jamey Faulkner

Here’s how Google Voice transcribed this message:

Call First, what deal with this message for South white you are,
you could do this message so I speak clearly
Siddique to school can understand my words. Holler back.

In this article, I am sharing some views about creatively approaching guitar studies.

So far we have explored the Integral Model, & designed an introductory Integral Guitar Model. Like everything, my ideas about the model & its musical applications are developing – always developing.

I sincerely hope you will take a look at the system & see what it may have to offer you, and where it might be going. I think it is important that you are aware of the integral approach, as it is being implemented in a number of disciplines.

It is not the only organizational system or theoretical system (approach, framework) I use, yet it is relevant, comprehensive, & very effective.

I’ve been playing guitar for 28 years – a degree in Classic Guitar, fingerstyle, blues, & rock. I’ve been teaching for 22 of those years.

It always amazes me that I am still doing this – playing, writing, & teaching. It hits me now & again, that yes, I am still at it.

Even when I tried to change fields at shaky points in the quest, I returned again & again to this craft that engages me like no other – Music.

My take at this moment is that when we play music, this is only one facet of a larger system of the musical life. In my approach, when we are developing a musical craft, we are also creating a music & life ‘philosophy’, & playing the guitar is only a part of that noble endeavor. A part that is whole in its own right, yet a part of a wider story.

We can’t avoid creating an approach to playing. When I give talks on this topic, there is always an advocate for, “I just want to play, I don’t want to think about the ‘theory’ or the ‘whys’ or the ‘philosophy’ of why I play.” This, is an approach to playing.

At the beginning of learning to play guitar, the how of playing & changing chords, strumming & fingerpicking, playing songs, & making sounds are at the forefront of our mind & activities, as they should be.

As we develop & the actual physical playing part isn’t as big of a deal, the mental and the energy side of the street emerge as important areas of exploration.

If you a beginner, just keep in mind that there is more, much more, beyond playing tones and chords and songs. There is the ‘spirit’ of playing that is dynamic, intense, and very real.

The longer you play, the more access you get to wider dimensions of musical experience.

At some point in every musician’s life, they question why it is they play. It’s part of the fun of it all. Questions might be, “why do I play?” or “am I satisfied?” or “am I missing anything?” or “do I like who I play with?” At least, in my view, some why questions should arise; should take place, naturally.

It seems to me to be a choice-less situation. It just happens, and this is good news. That this may take place later in a player’s life should not deter one from acknowledging these intuitive moments, however they emerge.

I’ve always approached teaching guitar from a wide angle perspective. A student of guitar should be able to tune and change strings, and maintain his or her equipment. A learner should practice and perform alone and with others (as in a band).

A player should take lessons, yet keep independent thought as his or her code of engagement. A guitarist should develop mind and body as to express self and feeling in music.

Through the years, my approach to teaching and learning has taken many forms – some dead-ends and some endless highways. Through a variety of groupings and re-workings of categories, I reached a point where things fit into action segments – things to do or not to do.

I have found that if a student covers all these areas concurrently (walks around the circle), they grow faster and never stop growing. They are never bored and their abilities expand endlessly. They never stagnate. They always have something to do. They stay focused and enthused for the craft of guitar.

Focusing on a balanced approach to playing, students can learn faster and with more depth and meaning (and more fun) for a lifetime.

So, the Integral Model. It fits very well with my teaching methodology. In myriad ways, Ken Wilber’s writing and work have accelerated my understanding of life and creativity. His work has assisted my teaching theories to include more of what I intuited to be there.

Integral studies have given me the opportunity to understand the vast territory of life and sound and others and creativity with increasing depth and insight. (and I thought I was covering quite a bit before. After nearly 30 years of playing music, I’m really just getting started).

I have learned to lean into the consonance and dissonance of creative growth; to sit with the creative self while it makes sense of the vast openness it calls home. I’ve learned to use my attention in new ways, understanding that I may ultimately be borrowing the tracks that have been set down before me, possibly leading to the next, wider, level of artistic expansion and vision.

There is an endless field of creative energy awaiting every person that picks up a guitar or any instrument. If you have the drive, and decide to play, the universe supports that decision.

This is the most advanced thing I’ve discovered for standard tuning. Some of the most advanced players I’ve spoken to, are not aware that the fixed position cycles even exist.

This is kind of heavy, so you may want to circle back to this after going through basic CAGED lessons.

I call these cycles holographic because they provide a whole picture & creates a ’3-dimensional’ view to how standard tuning chord forms work.

Linear & Fixed Position CAGED Chord Cycles

Most of us have some familiarity with CAGED chord forms [at least heard of it]. The system goes like this:

• We can build chords from a given tone.
• Chords can be fingered on the guitar in standard tuning based on a C, A, G, E, & D form [shapes at the nut].
• When forms move up, the index acts as the nut [takes the place of it, keeping the fret spacing the same].
• There are 12 tones [positions] & 5 chord forms [CAGED].
• We can play every chord like a C, like an A, like a G, like an E, & like a D.
• We have options for how we finger the forms when they move up the fretboard [we call these preferences].

Linear Cycles

The rows above reflect linear cycles of chord forms.

CAGED forms always go in order [letter order] up the fretboard for a given tone. For any of the 12 tones, one of the shapes starts the cycle at the nut. Whatever letter that is, the next way to play the same type of chord will be whatever the next letter in the word CAGED is. Example – as in line 1 above: C is played like a C at the nut. The next way to play C will be like an A [in 3rd position - P3], then like a G in P5, then like an E in P8, then like a D in P10.

Fixed Position Cycles

The columns above reflect fixed position cycles of chord forms.

When playing alphabetical chord scales in a fixed position, the chords also follow the CAGED cycle of chords. When we play an ascending chord scale [C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C], the cycle goes in reverse [DEGAC], & when descending, the cycle is in word order [CAGED]. Since there are 7 letters in the musical alphabet, we have to repeat forms. We have options here, yet, the repeating chord forms line up with the half-steps in a Major scale [between 3-4 & 7-8]. We could also repeat forms between 6-7.

Example: the diatonic chord scale for the key of C Major is C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am-Bdim-C [I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi-viidim-I]. When we play this in P1, the cycle of forms is like the first column of forms above. The chord forms for this chord scale in P1 are C-D-E-E-G-A-C-C or even better – C-D-E-E-G-A-A-C.