Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Hi everyone, thanks again for joining the livestream!

This thread is a place to observe, reflect, and learn from each other as we explore the same idea: Listening. I've included a brief overview of what was discussed in the stream below. You can watch/review the full stream on the Guitar Wisdom playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLENaipLZZvuSe09K52-fo1VPMLrWfJa46

The idea: Listening - Deep listening or listening like a musician is a skill that can be developed over time and a process that can greatly influence your playing. Sometimes it is listening over and over again while truly feeling the groove or emotion of the song; other times, it is transcribing and studying a song in great detail. The idea is that when you hear a song so many times and pay attention to what's going on in the music, you internalize it, you gain experience, and you learn something.

Tomo's Examples: A "great example" is a "short, organized, tight" song. A song that makes you feel something and is clear/simple enough to transcribe.
- Everyday I Have The Blues (sense of phrasing)
- Blue Monk (sense of rhythm)
- Amazing Grace (sense of melody and space)
Each song has something different to teach you. The process is how you gain experience. Mistakes are welcome.

I'm sure I am missing a few important points, but I'll have to review the stream :)
I know we didn't get to answer every question in the chat, so please add your questions and comments to this thread.

Reminder: We are here to help each other! Be kind to yourself, share honestly, and don't be afraid to share something you found helpful. Together, we can learn better.

Have a great weekend!
Sammi

First time catching livestream. Thank you Team GW! Two take aways I wrote down in notebook: 1. Learn One Thing From One Person. 2. Always Try Song in Another Key (for learning and never know what magic might happen.)

Like that fourth catty song at 1:10:19. That's a whammy bar master class.

No but thank you for the stream for everyone, and have a great weekend!
Different songs for different purposes, and finding the parents/grandparents of the material were the main takeaways for me - and the free meal from Tomo.

Btw. I remember seeing Amazing Grace sometimes in one of the song lesson sections. Perhaps I remember wrong..

Considering everything we talked about today, listening, rhythm, phrasing, melody, and spacing, it made me think of how I should balance the time I spend on practicing one thing. I suppose that, with time, we learn to rely on intuition to juggle different topics.

I've continued practicing the fundamentals (chromatic, 1212, 1-string major scale), but I've focused on the Bb Jazz Blues Solo Etude. And I love all the variations that are helping me improve my technique. Sometimes, I get so focused on taking my time and learning technique that I almost forget other things I've been practicing.

But I have a sense, as Tomo does, that I should narrow my focus to fundamentals and simplify the scope of my learning.
My question is, what is the best way to balance all these different things? Should I follow my intuition or ?