Martin Taylor Daydreamed of Fretboards in Class

[Less'sMore]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgq4Gv3jfh8

Martin Taylor by his own report has a sophisticated internal visual technique for playing and remembering music. Apparently he has the fretboard “before him”, he is able to practice finger placement and “hear” the notes in an accurate enough way to try tunes in different keys in his mind. I would like to learn how to do that!

He seems to be surprised that everyone doesn’t have the same ability he has. That means, I guess, that it came to him naturally, that it has always been with him and he doesn’t know how he got it.

Are there AGF members out there who have the same ability? Did you always have it or did you develop it? I am actually more interested in the later. How about some clues about this form of visualization, so the rest of us can get in on it.

Don

[mhs]

Less,

I like your post. It brings back a lot of good memories like when this began happening for me. I don't want to do a saga here since M. Tayler has already pretty much described it.

At 15, a couple weeks after getting a gift of my first (cheap Kay archtop) guitar, I began a 2-3 year stint of learning guitar, as close to 24/7 as I could and I was getting gigs at that time almost every night. 6 months later, I knew the fingerboard very well and during regular nighttime dreams, I could see my hands reaching for shapes all over the board while I listened to the results.

It became conscious (daytime thoughts) so that I could play without the instrument. I also thought that probably everyone had this going on as I did so I didn't give it too much thought. Having that ability allowed me to visualize tunes and pretty well "know them" before I touched the guitar. Same with improvised solo lines or even practicing classical music.

I guess I don't think of his thing as unusual or even sophisticated, rather just normal. I'm used to it. So the only thing I'm really noting is the 6 months of hard day and night work it took me to learn the fretboard. This works equally well on Piano, upright bass, and about 6 other instruments I play.

Originally Posted by Less'sMore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgq4Gv3jfh8

Martin Taylor by his own report has a sophisticated internal visual technique for playing and remembering music. Apparently he has the fretboard “before him”, he is able to practice finger placement and “hear” the notes in an accurate enough way to try tunes in different keys in his mind. I would like to learn how to do that!

He seems to be surprised that everyone doesn’t have the same ability he has. That means, I guess, that it came to him naturally, that it has always been with him and he doesn’t know how he got it.

Are there AGF members out there who have the same ability? Did you always have it or did you develop it? I am actually more interested in the later. How about some clues about this form of visualization, so the rest of us can get in on it. My 2-3 years stint of learning mostly served to allow me to understand that there is no period long enough to "learn" or "master" anything, but it was a good start to a lifetime of learning. I've got millions of miles to go.

Don

[Less'sMore]

Thanks for that, Mickey. The lack of response may be a sign that this quality of visualization is fairly unique and that you have something that few others have. Congratulations! Let’s see if there are any more out there.

Don.

[mc1]

martin taylor is awesome.

i tend to think a bit like that, but i get it wrong in my head a lot. i also run through tunes i know in my head, without a guitar.

i imagine giving martin taylor a guitar in dadgad would be a laugh riot.

[Phelonious Ponk]

My knowledge of the fretboard certainly isn't up to Martin Taylor's level, but I don't have any trouble visualizing what I do know well, trying out different patterns, inversions and substitutions in my head and "hearing" them.

P

[mhs]

Originally Posted by Less'sMore

Thanks for that, Mickey. The lack of response may be a sign that this quality of visualization is fairly unique and that you have something that few others have. Congratulations! Let’s see if there are any more out there.

Don.

Don,

Thanks. I wanted to mention this one other thing that I guess I also wonder if anyone else has had this nutty thing happen to them. After I'd been hard at work on guitar for a year or so and was very much into jazz, I started to have some rather unusual dreams. (in addition to the fingerboard/shape visualizations)

Of course, like most people, I had the usual insane dreams as well, but these ones I mention above were almost always about people I really loved to listen to and me having private lessons with them. The players I recall: Wes Montgomery, John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers. (not all guitarists).

When I'd awaken out of one of those dreams, where I'd had a lesson with Wes, I'd immediately grab a piece of script paper and write down the notes and they always seemed very much like something Wes would've come up with (but who knows of course?) . I was just curious if anyone had experienced such vivid "lesson" dreams.