What's it all about, Alfie?

I gave my neighbour Ben a ride to the supermarket. He has a bung eye and doesn't drive. When you're in a confined space with Ben you don't have to talk. You only have to listen because Ben is not at all interested in what you have to say. "My grandson is a brilliant guitarist. Really brilliant. He's teaching it now and making money, and he's still at school!" While you don't get a chance to comment, you can think replies. That's what I do when I'm with Ben.

Richard thinks, "But what do you really know about guitar playing Ben? Have you ever tried to play a guitar? I've been playing guitar since I was about fourteen. That's fifty nine years. I've taught a lot of people guitar. Sometimes, just sometimes, people aren't as good as some people think."

As you know, I spent last week playing in an art gallery (violin). People seemed to like my playing. Quite a few people told me about people they know who had learnt a bit of violin. Some told me about family members who are great guitarists. I guess that, in the arts, everybody can have an individual opinion of what words like talent and gifted mean. It's the old concept of 'how big is your glass?'

There's a guitar teacher who pops up regularly on Facebook. He preaches that you don't need theory or scales to be a great guitarist. Maybe he's right, but here's the catch - he teaches the one series of notes that you'll ever have to learn. He says that this shape can be moved all over the guitar. Amazing! But here's the catch... that shape is a three octave major scale. Hello! Once you use that major scale, you're exposing yourself to seven modes (like other scales) that sit just below the surface. I think that he refers to modes with names like happy, sad and melancholic. He's finding all the emotions within his one magic fingering.

Quite a few people don't really like jazz because they hear 'wrong' notes. Maybe they're too used to hearing pentatonic scales and nothing much else? There are quite a few good young violinists at a school I work at. I don't teach them because they have private teachers. Everything these guys play is written down. They are readers. The written music is calling the shots. Always. 

There are only twelve different notes in our western tempered music system. Seven of them are found in the major scale. That only leaves five notes. Let's imagine this in the key of C major (the scale is C D E F G A B). Bb could be used to turn C major into C7 (dominant 7). Now we have four notes left - Db D# F# & G# - in that order, b9, #9, #4 and #5. I guess that those last four might sometimes sound a bit strange to some people. I see these notes as beautiful colours.

So, what if people don't like what I'm doing on the violin? Tough shit!

* * *

So, what's happening around the blogs?

Peter (aka The Curmudgeon) wrote a short post for Robert about McDonald Trump trying to get into Heaven. Oops, I might have spelt his name wrong. Ah well, it doesn't really matter in this land of no proofreading. Robert wrote a comment wishing McDonald luck, 

"I wish him luck. If he wants to be one of God's chosen race, his saints, he should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness, and in humility, gentleness and patience. Then over those clothes put on love. Col:3.12."

Robert wrote a short post explaining that he really didn't have time to post.

He did also mention something about cleaning his car.

Rob did find time to give me some musical advice on my last post. 

Well, that's it.

Don't trust the Catholic church and its teachings.

Did you know that, at St. Patrick's College Silverstream, they have a photo of an ex-principal who was a paedophile. They're refusing to take it down. Sheesh!*

Sii gentile.

* I borrowed that from Peter.