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Good Books on Playing


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Posted

Hey all,

 

I was wondering if any of you have come across any good reading (the words kind - not the notes kind) on playing and performance stuff?

 

I finished "Effortless Mastery" a book on performance and the effect of ego on your performances. It was a great read. Some of it got a bit tree huggerish for me (he is into meditation and all that - not that I judge that just not really my thing) The messages were great though and I took a lot from it.

 

I also read Guitar Zen. Another good read - some of the quotes were fabulous! But it was all feel good zen stuff. Some good approaches. For me I liked Effortless Mastery far better.

 

Anyway just wondering if you guys have come across any?

 

Thanks!!

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Posted

Zen Guitar is one of my favorites.

 

The Inner Game of Music and The Mastery of Music by Barry Green are both good, as is The Perfect Wrong Note by William Westney.

 

In Search of Duende by Federico Lorca has some interesting ideas about flamenco.

 

On Practicing by Ricardo Iznaola is one of my favorites as well.

 

I also enjoy reading biographies of musicians I admire.

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Posted

 

Zen Guitar is one of my favorites.


The Inner Game of Music and The Mastery of Music by Barry Green are both good, as is The Perfect Wrong Note by William Westney.


In Search of Duende by Federico Lorca has some interesting ideas about flamenco.


On Practicing by Ricardo Iznaola is one of my favorites as well.


I also enjoy reading biographies of musicians I admire.

 

 

Jasco, just curious - if you could pare that down to one of those that you feel helped your most which would it be? I may as well start at the top : )

 

I will probably check em all out eventually

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Posted

Hmm... tough question.

 

They all helped in different ways.

 

On Practicing was a big help in making my training sessions effiecient and not being overwhelmed by the volume of material that needs to be worked on.

 

Zen Guitar is less of a practical application to playing guide, and more of a philisophical approach to why we play. But it really helps me keep in a great attitude about music, which in turn makes it more fun, which in turn makes me want to play more, which in turn helps me improve my skills. And as a side benefit, it makes me want to help others with playing queries more if I can.

 

The Inner Game, Mastery of Music, and The Perfect Wrong Note are similar in ways. And they are written from non-guitaristic points of view. They all fall somewhere between On Practicing's practicality and Zen Guitar's philosophy.

 

In Search of Duende is interesting. First, I don't think the translation to English is particularly well done. About a third of the book is poetry (again, translation problems). It has some passages that are either archaic references I don't get, bad translation, or intellectual postering on the part of the author. However, when you peel all that back, it has some interesting things to say about playing with soul vs. technique. (Deunde is the flamenco word for 'soul', kind of...)

 

So, I don't know if that answers your question, but maybe it sheds a bit more light on the books.

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Posted

Hi Jeremy!

 

For me the "Inner Game" book changed my life years ago. I read the others, but that really connected with me. I hope that helps.

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Posted

Thanks guys,

 

Over the years what I have come to realize is how important your headspace is with becoming a better player. As a young punk I totally overlooked (or never even thought about) that aspect of playing. All I focused on was the mechanics of playing.

 

Thanks for your input I will end up reading em all!

 

Check out Effortless Mastery - it was a real good read

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Posted

Yeh - another plug for The Inner Game of Music from me too. A really good book, alot of the stuff in there is so bloody obvious when you read it you'll want to kick yourself up the butt for not realising it yourself :p

 

I read the The Mastery of Music by the same author but didn't really get a huge amount out of that one...

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