Blackbird

Corbett | December 23, 2003 9:34 AM

After 30 years of playing the saxophone, I finally decided to dive into another instrument - the guitar. I've been playing and working with guitar players since I was 14. From the time in junior high when Neil and I would work on Pat Metheney and David Sanborn tunes, to high school when I was playing folk and Irish with Bob Turner, to after college when I came to Taiwan, met Rick, and played only jazz, to the years duo-ing with Roberto and his Spanish guitar, to all the pop albums and recording session in LA and NY, then all the bands from the time Wu Bai and I tried to figure out a way back in 1989, to combine his guitar and my sax (years before he became Wu Bai), to the zillions of gigs, to the fusion stuff, to the reggae stuff, to the R&B...and now I'm actually going to sit down and play the damned thing.

I'm trading Greg jazz improvisation and phrasing lessons in exchange for Guitar 101. Last night I got the first 8 measures of Blackbird. By Chinese NY I'll have my first finger picking tune down. Greg got a kick out of my struggling with paraplegic fingers. He said, "Man, it's so refreshing to sit here and watch you struggle. You play the sax so effortlessly and now you're having a problem playing an open E chord!"

Category: Music

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