My Grade 1 Graduate Recital

As promised; the current state of how well I can play this piece from the Mel Bay Grade 1 book that I first had when I was about 14 years old.

This is basically how I sound when I just pick up the guitar and play the thing; complete with about a dozen "mistakes." Some are mistakes of omission, where I kept going, hoping that the note I missed wasn't that important, but, most importantly; not breaking stride.

Breaking Stride

The tendency to want to stop, after any kind of mistake, and take it again from the top, can be a hindrance, and it's important to keep going, in case you go on to play very stylishly all the way to the end, and that little mistake remains the only one in an otherwise spiffy performance of the song; one that would then be worth the effort of "fixing," by playing another guitar along with yourself on a second track, not making the same mistake, and then overwriting that little bit of audio with it.
Yes, we have come a long way since the days when the vinyl would be cut in a "direct to disc" fashion, and at the end of the performance, there would already be one vinyl record of it.
Having to judge whether or not the mistake is fatal, and the song should be started over again from the top is not something that can coexist in the mind with thoughts of relaxing and having fun and trying to be entertaining.

In one sense, it is liberating and takes the pressure off to have made a mistake early on and deemed: "I'm going to wind up deleting this one, but I might as well play through it for practice' sake." and the stuff after the mistake can wind up being pretty well played. Then, when you get to the end, you can wrap right around to the start again and play through the spot where the original mistake was; and then cut, paste, voila! Then put it on Soundcloud and link it to your blog.

I have an holistic belief surrounding music, whereby, by the time I have achieved the ability to play the simplest song and make it sound very nice, it will be reflected "globally," and my most advanced and complicated original songs, I will also be able to make sound very nice.

And, I probably would be getting along with my fellow man well at the time, might even be "in love," would be eating a very healthy diet, etc. They say that you can recreate a holographic image from any part of it, no matter how small the particle.

It would be as if you heard someone speak a short, simple phrase, and she said it so eloquently that you would have no qualms about hiring her there, on the spot, to do a reading of a long dialogue (to be podcast, or something). You wouldn't have to hear her run through the whole thing; you could pretty much figure that she will sound pretty eloquent.

So, yeah, I think I can use a song like "Carry Me Back" to gauge my proficiency on the instrument, which will overlap onto the stuff I'm trying to do to become a world renowned artist.

But, as far as busking is involved, it is kind of amusing to myself that, when I began to make up words to go over the song (which just has to begin with the title words, because the syllables fit perfectly, and because I think it was kind of the custom "back then," to immediately identify a song within it's opening notes. It answers the question of "What song is this?" right away, kind of thing...) I can actually play it better.

Certainly, there is no time to think "I just flubbed a note, should I hit stop and do it over?" while at the same time, trying to make up words that's syllables fall on the melody notes. So, I think the best that I have played the Bland song to date was during one of the times when I was goofing around and making up words to it. That is comforting, given how much I do that at the Lilly Pad, to know that I'm probably keeping the chords going at least recognizably, underneath my free-styling.

I still haven't memorized it; so I am stuck at that spot of taking it one measure at a time, as I encounter it on the sheet.

Having something memorized allows you to phrase things better; knowing what's coming helps you, simply stated.
8 Dollar Wednesday
I went and sold my plasma for 15 dollars.

I had to go to the Family Dollar, rather than Wal-Mart, to get cash off the thing, as the former will give an amount as small as 10 dollars back.

They charge a 1 dollar fee to do so, though.

Of course they do. They are in Gretna, which is a land of confusion, fraught with peril everywhere.
I left the apartment at 2 PM. I should have taken a sweatshirt, an umbrella, the mosquito repellent that I've had since I was homeless and a book to read.

I only took the book and the mosquito stuff.

It can always rain in Gretna.

There are swarms of mosquitoes at the bus stop where I usually wait, where a bus can be an hour late, as demonstrated last week.

The driver might leave you stranded with the mosquitoes at the stop; and the temperature can drop suddenly there, as demonstrated last night.

I came out of the plasma place, wearing only my M.A.S.H. tee shirt. It is too big for me, and so it billows up in the wind, and fills with cold air.
I broke into a jog just to try to warm up.
I had to leave my bag up front at the Family Dollar, and then forgot it there, after noticing the time and that I had only a couple minutes to run 200 yards to the bus stop. So, tomorrow (Friday) if I go back to the plasma place to get 25 dollars, I will have to remember to go back there to get my Wallace Stegner book and my mosquito repellent.