Saturday, April 11, 2015

Piano vs. Guitar

• Here's me playing "Over the Rainbow" this morning after a change of guitar strings:

https://soundcloud.com/guitarjazz/over-the-rainbow-acoustic

• My continued struggle of 'what instrument should I focus on and I don't have time for both' is going on.
• Our Church band played great tonight. I was early and alone for Mass rehearsal and I recorded this:

https://soundcloud.com/guitarjazz/april-come-she-will-cover

• Meanwhile........back at the guitar vs piano debate....  This business of choosing an instrument is not new to me in that I remember being in high school wondering if I should pursue trumpet vs. clarinet. Even younger than that, I took organ lessons from my uncle for a bit. I think I reached a conclusion. 

I spent some of this evening listening to old recordings of me on piano. I think those sounds are closer to what my spirit and soul want to express. And that's what music to me is about. The chord melody stuff played on guitar is nice, but I feel somewhat like I am "settlleing" for second place by doing that. Likewise, learning to improvise better on guitar would be ok, but again, the guitar sound to me is not the sound I'm looking for. I can always play guitar in the Rock and Roll band. I enjoy that a lot. Will not give it up. But I think my days in the Jazz band are numbered.
So here is the conclusion. It was a close battle, but the piano has won out. The sounds from piano ballads touch my soul more than most guitar stuff. The battle is over.  Piano has won, but a truce was made with the guitar. I will focus on the Sudnow Method again. The sounds that arise from that method are very close to what music means to me. The sound of my soul.


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