[Harp-L] Re: 5th Position

["Jonathan Metts" <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris Michalek said:

"If you truly want to go where no man has gone before - play the music that's in your head. Listen to the tone, flavors, rhythms, colors, shapes that come to you naturally.  DON'T think of notes, that's a bigger trap than thinking in positions. "

This approach works better when you're as good as Chris is.  I try to play what's in my head, but I'm not good enough to play most of that stuff, and sometimes I don't really have anything in my head.  That makes it really, really hard to play anything that sounds good when you're not feeling particularly inspired, which can be a real problem when you've got a gig or even during a casual jam session.  For those times, I find myself leaning more heavily on the positions and scales and riffs that I'm familiar with, even though they sound (to me, maybe to everyone) more mechanical and less interesting than the truly creative, liberated music I can play when I'm alone and in my comfort zone.

By the way Chris, I love your "jam band" recordings.  Please share more when you can!

Jonathan Metts