After playing a certain way for 7 years to try and change your technique even only slightly is a real pain. I never realized how difficult it would be to change old habits. At times I feel like a beginner again, having to go back and play basic pieces just to get this wrist positioning and finger attack right. I know its worth it in the long run but for now its not the most enjoyable playing I have to do.
I did say I would upload the video of my duet at the guitar makers festival however it is taking me longer than I thought to the get the video footage and I’ve been told it will take 3 or so months to get the audio. I don’t know why, but I think i’ll wait anyway just so the quality is as good as I can get it. This means my next video will be an original, so i hope to get that up in a couple of weeks. It will be a little different to my last one. I’ll have an electric and classical guitar in it to change things up a bit so keep checking back for that one.
Like I’ve been studying in uni, in order to fully understand something, why it exists, or why it is the way it is; it is often necessary to go back to it’s origins. To understand urban development we go to Ancient Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia, Catal Huyuk etc. Lately I’ve been exploring the origins of the guitar which has brought me back to the Lute and Theobo. These instruments never really appealed to me until I started listening to Baroque music that I was playing on the guitar, on the Lute. Somehow the music comes alive in a completely more authentic way. Well a lot of Bach’s music for guitar was originally written for the Lute so it’s no wonder there is this feeling of authenticity. But I think there is just so much to learn from hearing the music being played on it’s original instrument. Context is everything, and as far I see it, there is no greater context than listening to the music in the original form it would have been played.
If I could get my hands on a cheap Lute in Australia I would, but it seems the cheapest you’ll get here is a custom made one, and don’t think I’m really in a position to pay $10,000 to just try something. If you know of any cheap lutes let me know. I’d be very interesting.
JL
