Revellian

Thoughts and Fiction of Bobby Revell

Posts Tagged guitarist

The Beer Swizzling Dope Smoking Guitar Student

Feb 20

Posted by Bobby Revell in guitar, Humor, life personal

I got a new job this week! The reason I decided to get a real job is because I haven’t paid taxes in three years…haha. So, what do I do for a living? Currently, I teach guitar lessons, which I’ve been doing off and on since I was a teenager. My business is steady and relies 100% on word of mouth advertising. I also repair, rebuild and occasionally refinish guitars. If you’re interested, I wrote about my career as a guitar design engineer in Jobs and Careers: My Journey to Happiness. I also repair computers but that’s another story.

I have people tell me all the time, “Wow, that sounds like a fun job!”

It can be fun but not always. I have 17 students right now, which about average – sometimes I’ll get an influx of new people, but most don’t last; I’m a very serious instructor and cannot teach beginners. Before I’ll consider teaching someone, I prefer they have several years of experience and already know how to read music.

I will occasionally take a beginner but only if they are serious. When it comes to young kids wanting to play guitar, 90% of the time it’s a parent that just wants them out of the house for an hour. I have a friend who teaches those kinds of kids and he has no problem taking their money even though he knows they are wasting their money. I can’t do that; I demand they actually practice.

Last week, I had a guy come by for his first lesson (I was recommended to him through a friend, so I accepted because I trust his judgment). The guy is in his early 30′s, plays professionally, has long greasy looking hair and is covered in tattoos – basically, he looks like Slash from Guns N’ Roses. I get a lot of guys who have played rock music for years but get to the point where they want to learn more about Jazz and music theory, which is my specialty.
He walks in my house with a guitar nestled under his arm, a partial six-pack of beer in his left hand, an open beer in his right and a lit cigarette in his crusty mouth. He says, “Yo dude, what’s up…is Bobby here?”

I said, “I’m Bobby.”

“What?…no way dude, you don’t look like the guitarist my boy told me about. Is this the right house?” he belched out.

“Yo dude…like, you know man…I don’t mean to be rude, but like…you need to put that beer back in your car, put that cigarette out…and yes, this is the right house, my name is Bobby. If you are serious about lessons here, you need to show it.” I firmly asserted, sounding like a dimwit surfer dude…haha! (my “boy” failed to tell me about his bad habits!)

I wasn’t very excited about my new student to say the least (I really don’t care what he does in his free time, but I take my lessons seriously). So, we are sitting there with our guitars and he says, “You don’t look like a guitarist…well, impress me or something so I can decide if I want to pay you for lessons.”

I busted out laughing, I just couldn’t help it – this guy was a perfect example of why I’ve lost some of my love for teaching. I told him to play a ii-v-i chord progression through the cycle of fourths and I would solo. Before he could say anything I said, “On four…one, two, three…”

With head tilted and eyebrows cocked, he said, “Hold on dude…what? Say all that in English.”

He pulled out a bag of marijuana and said, “We should get high first, that way I can concentrate.”

I ended the lesson at that point! What is the world coming to? Before he left, I charged him $17.50 for the 30 wasted minutes (it took him nearly that long to actually sit down). I think I hurt his feelings when I told him that I was a guitar teacher not a baby sitter, and he didn’t “qualify as a student”. I told him to not feel bad, I normally charge $30.00 for 30 minutes, which I discounted just for him!

What does a guitarist look like? I guess my beer swizzling, dope smoking student has that down pat – just not the playing part (hey, at least Slash actually can play). When I go to the IRS to pay back taxes, I’ll tell my case manager – with a psychedelic bandanna wrapped around my head and pungent liquor breath, “You don’t look like an IRS agent…can we get high before we start? It helps me concentrate!”

I will tell you all about my new job in an upcoming post along with the reasons I already despise it! :mrgreen:

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Jobs and Careers: My Journey to Happiness

Jun 13

Posted by Bobby Revell in life personal, thought

A friend of mine here in the blogosphere, Randy Maness , wrote about how he felt his life was going nowhere. He’s a young guy and is at a crossroad that many of us face in our lives. It stirred up a lot of memories and I have the answer to his dilemma. I have to tell you a little about myself so you all will get my point.

I have a great mom who taught me how to read before I started kindergarten. The first book I read was The Swiss Family Robinson and I was so proud I read aloud to all who would listen. It’s amazing how a good parent can make reading fun at that age, so I am fortunate.

I started college as a food science major, became bored and switched to a music major. I am a lifelong guitarist who can read music and improvise; I practiced sometimes ten hours a day every day and never became the least bit uninterested. As a music major in school I made good grades, but it sucked the inspiration out of me. You can’t teach art or music to anyone. You can show them the mechanics and theories but they must teach themselves in the end. You can only teach them how to teach themselves!

I switched my major to biochemistry and to this day I’ll never know why. I have but 17 credit hours remaining to earn my degree, but I had grown to hate how it was taught. Most graduates will have a job which will be factory-like work. You do step by step what you are instructed and you’ll retire doing the same thing. The lucky students or natural geniuses get all the jobs inventing and discovering. That is the education systems fault. They expect you to be mediocre and the few star students will shine. An example is students are taught formulas in math so they can solve problems. Just plug in the numbers and boom, there’s your answer. That’s the problem right there. They should be taught how to understand the theory and derive their own formulas. They won’t need to remember which formula to use and they actually understand how it works! However, when the system expects mediocrity they teach mediocrity.

I quit college my last semester and moved to Phoenix Arizona to study Luthiery. No, it’s not a religion; it is the art of building guitars by hand. I loved it and to this day have handmade over 250 guitars. Upon graduation I was amazingly hired as a guitar design engineer for Peavey Electronics Corporation in Meridian Mississippi. This was a great job and the company wanted to change their reputation for making the industries worst instruments. It was a dream come true.

Then came the political nightmare I sensed even before I started. There is a showcase of every music instrument manufacturer on earth every year in Anaheim California called the NAMM show. It was just after Christmas and we faced the impossible task of handbuilding 75 or so custom shop level guitars. Each must be perfect as most were signature models for famous rock stars. The big star at the time was Eddie Van Halen from the band Van Halen. I worked for one-hundred and twenty-seven hours without sleep only stopping to use the bathroom and eat. Thats 127 hours of misery I’ll never forget. My feet and calves turned black from all the weird crouching that happens doing this type of work. My hands were shaking and I was in a stupor of exhaustion. They told me to go home, shower and come right back to fly to Anaheim for the five day show! I was told I’d be fired if I didn’t go.

The owner of the company, Hartley Peavey, staged photographs of how he and Eddie Van Halen built the guitars and gave a speech at the show before thousands to display the pictures on a big screen. Now tell me that wouldn’t make you want to throw his body in a lake somewhere. Soon after, I quit the job I had dreamed of all my life.

I have dozens of other certifications in so many types of jobs, I couldn’t begin to list them all without some research. I have finally come to the answer I wish I had known 15 years ago. I want to work for myself. I am working on several things now that make me happy. I’m writing two books and learning the skills needed for success on the web. I love it and have found my calling! Do what makes you happy. Like my friend at that point in his life trying to decide, I stressed loving the job should be the criteria for choosing one. Remember, even if you love your job it may turn out to be a nasty divorce. I wish the real world weren’t full of these situations, but it is – and loving a job was never meant to be that hard.

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Bobby Revell’s Guitar Advice 03-08-07

Mar 9

Posted by Bobby Revell in guitar

I have always been a “fast” guitar player pretty much–It seems natural to me. For you practice freaks you will relate to this: Originally when I developed my first fast scale it was starting on a down stroke on a 3 note per string pattern. Down-up-down-down (I used 2 down strokes when changing strings like Frank Gambale) and I alternate picked when descending.

Then one day I saw Paul Gilbert’s Intense Rock Instructional video (holy shit!!!). Well, I couldn’t strictly alternate pick an ascending scale to save my life. Anyway, It took five years to develop this skill–it was like starting over from scratch! I think most guitarists have their own main way of picking. I then studied after all that how Frank Gambale picked. especially his way of sweep picking a pentatonic scale in 4 note groupings.

This technique felt impossible–so I had to start over AGAIN! It has taken seven years to get this down! I figured Gambale can’t alternate pick well and Paul Gilbert is an alternate picker in its most metered extreme but he does not play Gambale’s method.

The answer is LEARN BOTH!!! Every way a pattern can be played should be mastered by using every technique possible. I practice all scales, etc. starting with a downstroke or up stroke at full speed, the point being it doesn’t matter because I’m comfortable with both. If for example you cannot shred a descending scale when you start with an upstroke then make that your main technique goal!

THEN. . .I studied Shawn Lane’s technique. This will take the rest of my life because his technique is what I’ve been talking about with my method. He has his own ultra efficient way. Really you should realize that a “technique” or a “method” will limit you. . .thats why it’s really a “concept” where you figure all this out on your own. The way of no way like Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do.

I think a fantastic book is Mick Goodrick’s The Advancing Guitarist–you really should read it! Shawn Lane truly inspired me in a new way, like I believe my ability is Limitless! I am heavily into my own intervallic style and I don’t use “scales” any more (there’s too many) just like Marty Friedman once said to do.

I think in terms of harmony, you know, chords. My philosophy is if it seems like it’s too difficult then I HAVE to make it my reason for living! You maintain what you can do (20% of your practice time) and go through hell learning what you can’t (80 % of your practice time). Anyway, stay inspired at all times and Play your guitar!

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