Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

I may have a disorder which prevents me from settling for anything less than perfect. It’s a real struggle; you might even call it a curse. But it’s also one of the things that keeps me coming back to the guitar. I understand that “perfect” isn’t a thing in music, but for the sake of conveying the point of this message, I’m requesting we set that aside for a moment…

I wake up every morning with a goal of putting down a simple backing track so I can FINALLY begin practicing solo/improv. But I always get stuck expanding upon and practicing the progression all day because I’m never satisfied with it. There are always more chord voicings and rhythms/strumming patterns to explore, and I’ve never found the one that's just right. While I’m certainly getting better at rhythm, by the end of the day I’m still unsatisfied with the backing track I’ve created, and I haven’t made any progress toward accomplishing my goal: learning to improvise over chord changes.

I suspect that on some level (despite his repeated words of wisdom), Tomo’s effortless awesomeness has seduced me into overcomplicating things; because at the end of the day I’ve created a backing track that might have 4 different chord voicings within a given measure. And then I’m quickly brought back to reality when googling: “guitar backing track” and find that most are simple, prolonged, single voiced chords over full measures - nothing fancy. In fact, after hearing them I often think "well that's easy - I could do that!" (and then I never do, due to the aforementioned struggles).

All that leads me to a few questions for the good folks around here. Some of these questions are open ended and don't lend themselves to easy answers. Just know that the intent behind them is to gain understanding and guidance on how to move forward - a direct answer might not be what I need to hear.

1) Does anyone else struggle with this? Curious if this is part of a common theme in our community.
2) At what point do you accept mediocrity and move forward for the sake of progress?
3) When should you start practicing melody and improvisation? In other words, at what depth of understanding chord changes would you recommend delving into solo/improv?
4) Does anyone hold themselves to a structured practice schedule with pre-planned timelines for different aspects of the guitar? If so, what does your practice schedule look like and how strictly do you hold yourself accountable to it?

Thanks,
-Kellen Schroeder

We all struggle with one thing or another at times or get stuck on seemingly endless plateaus. Too often we are the hardest customer to please. Mediocrity is a very judgmental term. So, as Tomo says, Be Kind To Yourself and Don't Compare. Let go of perfect... just not to the point where you practice bad habits :-)

Where I think you may be going of the rails a little is that you appear to be approaching the backing track as a composition of a complex accompaniment. Tomo often uses very simple backing tracks They highlight the harmony and maintain the form. And that's enough to work on soloing. Simple is good.

That is not to say that there aren't a lot of things to learn as a rhythm player to make an accompaniment interesting. But they are two different things... maybe three different things: soloing, backing, comping.

If you're going to judge yourself, at least measure the stated goal: solo and improv. You can always practice comping later and have THAT as the goal. And you don't have to master one before the other. Alternate. Work on everything and always review.

So as Tomo often says, don't overthink it. Take a basic rhythm pattern, say a Charleston, and lay down your chords with that and call it good. The depth of understanding you need to solo over a chord progression is to know its degree (level of tension), quality (major/minor-ness of its triads) and your place in the song form. That is how Tomo can play so well over, well, basically nothing, and still make you hear some traceable harmony baked into an improvised melody.

I suck at structured anything and the only concession I make to structure is to keep The Notebook and do The Warmups.

The notebook is a record of where I've been along with a little bit of where I want to go and what I have to come back to. The warmup is a meditative clearing of distractions, using the chromatic exercise and the swing eighth strumming.

I don't hold myself accountable necessarily; I just try to stay aware of too much laxity and noodling. I always have a guitar at hand, but that is because I am alone and retired. Most people have overactive lives, work stress, spouses and children and I can't imagine finding time to squeeze a complex structured regimen in with all of that.

It might be different if one were a professional musician where you have commitments to learn songs, auditions, and sessions and gigs that you must attend. But for many, flexibility and moderation, and kindness, is the way to go.

Here is Tomo's comment:

"Thanks for subscribing to my Guitar Wisdom, and for sharing your thoughts. I was once a perfectionist, but I let it go a long time ago. There are many great players and successful people who do not let a need to be perfect interfere with their progress!

"Challenge yourself, but remember the importance of joy. Learning guitar is a process, a journey. You should have some fun along the way!

"Practice your rhythm playing. Work on your time feel. Focus on triads. Then practice a few tunes. Work on the rhythm guitar part first, then record your rhythm playing, so that you can hear the chord progression. Your backing track should be simple -- just your guitar and a metronome. Learn, prepare, . . . play and enjoy! And be kind to yourself."