Zen and the Art of Music Appreciation

There is a LOT more to being a musician than just knowing chords and notes.  Music is even more about listening than doing.  It is key to accompany your music lessons with music appreciation.  

When I was a kid I started out listening to Metallica, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and the Dead Kennedys.  As I started to learn guitar I got more into the Who, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and Led Zeppelin.  It made sense.  That for me was beginning rock guitar.

I started to listen to everything I could get my hands on.  But not only listening to the music, but I read every interview and news article I could find on the musicians themselves.  That led me to start listening to folk and blues, even some country.  I was discovering what had influenced those early rock musicians.  Then I was led back and back.  Soon I was listening to every form of music I could.  World music, jazz, blues, reggae, rock, pop and then I found classical.

The more I listened, the more I wanted to learn how to do different things I heard.  And what is really fun is when you can take something you heard and apply it in a different music style.

Obviously if you decided to start learning the guitar, you like music.  Keep listening!  But read too.  It’s an interesting journey.  Like Black Sabbath?  It’s amazing when you find out that Ozzy wanted to be in the Beatles.  So go listen to the Beatles, read about their influences.  Soon you will be listening to Phil Spector pop and R&B from the early 60’s, or read that they met Bob Dylan who got them to leave lovey dovey pop and go in a more socially conscious direction.  Follow the influences and you will find yourself listening to Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie.  It’s a journey that will open your mind.  If you can leave your preconceived notions of music behind you, you will find a world of amazing possibilities which will allow you to become a real musician rather than just a guitar picker!