Meet the family: Joey

”Here is where you start: Play one note on one string and pour in every ounce of your heart and soul. Then repeat.”

Meet Joey (and of course the gorgeous woman pictured with Joey is Kate). Joey is the classical guitar I came across in a pawnbroker shop in Tamworth – a town known for being the Country Music Capital. For this reason I picked my Joey up as a complete bargain. It seems to be hard to appreciate a classical guitar in a town that is centred around the world’s longest line dancing record attempt every year. The woman in the shop was hell bent on telling me that the little blue steel string piece of mass-produced crap sitting next to this one was much better.

Joey is a dynamo for me. It has a gorgeous comfortable neck that just makes me want to play. I can feel the back purr against my chest as I strike the deeper notes. It is easily the guitar in my collection that I have most identified with, and been immediately comfortable with. It’s brought out a deeper emotional connection in my classical playing.

I came across the above quote in a book I’ve been dipping into lately - Zen Guitar. I’m not a fan of the way it’s been written, which causes me to keep putting it down, but some of the thinking is great. It strikes me that the body of this quote is a major reason that Joey and I have clicked so well. I named this guitar to somebody that I am not afraid to pour my soul into, and it reflects in the instrument and my attitude toward playing it. Through this, my playing has more of an emotional focus than a technical one. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a control obsessive who would rather do two hours of technique practise than actually learn a new piece, but now I’m listening more to how I express myself musically, and giving my soul that form of expression.

A nonmusician is thrilled to be doing music and is quite happy to sit there and plunk one note all day. And is very alert to the effect of that. Nonmusicians really listen sometimes, because that’s the only thing they have available to them.
- Brian Eno

I took Joey with me to meet Kate this weekend. It was an amazing experience. I spend most of my days introducing students to guitar with the expectation that they learn something straight away. That’s what I’m paid to do – give you a guitar, sit you down, help you play. Have you come out of a half hour lesson with material that keeps you interested and has built your knowledge. And that expectation is reflected by the students as well. They want to play, they want to be a musician now. With Kate, there was no expectation. I let her experience the Joey in her own way and I was fascinated. She listened, she experienced the sounds that she produced in a totally different manner to anybody I’d ever watched before. She related to it by listening to the sounds and making an emotional connection with them.

The shame is that I cannot teach this way – there needs to be a little more forward motion. However the experience has made me revisit the wonder of striking just one note and hearing it for the first time. The Hey! I made that sound happen! feeling of accomplishment these kids I teach must have. I can appreciate it more, and allow them the time to appreciate their achievement too.