Are we players here? Listeners? Guitar aficionados? Builders? Something else?
I’ve been playing guitar for about 25 years, jazz guitar for probably 20 of those, doing a mix of gigging and just jamming (not teaching per se myself but I’ve enjoyed working with teachers to organize jam sessions to create a fun environment for students to learn in). Lately I’ve been getting into woodworking as a hobby and I’ve been working on building a guitar for myself, too.
What’s your jazz guitar experience like?
Nice! I started out in a very similar place actually (working with a looper, trying to build interesting progressions to practice soloing over).
Do you record/post any of your stuff?
Yea I’m kinda just getting my stuff together. Had a pretty bad drug problem, so I’m kind of relearning how I want to approach music as a functional adult. I used to do a lot of home brew sample type stuff with guitar etc. I slimmed it down to more conventional set-up and have buckled down on my guitar playing. Just been slowly writing stuff as I practice my actual musicianship and figuring out my own style. I have one bare bones guitar bass drum thing recorded that’s just the progression. It was more of a test of my studied capabilities and me learning everything over.
here’s the soundcloud
So ya it’s a slow process. I have a bunch of stuff from when I was younger that I treated more as a vehicle for my poetry. Now I’ve got ideas slowly forming new songs and I’m just having fun and doing it for therapy yknow.
I’m following here to learn, as I’ve just recently started diving in to jazz. I’ve been playing for 16 yrs but alot of that was active addiction so I’m kind of a newborn musically. Been focusing for year and I’m starting to get it down and have 6 or so songs almost put together.
That track sounds good!
I feel ya re: life changes. The great thing about music, in my experience, is the way it can connect you to a community that can help you navigate the sort of transitions in life you’re talking about. I divorced an addict many years ago and really struggled to put my life back together after all of that, but I found a community in the local jazz scene that was supportive and healthy in a way I hadn’t experienced in a long time. Being around those people in that moment and having a reason to keep improving myself probably saved my life.
I hope your musical journey is a happy and healthy one, friend.