Musician, performer & teacher, Chris "Citrus" Sauthoff

Plateau's and Flashes of clarity

In my musical journey I have had many growth spurts and then reached places where I felt like I didn't grow at all for a LONG time...then suddenly in flash of clarity I learned something new! Then it's as if my playing goes backwards! I am thinking of HOW to add the new thing...then...over time that newness get's swallowed up by my body and is ready for use whenever it's needed...it becomes less new and there I am again...waiting for the next flash.

Be sure to do more than just wait! Play your guitar...try....experiment...be fearless!

Without a pretty good amount of time and effort, the techniques and theories and concepts will be out of reach...in the dark, but in the room...waiting for YOU to spark the light!

I am so thankful to have the job that I have. It requires me to learn so much more music. I have to go outside my comfort zone and try new things and techniques daily! I am constantly working on getting these skills and concepts into my body so that I can USE them whenever I want...it's not easy..but it's SO worth it!

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Comment by Marcus Gomez on October 5, 2011 at 12:47pm: Very cool Molly. Thankfully there is so much that is new to me on guitar that I have yet to feel overly stalled for long as their is always some thing Citrus shows us in class or something on the radio that I just have to try and figure out. I feel like a ferret running from one new shining thing to the next, and all of them THAT cool.

You should come Saturday as Dave and I were planning to do some slide last Saturday until a mean old flu changed my plans for last week. I've been down and out for a week and now I'm really Jonesing for some geetar. Being in the same room as your guitar stand without enough "umph" to do anything stinks double btw...

Comment by Chris "Citrus" Sauthoff on October 5, 2011 at 11:47am: That's Freakin Awesome Molly! I can't wait to hear what you come up with! Thanks for telling me the story! I feel good!

Comment by Molly Livaudais on October 5, 2011 at 11:02am: Hi Citrus! Your blog post reminds me to tell you this story.

Remember in your forums you suggested a jam session? Well, Marcus and I responded and we found out, through negotiating a time and place, that he and my boyfriend Dave are old friends. So, we all got together to play. And, although I stopped going, they are still meeting together...

So, anyway, Marcus *apparently* decided to learn slide guitar a few months ago and got Dave started on it. And when Dave came back with all this new knowledge about alternate tunings and cool new sounds (and a cool new resonator!)-I could hardly sit by and just listen! So I got one too, and now we are all trying it.

Anyway your blog post makes me laugh because I feel that way every time I pick up this crazy resonator tuned to D and I can't play a single thing! All the chords are different! It is very disconcerting. And new.

And you are indirectly responsible for all of it. Long tail, indeed.

So how's that for a blog post?