I love playing the guitar; as with anything one does we strive to get to that sweet spot where everything is in perfect harmony with the moment.

Many times lately when I'm playing for an appreciative audience I can actually split myself in two so that one half of me is delivering the vocal message while the other half is observing what my fingers are playing. I can be singing a poignant line and be in awe of something my fingers just did that I'd never heard them do before; it's a trippy deal.

This is the underlying reality of jazz, to be so familiar with your instrument and the music that whatever is taking place is always a total surprise and never to be played the same way twice so you never truly know what you gonna get.

Just like playing music, we are to be as free and spontaneous in life with whatever it is we are doing, why, ? because then it's never "WORK" to coin an old Maynard Krebs line from the old 50's sitcom Dobbie Gillis". Spontaneous with Love, friendships, love making, whatever our passion is, to do it freely and unencumbered with no residue, nothing attached that shouldn't be there, baggage-less.

It wasn't always this way for me, I had no teachers and had to struggle with the guitar; for some years it was like breaking a wild horse, the thing just wouldn't do what I wanted it to..It made me crazy for some time, but then at a certain point it changed quite dramatically.

When I realized that fighting with a guitar was futile and when I began to let the guitar " PLAY ME ", my days of struggle were over; and this is the revelation, Attacking life with a strong grip to get it to do what you want it to do is not a peaceful existence, on the contrary, you be the guitar and let life play you,.

WOW, when I realized that, life became a jazz opera, my songs became what they were supposed to become, my guitar playing became an entity of its own without ME in the picture; LESS of ME, MORE of LIFE.

by Chris Gantry
www.chrisgantry.com