Yes sir or/and ma’am! There’s definitively a podcast that was going on with the posts. I set it aside for a while while I was looking for a house (we moved in February), and took some time to really review what went so horribly wrong with it. The dissection of all the gory details can be found in the podcast, but the short story is that I made a series of assumptions that didn’t work out they way I thought they might and learned some good things for the next go-round!
I reference a martial arts post in the podcast, that I’m fond of (despite the knee jerk inducing title). That post can be read here.
Overall, I feel like I may have helped some people by going over all the things I did wrong – but hopefully I’ll be able to help a lot more people in the future.
That’s it for now!
As always, I hope this helps you with your own goals – or at least keeps you amused until the next time!
See you soon and thanks again for listening/reading!
Much of this section of the book came from experiences that I had in, first, getting my Melodic Patterns book written and then, secondly, getting the book in a month project off of the ground.
I’m using that book as a case study, but I believe that the steps behind it help form a reasonable approach to working on any large project that’s unfamiliar (or largely unfamiliar) to you.
The steps to follow:
I made a reference to various pieces of advice. The overall categories of this are:
Build off of past experiences (or go with what you know)
Whenever possible start with the heavy lifting
Beware of the rope swing
Be realistic about what you can do
Break up overwhelming things into small chunks
Contortion doesn’t hurt if you’re limber
Projects have a tendency to run wild on their own – so plan on constantly monitoring their growth
Be prepared to go a lot of it on your own
Be ready to make a lot of mistakes
Be ready to improvise because you can’t plan for everything
Have a deadline and/or know when you’re done
You really can’t do it alone
Here are a few specifics related to the above:
Beware of the rope swing The advice I gave for this was a little too vague so here’s a qualifier. It’s all about balance. If you jump into something with no research, knowledge or plan, it will generally go badly. If you put too much energy into research, you may face paralysis in actually acting.
Deadlines I’d write more about this but I’ve already written on it here.
That’s it for now!
As always, I hope this helps you with your own goals.
See you soon and thanks again for listening/reading!
The Podcast and the liberal use of the term “Excerpt”
Part of working in a format like this is being able to review things that you wrote a while ago and seeing how they shake out in a conversational manner. That means that when I’m reading the book I’m editing the text in my head to prevent really awkward (or wrong things from being said. It also makes for some stilted moments, but the good news it that it tightens up both the podcast and the book in the process.
I’ll talk more about why I do this in the future but (editing this down from a lumbering 23 minutes) I’m hoping to convince you that there is a method to my madness (or vice-versa).
The steps to follow:
Just to recap, these are the steps I reference in the podcast (I skipped a few of them on the audio!!!) Good thing it’s an edit!
How to manage a project in a few broad strokes
Have a clear vision of what you want to do (set quantifiable goals).
Align perception with reality and create priorities (in other words make an honest assessment of what needs to happen to reach those goals)
Set deadlines and benchmarks.
Be accountable.
Do daily focused work on those goals and limit distractions and obstacles in the way of achieving them.
Make periodic reviews to check your project’s status against the benchmarks and timeline.
Utilize available resources when possible/necessary.
Come prepared:
I should have taken a page from the Boy Scouts this time around and been better prepared for a podcast. Then, perhaps, I would have had something novel like water handy and not had either a coughing fit (edited out) or the scrath voice that comes in mid-way to the podcast before I started coughing.
Related material:
Most of the observations on this site, will work in directly with the podcast posted here. But the two links I cited specifically were:
I’ve posted a few times about one of the new books that I’m working on, Pentatonic Extractions, and I’m really psyched about how its coming together so far. It’s going to cover a lot of material in an easy and accessible way and make a great addition to the series.
But you’ll get to see what I’m talking about yourself as the good people at Guitar-Muse.com have been kind enough to allow me to adapt some material from Pentatonic Extractions for a lesson on the site. There’s theory, audio and tab for some ideas that will probably get you shooed of the next open blues jam – but I really dig ’em and I hope you will too! You can check that out here.
More on that Muse of Guitar
All of the audio examples were recorded with the JamUp Pro app by Positive Grid which is just an incredibly useful app. I’ll have a full review for that coming up for Guitar-Muse, along with some other reviews, player profiles and interviews.
And For those of you who wish to guit a grip….
Guit-a-grip is going to be serializing chapters from my book, Nothing Ever Got Done With An Excuse, which chronicles the processes and observations I used to release the first four books of the GuitArchitecture series in 5 months. If you want to get a hold on a project (or a late new-years resolution), this series will definitely help motivate you and keep you on track. Look for a new podcast this week.
Yep! I have a few new books that I’m working on, and the non-guitar instructional book, Nothing Ever Got Done With An Excuse (Or a case study in how to plan projects and get things done). is all about several large scale projects that I got done (such as releasing 4 books of 1,200 + pages of writing in 5 months of 2011/2012).
You’re Podcasting this?
Yep! A large component of the book is accountability so there are several advantages to podcasting the bulk of the book.
It builds an audience for the book.
It gives me a framework (and deadlines) for editing the material.
Like I said in the podcast (re: pedagogy for pay and the flamenco dance teaching model) even if the ENTIRE book was put up online, there are people that will still want a book of the material.
Episode #12
Guit-A-Grip podcast episode #12 “Nothing Ever Got Done With An Excuse Introduction And Overview Excerpt” is out and available for download/streaming.
The writing book I reference in the podcast is Chris Baty’s, No Plot? No Problem! A low-stress, high-velocity guide to writing a novel in 30 days. There are a bajillion Kindle titles for outputting an ebook quickly, but Chris’ book is the granddaddy of them in my humble opinion.
The Harvard Study:
The study I cited in the podcast was from a source that quoted, What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School, by Mark McCormack. Funny story, this site contends that the data is largely fabricated and based on a non-existant 1953 Yale study! (It then goes on to cite another study that came to the same conclusion). So take that for what it’s worth because if the original study anecdote WAS fabricated – I can’t even fathom the number of people who must have cited the McCormack reference of it (or a reference to the reference) by now.
“There are only 12 notes and they take forever to learn.”
This is just a reminder. If the new habits you’re trying to acquire are outside your comfort zone, you’ll need to review your game plan often.
The Steps to follow:
WOW! It turns out that I was reading from an earlier draft of the book and missed a few steps! Here’s a case where it pays to check out the website as well as the podcast. ; ) I changed the below from first person to passive to make it more applicable to the reader.
How to manage a project in a few broad strokes
Have a clear vision of what you want to do (set quantifiable goals).
Align perception with reality and create priorities (in other words make an honest assessment of what needs to happen to reach those goals)
Set deadlines and benchmarks.
Be accountable.
Do daily focused work on those goals and limit distractions and obstacles in the way of achieving them.
Make periodic reviews to check your project’s status against the benchmarks and timeline.
Utilize available resources when possible/necessary.
That’s it for now!
See you soon and thanks again for listening/reading!
So I took some time off from podcasting to evaluate the podcasts and re-assess. The original idea of the podcasts was to bring people outside of what I normally do into my work, but it appears to just siphon traffic from guitarchitecture.org.
I’m re-thinking the purpose of the site with that in mind, and I’ve committed to podcasting here at least until the end of the year while I refine the focus of the podcasts and see what happens.
In the meantime…
Episode #11
Guit-A-Grip podcast episode #11 “Deeper and Deeper” is out and available for download/streaming.
This is a short podcast, so I’ll just fill in a few points.
Deeper and Deeper:
This was the name of a track of a band called The FIXX that was hugely influential on me. When I got their Reach The Beach album, I played it so many times that the vinyl grew thin. While I was listening to it, I was listening deeply to how the guitar parts would drive some tunes and just lay back and sit in the pocket on other tunes. Jamie West-Oram, their guitarist, would become a really big influence on me as he made me realize the concept of playing a supporting role in a band. Knowing where where slide, keyboard line and vocal inflection was on the record came from deep listening and changed how I viewed my own roles in playing with other people.
I’ll talk about this more in a future podcast, but when people smile that nonsensical smug guru smile and say things like, “the answer lies within” it tells me that they only understand part of the equation.
Ultimately, only you can provide your own answers, but you’re never going to come up with intelligent answers if you’ve never investigated anyone else’s solutions but your own. People left to their own devices with no external input of any kind typically don’t become Buddha, they become dull and dim-witted and develop “facts” based on little more than observation. Babies don’t come out of the womb fully formed. They have to be exposed to language (i.e. copy language) to master it and ultimately come up with their own original ideas.
Going deep into something and loosing yourself into it, can be a way to go deeper into yourself if you learn lessons from the process or gain insights from what’s happening.
Repetition:
“There are only 12 notes and they take forever to learn.”
I think that a good philosophy has to have simple truths at it’s core in order to be actionable (and thus be a philosophy). My guitar system, GuitArchitecture, is based on a handful of modular approaches that can be adapted to a variety of formats. My philosophy is the same. It’s based on a handful of ideas that I’ll repeat here over and over.
And I do that because some of them will take forever to learn.
In this process, I’m always falling back into old habits – the difference is that I can now usually identify what’s happening and I just don’t stay in those places for as long as I used to.
Music is about the destination and the process. I wrote this blog, and podcast and teach because I’ve been fortunate enough to make a vast number of mistakes (large and small) and hopefully I can help other people not make the same mistakes I did.
More Next Time:
As always, thanks for visiting, reading and listening. I hope you get something out of the podcast, and if you like the series please drop a line sometime.
See you soon and thanks again!
-SC
PS – Here are some Fixx tracks to get you through the day!
This has been an on-going battle but (fingers crossed) I think this is finally all set.
It looks like the links and streaming is reset on the individual pages on this site, but if you’re subscribed to the podcast you may have to unsubscribe and re-subscribe to the podcast to get the episodes that got jacked up in the synch (Episode #3, #4, #5 and the latest #9).
Again, my apologies!!! I’m a real luddite on some things I guess!
If you’re unsure how to reset this in iTunes – in my iTunes, I went to Podcasts Selected Get-A-Grip. Unsubscribed and then hit the subscribe button, and the episodes all came up with the right episodes and times.
(Also FYI – you may have noticed a page on the top bar that says PODCASTS and they’re all there for download and streaming! Hopefully it’s all set now.)
Episode #10?
The ten episode milestone is now in the rear view mirror! Guit-A-Grip podcast episode #10 “On ‘You’re welcome”‘ is out and available for download/streaming.
Generally, I listen back to the podcast and make copious notes about what I thought was clear at the time that turns out to be pretty murky. I only have a few points I feel compelled to address this time.
I don’t have all the answers.
Well…Duh Scott ; )
No one has all the answers, and I’m more than suspicious of anyone who does. I’ve just been fortunate in that I’ve made a near infinite number of mistakes – some of which I’ve actually learned from – all of which have given me a perspective that’s been useful to me. Hopefully my answers will help you solve some of your own questions, (you may want to check out my – Don’t buy the app – Be The App podcast for more on this idea).
For me, the main thing to remember is that lessons only have value in their application (as does philosophy hence my mini rant mid podcast).
That Martial Arts story:
That’s a post I did called Finding The Deeper Lesson. If you haven’t read it yet, you might dig the article!
I don’t believe in evil:
That’s not entirely true, but I didn’t articulate it well. I believe that people do evil things to each other quite often, but they don’t see it as evil, they see it as being the right thing to do (or the self serving thing to do) with no care for how it affects other people. People in caves (or anywhere else for that matter) are not trying to advance an agenda they think is evil (Like Dr. Evil in an evil lair) – they’re doing what they think is right for themselves or their cause.
Much of evil, then, lies in action maybe even in some cases more so than intent….more on that later.
There’s more
There’s always more, but it feels like I actually touched on a lot of things in the podcast I intended to, so I don’t feel compelled to write a lot about it here.
As always, thanks for visiting, reading and listening. I hope you get something out of the podcast, and if you like the series please drop a line sometime.
After a little blogging run, I’m back to podcasting. I’m experimenting with the format for what works best for people, so the fate of the podcasts are TBD but in the meantime, Guit-A-Grip podcast episode #9 is out and available for download/streaming.
Uh…my death row meal? Depends on where I was…probably a bahn mi, but really good pizza, mashed potatoes, burrito, veggie burger or mac and cheese would be on the list as well. Iced coffee would be there.
The show format
The fluff above not withstanding, I think it’s really important that anything I post here is succinct enough to be inspirational and actionable. So I’m shooting for more of 10-20 minute posts that have a central idea to ponder and then move from there. But I’m really interested in how these things benefit you. As always, If you like the podcast please let me know. If you really like it -and listen to it on iTunes – leaving a rating there would be really appreciated!
I thought this was fixed, but apparently some component of the lib syn/feedburner/iTunes trinity is broken and despite re-uploading some of the files the links for Episode #4 and Episode #5 are pulling up podcast #2 in iTunes.
I have NO idea for why that is happening but I’ve included streaming and download links here for all of the current episodes. These load right up in my podcasts so hopefully they’ll do the same for you!
I’ve moved all the podcasts to one central place, the PODCAST tab on the top of the page.
.
Again, my apologies for the inconvenience everyone! More content coming soon!
Guit-A-Grip podcast episode #8 is now out and available for download/streaming. I’ve changed the order up a little bit and you’ll find the stream and links below.
The Guit-A-Grip Podcast Process
This podcast format (instead of just blogging) largely came about because discussions with friends of mine in any kind of creative field would result in my going off on some tangent covering the intersection of music business and personal motivation which sometimes people got something from. I’ve tried to keep some of that flavor here (minus the manic expressions and cursing). So when I go to do a show – I’ll have some talking points and then improvise around the notes and try to hit a few marks.
While this may work in a conversation, it’s a mixed bag for audio recording.
The plus side of this process is that you come to realizations about things that you weren’t planning on. While I had been conceptualizing the area around the actionable differences between an answer and a solution – I never verbalized it before like I did in this podcast.
The down side is that you have to remove a lot of awkward pauses, “ummmms” and “uhssss” that come up in conversation getting to points like the one above. I want to distill the audio experience and get it down to the essence of what the listener is looking for.
In addition to taking some time, this editing process occasionally leads to some stunted audio. It also leaves some conversational holes for ideas that are half started and then need a resolution. Hence the need for the show notes.
Trying to find a segue (as opposed to a Segway) into the topic. Yes, there are a lot of ads for apps. There will be many more. It’s not some kind of advertising menace. Yet.
.
The Calculator.
The idea I’m rambling around in the early steps of the podcast is how the use of a calculator is completely divorced from both the math required to solve the problem and the mechanics of how the calculator arrives at the solution.
In playing guitar, something can come out of the work that goes into really learning a piece at a deep level. It’s why some music theorists go so gaga for analysis because they’re finding new connections and seeing things on a deeper level.
To be sure, I’m not a Luddite. You’re not going to gain much doing long addition for EVERYTHING – but if you get used to using a calculator – you’ll be amazed at how quickly your math skills start to atrophy.
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The App
In the app story I used an app that addressed a specific issue with a limited answer base. Most apps don’t exclude other people BUT if you’re using YELP during a vegetarian conference to find a local vegetarian restaurant in the area – and there’s only one – guess who’s going to get a table? The first person who finds out about the restaurant and gets there.
The main point is that other people’s solutions are often adaptable to your situation, but the better you get at finding your own solution, the better you will become at developing solutions in general. Ditto for applying those solutions.
That’s a wrap.
As always, If you like the podcast please let me know. If you really like it -and listen to it on iTunes – leaving a rating there would be really appreciated!
GuitArchitecture.org 