Change and Age

I’m modifying my guitar style again, and it has me thinking of how changes are made as we age. First, about my guitar style, I've principally used three guitar fingering techniques throughout my career - flatpicking, fingerpicking with fingerpicks and thumbpick, and fingerpicking with bare fingers. If you've heard me play in the last few years you know that I mainly use bare fingers and have a very beat-driven style where I slap my thumb or the back of my fingers on the strings for a backbeat. In past years with fingerpicks I would click the fingerpicks on the top of the guitar. With a flatpick I would thump the strings or guitar top every so often with fingers or the pick. It took a long time and a lot of brain gymnastics and callous-building to develop each of these techniques. Now I am changing my technique by incorporating a thumbpick into my bare finger technique and by using fingers with my flatpick technique so I can fingerpick in what is known as the "Nashville" style. The thumbpick allows more defined bass notes and faster picking, but it also complicates the thumb thumping on the strings. The flatpick with fingers allows the ability to have fingerpicked passages when using the flatpick for fast picking and strumming. It wouldn't seem that either of these would take much adaptation to master, but that's where the aging comes in. As we age we seem to lose brain plasticity - the ability to remap and rewire our brain to handle new patterns and concepts. I've definitely seen this with my brain - almost as if there is only so much capacity for change. I used to like trying new things - especially new menus and concepts on the computer or with electronic devices and instruments. But I found that I kind of burned out my brain's ability to do this at some point. So why am I changing my guitar style if I don't think my brain can handle it? Because I still thrill at a challenge, and I think that I should always be improving my music in whatever way I can. These changes will open me up to many more musical textures and sounds - from muting the strings to playing faster riffs and having better rhythm and much more. I know you'll see me stumble a little as you hear me over the next few months. This is akin to walking and chewing gum while juggling sometimes, but hopefully you'll also see more fire and dynamics in my playing. How about you? Do you thrill at change?

What have I been up to?

Friday Magpies was a blast a couple weeks ago with a bunch of guitars and a packed house.  It was so much fun!

Sunday was the online living room concert in Nebraska, and it was great fun too.  My wife, sister, and niece (and Beau, our dog) were a great audience in the room, and I had friends from all over the country tuning in.  I mixed up some Irish tunes with some favorites and original tunes.

What’s up this week?

Friday is St. Patrick’s Day, and I know Magpies 7-10 will be a great place to celebrate.  I’m always up for whatever the audience is up for, and I think it’ll include quite a few Irish favorites.  I’ll have several guitars including my Lowden Irish guitar on hand and my picking fingers ready for some blazing jigs and sweet ballads.  Come on out!

Saturday I get to be part of a fun Irish event 7-9 at the Bell Tower Cultural Center in Florence where I performed a concert a few weeks back.  The event will start with Celtic dancers and continue with me playing Irish music.  I plan to do a lot of favorites with a few sing-alongs that everyone can join in on.  Tickets are $8 for Bell Tower members and $10 for non-members. florenceartscouncil.com

What’s new on the horizon?

May 27 at 7:00 I just booked a concert in Elizabeth, CO, for the Coyote Creek Concert series.  There’s more info at their website coyotecreekconcerts.com.  I really enjoyed playing this a couple years back, and I’m thrilled that they’ve been doing such a great job for the folks there.

That’s it for this week.  I’m working on taxes, but I also need to get back to practicing these new guitar techniques.  Hope to see you soon!

Best always,

Tom

Details this week:

Who:  Tom Munch
What:  playing & singing
Where:  Magpies, 229 S. Union, Pueblo.  719-542-5522
When:  Friday, March 17, 7-10 pm

Who: Tom Munch
What: playing for Celtic night in Florence, CO
Where: Bell Tower Cultural Center, 201 East Second Street, 719-784-2038
When: Saturday, March 18, 7-9 pm