Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Hi all,

Today is new year's eve! So I wanted to reflect on my learnings and journey, generally discuss my love for guitar, and upload a video of my playing from this month to mark my progress-- like a save point I can remember (fingers crossed) improving from in the future.

I wanted to write a fairly long reflection for a while, so please bear with me! I tried to format it into sections, if it helps. I hope if anything my reflection can help others feel seen, as the effort it takes to even be OK at guitar is diabolical.

On review I see it is more than fairly long...

My background with guitar

I played guitar in high school and undergrad in my bedroom for my own amusement; mostly to learn the song Creep, and a fingerstyle intro of autumn leaves by Eva Cassidy. Over that time, I learned how to do barre chords, C major cowboy chords and gained some familiarity with fingerstyle. I distinctly remember that I could not play anything that was 3/4 (let alone swing), my hands hurt after one song and I didn't use a pick but just my fingernails. I thought music theory was for uncreative people, and I thought I was quite good at guitar for someone who "wasn't trying."

After I graduated from undergrad, I became much busier and did not think of guitar or music for a while.

Around 2023 December I decided that actually, I do want to try. I did want to be serious about learning it and take it as sincerely as I could take anything. Part of it was discovering the performance of "day and age" by Julian Lage on youtube. It made me truly realize how much I like how the guitar sounds. Not as a means to making music, but just as, a sound in of itself. Is that relatable to you too?

But I know I would not have actually started practicing systematically if I did not come across Tomo's youtube channel. There is something in the concise, minimalistic crafted explanations of huge topics, and the kind wisdom of Tomo's words that really makes you feel: "yeah, I bet I could play guitar!"

Reflecting now on the optimism I had then, I find it painfully funny that our standard of what it means to "play" guitar grows with our improvement, and hence, true satisfaction is always out of reach (one must imagine sisyphus a happy player!)

And though now I am a bit more jaded, I do still believe that everyone can play guitar. I really believe that Tomo has brought so much joy into the world by sharing access to musical education that is usually kept firmly within a (pretty) walled garden. The perfectionism I attach to playing guitar is my own issue I think, as the guitar has so much to offer at all levels. When I compare myself to a bona fide cat like Tomo... well that is 100% my own problem!

1. The Fundamentals

Over the two years or so that I spent learning guitar with guitarwisdom, I really came to see Tomo's vision on fundamentals, namely the overriding importance of practicing:

-Time feel
-Active listening and internalizing tunes
-Triads
-Single finger understanding of scales/modes on each string
-Major scale intervals and solfege

Phew! just looking at what I have organised as the 'big 5' (as I interpret Tomo's emphasis) already gives me an appreciation of the depth of guitar! I think these 5 topics, which can all be worked on with Tomo's essential practice routines, have enough meat for me to work on for the rest of my life.

I do think out of all of them, time is most important. I listed them sort of in order of what I personally view as the most important now, though the first year of my playing focused mostly on major CAGED position and the least on time feel!

I don't have much to add about the theory and practice of the fundamentals. Tomo covers it and more here. I just wanted to emphasize how true his methodology rings for me as a student. I think it will become apparent throughout the reflection that these topics are very dear to me now. But I did not always stay committed (and still do stray from) the process in the beginning.

2. First year teething pains

In my first year of learning with GW, I jumped around a lot through the lessons, and always felt lost. But I did not heed Tomo's words to go back until I understood. I told myself "if I can pick up from here, I will save time."

I learned after a year that it did not in fact, save time. But I do think some lessons can only be learned the hard way.

I felt dejected at the time. It feels hard to remember that things take time when it feels the time you are putting in is leaking out of somewhere you can't identify.

Looking back, a lot of the frustrations I had was because I was 1. expecting too fast and 2. not taking it slow. Which seems like the same thing, but I do think they are different, though related.

Firstly, I was anxious to get better fast, because I wanted to play "like the greats" and I felt like I had so much to say, and so little ability to speak. (Now I do think its not so much important to have a lot to say, compared to the quality of what you say)

And secondly, I didn't want to take it slow, and didn't take it slow because it is painful to learn slowly Malcom gladwell would say its because we are using type 2 slow thinking -- the kind of slow conscious deliberate stretching of the neurons in our brain to form new and permanent connections; the kind of growth that only occurs when one is committed to noticing every little detail about their playing and its relationship with sound .

More practically speaking, its the difference between blasting through the first position without thought and playing it slowly to 40bpm with beats on 2/4 and singing the note you are about to play before you play it, and playing it in random orders while trying to guess what sound should come out (try to see if you can hum la after playing do. or mi after te. I still can't!).

I did stick with it because in the end, guitar is just plain fun and I could hit the strings forever even if everyone else wanted me to stop, lol!

3. How I learned to stop worrying and love the fundamentals

The moment that changed a lot for me was when i going to my first jazz jam. A complete disaster! And the best thing that happened to my playing so far.

I could not follow the form, I could not play the head, I was entirely lost and playing "inside" only on accident.

I realized though that the biggest problem was that I could not keep time . I had no sense of the pulse and so what I was doing mostly was adding noise where there should be space. Seems to me now that time feel is what separates good players from good players .

So afterwards, starting somewhere in my second year, I spent practically ALL my practice time drilling R37 with metronome until I could somewhat get it on on the 2 and 4. Then I tried to only play the changes for two songs in time: autumn leaves and all of me, and forgot about the rest. It also meant I only needed to focus on two scales (4 if you count the relative major/minors) : C major and G minor -- both friendly to the guitar and coincidentally covers (imo) important poles. E major/minor is next on my list! (then keys of Bb, A, D)

4. 2nd year learnings

After focusing on these fundamentals, I found my progress improving much faster-- which encouraged me to practice more and more. But I am unfortunately by nature, sporadic and excessive, so I tended to play in bursts of intense days and rest.

I still have this problem. I tell myself: "15 minutes of brain wrecking focus on just R37 (with walking bass now) and/or single string modal internalizing is ALL you need to do." Yet, I still feel quite nervous about picking up the guitar at times, because I feel I shouldn't play unless i'm ready to commit a "real" session.

btw, what helps me get over the rut is listening to my favourite songs... because then I just can't help but want to play, for fun! and then I usually end up practicing at least a little bit of what I planned.

Because of my practice habits, I reaggravated an old injury in my fretting wrist and had to stop for a while. This was also a blessing in disguise looking back, because it helped me unlearn some of the bad habits I picked up by practicing mindlessly (practice makes permanent!) and also gave me time to really listen to music with a deeper understanding of theory, but more importantly, a deeper appreciation for sound and space.

Tomo talks about listening to the track to pick out every little part, and that is what I tried to do with every song I liked, and now I try to see if I could replay songs in my head when I'm feeling bored, and I can do it with a few indie rock songs, and though Tomo might not like it, a few youtube backing tracks! (guitare improvisation... that forbidden fruit channel).

I also learned to be more picky about what I listened to when it comes to jazz. I realized there was not much point in me listening to bebop now, because I cannot follow it. I lose the thread halfway through a line or solo and I can't keep up with the changes or their interpretation of the harmony. I think at my current level, listening to the blues and pop is quite good, because they focus a lot of rhythm and feeling through sound.

When it came to using GW, I actually did not use it much for the lessons, but instead found a lot of helpful advice in the forums. The reason I did not use the lessons much is simply that the fundamental practice in a few of the lessons was more than enough to keep me busy.

Though I didn't follow along with the lessons, I did still watch the lessons I could not yet follow, almost more for fun than to learn as I knew I wouldn't be able to absorb much. I remembering hearing Tomo say "I learned slowly, so slowly that I understood every part." that is something I think about when I feel myself rushing in my practice and using my hands instead of my brain.

In terms of musical listening, I started to attend every live music event that I could from random jazz bars in cities I visited, local open mics on Tuesday nights, Mongolian folk music (which moved me to tears), Chinese orchestra, piano concertos, to experimental hybrid warehouse DJ sets and student operas. I think it helped me a lot, not only for musical experience, but also for the exposure to the many different levels of professionalism and skill in music. I really realized that a "good performance" that makes the audience feel that it was worth their valuable time and hard earned money, is not necessarily linked to "good playing."

Also I had the immense pleasure and fortune of hearing Julian Lage play (3 times!) his solo acoustic guitar album, "Worlds Fair" in Tokyo and Kyoto last December. What struck me was his presence, fearlessness and openness to the sounds that the guitar made. When he walked on stage, he did not say a single thing-- he simply started playing as soon as he sat down -- no adjustments, no tuning, just instant music. And it was always shaky to begin with, but it would soon become strong. There was an intimate electricity that came from the way he truly threw himself into the most uncomfortable positions in live settings, for the audience and the music's sake. It made me feel: yeah! I wanna do that!

Quite the curse to put on yourself I think, because he started at 8 as a prodigy. But thankfully I have Tomo's mantras as a talisman. Don't worry, Don't compare, Don't expect, Be kind, Enjoy!

5. Current practice and Jamming

Now I am much better at staying true to practicing the 5 fundamentals I listed above. I am in a relatively good groove of practicing consistently and going to jazz jams every week and trying my best to survive the changes and stay out of everyone's way for now.

From going to many more Jazz jams I learned a lot of things. Firstly, that music is a very social and personal thing-- you need to look at your fellow's eyes to know what they're thinking, and also you need to respect the instruments and the music or else you will find yourself alone very fast!

Next I learned that if you cannot hear the band it is because you are talking over them (or youre really nervous haha!) Once I had more experience and calmed down a bit, I could hear the rhythm section much more clearly and how they were in sync with each other. They were leading the rhythm so for guitar-- which can comp and single line-- just like the piano, you have to be careful to limit your note choices and placements. I think its actually worse on the guitar if you dont pay attention because pianists don't use pedals. But electric guitars can sustain for essentially forever. Very easy to drown their hard earned rhythmic timing in long sustained chords and notes.

I learned that comping means breaking down the chords into small chunks and playing with the rhythm more like a filler and supporter rather than laying it down freddie green style all the time in a jam (though it is an important starting point!). Once I had a pretty good comping session of blue bossa because the rhythm section was very strong and bb has less chords. That was the only time I got slight approving nods from fellow players.

6. Practicing in 2026

I do feel ready to tackle some of the lessons I did not understand and had much difficulty following, such as the Blues Etude (i could play along with it if I memorised it, but that isn't the point as Tomo says, and I always forget it if I don't play it for a few days), Open Triads, and Drop 2 chords.

Perhaps if I am feeling extra, I might also try to really focus on modal playing. Though that seems out of reach now because I am still just starting to hear it.

I also want to start transcribing (mostly by playing along rather than writing sheet music, because I am still very slow), arrange some of my favourite songs to the guitar, and write some of my own music! Though I felt at the beginning of my journey that "i should wait until I'm good enough" since the only way to get better at something is to be bad at it first, I should just start!

But I am still procrastinating on starting these topics at the moment because... it's more comfortable to hone what you know! This post is also a way for me to motivate myself to break new ground.

7. Autumn Leaves

I post myself trying to play autumn leaves unaccompanied with my guitar. I don't have an electric so I bought electric strings and put them on my acoustic so I can practice the feel of it for jazz jams! It also has the benefit of being quieter and easier on my fingers, so i can play longer. But it does easily buzz or sound thin if i'm not careful -- especially because it is not set up to play electric strings. In the end they are things I could solve with touch though, and if i may be dramatic, the guitar is always faultless (would tomo struggle on this guitar? i think not! p.s high action is another story though because of injury risk)

Listening back to myself, I think my main issues are (beyond things like time and phrasing -- which are always a work in progress) losing the form at times, and relying on muscle memory to "rant" instead of to "say." Missing the landing on important notes also sticks out quite sorely, and my strums are not very appealing to my ears.

But I am happy with the risks I seemed willing to take on that day, my use of dynamics and repetition, and that i stayed mostly inside while playing through my mistakes. Being kind to myself, I would say I can kinda hear in my playing that I listened to a lot of Jim Hall recently! I remember tomo's suggestion a few months ago to focus on how he comps and took it to heart.

I really love this song! Sounds so great, and also when you study it, teaches you so much! Uses every single note in the scale, every single harmonized chord, fits with melodic minor and dorian... 2-5-1s in both minor and major.. and of course a beautiful beautiful melody that carries the whole tune..

8. Final thoughts

If you read all the way to the end or listened to my playing, thank you, bless you! I am grateful for your hearing me out. It was quite a good experience for me myself to write out my thoughts and collect them here. The GW community has been very important to me both as a source of learning and solidarity. I hope to record more, jam more, and listen more! Please let me know your thoughts too, I would be happy to hear them.

Wow! Thanks so much for sharing a lot of details! Great job for adjusting your learning way(s). Not easy! It is hard to focus on simple thing and do it as slow as possible you can! Good job!

For me, Guitar made me very humble and made me to slow down. I was a perfectionist in years ago. Guitar really changed my personality to be patient.

Yes! I did read all and listened that AL. You can improvise with only 3rd & 7th on 3rd and 4th strings. You can use some ii V I phrases too. 7th arpeggios from 7th is good too.

Yes! Write things down is so good! Thank you again for sharing this. Looking forward to your Guitar Journey! Happy New Year! Congratulations!

Tomo

Thanks for sharing this Kim Sun your playing sounded nice too. Great writing. That was a sad time w no guitar after graduation but good that Julian got you back on track. Love the passion here and agree there’s always something new to learn.

About Autumn Leaves, you can practice and prepared a few thing.

1) Practice R 3 7 Swing Groove with strumming.

2) Practice R 3 7 Swing Groove with finger picking.

3) Practice triad inversions on top 3 string set: Cm F Bb Eb Adim D Gm G etc.,

4) Learn specific ii V jazzy phrases and specific 7th arpeggios,

Each topic will take some time and need to practice everyday for 10-15 minutes.
2 - 3 weeks or more. Write all down (what to do) and read those everyday.
Don't rush, Don't expect too fast!

Keep going! It took me for a while to read your notes 3 times!
Maybe practice write everything in one page so you can also review what you wrote as many as you can. So you should read this 3 times and watch that video 3 times and think about what would you like to improve your playing from what you have prepared.

Tomo

Hi Sunny/Kim Sun Ho (not sure which name you prefer - let us know!),
I just want to say… thank you. Really. The fact that you took the time to sit down and reflect like this, and then actually share it with everyone, is incredibly generous. Posts like this help more people than you probably realize. A lot of what you wrote is what others feel but don’t always have the words for.

I can feel how sincere you are about this whole process. The frustration from the first year, the jumping around, the jam session disaster/best lesson (which honestly is such a rite of passage), the perfectionism, the injury, the bursts of intensity… all of it is very human. And it takes courage to say those things out loud.

What really stands out to me is how your focus shifted. From wanting to “play like the greats” to realizing you couldn’t keep time. From chasing more to going deep on fewer things. From filling space to actually hearing the band. That’s a massive difference. You can’t fake that kind of awareness.

I also love how much you’re listening — going to live shows, different genres, letting yourself be moved by things that have nothing to do with “being good at jazz.” That curiosity and openness are part of being a musician. It all counts.
And the part about not wanting to pick up the guitar unless you’re ready for a “real session”? So many people feel that. Thank you for being honest about it.

Your “save point” idea is beautiful. A year from now, you’ll probably hear things you want to improve — that never really goes away — but the quality of your effort matters more than the output. It’s the process that shapes you. And it’s obvious how much care you’re putting into becoming a musician. Be proud of that.

We’re really lucky to have you in this community. Thanks for sharing this with us.

- Sammi