Check Out My New Partner

Pribek wrote,

Thanks all of you guys. This is fun no matter how it ends up.

Ovidiu-I’m not really trying to be mysterious. When I started writing this blog, it was during a period of turmoil for me. When I was diagnosed with M.S., everything in my life changed. So, I made a conscious effort to leave my family out of it feeling that it was O.K. for me to talk publicly but, I wasn’t going to expose them.

For the record, I am married but separated. Two stepchildren and three grandchildren.

Link | June 28th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

Pribek wrote,

I’ve known Ryan since he was four years old. It wasn’t long after that, that certain family members were asking; “When are you going to start teaching Ryan the Guitar?”

I never mentioned it to him. He didn’t seem the least bit interested until he was 8, when he asked for a guitar for Christmas. I found a 3/4 scale Fender Squier, decent guitar, and a buddy of mine gave me an old, battered practice amp. Right away, after tearing the wrapping paper and taking the guitar out of the box, T started with, “you need to take care of this it isn’t a toy”. And, I pulled her aside and told her to let him treat it exactly like a toy, he wasn’t going to do irreparable damage etc.

After plugging it in and making some noise he put the guitar in the corner of his room and it sat untouched for a couple of years.

“When are you going to start giving Ryan lessons, that guitar is just going to waste.”

When he was about 10, I walked in the house one day and I heard guitar sounds, noises, joyful, out-of-tune, crashing, bashing, non-musical guitar noises coming from his room from behind the closed door. “He’s in, no turning back now”, I thought. This scene was repeated every few months and the guitar would go back in the corner.

Kids have a million recreational options and most offer instant gratification. But, the devices and diversions, a lot of them feature music so, they are exposed to it and it becomes part of their routines. They like music, their music.

One night, Ryan was maybe 11, I was in the living room, watching T.V. playing my Tele unplugged, Ryan asked me some guitar question. Like, what’s the best way to hold the pick? Or, why do you put you fingers so close to the frets? Something that had a little substance and, it was the first actual “lesson” but, very informal.

The noisemaking sessions became more frequent and, every once in a while he would ask for more tips. That’s the key, he was asking instead of me saying, “do this”. He would look for his own solution first.

Pretty soon, the noises started sounding sort of musical. He started learning a few riffs and looking up tabs, on the net, for songs he liked. Those tabs are pretty bad sometimes and there were times when he would ask what the guitarist was doing on a particular song. So, he got to see how I would go through the process of picking a part out by ear.

He was growing out of the Squier so, I gave him a Stratocaster that a friend had taken as repayment of a debt and given to me. It’s a good quality guitar. It gave Ryan more incentive right as he was making some progress.

Ryan was also starting to seek out music. He would hear a song in a movie or something, that caught his ear. “What was that?” “‘White Room’ by Cream.” I remember he was big into the “Wayne’s World” movie and he asked me how to play “Foxey Lady”, stuff like that.

At some point, he figured out that girls sometimes think guitarists are pretty cool.

He started to play in Church, playing with other musicians. The Church group would hand out charts and he would ask me how to play an A min.7 or something from time to time. He would practice these charts, at home, by himself and started getting deep into the sounds of the chords. One night he came into the living room and asked me how to play some pretty evolved chords like a Bflat6add9 and F9flat13. Somewhere, he heard a bitchin’ version of “Girl From Impanema” and he wanted possession of those chords.

He wanted a better amp so, he saved up his own money, from working at a Chinese restaurant, and bought a lower line Marshall. He had Marshall on the brain. He wanted his own acoustic guitar and it was around his birthday so, I took up to the music store and he tried out a slew of them and found one that sang for him.

One day, I walked in the house and heard “Little Martha” coming from the bedroom. I thought it was the record at first.

A couple of years back, Instead of retiring my old, road worn, sunburst Tele, I gave it to him and he seemed honored.

So, all along the way, he has had decent gear, proportionate to his level of ability. He has always been around music, heard me playing around the house and also exposed what T and I would listen to. He had had free reign to make noise, experiment, find out what came natural to him and what he digs. I find it remarkable that his interest and knowledge has evolved around chords and playing rhythm.
If you tell a kid, “you need to learn these chords and play rhythm”, pretty soon they will concentrate every effort on becoming the next Yngwie.

So PD, here’s the components of the non-method. Give a kid some good gear, let him bash away. Play music around the house. There should be music around the house anyway. At some pint the kid might want to refine the bashing, he will try to solve this on his own. When he can’t, he will let you know; he will ask. If you don’t have the answer, you know someone who does.

And, he will come to you when he needs someone to play a G chord. You can’t force the interactive stuff either.

Link | July 19th, 2008 at 10:37 am

Pribek wrote,

15! Wow Ron, when I hear stuff like that I know that it shouldn’t be such a surprise but it always is.
It seems like we discussed this sort of approach many moons ago.
To me, it has always seemed that one of the most rewarding things about learning is exploring. I just feel that in order to encourage somebody to explore, you have stay out of their way.

Link | July 21st, 2008 at 9:42 pm