James Lee Stanley

I had my second guitar lesson last Wednesday. It was my intention to talk about how I took advantage of the lesson and came right home and went over the very things that I had learned.

But life took over. I came back to the house, there were little emergencies to take care of and when I finally got to look over the lesson, it was Saturday.

So my first recommendation today is that when you take a lesson or learn something, anything, from someone else. When you return from that lesson that you immediately go over what it is that the teacher showed you.

It is important to do that while it is still fresh in your mind. By waiting several days to address what I should have been addressing every single day, I was adrift and clumsy.

What Chuck gave me was the tablature for a Robben Ford guitar solo, as well as a variation on a standard blues progression that Robben came up with.

First of all, I’m learning tablature, so I have to put my ears on hold and use my eyes to translate the tablature into finger positions. As a professional musician with a trained ear, I know where to go and what to do just by hearing it.

But if I allow that to take over, then I don’t learn the tablature, so I’m slowing going over it as I look at it and translate the symbols to my fingers.

My goal is to able to read that the way I type; unconsciously and transparently. I just think it and it goes on the page. That’s the tablature goal. I just look at it and it translates to my fingers, and like wise, I can write it so fast that when people request tablature for my songs, they can get it.

Another goal is to have a book of tablature of my songs, as I get so many requests for the tablature for my guitar orchestrations. So you see, once I master this tablature thing, it may develop into another income stream, and in this economy, that’s a big deal.

So this is what you must take away from today: Go over what you have been taught as soon as you get home; at the very least on the same day that you were given that information or lesson. Go over it as soon as possible and go over it every day.

The toughest thing to recognize and to implement is the fact that repetition is what gives you the authority, and the authority is what gives you the freedom when you are performing or just playing your instrument.