subject: What Are The Characteristics Of Top Class Guitarists - A Complicated Technique Or Good Fundamentals? [print this page] A martial arts approach for learning blues guitar! We have all heard the fable of the kung fu student who looked the best teacher to learn from, who was turned away constantly until finally being taken in, just to find that he was asked to repeat basically simple moves for many months. I once approached a karate master and was surprised to find him repeating a simple strike again and again. 'After 50 years,' he said, 'it's still isn't quite perfect!' There is a great truth in this story that can be applied to almost all we want to achieve in life, which includes acoustic guitar lessons. The two important lessons are these - spend a good amount of time finding the right teacher, and never think that you don't need to keep perfecting fundamental techniques.
The Chinese observe that a few years just looking for the right instructor is time well used. Which are the features to look for in the great blues guitar teacher? Foremost, he must be able to perform in an authentic style, which demands an understanding of blues guitar that goes far beyond the fundamental skills required to perform it. It's not really useful for a student guitarist if the teacher is trying to impress him with his skills - it should be apparent that he is technically able - he's the instructor! All the same, we should be attentive here. I have watched guitarists perform at the best skill level and been entirely bored after five minutes. Playing the blues isn't just a physical exercise, even though umpteen hours of insistent practice is necessaryto become adept. It doesn't matter how well someone performs if he doesn't have that impalpable 'something', that emotion or soul that makes the music speak to us.
This property of playing helps us believe in what we are hearing. The most complex and accomplished blues guitar tabs can't teach or explain this quality, as it emanates from the heart of a man. It's a property that is observable in the most simple techniques, and the power of some fundamental blues standards reinforces this fact. Lightnin' Hopkins could play a throbbing bass line which made your spine tingle, but musically it was the simplest thing imaginable. It was like a heart beat and it communicated directly to the soul. If it's that simple, then we can all do it - right? Wrong! This is a little bit of of a mystery, how two guitarists can play the same strings in the same rhythm and can deliver a totally different impression. One sound you believe, and the other you can't.
