Mike Stern is one of those formidable names in jazz/fusion/rock you won't want to mess with. His latest offering, Trip, which I purchased late last year was another serving of wonderful contemporary jazz- a worthy trip indeed (forgive the pun).
I was aware that the recording of Trip was done post-accident after Mike Stern got well enough to get things going again. The tragedy involved a fall from a ladder that broke both his arms/hands. The mishap required extensive surgery which stretched over months after consulting different physicians.
What I didn't know was that he suffered nerve damage & it left a permanent deformity which affected the picking hand (as seen above). It's unbelievable because after listening to Trip there were no signs of the other Mike Stern whose hands got temporarily destroyed by an accident. There's a simple understanding to all this according to Mike Stern himself- grit & the embrace of limitations. More often than not, we are simply unhappy people because of our under-accomplishments. Individuals like Mike Stern see life beyond current limitations; it's forging ahead with one's abilities, not disabilities.
I managed to play some guitar today before leaving for lunch, struggling to make out some insane techniques to deal with 4-notes-per-string legato. The struggle was real. It brought out the worst in my picking-fretting coordination & control. I was cursing my short fingers, the guitar's action got the brunt as well (but actually, the action had been the same all this while)- so much blaming without trying to figure out how to overcome the hiccup within my abilities. So the final 10min of play saw me sorting things out pertaining to whatever shortcomings needed to be addressed & going round what I could not accomplish, replacing them with my own interpretation of how things should be. That final 10min was indeed the most satisfying & this is how things should be when we are faced with aberrations; thinking of knowledgeable solutions should be it. It's never about replicating how others did it.
I managed to play some guitar today before leaving for lunch, struggling to make out some insane techniques to deal with 4-notes-per-string legato. The struggle was real. It brought out the worst in my picking-fretting coordination & control. I was cursing my short fingers, the guitar's action got the brunt as well (but actually, the action had been the same all this while)- so much blaming without trying to figure out how to overcome the hiccup within my abilities. So the final 10min of play saw me sorting things out pertaining to whatever shortcomings needed to be addressed & going round what I could not accomplish, replacing them with my own interpretation of how things should be. That final 10min was indeed the most satisfying & this is how things should be when we are faced with aberrations; thinking of knowledgeable solutions should be it. It's never about replicating how others did it.
No comments:
Post a Comment