Zen Guitar - Will Mean Different Things to Different People

- by Clarelynn Rose / Heartwood Music

One of the cornerstones of Zen Guitar is that, as we are unique people, so will our experience with the guitar be unique. Each person discovers his or her own way. In my experience, the practice of Zen guitar means many things.

Technique and Composition

Learning new technique arises out of need and direct experience. When you have a musical idea that cannot be adequately expressed through techniques or tunings you already know, that is the time to experiment with new techniques or new tunings. These may be techniques or tunings you discover for yourself. Or perhaps you have heard someone else do something that deeply resonates with you musically. Often these ideas or tunings will come to mind when you are pushing your usual boundaries. Or they may resonate so strongly with you that they themselves inspire you.

In my own experience, I learned simply by playing what sounded good to my ear, using technique that feels very natural and comfortable to my own fingers. As I have needed to express more complex musical ideas, the technique has come very organically through practicing licks or techniques that were slightly beyond my grasp. If something doesn't come naturally, I figure it will always sound a little stilted and so look for another way to play it. Of course, sometimes someone will demonstrate a cool technique or tuning that completely captures my imagination, so even if it doesn't feel completely natural, I'll work at it to see if after a lot of practice it starts to feel right. But if it still feels awkward, the decision is always to drop it. Zen guitar is about finding a true, very natural voice, not about making every voice sound natural and true to a single individual!

The Breath

Before you start to play, take a breath. Just as in meditation, it helps you (and other listening to you) focus on the present moment and the music being played.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness has many aspects, extending to composing, practicing, and performing. In composing, it might mean being aware of the value of and using emptiness and space. It also means recognizing and valuing the peaceful, centered feeling that Zen guitar music can generate, whether the music is mellow or joyous. Another example is that mindfulness can foster a feeling of completeness with only one instrument. There is no need to fill up the spaces in the music and our minds with a lot of instruments or a driving drumbeat.In practicing guitar, another manifestation of mindfulness is to expect and even welcome mistakes. They contain wonderful ideas. And in performing, mindfulness can mean things like remembering to connect with the audience and to remain humble, recognizing ourselves simply as a conduit of music.

Personally, I use space in several ways. Most obvious is the use long pauses and sustained notes in many of my pieces. A different kind of space is letting compositions "breathe", taking as much time as they need to develop. Nothing is rushed, because if a composition is forced, it will sound forced. When practicing, I listen to mistakes and then decide whether or not to discard them. And in performing, I constantly remind myself that the true purpose of performing is for the benefit of others, connecting with people through a shared musical experience.

Humility

Playing Zen guitar is about exploring a way to communicate with others. Those of us exploring Zen guitar are blessed with an inclination towards music, a desire to play, and some level of natural talent. These are gifts to be shared with others. A second aspect of humility is to recognize that all things are our teacher, and that techings that will allow us to advance in our study of guitar are all around us all the time.

An important lesson came from my Tai Chi teacher in China years ago. It is an old Chinese saying: "The ten thousand things (all things) become my teacher." That is, you have something to learn from every person and every thing. That includes beginning guitarists and even people who don't play guitar. One of my important lessons in playing guitar came from an autistic child who could hardly utter a word. The Zen guitarist tries to remain open to all teachers.

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The way I've found is Zen Guitar.

Zen Guitar is nothing more than playing the song we're all born with inside--the one that makes us human. Any one of us can do it. The music is waiting there to be unlocked.

This dojo will give you the key.

My intention here is to share what I've learned in the hope it might encourage you to strum a new song in the world. As the name implies, Zen Guitar is based largely on the principles of zen philosophy. Zen is most easily understood as a common-sense approach to all things. Some people come to know zen through meditation, others through the martial arts, or archery, or flower arranging. All these are paths to the same wisdom.

Here we seek to know zen through music.

What is the Zen Guitar Dojo?

I named this the Zen Guitar Dojo because it is a place of work and contemplation. Dojo is a Japanese word meaning, literally, "Place of the Way"--the ultimate Way of life and death that governs nature and the universe. It is through our endeavorsin the dojo that we discover the Way.

A good dojo is like a school, practice hall, and temple rolled into one. The aim is to train body, mind, and spirit together, at the same time.

You can make a dojo anywhere. Just as a believer does not need a house of worship to pray, a student of music needs no special place to play Zen Guitar. A bedroom, basement, garage, porch, or street corner will serve just fine. All that's required to make a dojo is the proper frame of mind.

What will I learn?

My approach to the guitar brings in various teachings from the zen arts of Asia: martial arts such as karate and aikido, brush-style calligraphy, samurai swordsmanship, and the Japanese tea ceremony. As in the tradition of these great arts, I believe that learning to play the guitar is inseparable from learning to harmonize body, mind, and spirit. To truly play from your soul, you must have all aspects of yourself working together as one. As you develop this harmony, it will carry through to everything you do. In other words, what you learn in this dojo will apply to your work, school, athletics, relationships, home life--how you think, see, feel, and hear all day long. Because ultimately, the path of Zen Guitar is the path of life itself.

How much musical experience do I need?

This dojo is for beginners and advanced students alike. I make no distinction between age or past experience. Anyone who wants to train here, regardless of ability, starts at the same point: wearing the white belt, just as one would in studying a martial art. Even a black belt in karate, for example, must put on a white belt when beginning the study of another martial art like judo. It is no different here, no matter how long you've been playing or who your other teachers have been.

Donning the white belt does not mean you are a novice, though there is no shame in being one. In fact, in many ways, novices have an advantage over those who come from other schools and may have to unlearn certain ways of thinking. Wearing the white belt merely signifies that you are willing to learn the Way of Zen Guitar.

What kind of instruction is it?

You should know from the beginning that Zen Guitar is not a conventional "how-to" program of instruction. It is "alternative," meaning it requires a do-it-yourself spirit. There are no chords or tunings or music theory in this dojo; you won't find lessons on how to read music, play the blues, fingerpick, or copy "Stairway to Heaven." All of that is information. Information is something you can get from a gamut of sources--magazines, books, classes, friends, videos, computer networks. The world is swimming in information. Any student with enough dedication knows how to acquire information.

But information alone cannot teach you what you need to know to play your song. At the Zen Guitar Dojo, our aim is not to acquire information, but wisdom. The idea here is to train and to experience; it is only through the experience of oursenses that we truly gain wisdom. One cannot learn Zen Guitar simply by reading. Just as no words can teach us how to ride a bicycle, the only way we learn to play our song is through the direct experience of our bodies. To learn through experience--that is the path of Zen Guitar. There is a zen saying, "Paths cannot be taught, they can only be taken." So it is with Zen Guitar.

How will I learn?

My function here will be to act as your guide. I do so in the spirit of the Japanese sensei--not "teacher," as the word is commonly translated, but literally, "one who has gone before." I do not claim to know all the answers. But what I have learned, I'll gladly share with those who wish to make a similar journey. If I can inspire you to follow your own path, this dojo will have served its purpose.

Those who train here I regard not as students, but unsui. In Japanese, unsui means traveling monk or truth-seeker. Literally, it translates as "cloud and water." To be an unsui is to embody the spirit of Zen Guitar--floating, flowing, at once with and without form. If you learn to view yourself in this way, your journey on the path of Zen Guitar will have no end.

How long will it take me to learn?

Beginning students often ask, "How long will it take me to learn the Way of Zen Guitar?" My answer is, as long as you live--that short. Your playing may progress enough to impress your friends in a year's time, perform onstage in two years, or turn professional in three. But if those are the ends you seek, your concern is not Zen Guitar. The Way of Zen Guitar is learned day by day, minute by minute, second by second, now, to eternity. There is no faster way.

Beginning students also commonly ask, "How long until I get my black belt?" To them I say, you'll never earn a black belt so long as you ask that question. To be obsessed with the destination is to remove the focus from where you are. The only way to progress in Zen Guitar is to put everything into this step, right now.
How will I progress?

While it's true that in some schools a student formally graduates from one belt level to the next, in the Zen Guitar Dojo, there is no such graduation. Students here receive one belt and one belt only: the white belt. Those who put in the time, training, and effort will find their belt getting so soiled that eventually it turns black of its own accord. Only then will they have achieved black belt status.In Zen Guitar, the black belt is not a goal or an end. At other schools, the black belt may signify ultimate achievement, but in Zen Guitar, it is only a point along the path. I have great respect for those who reach the black belt level; it takes sincere commitment. But the true Way of Zen Guitar asks black belt players to redouble their training until their belt becomes so worn and frayed it begins to lose color and returns to white. Only through completion of that circle--white to black, black to white--can one know the depth of the Way.

The Path of Zen Guitar

I have divided the teaching into five stages, each signifying progression along the path of Zen Guitar.

1. White Belt: Beginner's Mind

The first stage, White Belt, establishes the proper mindset for starting out on the path--a mindset the student must maintain every step thereafter. This is what's called the "beginner's mind."

2. White Belt to Black Belt: Practice

The second stage, White Belt to Black Belt, describes the kind of training and discipline needed to progress along the path. This is the work ethic one must maintain through all stages of growth. In this section I also warn of some common missteps that can lead one astray no matter how hard the training.

3. Black Belt: Responsibility

The third stage, Black Belt, explains the standard required for excellence, as well as the responsibilities. It describes the kind of thinking, feeling, and attitude required of a black belt. This is the level where body, mind, and spirit begin to fuse together.

4. Black Belt to White Belt: Barrier

The fourth stage, Black Belt to White Belt, explores the barrier that lies beyond technical excellence and leads to a deeper understanding of the Way.

5. White Belt: The Way of Zen Guitar

The last stage, White Belt, reveals the true Way of Zen Guitar.

I encourage students to think of these stages as broadly as possible. You may be a novice in the world of sound, but you're not a novice in life. Most likely, you're a black belt in some other area--carpentry, law, cooking, computer programming, skiing, whatever. Use that knowledge to understand the Way of Zen Guitar, and your training in Zen Guitar will take your existing skills to an even higher level.

Those of you already skilled in music can benefit from training here as well. I hear many guitarists with talent who seem to lack direction, who can't articulate a reason for doing what they do. The Way of Zen Guitar gives those players a sense of purpose. Not only that, it provides a framework from which to tackle any new task. Once you learn the principles of Zen Guitar, you can apply them to any endeavor outside of music. Follow the samurai maxim that says, "From one thing, know ten thousand things." Music can teach you everything you need to know.

If you're wondering when the discussion will turn to zen philosophy, don't concern yourself. Put your entire focus into playing the guitar. If you do that, in time, your questions will answer themselves.

For anyone who now wants to leave, thank you for your interest. You are always welcome to return--there is never a time when you cannot begin. The door to this dojo is always open. For those of you who choose to stay, please put on the white belt. You have taken the first step on the path.

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