M2M Day 132: Solo #2 (or six minutes of gentle noodling?)
This post is part of Month to Master, a 12-month accelerated learning project. For March, my goal is to play a 5-minute blues guitar solo.
Yesterday, I promised to film a new attempt at soloing today.
I was hoping to spend some time warming up, practicing, and then, once ready, filming my attempt. However, I spent a little too much time enjoying San Francisco’s first really nice day in a while, and as a result, only had about ten minutes to practice today.
So, I just set up my camera, turned on the backing track, and recorded myself cold. The result is a six-minute solo that starts off okay and gets better as I warm up. By around 4:00, I’m more or less warm.
After listening back, there’s a lot I like. But, I’m not sure it sounds like a solo. Instead, it sounds like six minutes of pleasant background noodling. I’m not telling a story or building to anything.
I think part of the problem is that I’m attracted to playing more and more notes, as that seems like the way to “improve”. However, I suspect savoring fewer notes is the best path to soloing.
Tomorrow, I’ll force myself to play 5x fewer notes and see how it sounds.
Read the next post. Read the previous post.