From the "Life on the Road" Department

I had to travel all the way to Indiana for this story.

Way back in October, 1983 I was touring churches and Christian coffeehouses all over the place, trying to make a living. One evening, I was booked at a coffeehouse in Indianapolis. More than likely it was called The Lighthouse or The Upper Room- they all were. The place was a mess: buckets catching water dripping from the ceiling, the place wasn’t well lit, I was worn out from the traveling, and my host wasn’t there- that happened a lot.

Well, I did two sets of music that lasted an excruciating hour and a half. When I finished and was packing up, a young man who had sat in the back the whole night, came up to me. He said, “Man, that was great. God really blessed me. I had a hard day at work and that was just what I needed.” I think I had the presence of mind to thank him and shake his hand, but I distinctly remember thinking “Brother, if that’s what you needed, you DID have a hard day at work.”

Lesson learned: you never know who’s listening or how it will affect them, so always play your best.

Wrong or write

Someone* said that the art of writing is actually the art of re-writing. As a composer, I can vouch for this. Once I have an idea for a song, I try to get a sense of where the lyrics (if any) want to go. Then I write on instinct. When I get a piece to the point where I can see it is a complete song, I usually set it aside for a short time: 24 – 48 hours, generally. Then I go back and start the re-write process.

Even in my recordings, I will put in all sorts of instruments, some of which will not make it through the editing. Each part must have its own place in the mix, and no one part can get in the way of another part. This requires some intense listening. The best way I know to accomplish this is to listen as though it was someone else’s song.

In the end, I hope that I create music that musicians will want to perform more than once, and that people will want to listen to more than once. If you haven’t sampled any of my music, you can do so on iTunes or Rhapsody, or any number of music download sites.

*Might have been Kathy Mattea. She said "You have to write badly to write at all. If it`s crappy, I will rewrite it later. But it will be mine. You can hear the resonance of an artist who goes into herself."

GUITAR BOOKS

Along with recording more music than even I can usually remember, I’ve written quite a lot of instructional material to make learning the guitar easier…and fun. Titles include:

• 
  The Chord Chart Guitar Method


• A Complete Explanation of The Circle of Fifths


• The Un-dreaded Barre Chord


• Unlocking The Upper Neck


• Stuck in a Rut


• Writing for the Guitar
  
  The underlying purpose of all these books is Practical Theory. Too many guitar books either over-explain, or under-explain the operation of music theory in regards to the guitar. With concise text, plus a lot of musical examples and songs, these books can be a terrific help to the guitar hobbyist, or to the professional musician
  
  All these titles, along with a lot more information on each, can be found on my website athttp://www.rasely.com/book.htm and can be ordered through Paypal. They’re all well worth the price (if I do say so myself!).

Who is the Best Guitarist?

Get two or more guitarists get together, and the discussion will eventually wander to the question: Who is the best guitarist?

With so many players to choose from, in so many different styles- let's face it, there never was, and never will be just one "best"; and after all, what we really mean by "the best" is "my favorite". Insisting on your favorite will only prolong an argument, not end it. It's a classic case of apples and oranges, or even fruit salad.

Don't get me wrong; it's good to have guitar heroes. It's good to have opinions about players. However, a better question to ask might be: WHY do I think that (fill-in-the-blank) is the best guitarist? When you answer that question, you actually begin to learn something…or teach something!

One of the reasons that guitarists look for "the best" is that we secretly want to BE the best. And even the best players have other players who they look up to. Andres Segovia, the grand master of the classical guitar, had the inspiration of Gabriel Ruiz de Almodovar, of whom he said "I felt like kissing the hands of a man who could draw such beautiful sounds from the guitar"; and although he'd never met Tarrega, the maestro reverently referred to him as the man who "created the soul of the guitar".

So, here's the bottom line: aspire to be the best (at whatever you do), and remember that even the "best" players are trying to do the same thing.

Chicken Pickings

Welcome!

Hi, I'm Tom Rasely, Musician in the Middle of Nowhere. I'm a professional guitarist, composer, and church musician pursuing my music in upstate New York.

Living in a county whose bovine population exceeds it's people count has its share of challenges for someone trying to survive as a musician. In this blog and on my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/trasely, we'll explore the pleasures and pitfalls of living far from the madding crowd!

I welcome your comments and would love to hear your stories-- whether you live somewhere or nowhere, play music or not, we're all on this journey together.

Rasely