Mike Neer wrote:Sorry for the topic drift,
“Call that a thread drift? Now this… is a thread drift!â€
This has been an interesting discussion that has meandered here and there. I am glad that my original intention of putting up a method of gaining neck familiarity has been seen to be useful. My description of improv as a marriage of technique and attitude is not a new one but is sums up what is, to me, an uncomfortable union of thought and feeling.
I have conflicting opinions on improv and music theory, depending what hat I am wearing. As a classroom music educator (ret.) I see the need for analytical systems that can be taught within a limited period but realize that may be undesirable consequences of the ‘music factory’ (homogeny of language, conformity of development, accelerated rather than organic development). These were not present in the development of so many of the masters. As a musicologist, I need to know the histiography of music theory and analysis and to be able to choose tools from anywhere in that toolbox for the task at hand. But as a player I don’t really want to know about any of that s**t! I don’t even want to know what key we are in. I just want to fly!
I would love to have heard Murphey in a true swing/bop band in the mid to late 40s. There are a few enticing examples of him being able to stretch out but mostly he was filling the role his employers assigned him. We have to be content with nuggets of greatness. What is so astounding is how consistently he kept fresh innovative material coming. The alternative takes that exist show how easily it flowed from him. If only he had the same command over his own destiny that Django had.
Django is actually someone to consider in this discussion. Even though he is revered as a genius, he still put his pants in the morning on one leg at a time and when he went fishing he took a pole. The longer I am departed from the classroom, the more I think he is someone to be emulated. So, not only could he not read music but he couldn’t even read a newspaper. But his ear was unbelievable! A gift? Maybe initially, but something to be continually developed. His playing style employed arpeggios predominately. For me, non-pedal steel lends itself to arpeggios more easily than scalar playing so I think his stuff provides useful inspiration for lap steel. (However, I don’t hold with the proposition that Murphey copied him extensively. There are only a few examples of that of which I am aware.)
Django played the changes often but employed various strategies. It is good to keep the broadest analysis of improv in the back of the mind: either an embellishment of the original melody or something completely new. Django used both approaches. It is also fascinating to see how his playing evolved from the mid 1930s, through swing to bop on electric. It evolves but maintains a consistency of expression, if that makes sense. It is always unmistakably him. All this with no music literacy. However, his deep understanding of sounds and their interrelationships is clear at every point. His mastery of light and shade, dissonance and consonance, intensity and relaxation are all on display, internalized and rolled out seemingly effortlessly. That’s what I want, especially the effortlessly. (‘Effortless Mastery’ by Kenny Werner is a good read and is more about meditation than technique.’)
Where am I going with this?? Ah, yes. The position exercises, while they are framed in a harmonic context, are a way of combining shapes and sound within a psychological schema which can be absorbed and learned which is can be easily divorced from the theory when accessed by the brain in the heat and fire of the improvisation process. When you enter the zone (cue Twilight Zone theme) your creative thought can access sounds more quickly, bypassing the cognitive stage of ‘what scale/arpeggio do I need’. (I think that this is what most people do when they get over the ‘cobble together licks’ stage.) This is a conscious strategy is behind my practice regimen. It is not the only method but it is beginning to work for me in my regular playing situation which is gypsy jazz. I have been at this for about three years. I stuck with dobro tuning on a 6 string for about a year and have been using A6 on 8 string since then. There are no compromises made on tempos or repertoire so you just had to jump on and try to keep up. (not unlike bluegrass but with different keys and chord progressions and no capos.) The boys didn’t expect much of me as a steel player initially but they seem to be accepting now. I feel like I am making some progress.
Onwards and upwards!
If you want to have an ongoing discussion, please email me, don't use the Forum messaging which I detest! 
