A question about the path

[ptolemydjones]

I would like some advice about re-learning.
I am 55; have been playing since age 14. More or less self taught (I had a number of guitar "demonstrators" who called themselves "teachers".) I have been playing jazz since 1986 or so (as Jamie points out in a very good essay, it is a long road...). Between 2008 and 2011, I gigged about twice a week for pay - good enough, but I clearly felt I had hit a wall - technique was stuck, and I was struggling with new material, with scales.... In September 2011, I began an immersion experience as a graduate student of business, and I have not played a note on the guitar since. So here's the challenge: I would like to resume practice in May so that I can return to regular playing in September. I see this as an opportunity - and opportunity to not merely pick up the guitar and repeat all the bad habits and limiting muscle memory I had accumulated... BUT I don't understand how to begin. I have had the PoCP4G for about six years, and somehow, I just haven't internalized what to DO... I get the Concepts/Understandings... but I just don't know how to manage a half-hour of personal -intentional - practice. I've read the book carefully a dozen times: what am I missing? Please help.
James Todd

[willobird]

Hi James,
I noticed that nobody answered your post, so I thought I would throw out my idea. It seems that you are having trouble getting into the right state of mind when you are using the "Principles" book. Put aside everything you know, or think you know. Think of yourself as learning something completely new. I think Jamie wrote something on what is called the "beginner's mind." The idea of beginner's mind is that you temporarily set all this aside, on purpose, for a little while, and just go ahead and do the exercise that the teacher suggests--no matter how illogical, or insignificant, or meaningless it may seem to be--merely so that you can see what your experience is. It is a form of mindfulness or being totally in the present moment. I hope this can be of some help to you.

[Jamie]

Thanks for that Cherly, sometimes a post slips through the cracks!

James, I would recommend a webcam with me. Then, you will know exactly how to conduct a half hour practice session,