The Black and Gold in Your Life

2012-01-15T09:04:00.000-05:00

A bit of nostalgic rambling from a New Orleans Saints Fan

While the color black may seem to symbolize death and despair, it is always balanced by that beautiful, shining gold. Life is short, people. Embrace the brighter side.

It's the morning after an emotional and draining playoff loss by my beloved New Orleans Saints to the San Francisco 49ers. Somehow, I feel it is incumbent upon me to tell Saints fans everywhere not to despair. You can stand tall. You should feel proud and, most of all, thankful.

Like millions of Americans, I understand what it means to live vicariously through the highs and lows of a weekend football game. Each of us have a different take on why this game is so important, but the bottom line is that football is a unifying event where people from all walks of life become family for one afternoon. Celebrating together. Mourning together. Breathing together. We are, afterall, social animals and some of us desperately need this.

Here's a little of my personal perspective.

Growing up in the small town of Buras, Louisiana, there was simply not much for someone like me to do. Don't get me wrong. It was a veritable paradise for most kids on many levels, with it's natural wonders and salt air. But it was also very remote and isolated. This can be problematic for a frail, undersized and easily intimidated boy who liked to draw pictures and tinker with musical instruments when the norm was more along the lines of blowing up small animals with extremely loud guns.

Couple that scenario with the disfunction that comes from a home where vodka flowed a little too freely. And hurricanes arrived. And loved ones died long before their time. This trapped boy needed an escape. A refuge. A common ground to share with the local bullies. A hiding place in the form of a fantasy, complete with noble heros and evil villains.

Shortly before my tenth birthday, it happened. The arrival of the New Orleans Saints was announce to the world; but, more importantly, to a certain 24-inch color Zenith in the living room. My world was going to change. Perhaps the change was only in my mind, but a child's psyche needs every kind of relief it can get.

The Saints, like me, always seem to be an underdog. I saw the team as a proud army of hope clad in that stunning black and gold. They marched onto the scene with the sounds of Dixieland triumphantly popping off the horns of Pete Fountain and Al Hurt. I still see them that way.

Sure, they lost a lot of games in the early years, but that was not the important thing. They kept coming back to do battle. The hope remained in spite of all the circumstances surrounding the team—and me.

Riding my bike forward to more recent times, I see a handsome, young and [ahemm, cough, cough] undersized quarterback putting a generous, thoughful and humble half-page ad in the Times-Picayune citing gratitude for his new community. I was a little moved, but I found that I was also beginning to be consumed by an encroaching cynicism.

Then, in year one of the modern day Saints, this same knight in shining black and gold armor leisurly found his way down to the home of my youth and caught a 30-pound bull red.

That's one big-ass fish.

Starting Out

2011-12-24T23:26:00.000-05:00

I`d like to share some ideas with beginner guitar players. These ideas are based on my belief that there is an attitude or, perhaps, a spirit that is common to most guitarists who have become successful. I was fortunate enough to reach many of my guitar playing goals at an early age and I feel compelled to share the things I suspect contributed most to my progress. This information centers not around playing technique but, rather, engaging the mind to fully embrace the joy of learning your instrument.

First and foremost, commit

It`s okay to fall in love. Just flow with it. This is different from falling in love with girlfriends and boyfriends; your fears may be warranted there. This is guitar. It can`t really hurt you. You may, at worst, get a case of G.A.S. (newbies may not be familiar with the term "guitar acquisition syndrome"), but even that is not so bad.

You may find yourself at times feeling like you are neglecting your friends and family while you practice, but there is a reward for everyone at the end of the tunnel if you stay focused.

So, get off the shelf. Go after the guitar that has caught your eye and start making love. Please note when I say "making love" I`m not suggesting you use a 16 ft. guitar strap to hang your guitar down around your boys. That seriously hinders your ability to play well. You might think it looks realy cool, but it`s a bad idea.

Establish a productive routine

In my first rock band in college there was a bass player named Ross. One semester we shared a dorm room on campus. I remember being amazed by the sight of him laying on the lower bunk with his eyes closed, not fully conscious as he reached down with one arm and pulled his bass out from under the bed. Then he sort of dragged the big Rick onto his mid section and started playing unplugged without ever opening his eyes. Ross lived to play bass. He had his idols. He had his goals. He had his bass. He had his routine. Well, decades have passed and I`m betting he still has his routine.

That was around '77. There was no Internet as we now know it. There was no YouTube. There were fewer gadgets to play with. I`m sure you`ve heard all this before from some other geezer, but the point is there were fewer distractions for guitar students. Modern technology now makes it possible for would-be artists to broadcast their limited abilities to the universe long before they are ready and worthy. The temptation is great, but should be resisted for a number of reasons. That`s a topic for a different article.

A good routine means keeping your guitar visible in the room when you are not playing it. It should call out to you. You need to feel like it is lonely without you.

You may be concerned that your expensive instrument will fall victim to your hyperactive nephew who likes to throw stuff in the house. Just threaten to kill the brat and he should get the message. Have something large and sharp in your hand as you explain the situation to him. Do not hide your guitar away in a safe place. Out of site, out of mind. No good will come from that.

When you practice, always start with a progression, song or scale that you have not mastered yet. Perhaps the most common mistake guitar students make is starting out with the familiar. This will cause you to waste precious time on a narcistic indulgence. Don`t do it. Work on something that needs work first. Then, when you see you have ten minutes left to practice, play something you do well and finish on a positive note. Don`t become one of the thousands of guitarists who have been playing the same three songs for years.

This is a discipline I learned in my martial arts studies. While practicing Kung Fu I always felt as though I was failing because as soon as I nearly mastered a skill, I got pushed on to the next technique. This keeps you humble. Without humility, you cannot learn, Grasshopper.

Learn to really listen

When you hear a guitar solo or piece that truly inspires you, try to break it down on your own. Know that you can do it without anyone`s help. It may take you longer, perhaps a lot longer, but nothing builds confidence like attacking problems independently.

There are always fundamental elements that cause the magic. Learn what they are and believe they are not beyond your ability to achieve them. Things are always easier when you break them down into their component parts.

For example, I recently heard a solo by John Mayer that I thought was tremendously cool. Part of the solo consisted of triplets. Anyone can do triplets, right? Well, not like this. By really listening, I noticed the third note of the triplets was noticeably softer in attack than the first two notes. This transformed it from a standard BS riff, to something with great feeling. You need to listen beyond "three notes=triplet."

Once you have unveiled that fundamental element that caused the magic, drill it to smitherines. Roughly speaking, repetition causes nerve impulses to cross certain synapses in your brain multiple times contributing to "muscle memory." You eventually reach a point where the brain can perform the function without conscious thought beforehand. Hence, the riff becomes one that you "own" and can deliver in a state of zen. No repetition, no zen.

If you happen to be involved in formal instruction, embrace it for all its worth. However, when you hear this little ghost in your head telling you that you need to start weaning yourself, listen to her. She`s the ghost of artistry. She`s also the ghost of saving some dough. But become independent for the right reasons. Don`t cop out because you get bored with scales. Be disciplined and learn to love the boring stuff by focusing on the vision of the great artist you will become.

Word Paint

The Black and Gold in Your Life

Starting Out