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RodT
Aloha
USA
7 Posts |
 Posted - 08/12/2004 : 11:02:53 PM
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I use to have a few slack key songs I played, not much maybe a half dozen or more, but I no longer remember them, and even with the tab in front of me its hard to get through without stumbling. I had another half dozen I was working on back then but had not yet mastered.
Now, I'm not looking for any sympathy here, but we had a horrific family tradgedy that was beyond anything I want to discuss here. After that it was a year or more before the guitar even mattered again to me. It has now been close to three years since this happened and I am trying to play again , but having trouble getting all the old songs back.
I've been listening to the old Masters a lot, and it is inspirational, but its like being a beginner again....coming to me very very slowly.
Any suggestions?
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2004 : 11:58:22 PM
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Hi Rod,
Sorry to hear about your tragedy. When I read the title of your post, I was ready to jump in because I often forget songs. I'm talking instrumentals. I can never remember lyrics - it's horrible.
But it seems that your post is about something a little different - not playing for an extended time and then picking it up again. I can't say that I have experienced this personally. Although, I remember when I first started playing guitar, I'd pick up the guitar everyday and practice chords. I noticed that when I went on vacation (without a guitar) for a week, I'd return home and the guitar neck would feel foreign to my fretting hand. The encouraging thing is that the foreign feeling would pass after a day. Now after not playing for 1-3 years, I can only imagine how foreign the guitar would feel in my hands. The encouraging thing is that the songs must still be in your mind and fingers. Might not be east to find, but the more you play and practice, you'll find it again. It will come back.
Maybe you can get together with other players in your area? Have some fun and provide additional interaction, stimuli, to bring the songs out of you? |
Andy |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2004 : 12:19:04 AM
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Rod,
Sorry to hear about your family stuff -- like can sure present challenges.
After my dad died, after a whole month of hospitalization and my not playing for almost 2 months, I felt almost like I was beginning from start, but I relearned much faster.
You have more distance and an untold amount of trauma. This stuff is actually "up my professional alley," and I hesitate to get too techiocal, especially without knowing more of what went on and what is going on now, but maybe some of these ideas can be useful to you -- Your ability to relearn material after a trauma is related to 1) how wide the neural network was laid down in the first place, 2) how wide spread the effects of the trauma were. As to 1) -- we memorize something not by storing it in one place, like in a couple of brain cells. We memorize something by having a (sometimes pretty wide ranging) network of neurons (brain cells) being activated. How well we memorize something is usually related to how big that network was in the first place, or how strong we made it, like through repetitions. THe "switchboard" also has to remember the "location" of the network for recall. 2) Trauma can really scramble those networks, even wiping out the traces, and it can seriously affect recall. (I'm assuming there was no physical damage to your brain, which would put us in a very different ballpark) It is not uncommon for someone to loose memory of things before or after a trauma. The level of trauma, and how much has been "worked through" seems to be directly related to recalling the memories. (There is a fairly quick acting technique to help get through the effects of trauma called "Eye Movement Desensitization. Write me if you want more info.)
What's all this mean? -- Well, bro ... go easy on yourself. It's not your fault if you have to start as a beginner, even though it may be frustrating. If you are lucky, your "switchboard" may recall some of those traces and reconnect the system. It also doesn't necessarily have anything to do with how well you played or learned in the first place. This kind of thing seems to be how the brain tries to protect itself from complete breakdown -- somewhat like a safety valve on a boiler. Sometimes, it's the leftover emotional trauma that's blocking the memory, but I would suspect that only if you have memory problems in other areas. More than likely it was your brain getting rid of "excess" stuff so it could deal with the crisis.
My professional advise would be to let yourself approach the guitar as a beginner, and try to enjoy the learning curve.
Malama Pono |
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cpatch
Ahonui
USA
2187 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2004 : 02:43:33 AM
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Hi Ray, my prayers go out to you and you family. As for forgetting stuff after a while, that happened to me when I put down the guitar for eight years to focus on my marriage and then picked it up again after the marriage fell apart. You'll find that if you start playing them again from the tab that they'll come back to you fairly quickly (faster than it took you to learn them, at least). Don't be surprised if they take you back to a nicer place, before all the trauma, in the process. It also helps if you can find recordings of the songs you're learning and play them until you can hear the songs in your mind while you're playing.
Just take things slowly and focus on relearning the notes before you worry about playing up to tempo. Most of all, relax and enjoy the process as much as possible. |
Craig
My goal is to be able to play as well as people think I can. |
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OHIO-HAOLE
Akahai
USA
86 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2004 : 03:00:08 AM
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 Hey Rod...at 51 i have trouble remembering alot of things not just songs!...I took classical guitar about 5 years ago and memorized a few pieces...then things came up ...life threw a few curves and I only played guitar very rarely...well those songs are gone! I can play them with music or tabs , but not smooth like before..i assume with me it would be the same with slack key...if i don't use it i lose it...but i'm sure that's true with alot of us especially with instrumentals..the old standards seem to come back and play easier. That's just my take...but like raymond said enjoy learning the stuff over again , be easy on yourself, it all comes back ...just differently..but believe me ..you are not alone on this one!...Ken. |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2004 : 11:34:00 AM
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Hi Rod,
I am sorta in the same boat as you, but my problems are the decay of my own semi-ancient body. So, I hadn't played at all in over a year, and I was only a beginner in the first place. I am now trying to practice again, sporadically, even though I have to wear a brace on my right hand.
Funny things are happening. Raymond is right about memory - things are laid down all over the place and they come back, sometimes suddenly. I decided *not* to look at tab in the beginning.
At first I could only remember picking patterns for 3rds and 6ths, with appropriate alternate basses, and the G scale from the 6th string all the way up the 1st string. I tried to play Ozzie's Kani Ki Ho`alu and Molehu and couldn't remember them at all. I *could* remember Ho`omalu Slack Key because it is SO logically structured. Then I remembered E Liliu e with a variation that Slack Key Bill helped me work out on Maui. Then Molehu came back partially and then fully without even working at it. Then Kani Ki Ho`alu came back by itself, as did several classical parallel 6th runs used by Uncle Rray and Ozzie. This happened over about 3 weeks.
My biggest problem is my hands and wrists are out of shape an my timing is badly off. I can't stretch my left hand well or plant low C chords all at once. Part of that problem is that my index finger knuckle capsule broke by itself and doesnt have proper range of motion. My right hand hurts after about 30 minutes and I have to stop and ice it.
BUT, I have no doubt that, if I had a body transplant, that a peek at the tabs would bring back all I used to know.
So, my experience tells me that the memory is lots more robust than the mechanical parts that it tries to control. It is also definitely *not* under complete conscious control. Just keep on keepin' on and it will surely work out for you.
...Reid |
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Kapila Kane
Ha`aha`a
USA
1051 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2004 : 06:18:12 AM
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As Bill Murray might say, "Baby Steps, Baby Steps!"
I think of my playing slack as therapy time. Extremely CHEAP therapy (if you don't count the trip to Maui and the Goodall purchase!) without having to figure out all my ancient history.
All it costs is time, and usually feels joyful...getting lost in time with musical explorations and for me it's ALWAYS a challenge to remember words, mechanical moves, and hopefully achieve a flow. Perhaps slack is more a pre-emptive strike against any challenges that lay ahead!
Music is therapy--jump in and do a song or something you love...it's like riding a bicycle...I hope...
I still have days of Ten Thumbs, AND No Brain...but I must ride the horse in the direction it's goin'. G |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2004 : 11:15:37 AM
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I met a musician named Cliff Carl several months ago who had been playing and singing around the nation since the 1930s and had been a big radio star in the 1940s. He had a repertoire of more than 500 songs he could sing (often three or four verses) from memory. He's on the nursing home circuit now and at 82 makes the elderly women swoon when he sings "Scotch and Soda". And many of his songs would include 5-6 chords or more. It was amazing to watch.
I now understand that a memory for music is a gift, just like guitar playing. When I'm 82 I'd just like to be able to chew my own food!
Jesse Tinsley |
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Julie H
Ha`aha`a
USA
1206 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2004 : 01:07:18 AM
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At the first Aloha Music Camp, Keola Beamer said something about that at some time the instrument disappears and it's just you and the music. At first I was skeptical, but then the World Trade Center attack happened. As I sat in my hammock under my oaks, looking at the empty skies where normally planes would traverse on their way to San Francisco, I started playing the melodies that had wormed their way into my heart. And it's true, at some point the uke disappeared and it was just the music coming forth.
I think tragedies and traumas sometimes open up the way for us to connect to another plane of our existence. I played "Ku'u Lei Awapuhi" at the Memorial Service for my beloved younger brother, and honestly, I have no clue as to how I got through that song, but I did. Again, it was only the music and the love that shone through. Rod, give it time. The music will come back to you, although maybe slowly at first. Just remember you are a conduit for all that love, and if the music comes from your heart, it will pour forth.
Me ke aloha pumehana, Julie |
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RodT
Aloha
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 7:46:24 PM
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Julie,
"Ku'u Lei Awapuhi" was the first Slack Key song I learned. Love it! Still, I have to go back to the music and relearn that one, but that sog seemed to capture so much of what Slack Key is. |
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trlau
Aloha
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2004 : 5:25:35 PM
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| I was going to post a reply, but by the time I scrolled to the bottom of the screen I forgot what the topic was... (auwe!) |
Ted Lau
(poina 'ole he Hawai'i 'oe)
mailto:trlau @ earthlink.net |
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bluespiderweb
Akahai
USA
91 Posts |
Posted - 09/06/2004 : 2:39:33 PM
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Hello RodT,
It's not easy starting out again, I'm sure. It's got to be a little frustrating, but just being able to enjoy the music should lead to some healing; it's a wonderful, elevating kind of music. It should help the spirit if anything can. And if you are enjoying the playing just for the music, then relearning will come easier than trying to remember what you forgot. Enjoy just for having the music!
Reid,
I've got some of that ancient body syndrome too, though I can still play most of the time without too much trouble. I started to play lap slide guitar, and love it. That's one way of keeping the music, and with less stress on your hands, especially the chording hand. It might even be easier on your picking hand with the guitar on your lap.
All you need is a metal extension nut to find out, and it is a whole different sound to enjoy. It's technically not slack key, but you can play along on the same songs. Give it a go!
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Koaniani,
Ola, Barry
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Edited by - bluespiderweb on 09/08/2004 10:42:20 PM |
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