IAAD VII: EYE OF THE NEEDLE DIARY
Week 3
Monday January 27 2025
9:00am
Up before dawn. Evidently this is what I do now. Morning routine. To the stool and my hour of Eye of the Needle.
Listened to the recording from Show of Hands that was posted today, twice. While hearing it as if for the first time remains a hopeless fantasy, on the first time through I did find I was listening to it through the lens of last week’s work, so there was some small intangible shift in how I heard it. The second time through I listened with a focus on Guitar 3, which is what I’ll begin addressing today. The moving 5’s give the piece an interesting mysterious quality. I confess, though, that by the end of this second listening I had drifted off into reverie. I’m back in Manhattan Center Studios; the look and feel of the recording room and the control room, remembering the people I’m working with, some of whom I have not seen in many years and others I saw just yesterday.
Strapped on the guitar. Began by playing through the part once, no metronome, simply noting what the addition of the burbles to the part I worked on all last week entails. Noting transitions, primarily. I know this part well, and have performed it many times.
To the metronome and a short warmup. Right hand on a pair of open strings playing the 3+2 combination in alternate picking that this part requires. No huge challenges here, other than the fact that my right hand ain’t what it used to be. Moved on to the basic 5-note pattern on F#. Simple warmup calisthenics, shaking off the cobwebs.
Next systematically going through each of the places where the part either departs from unison with Guitar 1 or rejoins the unison, making sure I am clear about the fingering combinations and the open string transition notes. Work with the metronome on each, generally the last 4 notes of one part into the first 4 notes of the next, on repeat, isolating the moment of transition. One consistent concern I uncover is that moving from unison on D into burbles on A, and again from the Midtro unison in 13 into the burbles on D, involve not only a significant position switch, but also moving from a part centered on the high strings to one centered on the low strings. Consequently I have a tendency to accidentally mute the open transition note prematurely when as my fingers reach further across the fret board. I also notice an audible startle at these transitions which means I tend to slam the transitional note, as though I am using it to catapult my hand to the next part. Together, these two things tend to make the transition note pop out, where should be just part of the flow.
My remedy for this turns out to be twofold. In terms of the accidental muting, I realize that I spend so much of my time working on electric guitar playing blues/rock&roll based material that I am not using the tips of my fingers to the degree this piece requires. In terms of slamming transition notes, it really comes down to the observation that by the time I get there my energy has already moved to the shift and the next part. I’m not actually completing the phrase. A little “where am I now” insight.
With all this in mind, I run through the piece a number of times, all at 68bpm, remembering these adjustments.
In that context I notice one other thing. It is very familiar and generally not a problem except that I’m just out of practice. That is, every time I move into a burbling section, including when I move from one to the next, I realize too late that I’m counting in 5 instead of 4. There is nothing that will take me out of the Music faster than suddenly having to solve an arithmetic problem in the time it takes for 16 beats to go by. I have done this on stage more times than I care to admit, and it is terrifying. I have over the years come up with a few strategies. It would be nice not to need them.
Managed to make it through my final play-through without falling into this trap, but it completely took me out of the Guitarist Inside. Much work to do.
As a side note, in playing through the piece today I made the decision to abandon one place where I altered the picking last week, as it felt like it was interrupting the flow. So on the 4/4 sections of Guitar 1 I’m going back to strict alternate picking for the last 7 notes of each phrase.
Now to breakfast. My first student arrives in an hour.
Tuesday January 28 2025
8:30 am
Today felt like a minor breakthrough day. Began with right hand work on the open D and A strings. Various combinations, until I landed on the 3-2 combination that the burbles require. Counting at all times. Gradually increasing the tempo, ultimately landing at 76. Frankly, if I didn’t have professional obligations coming up this morning I could have stuck with that for a long time. Right hand is beginning to return. As it was, I did stretch this part of the hour out longer than originally planned.
Counting in 4/4 while playing the 5-note open string combination was curiously difficult. It is, after all, exactly what I’m doing when playing the burbles. But as I left the calisthenics behind and moved into working on Guitar 3, counting it in the context of the part was a piece of cake. I think it’s something like… at this point what I’m actually playing in the burbles sections is a melody as it wends its way through the underlying rhythm of the piece. Not a rhythmic pattern. Whereas in my warmup it’s just an abstract exercise of division of attention in which the notes themselves have no particular significance.
Something like that.
The calisthenics are definitely helping. Worked on Guitar 3 focused on the transitions at first and then moving to larger and larger contexts until I was running the entire piece. All at performance tempo, and by the end of the hour pushing that up into the “too fast” region. Played along with the Show of Hands recording for the final 10 minutes. The tempo of that recording, after practicing somewhat faster, had the desired effect of the feeling that I’m settling down into the correct tempo rather than racing to catch it, and the relaxation that goes with that is audible to me. I feel like I have all the time in the world.
Limb rotation still a little shaky on Guitar 3, but getting there. Mostly I think that I get distracted when anticipating the transitions, and it flies out of my mind. One or two sections later I suddenly think, “oh wait a minute, where am I supposed to be?” And at that point I’m no longer taking as much care of the Music. It will come.
Current plan is to stick with the calisthenic warmups for the rest of the week, as they benefit whatever part I’m playing, but move my focus to Guitar 4 for a few days. I’ll be doing a presentation of the Bass Part on Saturday. Even though it is the part I usually play in performances, and certainly the one I am most confident in, I feel like I’ll need to be extra sharp for that.
Tuesday January 28 2025
8:30 am
Today felt like a minor breakthrough day. Began with right hand work on the open D and A strings. Various combinations, until I landed on the 3-2 combination that the burbles require. Counting at all times. Gradually increasing the tempo, ultimately landing at 76. Frankly, if I didn’t have professional obligations coming up this morning I could have stuck with that for a long time. Right hand is beginning to return. As it was, I did stretch this part of the hour out longer than originally planned.
Counting in 4/4 while playing the 5-note open string combination was curiously difficult. It is, after all, exactly what I’m doing when playing the burbles. But as I left the calisthenics behind and moved into working on Guitar 3, counting it in the context of the part was a piece of cake. I think it’s something like... at this point what I’m actually playing in the burbles sections is a melody as it wends its way through the underlying rhythm of the piece. Not a rhythmic pattern. Whereas in my warmup it’s just an abstract exercise of division of attention in which the notes themselves have no particular significance.
Something like that.
The calisthenics are definitely helping. Worked on Guitar 3 focused on the transitions at first and then moving to larger and larger contexts until I was running the entire piece. All at performance tempo, and by the end of the hour pushing that up into the “too fast” region. Played along with the Show of Hands recording for the final 10 minutes. The tempo of that recording, after practicing somewhat faster, had the desired effect of the feeling that I’m settling down into the correct tempo rather than racing to catch it, and the relaxation that goes with that is audible to me. I feel like I have all the time in the world.
Limb rotation still a little shaky on Guitar 3, but getting there. Mostly I think that I get distracted when anticipating the transitions, and it flies out of my mind. One or two sections later I suddenly think, “oh wait a minute, where am I supposed to be?” And at that point I’m no longer taking as much care of the Music. It will come.
Current plan is to stick with the calisthenic warmups for the rest of the week, as they benefit whatever part I’m playing, but move my focus to Guitar 4 for a few days. I’ll be doing a presentation of the Bass Part on Saturday. Even though it is the part I usually play in performances, and certainly the one I am most confident in, I feel like I’ll need to be extra sharp for that.
Wednesday January 29 2025
8:45am
Awake even earlier than usual, but arose a little later than usual. I don’t understand what is going on here. Actually, I have a theory, but it’s not germane to an “Eye of the Needle Project Diary,” so I’ll leave it at that. Late yesterday afternoon my last student of the day had to cancel at short notice, so I suddenly had a free hour. I decided to follow up on the calisthenic work that had been so useful in the morning. The more of that, the better, I say. It was great. I was really cooking and finding at least a taste of the effortless, fleeting though it may be, that I wish for at faster speeds. More flow. Less audible tension. It was great. At the end of the hour I was very enthusiastic about my progress. Put my guitar aside and began to look at some practicalities, mostly dinner related, when I realized I was exhausted. Climbed into the easy chair, wrapped myself in a blanket, put my feet up, and then crashed completely for an hour. Life is weird.
This morning, after taking care of all the normal morning business, I sat down to practice. Began with right hand on open strings, as I’ve been doing for the past two weeks, beginning at 60bpm, but kicking it up to 68 in short order. The rhythmic patterns, played on two strings, evolved into combinations that mimic the melodies implied by the lead parts of EotN. The downbeat of each dominant sub-rhythm on the A string, everything else on the D string, all played with strict alternate picking. I counted this metronomically, first in eight notes and later in quarters, observing my breath. The aim is to have my right hand play the sub-rhythms musically, while remaining reliably in time with the metronome. These sub-rhythms are what the bass part needs lock onto in order for the part to “sing”. I counted the rhythms in all of the ways one can, while checking in to see if at any time I was adding tension to my body, or holding my breath.
When I play the bass part with a group, it really is the subdivisions I that I am most attuned to. Somewhere in there something is keeping a traditional “count”, and I can always access it when necessary. But the inner rhythms are what I am playing with, and when it is “happening” it is because my part isn’t just in time with the leads, but actually playing WITH the leads.
Ended the session with several runs through along with the Show of Hands recording, counting it all of the various ways one might. Partly self preservation, as I’ll need to be able to do this with authority on Saturday.
Now out into my day. A light one, work-wise, but there are several technical/practical tasks I need to do in preparation for Saturday.
That, and maybe a nap.
Thursday January 30 2025
10:30am
The good news: I finally slept through the night. The bad news: the cold I was feeling a hint of yesterday arrived with a vengeance.
Up at the normal early hour, rather than the abnormal early hour. That meant I didn’t quite have the luxury of all kinds of time for practice before my work day kicked in. Did get in a solid 45 minutes of work.
Primarily right hand calisthenics again, entirely on open strings in combinations that mirror the rhythm of the arpeggios in Eye of the Needle, in particular the 13/4 arpeggio. Once established, began to look at counting strategies. For me, counting these bars when I’m playing the moto perpetuo of the lead parts is pretty much a piece of cake. The bass part, on the other hand, is a little more difficult. Okay, a lot more difficult. While it is a “simpler” part, it requires a different kind of precision. I’ve been playing it for so long that counting is not technically necessary. The rhythm is in the lead part, and completely audible, so it is only a matter of playing along with that. And since I can also play the lead parts my body is quite comfortable with the rhythm.
But 1) this is a project about taking a fresh look at the piece, and 2) I need to present the part on Saturday, and being on my toes is a high priority.
Before I had to stop to change gears and prepare for my 9am student, I did see something remarkable that I will need to explore and verify. But it comes down to the fact that each bar naturally falls into 2 distinct sections, the first 8 beats and the second 5. A little Golden Ratio moment.
Didn’t have time to explore this in depth, or to determine if this is actually useful in any practical way. But I’ll come back to it for sure.
Heard back from one of my students. I was most concerned about her, as she is already immunocompromised. So now one hole has opened up in my afternoon, giving me the opportunity to come back to all of this.
2:31pm
Heard from all of my students. I now have the rest of the day off. I don’t blame them. If a student had shown up to their lesson sniffling and hacking as much as I am, without giving me advance warning, I’d be a little irritated. Went out. Picked up some chicken soup to go, because you know… Now I’m a counting-in-13-maniac. The plan, considering all the different ways people learn, is to present as many strategies for getting to the core of this part as I am able. Currently taking a break from a very tactile approach that uses the “body beat” step pattern to keep time while clapping the rhythm and counting out loud. 13/8 is solid. 13/4 is there, but a whole lot more cerebral and a whole lot less musical. Now back to it.
9:15amAgain slept through the night. Very happy about that. Realized that one side-effect of the problem I’ve been having with waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to fall back to sleep is that when it happens I really don’t dream. Somehow that strikes me as unhealthy. So for the past two nights, in addition to getting the sleep my body needs, my mind has been allowed to go on adventures and have a little vacation.As I’m still fighting this head cold, I did not set an alarm for the extra-early hour. I very definitely miss practicing in the pre-dawn stillness, but I also need to let my body recover. Much better today (so far) than yesterday.I don’t teach on Fridays, but it is not a day off. It’s the day I set aside to take care of the little details it takes to keep a small business running – scheduling, paying bills, balancing accounts, and such nonsense. Also dealing with any personal matters that require more time than the spaces between my appointments allow.So practice was strictly limited to 1 hour. Again, metronome work. After 2 weeks of this my beginning point is considerably faster, but still within the Eye of the Needle performance range. I’m occasionally tempted to push it up, and if calisthenics and chop building was the aim I certainly would. But as long as the aim is re-experiencing Eye of the Needle from the inside, out, we will stick to the 68-72bpm range.All about rhythm and counting today. The bass part of this piece has unique challenges in that respect. It is the only part that has rests in it. It’s the only part that has note values of anything other than a sixteenth. So the fact that it “sounds like the easy part” is pure illusion, and the lines played during the 13/4 Intro and Midtro are a minefield of opportunities to lose the magic. My work yesterday and today has primarily been in identifying the various strategies that I use for playing this part with integrity.But now back to the mundane.
4:00pm
Yikes. When your Friday office day coincides with both Month-End Closing for the business, and the deadline for closing your 2024 personal and business Federal Tax reporting, say “hello” to a deep 7-hour rabbit hole.
6:00pm
Note to self: Trying to get in some quality practice at the end of a day that was dominated by number crunching and otherwise "adulting" is a wasted effort.
Saturday February 1 2025
12:15pm
Eye of the Needle Bass Workshop went well, I think. After all these years of giving presentations like you’d think by now I’d be better at gauging how much information and experience can be packed into 60 minutes, but that level of wisdom still eludes me. I always want so much more. I also hate hearing the sound of myself yammer on, but with a screen full of muted guitarists, it is tough to keep it from turning into a 1-hour monolog. I miss feedback.
During the parts where I was playing the “lead” line over and over so that they could have the opportunity to practice timing the part, I kind of had to avert my eyes. The Zoom lag is tough to ignore and it’s very distracting to see a couple dozen right hands moving a half-beat or more late. And impossible to tell who was getting it right and who was in need of a little more guidance. I miss musical interaction.
That said, while the approach I’ve been taking in my efforts these last 3 weeks to return to the beginning with each of the parts of this piece, all of which I have played and performed at one time or another, may be an example of “assuming the virtue” or perhaps just wishful thinking, many little things have come to light. Like the counting exercise I presented today, they are not necessarily new insights by any definition, but you might say that I have over the years chosen to ignore them. Or something like that.
We’ll see. This cold I have been fighting seems to be well on its way out, and has left me physically exhausted. A day off is essential. Monday I begin unpacking Guitar 2.
Sunday February 2 2025
IAAD – day off
SGC – Curt takes cold recovery day off
NFL – off (well, “Probowl Games”, but that’s not football)
