Subject: A Special Introduction...
You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on www.learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com. If you don't want to receive these e-mails any longer, go to the bottom of this message and click on "unsubscribe." Hey there Friend, This week I have the privilege of introducing my good friend Derek Steep to you! Derek is a multi-talented singer, songwriter and teacher, as well as a world traveler. Derek and I met while enrolled in the Tom Hess Music Careers Mentoring Program, an intense fifteen month program designed to help amateur musicians go professional and earn a great income doing so.Derek devotes most of his time to writing, recording and teaching music. I've asked Derek if he would be interested in sharing his teaching skills with you, and he has graciously accepted! Today I'd like to share with you a brief interview I did with Derek to give you his background and perspective. You can sign up for Derek's newsletter and download the three song "Prologue EP" here. Over to you, Derek! ------------------------------------ LTPRG: Derek, can you tell us a little about you? DS: Hi, my name is Derek Steep. If I´d have to categorize what I do (as I have to do now) I´d say "singer-songwriter" is as close as it gets. I play guitar, piano, synth, bass, sing and use a lot of electronic stuff. I don´t believe in invisible lines drawn on a map, so I´d rather not point out my location of residence on this planet. I don´t really see myself as a citizen of a specific country, but rather as a citizen of this physical plane we call Earth. I love music to the core and spend many hours each day practicing, learning, writing and recording - hopefully I can offer you some perspectives that you might not have thought of before, that will benefit you in your musical practice and help avoid some traps that can lead to various difficulties. LTPRG: What got you interested in music? DS: My dad played jazz when he was young and my mom loved songwriters from the sixties and seventies like Bob Dylan, Donovan, Neil Young and guys like that, so that kind of got me hooked on the songwriting thing. Some of my friends had a really diverse musical background and listened to all kinds of music: Zappa, Robin Trower, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker and that´s when I also got to hear - Hendrix. That guy totally blew me away! I loved the raw emotion of it, the wildness in his playing - like a force of nature, like an electric storm! One of these friends played keys, bought a guitar a some point and I went to the shop with him to pick it up. That was it. I bought one shortly after and started to take lessons from a local teacher. That guy had a deep passion for music and was very encouraging. I had never ever thought about wanting to sing at all, but because of him I started singing without giving a damn, or being insecure and really enjoyed doing it. LTPRG: Derek, who are your influences? DS: Of course there´s much music that I like, but I have to say that my writing is more influenced and inspired by perspectives like Zen or Taoism and that perception of beauty. I´m not a zen monk or anything, but I´m deeply influenced by these principles and I think there is a lot to learn from that viewpoint, especially if someone is totally rooted in the western world view. To me it is a huge opportunity to grow into new directions. LTPRG: Musically, what is your biggest interest? DS: My biggest interest musically is to constantly explore new directions and ideas, regardless where they come from. That´s why I´m really drawn to other instruments as well besides the guitar, because each instrument gives you a totally different perspective on music, like peeping through a different keyhole. The guitar´s layout encourages a player to think in a certain way and it´s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that music itself is build this way - until you switch instruments - and you see that music is channeled through the instruments interface and hence, colored and shaped by it. It´s like going to a different country realizing that your way of doing things is just one way of many and that the others are just as valid. LTPRG: What inspires you musically? DS: Just the sheer beauty of existence! I love to pay attention to the wonder of life in very small things and I guess for existence there is no division into "big" or "small". A huge inspiration is music itself, because it´s such a great teacher - it constantly confronts you with yourself. LTPRG: How would your students describe your teaching style? DS: I think they would say that I´m very practical in terms of what to practice and how to go about it. I have seen a lot of great players who were quite ineffective teachers, because they couldn´t explain how and why they do things a certain way. Teaching is a totally different skill set then playing - you have to get out of your own skin all the time and pose questions on what difficulties other people could have. Then you have to be able to verbalize very subtle details and explain highly complex movements in an effective and still non-overwhelming way. Not an easy task... I put a huge emphasis on being creative on the instrument right away - not years from now, but right from the beginning - maybe after three or four lessons, we start experimenting with a few things. Joy and the mental connection of joy to the instrument is the most important foundation to build in my opinion, because once the fire lights up and you infect a student with passion - the rest will follow naturally and without discipline or force. I´m not a believer in discipline - I´m a believer in love and passion and once that spark is there, discipline is not needed. LTPRG: What kind of teaching can my readers look forward to? DS: I hope to offer your readers value in regards to many inner aspects of music; topics like passion, discipline, frustration, curiosity - I think these aspects are of paramount importance in music and they are mostly not touched upon at all... I would also love to share thoughts about effective practice, because I think there are many aspects that need to be discussed to get optimum results for the time you invest. One of my main goals when writing for your readers is to help them to avoid overwhelm - I think this is one of the biggest obstacles in our time where infinite amounts of information are available for everyone twenty four seven. As a beginner or intermediate player, it´s impossible to sort it all out and make good decisions on what to practice at the moment, because you´ll most likely get buried in all the info and quit out of overwhelm and a sense that it´s kind of pointless to even start. So, hopefully this short intro served well to introduce myself to you. If I can make your musical life a bit easier with my suggestions - I have been successful. Best Wishes! Derek Steep ------------------------------------- Awesome, Derek! Based on the articles you've written on the topic of discipline, I think we're in for a lot of good stuff from you. Make sure you go over to check out Derek's website "The Mimicry of Shadows". As always, keep rockin'! Peace~ Dave Dave "Eddie" Vance is a rock guitar enthusiast and gear nut. He has been playing guitar for over 30 years and enjoys tormenting the neighbors every chance he gets. When he's not slaving for the man, you can find him rocking out with his B.C. Rich Bich guitar, a cold beer and some sweet tunes. He also runs Learn-To-Play-Rock-Guitar.com, but you knew that already! Follow Learn To Play Rock Guitar:I welcome your feedback! Did you like today's message? What other topics would you like to see covered in my e-mails? Please let me know at: dave@learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com As always, please feel free to forward this email to a friend! I review products before recommending them. If you buy a product based on my recommendation, I will receive a commission. However, my emails also contain links that don’t require any investment on your part and are jam-packed with "juicy, guitar learnin' tastiness". We don't rent or share your name with anybody. Feel free to forward this issue to any friends you think would enjoy its contents. They will thank you. So will I.
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