’d like to play in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan, then there’s no better learning resource out there.

Among Anthony’s free videos, I found a series called “Playing with Soul”. It’s a 7 part series available free on his website and Youtube, and it brought together many of the ideas that I had floating around my head. When Anthony talks about playing your instrument like you’re building a sentence, it really resonated with me. No matter what instrument you play, you can take something from his lectures.

If you’re a musician, I strongly suggest you check out the series, which I have posted a link to, and embedded the first video, below. You may know it all already, but it never hurts to get a refresher. For Key of Grey, I plan to do more reviews, and try to secure interviews. Is there anything you, dear readers, would like to see covered here? What are some of the things you plan to do in 2010?

Playing with Soul