The Perils of Panaceas and Instant Gratification
That’s MBTI to you, Buster! Most people have their first exposure to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment either in a college psychology class, a life coaching session, work-related retreat / team building exercise. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the test, participants are given a (psychologically loaded) questionnaire that’s been specifically devised … Read more
Ends and Odds – Book Order Updates, AU LAB and more
Hey Everyone, I hope this finds you well! Just a few quick updates. Book Orders and Lessons Learned The page has been a little light on lessons (minus the 12-tone post) lately, but I’ve been busy juggling a few other things and getting the book orders out the door are amongst them. I had been … Read more
2012: How Not To Repeat The Mistakes Of The Past (Or Nothing Ever Got Done With An Excuse)
(This is a repost of something I wrote for the end of 2010. The dates and information have been updated, and I suspect this will be one of the few yearly repost traditions I indulge in.) . I had hoped to get a few more things done before the end of the year, but decided instead … Read more
A Holiday Thought That May Help The Whole Year
If web traffic is any indicator, I should be writing more about guitar shops in Vietnam, 8 string guitars (and pickups) and Philip Glass arpeggios which comprise the top 3 Google searches for my blog. (With absolutely no disrespect to Mr. Glass, I never would have dreamed that there are thousands of people in the … Read more
Don’t Be Afraid Of the Work
If you’ve already read my post on project management – some of this will fall into very familiar territory. Since I’m editing/serializing much of the modes book online – I’ve decided to try to get my GuitArchitect’s Guide to Chords and Modal Harmony book out the door as a pre-release this year rather than 2012. … Read more
Some Observations On Inertia And A Cool Online App For Getting Things Done
A routine can be a powerful thing in productivity. It helps instil a sense of inertia and, as I’ve talked about in posts like this, or this one , keeping the ball rolling is usually a lot easier than initially getting it to roll. The counter-intuitive reality behind doing things is that: . Activity leads … Read more
On “It is what it is”
I had a moment to catch up on some things this weekend, and returned a call from a friend of mine at CalArts. We had a very nice conversation catching up and discussing Higher Education funding, trends, pedagogy and the like and she was kind enough to tell me this: “You know, in a conversation … Read more
What’s wrong with playing “Flight of the Bumblebee” for a world speed record?
A lot actually, because if speed is the only tool at your disposal you’re not going to be a working craftsman (or craftswoman) for very long. Guitar-squid, (a cool user-generated content guitar site I really like and recommend you check out), recently posted a link to a you-tube clip of of John Taylor trying to … Read more
Inspiration vs. Intimidation
I’m in the process of posting a follow-up to the last pentatonic lesson but in the meantime, I thought I’d talk about perception and playing guitar. . I’ve gotten some emails from people who were kind enough to read to read my blog, and wanted to ask me what they should do if they’re not … Read more
