happiness is a warm guitar

HiaWG [act 1] is a simple enough riff but it's been slow going. Perhaps I expect too much. After all, I've only given it about an hours worth of practice in two days. Then again, it could simply be slow going because I'm set in my ways. I've been using a 4-2-3-1 pattern, near exclusively, for over thirty years, and despite the fact that I've developed variations of that pattern which allow me to express beyond simplicity, I am still "stuck"-- I shouldn't use that word since I have begun in earnest to break away from from the 4-2-3-1.

But... trying to vocalize this other simple pattern is forcing me to retrain. Muscle memory will take care of it, but it will take a few days to get it smooth, a couple of weeks to get it without thinking about it.

* * *

Trying to learn from two different guitarists... no, make that three... is proving difficult. The Beatles are simple, but different from what I'm used to. Richard Gilewitz is also simple, but he's taken simplicity and developed a new complexity-- this is pretty much where I am. I have my own style, my own simplicity turned complexity, yet despite this feat I wish to play as others do.

And speaking of complexity, Lindsey Buckingham is so simple it might as well be an entirely new language. He's simple, but fast. And I've resigned myself to the truth that his live version of Big Love is beyond my ability. Some songs only their creators can perform-- or a very few others, and I am not among the lucky few.

But I do all this to break free of long, ingrained habit. Which is a fancy way of saying I've been lazy. I've come to realize if I want to fly, I must first break free of Earth.

What is it Seal sings toward the end of Crazy?

In a world full of people, only some want to fly,
Isn't that crazy?

Yes. It is.