The Certainty of Uncertainty

The Certainty of Uncertainty
(or) To have Uncertainty as the only one Certainty…(part one)


Prof. Ruben Diaz, Ph.D. Contemporary Harmony and Composition


Can a human being live without any certainty?...
Is not true that without some sort of certainty we lose all sense of structure and enthusiasm in what we do?...
For some the only certainty is to be uncertain (about what they want to achieve, or for example, to which are their long and short term goals with the guitar.)
So would that be Ok?...
At least that’s also a kind of “certainty”…
What does it mean certainty?...,and how does this concept would ever apply to our process of learning guitar?...
According to the Oxford Dictionary certainty means:
ORIGIN Latin certus ‘settled, sure’.

• noun (pl. certainties) 1 the quality or state of being certain. 2 a fact that is true or an event that is definitely going to take place.
Certain:
• adjective 1 able to be relied on to happen or be the case. 2 completely convinced of something. 3 specific but not explicitly named or stated.

To not underestimate the importance of certainty in our guitar path, lets start by examining the crucial need of certainty, in even the most trivial things of our daily life like, for example lets talk of buying some apples in the supermarket.
In order to accomplish this task appropriately I have to have certainty on many things like:
1)I should have certainty about what is an apple,(how does it looks like ,its shape ,size ,colors ,etc)
2)In the same way I should have also certainty about what is not an apple.(otherwise I could get a similar fruit for an apple!)
3)Then I should have certainty about where apples are being selled(namely at the supermarket)
4)Then I should have certainty about what is the supermarket exact address.
5) Then I should have certainty about whether if I have money enough or not to buy the apples…
6) Then I should have certainty about how can I get there, (if I don’t want to lose much time), I need to Know the possible short cuts if there are short cuts at all and, if I will take either the subway, bus, or the car, what difference does it makes…etc.
7) Then I should have certainty about the exact hour at which the supermarket will close…
All of this certainties I need to have, and if ANY of these is missing, I may not be able to accomplish my task, of buying the apples.
So if that many certainties are needed to do such a simple thing as buying apples…then what to speak of the certainty we need to become fully successful on our guitar path.
I think it makes sense all of this, and to be able to convey this advises I am giving now(mainly to my personal students as well as to anyone that will derive a tangible benefit from these articles on guitar related topics that I am writing) I will speak of my own experience with the guitar in the 25 years or so that I have being trying to learn how to play and compose(according to Paco De Lucias method)

I) Principle number 1 is certainty about what EXACTLY is my goal.(this applies EVERY TIME I PLAY.)
(the example I will present is as follows: suppose that I go to a car race competition, and if my goal or purpose is to lose, and then if I win…is that a failure or a success?...it is a failure, because my purpose was not to win.
So certainty number 1 is of paramount importance!
We can ask sincerely to ourselves how often we “play”(must of the time the guitar plays with us!, instead of we playing the guitar…) or even “practice” on a daily basis without having but a vague and foggy idea of what we do really want to accomplish, (it can help to read and answer this:)
http://www.guitarfoundation.org/drupal/node/4929

(say, if you are practicing scale patterns or fingerings, WHY you are doing so?, what is the purpose?... for example it can be to increase speed, or may be because I want to learn to improvise melodic lines articulately, or perhaps, what I want is to improve a phrase on a particular passage for an specific piece, or it can be that I do have nice speed already but, my sound is a little skinny, and I desire to make it become more powerful!,etc.
You see… all of these different reasons WHY I may be practicing scales are there…and how can it be beneficial to just do practice scales without knowing WHY I am doing it?
Generally, in the best of cases we fell pray to automatism!, and (according to Dr. Paco De Lucia)that will be very detrimental to our progress unless our goal is to waste time!...(remember…like in the car race example).
II) Certainty number 2 is about HOW I will reach my chosen destination?...means trough which method or way I will be able to fulfil my purpose?...can I do it myself without an expert guidance?...

In my own personal experience, I admit that I personally never tried to learn without a person who teaches me, -not how to play guitar-, but HOW TO LEARN to grasp in its completeness the whole issue of what it is required to learn to play guitar…

(including WHY should I accept an specific teacher… and why I should follow his line instead of others lines or methods… which are the qualifications of a real guitar or music teacher…in other words who is a true teacher…and how can I discriminate between proper and improper approaches in guitar -technically and in all respects- what actually is a true student of guitar…and if am I qualified myself to be a real student?...etc.)

And I will also say, that I never witnessed of any guitar player achieving success or a really high status in guitar performance or as a composer trough this “Do it yourself” philosophy except for my own preceptor Paco De Lucia…
Some reasons that discourage oneself to dare to artificially imitate Paco, this genius self-taught, were presented here: http://www.rdiaz.org/rdpacoart8.html
Even Paco says here in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofn3Y5GyPKs
minute:1:36,that he inquired from John Mc Laughlin & Al Di Meola on how to improvise, and thereafter when he discover that he enjoy it etc, and that they laugh and could not believe he (Paco)did not know!...so from Paco’s own personal example, we can learn that:
When he wanted to know about something, he did not thought that “Oh,I am the genius Paco De Lucia, and I don’t need any teacher…, I can find out myself”(even if paradoxically he end it up learning that by “himself”!) -opposite to the “Do it yourself” philosophy- he did addressed the musical authorities on improvisation, namely John Mc Laughlin & Al Di Meola and straightforwardly ask them to teach him how to improvise.

In fact he always discourages this philosophy of “Do it yourself”, and rather promote, and advise me and others to go for the method of acquiring knowledge from the proper source, and being therefore guided and supervised by an EXPERT, then and, only then one can achieve success on the otherwise fathomless mysteries of the guitar as an instrument, and keep things simple like that.

In fact if you think… there is no knowledge which we have not acquire from an external source (besides some instinctive assets which we share with the animal kingdom) everything we know, from the languish to the way we think we have learned (consciously or unconsciously)from someone.
So the conclusion in reference to certainty number 2 is that:

I will attain success provided I follow scrutinizingly and, free from doubt the proper teacher, which should be qualified to explain and convey the message without altering it!, that is, not adding or subtracting whimsically on his own. (there could be many reasons for altering a line, technique or method, some are as follows:
1)To do a business out of it.
2)With the intention to nurture ones own false pride.
3)To justify ones own inability to proceed through the adequate tenets (generally by mixing up the original thing, with someone else opinions or techniques in the name of freedom, experimentation, innovation, trends, current style, and by resorting to any other imaginable plausible lie, and what not…if you want to learn more about this issue please read and study this: http://www.rdiaz.org/rdpacoart.html

that the original technique demands…(in our case referring to the Paco De Lucia’s technique, method, style, and aesthetic compositional & improvisational line.)

(End of part 1)

On the following parts of this article we will continue with certainties number 3,4,5,and 6.

Thanks for your keen interest!
keep that enthusiasm up!
Your friend
Ruben Diaz
info@rdiaz.org